The start of the new year is often a time when people want to make new changes in their lives, which is also a good opportunity to look back at the basics of the Servant Leadership tools to have the right foundation to chart a path forward.
The There-Here-Path is the framework for life. If you’re finding that you’re off track, it’s likely that you’ve lost sight of one of these three elements.
There
First is your There. Beginning with the There gives you something to aim for; a direction to move in. It keeps you from the cycle of putting out fires of whatever is most important in the moment and gives you perspective of what is ahead.
A Transcendent There is a mission statement that guides your life. It is an all-encompassing, never-achievable goal that helps you align your actions with your values. If you don’t have a Transcendent There for your life, this values exercise will help you get to the basics and narrow down and prioritize what is important to you. If you do have a Transcendent There, spend some time considering if you are using it to its full potential and really living in light of your values.
Here
That brings us to the next stage: Here. Most of the Servant Leadership tools are actually Here tools that help you assess your current reality. After all, you cannot get where you want to go if you do not know where you are starting from.
Your Here is constantly changing. So, while your goal will remain stagnant, where you are in relationship with it needs to be re-assessed regularly. Doing this will help you keep track of where you’re going by knowing where you are.
Path
Finally, we have the Path. This is all of the actions that you take to get from Here to There. Your Here changes with every step you take along the Path, and you need to act, learn, and adjust along the way. If you only act, then you will end up off course and find yourself in a totally different direction than where you wanted to be. That’s why it’s important to assess your Here along the way. Learn from every action you take, and then adjust if necessary to stay on the Path to get There.
All of this requires intention. And sometimes intention can feel exhausting. But the goal of the There-Here-Path is not to keep your mind constantly occupied with the tools, but that the tools would allow you to live more freely and get where you want to go. We’re not trying to add more tasks to your to-do list this New Year, but rather to give you the tools to actually accomplish what is already on it.
It’s easy to forget the basics, or to think that we’re beyond them. But, this New Year, let’s begin by taking things simply and not forgetting where we’ve come from and where we want to go.
Gracie McBride is the Content and Systems Development Coordinator at The Crossroad.
