You may have heard this inspirational phrase or seen it on a poster or a meme or on Pinterest:
A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step ~ Laozi
You may think it's a quote from Confucius but, you would be wrong. It's Laozi. I know, I Googled it.
I have never found this quote to be inspiring. What is the thinking here? Oh, it's only one step. I thought it was a whole lot more. Well, sign me up for that 1000 mile journey then because the next 9,999,999 steps will be easy peasy.
You heard right, it takes 10 million steps to go 1000 miles. I did the math. Why are we walking that distance anyway? It's too far. Let's take a plane.
I think we should change the phrase to:
A journey across the room begins with a single step
I realize this phrase is supposed to encourage people to try something new, to take that first step. I however have always thought about the rest of the process - because I'm looking at the big picture. How many false starts have you had? I've had quite a few. I take the first step and several more and find that I can not complete the journey so, this phrase does not do it for me.
People are always saying, "start something new." I say, "finish what you already started."
Speaking of 1000 miles, remember that song by the Proclaimers? Those Scottish twins?
I would walk 500 miles and
I would walk 500 more
Just to be the man who walked 1000 miles
To fall down at your door
That's a lot of walking. And, if you now have that song stuck in your head, then my work here is done. This will all have been worth it.
Even the Proclaimers recognized that walking 1000 miles would lead to your collapse.
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