Pitfalls on the Journey

Failing to “Heed the Call” to Go Forth or Failing to “Be the Author”
This is the big pitfall because, if you don’t take on the author role and create the experiences for yourself, you will miss the opportunity to build too many of the competencies.

Focusing on Outcomes vs. the Journey
It takes time to build competencies and it takes a long time to build all the competencies you will need.  It’s a journey with ups and downs, successes and failures, excitement and frustration.  Pay attention to your trajectory on the journey.

Failing to Plan Well – “Over-doing it or Under-doing it”
Failing to plan is planning to fail.  Plans organize thoughts and focus actions and that’s important with all that’s going on in life.  Good plans can actually simplify life – and support success in competency building.  But, don’t over-plan as that can make it too cumbersome.

Failing to Find Support
Trying to build the competencies without support is a recipe for failure.  Heroes never went on journeys alone in the myths and neither should you.  There is more support out there than you might think, but you have to find it.

Failing to Persevere or Build on Setbacks/Failures
Setbacks, disappointments, frustration and failures are simply part of the journey.  Learning how to deal with them and learning from them are essential skills.  There is a pattern or rhythm to developing competencies and such experiences as frustration and disappointment are part of it.

Failing to Build Habits
We build our habits and then our habits build us.  Unfortunately, habits take time and discipline – they don’t form themselves and they don’t form quickly.  It’s very easy to get tired or discouraged and give up before the habits are formed.