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During the pandemic, when we were living on the coast in North Carolina, I started going to the beach every single day. The weather wasn’t always great, but every day that it was safe to go in the ocean, even when the water was cold, I went in. Sometimes, it was just for a minute or two. But I had this realization that there might not be another time in my life that I lived minutes from the beach, and I didn’t want to miss a single day. I didn’t want to let that moment pass me by.

We’ve since gone from the beach to the mountains. There is snow in my driveway right now, and the ski slopes will open this weekend. So here’s my pledge:

I don’t know if Park City is a place where we’ll spend two years or 20. But I live five minutes from the base of the mountain, and I know that’s probably not going to be something I can say forever. I intend to make the most of it.

And any time I’m making a choice that takes me away from getting outside and doing something in the mountains — particularly on those half-day Fridays or a weekend — I need to remind myself: Make this most of this, Dan. Who knows how long it lasts.

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That photo of the gondola passing over snowy mountains and trees — I’m pretty sure it’s the Red Pine Gondola, over at the Canyons — comes via Mollie Moran and Unsplash.

Twenty years ago or so, my family took a vacation to Costa Rica. We rented a car to drive to this park that we were going to visit.

We didn’t have iPhones or Google Maps or GPS. We’d never been to Costa Rica before.

What we did have, from the travel agent who helped us book the trip, was a printed-out set of instructions to get to the hotel. We were mostly traveling on two-lane roads to the park — not the kind of roads that have big signs pointing you where to go. So instead of the instructions you’d expect — “Travel 10 miles down Highway 1, take a left at Highway 17, continue on for 12 miles…” — what we got was a bit more abstract.

I remember the very first instruction vividly: We were told to drive about 15 minutes down the road and take a left at the big tree.

I was in the front seat, and my dad was driving. So as we drove, we kept an eye on the clock. 15 minutes seemed a bit unclear — did we think Costa Ricans drove faster than the speed limit or at a more average speed? (Were there speed limits?) And how big was this big tree? We drove down the road looking at each tree we spotted. Was this tree big enough? What about that one?

And eventually, some 20 or 25 minutes later, we came to a fork in the road. And there, dead ahead, was a very big tree.

We took the left.

I don’t remember how long it took to get to our destination. But I do remember being amazed that we got there at all, especially considering the directions we had. They weren’t what I was used to, but they were enough to get us there.

Point is: There are a lot of ways to get to where you want to go.

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That photo of green and red trees along the blue Costa Rican coastline was taken by Max Bender for Unsplash.

Sometimes, when I’m on a road trip with the family, Google Maps will say that we’ve got two choices: We can stay on the highway and get to our destination in, say, 20 minutes, but things will be super slow due to an accident ahead; or we can get off the highway, driving at 25 or 35 miles per hour on a local road, and also get there in 20 minutes. The ETA doesn’t change — but with the local road, at least we’re not at a standstill.

When given that choice, my wife always chooses the local road. She always wants to be moving.

I was thinking about that recently while talking with a client. They were a little bit frustrated about the pace of progress with their work. They have a few big projects in the queue, but they need help from some colleagues to get those projects to the finish line, and that means a few more weeks (or months!) of work. They lamented the fact that they weren’t moving faster.

And I reminded them: There’s still stuff in their control that they can tackle sooner rather than later. Yes, those tasks might be a bit smaller, but getting them done would represent forward progress. 

A baby step is still a step in the right direction.

Everyone wants to move fast, but sometimes, that’s not an option. So if you have the chance to take a step forward, no matter how big, take it.

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That photo of a white, concrete staircase in Italy comes via Gabriella Clare Marino for Unsplash.