How high does your ladder go?

On a walk in a new area with our puppy today I came across two scenes that were so diametrically opposed to each other I felt compelled to take a few pictures and to write about it.

It was also fitting that today is Valentine’s Day - imageNamed in honor of St. Valentine. If the stories are true St. Valentine reached out and broke a few rules to help people achieve their goals – their goal was to get married.

What did he do? He extended his ladder and helped people achieve their dreams.

 

VDAY2009 102The first scene I came upon was a 30 foot ladder leaning against a tree. I wondered how many times I have put up a ladder and either failed to climb it or forgot where I put it. I thought for a while about that and realized that some of the best “ladders” or goals that I have reached for have been shared efforts. True, there are some efforts that must be solo journeys, but in honor of St. Valentine I was thinking about helping others achieve their goals.

 

VDAY2009 095The other scene I came across was this - an old truck in a dilapidated garage. I thought about those misplaced ladders and those dreams that I promised myself I would get to “Some Day” and wondered when I would get around to them.

What’s keeping you from your “Some Day” Dreams?

St. Valentine Broke the Rules to help people achieve their dreams. In his case they were rules not of his making. Which made me think that sometimes we follow rules that are self imposed and other times they are imposed by external parties.

How many times have you parked your dream at the end of a road and let the moss grow? Or let rules get in the way?

 Thinking Points

  • Do you have any misplaced or unclimbed ladders?
  • What “Some Day” Dream will you resurrect?
  • Are you willing to break the rules to help yourself and others achieve their goals?

So, How high does your ladder go?

If you have a “Some Day” dream that you want to share I’d love to hear about it here in the comments, but it’s more important that you just get out and do something – extend a ladder and break a few rules. Good luck.

clip_image002About The Author:
I have spent the better part of the last 16 years working in various aspects of the ECM space. I spent time at
Kofax, Microsoft, FileNet, K2, and most recently Captaris (which was acquired by Open Text in Nov 2008). Prior to that I was a Unix VAR running my own company. Follow me on Twitter, check my blog, send email or find me on Facebook or LinkedIn.

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Comments

chrisg said…
very interesting write up. I think that just about everyone has dreams that they have in the back of their minds, that they never act on. I am not talking about i dream of winning the lottery dreams. But rather I dream of someday opening my own bar, or my own advertising agency kind of dreams. I believe for me, (as well as others i imagine) the dreams are not chased because of the potential risks they pose to my family and they must be considered. Its hard to chase dreams when you have to at the same time be careful.