Do You Want to Stay in the Swamp? Or Go to Beijing?

My fellow Treasure Hunt Guide Leisa Ashbaugh is the primary author of this newsletter we sent out earlier this month.

You can read this from many perspectives: from the perspective of your personal life, your professional life, or your business. The real value comes in creating your own maps; instructions are in the final section.

Reviving Those Resolutions?
Ah, well here we are in February. It's that time of year when, triumphantly, I begin to write the date 2009, without having to write 2008 and to cross it out first. I'm empowered, refreshed, settling into the New Year, and coming to terms with the passage of time.
 
Sadly it's also that point in the year where, predictably, infuriatingly, the goals and resolutions I made in January with such hope, commitment and enthusiasm have at best, lost some of their luster, or at worst, been abandoned completely.
 
Whenever I make goals and resolutions, I get really inspired, and immediately map out exactly how to get from where I am to where I want to be. I know just what I need to do to make it happen. I can see the goal clearly and the direct pathway from here to there, and can't wait to get started. Then suddenly, its 30 days later and things have not gone as planned. People, events, circumstances, even my own actions did not respond as I had anticipated, and now somehow I'm off track.
 
Beware the swamp
If I'm not careful, I can easily find myself asking questions like, "What went wrong?" "Why am I not getting what I want?" "Why does this keep happening?" "How am I going to fix this?" - Ultimately, feeling stuck or like I'm going around in circles. It's a place we call in Treasure Hunt terms - the swamp.
 
Does any of this sound familiar?
If so, instead of heading down the predictable, well worn paths those questions inevitably lead, why not do a little exploring?

New York to Beijing, Departing Pier 32
One thing we say in Treasure Hunt is:

There is always a pathway from where you are to where you want to be. 

And it's when I'm headed toward the February swamp I like to add,

. . . but it may not be the pathway you planned.
 
Truth is, wherever you are going, there are an infinite number of ways you could get there. But our minds aren't made to think like that. Our minds are designed to think in patterns and follow the familiar. So in the absence of an explorer's effort, it's easy to get hung up on in the way we think it should go (our original great plan), and when that doesn't work, it's off to the swirl of the swamp.
 
A fun and easy way to forgo a trip the swamp, and at the same time open up to new treasures and serendipity on the way to your goals, is to create scenarios. A scenario is a Treasure Map of one possible way to get from where you are to where you want to be.
 
It can be a simple description, story, or outline;it can be a picture; it can be a spreadsheet. They can fit on an index card, or can take two years and a staff of ten if you're a big company.

When you create scenarios, it's like you are a sea captain in New York, thinking of all the different ways you could get to Beijing. You can create maps showing the most direct route, the longer-yet-easier route, the tried-and-true route, the never-been-tried route, the sail-the-seven-seas route, the I-could-never-do-that route, the they-would-think-I'm-crazy route, the that's-illegal route, the sell-the-ship-and-fly route, and on and on.
 
You are not committing to go any of these routes, you are not saying one is better than another, nor are you trying to find the right one.
 
Rather, when you explore scenarios, you are just playing with all the possible pathways to get from here to there, and all the possible outcomes that could happen. In other words, you are exploring new options, different, hypothetical ways to get from where you are to what you want.

Just by making these maps, no matter how silly, far-fetched or fantastic, you are actually forging new pathways in your brain. It's as though you have literally given your mind permission to think new thoughts and see new opportunities outside of the familiar.

How To Make Maps of Your Own
Make Quick Maps Right Now (3-5 minutes)
What's something you expect to be doing in the next day or so? It can be a big thing, a little thing. Just something that looking ahead, you assume you'll be doing it.

1. Tell yourself a quick story about how you get from right now to where you're heading, something as simple as:
   
   I'll be having dinner with my friends tonight. I'm going to be at work for the next five hours, head to the gym for an hour, shower and change, and then drive to the restaurant.
   
2. Imagine that something unexpected comes up and changes your day. Map out another path that can get you to the same future.
3. Now map out a path that starts the same as the first one, but ends up at a different place.
   
4. Imagine a couple of paths that have a endings that you don't like they can be serious or silly).

See how many paths you can imagine, how many maps you can create to the future.

As you go through the day, notice what you assume will be happening a few days, a few hours, or a few minutes from now. Practice creating scenarios--maps--of how the future could go.

Making Richer Maps (twenty minutes to a couple of hours)
There's no right or wrong way to create scenarios. The idea is to create new pictures in your mind that will resonate as you move through time. You'll find the way to map out the future in a way that works for you.

To get started:

1. What's one of your Treasure Hunts? It may be something personal, it could be at work. It can serious, or silly. You may have a specific treasure (a goal or outcome) in mind, or you may just be poking around in a general area to see what you discover (finances, career, relationship, health . . . ).
2. Create a Treasure Map with a likely path to the future--the path that's most reasonable and predictable. People make all sorts of maps. You can write a story, draw pictures, make a spreadsheet, or create a Powerpoint presentation. It's your map, make it something that speaks to you. You may want to set a timer for 5-10 minutes.
3. Now, create two or three more maps. They may take you to the same place or somewhere different. A couple may be similar, but be sure one or two are very different. You can create a silly map, a tragic map . . . you can be the hero or villain . . . you can create something that's highly unlikely or illegal or scary or risky. The idea is to tell stories and create scenarios about how the future could go.
4. Be sure to create a couple of maps with endings you don't like. Things don't always go the way we like and we don't always get to the treasure. These maps will help you see what to avoid!

Part of the beauty of scenarios is that you don't need to do anything with them; you don't need to work on them. In fact, it turns out, they work on you.
 
As you go throughout the next days and weeks, be on the lookout for something like this. You may be again tempted to head to the swamp, but very often instead, your mind will remember, "Oh ya, I remember that one and how it turns out - no thanks" and head another way. It's also likely that you may begin to get new ideas and recognize new opportunities for getting to your goal. Whatever the form, you can be sure it is a treasure.
 
We love to hear what treasures you are finding - click barak@gotreasurehunting.com" title="mail to Barak">here to share a treasure you got from this newsletter.