crossing the chasm
If you’ve ever found yourself overwhelmed by the journey and declared “maybe I should turn around”, chances are you were in the presence of a chasm — a long, deep, and intimidating fissure in the ground that clearly separates the space between where you are and where you know you need to be.
The anxiousness you feel when you think about what must be done to move from a prototype to a product that you can put in a customer’s hands is a chasm.
The worry you have when you wonder if the new thing you bravely decided to try will really help is a chasm.
The anticipation of having honest yet difficult conversations to build stronger personal and working relationships is a chasm.
The reason you feel anything, the reason you encounter chasms at all, is because you care. You care about doing right by the people you serve, you care about helping make a difference, you care about the relationships you have.
So long as you’re human, the journey will continue to occasionally be intimidating. But the next time you encounter a chasm and your heart is racing, remember the reason you’re feeling the chasm at all. When you stop gawking at the fissure and look at the other side, you can begin to remind yourself “I am doing this because ______”. Filling in the blank empowers you to happily commit the effort, energy, and sweat to cross the chasm. The journey stops being something you have to do and instead becomes something you get to do… because the people, the difference and the relationships are worth it.
