False Cliche: Every Journey Begins with a Single Step

Chinese philosopher Laozi is known as the father of Taoism. He was born around 600 BC and is credited with writing the foundational book “Tao Te Ching,” which helped launch the religion.

Chapter 64 of that work says, in part:

A tree as great as a man’s embrace springs from a small shoot;
A terrace nine stories high begins with a pile of earth;
A journey of a thousand miles starts under one’s feet.

This has been boiled down into the common cliche: “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” The phrase seems objectively true and has served as motivation for countless people toward getting off their butts, picking themselves up by their bootstraps (to leverage another cliche), and just stop making excuses!

It’s a great phrase. I love it! But it’s also absolutely false.

Every journey does not, in fact, begin with the first step. It begins long before that. Taking that first or second or 1000th step without a clear plan in mind is likely to take you to some place you don’t want to go… or worse.

There is another age-old bit of wisdom that says people lost in the woods often walk in circles. They actually did a scientific study about this in 2009. The Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybergenetics did extensive research with interesting results that verify the claim.

Nearly all of the participants, that were either in a forest on an overcast day or walking in the desert at night (therefore without benefit of the sun or other landmarks), found themselves eventually looping back on their path.

The study further observed how blindfolded people would behave when asked to walk in a straight line. It showed that they walked in a circular pattern as soon as 66 feet into their journey! And, when repeated, they did not always circle back in the same direction… sometimes it was clockwise and other times counter clockwise. As their quest to walk straight continued, their circular patterns often tightened into smaller concentric patterns.

The scientists concluded that it was not due to a genetic flaw nor the curvature of the earth nor even one leg being longer than the other. Instead, they reasoned, it is due to the summation of many micro-miscalculations of the brain. Without the benefit of visual guides, these small mistakes mount up to eventually bring us back to where we began.

Celebrated American author Stephen Covey wrote his many-time bestseller “7 Habits of Highly Effective People” in 1989. It is still an incredibly impactful self improvement book now 30 years later.

In it Covey talks about everything in your life having two creations: the first is the mental creation and the second is the physical manifestation. We have to envision the thing we want to achieve (and plan for it) before we start taking the steps to make it a reality.

That thousand mile journey will be a wandering and fruitless one if you do not first decide the destination, plot the route you plan to take, fill up your gas tank, and bring the map (or GPS) and other needed supplies. So, no, the journey didn’t start with the first step — it started with a goal and then a plan.

I often talk to friends, family or co-workers (and not just young ones) about their goals and life plan. All too frequently they don’t have one. They don’t know where they want to be in their career in five years — let alone 25. They don’t have a plan for retirement or how to get out of debt or build a nest egg. They don’t really know their aspirations at all.

Sometimes, as a manager, during one-on-one meetings I get asked where I see their career going. It’s not that I’m bothered by this question, and I will often let people know the track I see them currently on or the momentum they have to the next promotion. However, it’s actually really misplaced to look to someone else tell you what your goals should be.

I can’t tell you what you to aspire to in your career or what you should want out of life, any more than I can tell you where you should go on your next vacation. I can make a suggestion or tell you what’s worked for me, but it’s different and unique for every person.

Just like not everyone should aspire to be an entrepreneur, not everyone should aim for being a manager, nor the same subject matter expertise. We all have different passions, different gifts, different motivations, different expectations and work ethics. Your path is not my path and is not the same as any of your co-workers. You are unique.

A good manager should be there to guide you to chart a path toward your individual goals (once you set them). A mentor can help you unlock your potential or help you see what is possible or realistic. But nobody can set them for you. That’s all on you, buddy!

Every journey of a thousand miles starts with a goal.

Then with planning and preparation.

And finally… with the first step.