I subscribe to a bunch of online newsletters, to fertilize my mind with fresh ideas. Today there was one about effective corporation strategies. One recently hosted a conference which accelerated the collective commitment of the participants. When I hear about such events, my ears perk up like Spock's. 

A blogger from that conference asked these questions.

1. What is your organization aiming to accomplish?

2. What are your strategies for making this happen?

3. What are your organization's capabilities for doing this?
4. How will your organization know if you are making progress?

5. What have and haven't you accomplished so far? 

What happens when we shoot these same questions at our relationships? Do we find ways to become more effective? Or do we awkwardly change the subject? Personally I am slightly unnerved by the gaping holes in my own answers, big enough for entire years to fall though. I doubt that a CFO from one of these million dollar organizations would nod in approval at my haphazard stabs at achieving what I profess is one of my life's loftiest aspirations. 

Last weekend I was feeling limp about a personal goal. I decided to write down what I had already accomplished as well as what I aspired to do. After combing past behaviors, I came up with a handful of signs of progress. They tumbled into more words, adding up to benchmarks. I was shocked and wanted to tell someone so I cornered the next passing Odhner to crow. Not exactly a conference but it helped. The momentum lifted me out of neutral and into second gear. The proof on the page slashed into my ballooning sense of inadequacy and gave me a reason to keep trying. It shone a light on what I could not see in the murkiness of well-I-kinda-wanna-do-this-I-guess-if-there-are-no-obstacles.

The sweet thing is that by really looking at how far I had already come it created in me the energy to keep going. Who doesn't need that every once in awhile?