Making Headway

Making Headway: (Audio)

Have you ever reached that stage of a project or task when it felt like you were finally making headway? You’ve slogged through all the background work, prep time, and laid out the plans for completion, and it seems like everything you do to make it to the end is weighted down by unseen tasks, or distractions.

But finally. You reach the point where it seems you are starting to make headway.

Headway? A nautical term dating back to the 1300’s describing a ship going “ahead-way” as in the sense of a “forward motion” as the waters flow against you. When you use “headway” you are describing the concept of moving forward in spite of all the forces that are working against your progress.

I could go down my list of projects and tasks and judge whether anything is advancing, or I could simply celebrate the headway I’m making along particular paths.

But here’s the thought for today. You often never recognize your progress unless you have something to gauge it against. You know. Where did you start? Where are you going? How far down the path to the destination have you moved? And…it’s not just a measure of distance, it is also a measure of time. Is your progress meeting your scheduled time?

You need a Goal!

It’s sort of like driving from Point A to Point B. You know, it’s easy math! You will drive 60 mph and you have to travel 120 miles. Well, simple math says its 2 hours. But, weather, traffic, refueling, emergency stops, coffee, bathroom breaks and all the other distractions along the way will extend that 2 hours by some minutes into the future! If you are not careful you will feel the stress of a looming deadline without making time for all those “extra’s”.

There are several I know who need to make a pitstop (bathroom) every 45-60 minutes. Where I can go for hours without a stop, they require frequent pull-overs. You lose time, your place in traffic, have to fight that slow vehicle bogging up the traffic…again. And maybe even again within the next hour! Essentially, you waste more time than the simple 5-minute pullover! I’ve purposed to never ride with them again!

For several years I’ve been planning on cleaning out the garage. I started last week making a serious dent in the wall of books! Over 50 boxes still sitting there from our relocation. Every so often I would dig through looking for something specific, but I never took ownership of cleaning it up. Yesterday – YEAH! 10 boxes stacked for a trip to Goodwill, $33.00 for a trip to the dump, and what was important was condensed into 3 tubs for the future. And, about 25 feet of Garage Wall Reclaimed! There are still 2 other walls to address and it will be D-O-N-E by Thanksgiving!

If it’s the little foxes that spoil the vine (Song of Solomon 2:15), then we should celebrate the little wins! If we are celebrating, then we are making special those accomplishments that looked like mountains but were most likely molehills. That’s what happens when you measure your progress! You see that you ARE making Headway!

Here’s a warning. Your forward progress not celebrated makes it easy to feel like you are spinning your wheels and going nowhere. Quickly. You fall back to the starting point, over and over again, and eventually, you simply give up.

Whether it’s losing weight, paying off your debt load, saving for a special trip – celebrate the Headway you are making and it will keep the goal shining!