Rattlesnakes, Cell Towers and One Step at a Time

This weekend, I took a hike in Will Rogers State Park in the Los Angeles area. Much to our surprise, about a quarter mile into the hike, the trail turned into wilderness -- with masses of brush, rattlesnakes, and wild animals. Clearly we had taken a wrong turn. Cross country hiking was fun at first -- meeting the challenge with each step. Then, as our path clearly didn't return to the formal trail, we realized we were going to have to gut it out and find our way back to "civilization."

Since this isn't a blog about hiking, or even about my life in general, I will share with you some of the most interesting things I thought about during the hike:

• First, there was a clear cell signal throughout the hike. This provided a lot of comfort, but it also was a reminder that such mass communications have only been around for a few years. What did everyone do before?
  
• Second, and probably much more important than the first, the key to success was taking one step at a time, putting one foot in front of the other till we reached our goal.
  

This second lesson, was , of course, the essential one. And, as I was putting one foot in front of the other and not worrying about the longer term, I realized that the lesson applies all over life. At Roeder-Johnson, we work with Start-Ups, and often every day is about survival for them. Therefore, this one step at a time perspective seems to be critical for the technology world. It's imperative that young companies constantly challenge themselves to understand which next step will take them closer to the goal. And, to make the challenge even greater, all along the way, this one step at a time perspective needs to be integrated with the long-term goal -- while still remembering that without each individual step, the long term won't happen.

Who knew when we set out on Saturday morning, it would prove to be such an important few hours?