Some of you know that I co-host a bi-weekly podcast with Sean McCabe, and you may also know that he is one of my mentors. I’ve learned a great deal from him about creativity and business, not only from the things he and I talk about, but also from his example. I’m inspired by the things he is making and aspire to have the same level of quality and production, and yet, it would be foolish of me to try doing some of the things he is doing right now.

10 Steps Ahead

Sean puts a lot of work into the podcast and, in addition to that, he also posts videos, blogs, is developing features in his community, is writing a book, sending out newsletters and the list goes on. If I’m not looking at it from the right angle, I can look at all of the things Sean is doing and feel like it’s necessary to “keep up” with him. The problem is, I’m simply not in the same place right now. There were many steps that Sean took to get where he is today, and I am just not that far down the road. The things he was doing 5 steps ago are still (at least) 10 steps ahead of where I am, and that’s okay.

Know Where You Are

Knowing where you are is a powerful thing. Not in a way that is falsely humble or self deprecating, but in a way that places you objectively in the reality of the position you are currently in, so you know what you’ve got to work with and what steps you should take next. It’s certainly okay to have aspirations, and to have someone to look up to, but if we try to base our activity on a vision that we have of a distant future and not on the reality of where we are today in our path to get there, we will not be able to gain the traction we need to move forward.

You're not there yet, you're here, and that's okay. Work from here. You can't gain traction on the ground on which you're not yet standing.

— ben toalson (@bentoalson) September 9, 2014

Building a House Is Hard

Imagine you are building a house from scratch. You are the one who has to unload the lumber, lay the foundation, set up the frame… everything. Across the street, one of your neighbors has already finished building his house. Each morning you get up early and begin your work. After a few hours of hard labor, already tired and sweaty, your neighbor appears at his front door looking fresh and well-rested. He waves hello, hops into his car and drives off to enjoy his day. You think with envy about the nicely finished house and how carefree your neighbor seems to be. You feel like it shouldn’t be this much work… after all, your neighbor doesn’t look very stressed out. Maybe he figured out a way to do it that doesn’t require as much work and effort as you’re doing now. Maybe you don’t need to look at the blueprints, but you can just look at the outside of your neighbor’s house and try to make it look like that.

Obviously a professional builder would never skip the blueprints and construct a building based only on what they could see on the outside. The problem is, unless our neighbor gives us a tour of the house and tells us in detail all of the steps he took to build it, we have a grossly incomplete picture of what it takes to build our own house by just looking at the outside. Even with the tour and the details, we still lack a lot of the context necessary for us to base our actions on our limited perspective on what someone else has accomplished. We can’t look at someone who is that far down the road from us and make accurate assumptions about what they did or didn’t do to get there.

Bursting At the Seams

A personal example of this idea that I’m currently dealing with is my desire to do a podcast and video blog for In the Boat With Ben. Sometimes I feel like I’m bursting at the seams to start communicating in those mediums. It doesn’t help that I actually participate with Sean in a podcast twice a week, and as a part of his community, get to experience the videos that he puts out. The more I see of that the more easily I can lie to myself and say, “Sean can do it, why can’t I?” I keep having to fight the urge because the truth is that if I did start adding even one of those things, I would not be able to maintain the quality and output frequency that I believe would make it worthwhile. It’s better not to launch something at all then to launch something that is going to give someone a negative experience with your brand.

For this reason I want to encourage you to shift your focus towards where you are today. The more real you are about the circumstances you are currently dealing with, the easier it will be to identify the steps you can take to move forward. Not only is this a great benefit to you, but if you are sharing or communicating your journey with others, you are able to offer more value to those who are a few steps behind you by talking about the real stuff you’re experiencing now.

Ask yourself: What am I really capable of doing today and can I do that well? What are the real problems I am dealing with today and what are some practical solutions? What are the tasks I need to complete to make it, not to the next 10 steps, but to the next 2 steps?

It’s okay to look ahead every once in a while and dream about the future. It’s funny though, how the future that inspires us to move forward is often not the one that actually unfolds for us. Hold your dreams loosely. Don’t let them mesmerize you into a stand-still, but let them fuel your ability to put your head down and focus on where you are now so that you can keep move forward.