Rim Trail Hike, Conceptualizing

Now that this epic hike was on my radar, I had to do some real serious thinking, conceptualizing the trip and the tasks needing to be done to be successful at its completion.  What is that old axiom – failing to plan is planning to fail.  No sense putting in a bunch of effort and it going nowhere.

So, I’m going to share some of the thinking process I go through for a venture like this one.  Many of the questions come from Commit-Action, an accountability coaching service I use to keep myself on track.

BHAG OF HIKING THE TAHOE RIM TRAIL

Big Hairy Audacious Goal – the BHAG I’m setting is a big picture, year-long vision a single outcome I can get really excited about and intend to be chasing all year.

What’s your number?  What’s the specific metric?

173 miles around the entire Lake Tahoe Rim Trail

What’s most important to you to accomplish (besides money)?

Finding my courage, my inner strength, building my skills, confidence and competence

Pushing myself to do things I never could have imagined myself doing and inspiring others to nudge themselves towards their dreams as well

Documenting it in my blog, so I can then write a book about pushing your competence to build your confidence, methodically – this is the story that demonstrates these ideas

What products or services do you want to sell?  What outcome are you shooting for?

The ability to coach people on stretching boundaries/comfort zone?

A book out of it?  Like the Wild movie

Prove my incremental theory

What’s your profit goal?

???  I don’t think there is one – it’s to set the stage for future opportunities

What are the biggest opportunities in the year ahead?

To push myself and my ideas out into the world, instead of keeping them locked up in my head

To use the adventure to fill out my ideas, make them practical, and then make the blog my jump off point for coaching, a book, maybe a second book

Write your BHAG you would like to accomplish in the next 12 months (draft)?

I completed the 173 mile Tahoe Rim Trail Hike, solo

Questions for Ecology:

What specifically do you want?  State in the positive (not what you don’t want).  Stated in the present tense.  Write it as the present situation 12 months out.

I hiked the 173 mile Tahoe Rim Trail hike, solo

Where are you now?  Specify your present situation in relation to your outcome.

I don’t have a clue what I’m doing

I do have a general idea about the hike

I’m familiar with the area around the trail

I do have a lot of the gear I think I would be using

I haven’t tested the gear I would use

I’ve never slept out in the woods alone

I’ve never trekked long-distance solo

I’m physically unprepared

I’m mentally unprepared

I’m wholly unprepared

I haven’t nailed down any of my plans or dates

I haven’t made the decision

What will you see/hear/feel when you have it?  Specify your outcome.  The difference between a well-formed outcome and a goal. 

I’ll see David meeting me at different points to resupply me

I’ll see David at the end of the trail to greet me and congratulate me

I’ll see me posting my completion post on Facebook

I don’t know where I’ll end, but when I do I can go check it out, and visualize that end point

I’ll feel exhausted but exhilarated and in a little bit of disbelief

I’ll see all sorts of people following my journey

I’ll read people congratulating me

I’ll already be dreaming up my next adventure as I’m walking out the last day

I’ll be feeling a little bit sad as it’s coming to an end, b/c I’ve finally gotten into a groove

I press “stop recording” on my Gaia app and can see that the 173 mile loop is compete

I’ll feel myself peeling off my boots and chucking them in the Nissan and putting on a pair on flip flops!!

I’ll call my folks and let them know I finished safe – will hear them excited for me

Dave will drive us up to the Ridge and we’ll crawl into the hot tub and soak for an hour, with a big celebratory champagne

I’ll get into a hot/cold shower and just let it pour over me.  I’ll be just a little bit proud of all the bumps and bruises, b/c it means I’m tough, and that I did it!!

Then we’ll drive into town and get duck legs at Evan’s for a celebratory dinner!!

I’ll sink into a real bed at night and hardly be able to sleep because it’ll all be rolling around in my mind

(this is getting fun – the last few items here are making the dreaming lots of fun and making it feel more and more real!!)

I’ll see Jennifer and I out running through the woods taking my celebratory forest chick pics out in the woods with the autumn colors of Tennessee

Going to Jess’ wedding in a form fitting sheath dress

How will you know when you have it?  Specify your evidence procedure.  What is the last thing that has to happen so that you know you’ve achieved your outcome? 

I walk out the last leg of the hike

I press “stop recording” on my Gaia app and can see that the 173 loop is compete

What will this outcome get for you or allow you to do?  Make sure this outcome is congruently desirable.  Is there a part of you that doesn’t want this outcome?  Incongruent outcomes will undermine your success.  Radical honesty is required. 

I’ll be in shape for future adventures

It will be the backbone for the RSTP personal blog

It will force me to nail my financial objectives or I won’t have the $ or time to go!!

It will open the door to other incredible adventure opportunities b/c of the confidence it will give me (eg Havasu Falls, Appalachain Trial, John Muir Trial, Pacific Crest Trail)

It proves to me my theories are correct

It gives credence to the RSTP approach

It will give me the story backing my book

I will prove to myself what I’m really capable of, and that it’s more than what I’ve been expecting of myself before

It tells me that I’m really living RSTP-me, full on!!  Not playing half-assed at this thing

Credibility

I’m fearful that I won’t want to dig and do the hard, physical training and/or be consistent with the training necessary

Is it self-initiated and self-maintained?  Is this outcome only for you?  A well-formed outcome must be entirely your responsibility and under your complete control.

YES!!

Is it appropriately contextualized?  Where, when, how, and with whom do you want it?  Are there any other specifics you need to include in your outcome?  Who do I want to share this with? 

Where – Lake Tahoe, CA/NV

When – September 2018

With whom – David

I also want to share it with my blog and FB friends

What resources are needed?  What do you have now and what do you need to get your outcome?  Have you ever done or had this before?  Do you know anyone who has?  Can you act as if you have it? 

Resources needed – information, a plan, an incremental Competence-to-Confidence approach, an RSTP approach, the right equipment tested out and tweaked

NO!!  I have NOT done something like this before.  Well, wait a minute, that’s not entirely true.  I trained for, and completed, a sprint distance triathlon – it required my consistent training for the better part of a year to be able to do it and complete it.

I don’t know anyone who has done this kind of thing that I can think of.

I can act as if I have done it

Is it ecological?  For what purpose do you want this?  What will you gain or lose if you have it?  What will happen if you don’t get it? What won’t happen if you get it?  What will happen if you don’t get it?  What won’t happen if you don’t get it? 

Ecological?  Yes – it fits in with everything I want to do with RSTP, it fits my health goals for myself, it ties in perfectly with my idea of RSTP-me

Purpose?  To play, to live wide awake, to push myself and my comfort zone intelligently, to not come to the end and have regrets b/c I played small

What will happen if I don’t get it – I’ll regroup and give it another shot

What won’t happen if I do get it/what will I have to forgo – I’ll have less time in my favorite season in TN

What will happen if you don’t get it – I just won’t get it on the first try and I’ll have to gear up to try again.  I guess it would mean time would go to a second attempt rather than to something else, but that’s kind of irrelevant – an adventure is an adventure!

What won’t happen if you don’t get it – I might not get the credibility I’m looking for, for my ideas

 

These are the types of things I think about, and try to answer as brutally honestly as possible for myself.  I start to get a more intimate picture of what is involved with and what needs to be done to nail a particular objective.  Next post, I’ll lay out the Stoic Inversion Process I use to really drill down into specifics, that will allow me to be well-prepared, to stack the deck in my favor for success.