We are well into the Third Step of the D&T Steps adventure series, and it has been a ride.
D&T Steps is a series of four adventures. You get two weeks to complete each adventure, or Step. With each Step you have the option of earning bonus points and at the end of the series the person with the most points wins a $400 Big Agnes backpacking tent.
Each Step is an adventure with a very specific intention: connection.
The First Step is a 5-mile solo hike, allowing time for us to connect with ourselves.
In the Second Step, we handwrite a letter to someone in our family as a way of strengthening ties of kinship.
The Third Step asks us to connect with the greater community through an act of public service.
And in the Fourth Step, we connect to God through a 24-hour vow of silence.
From ourselves, to our family, to our community, and ultimately to God, we understand these four Steps to be the Connecting Path. But it doesn’t end there.
Like the ancient ouroboros, we then circle around to the beginning, taking our newly affirmed connections back into our relationship with ourselves and starting the cycle anew.
This is a pilot. We had no idea how this would roll out. We had no idea if anyone would be interested. We had no idea if this would be fun. We had no idea if this would be challenging enough to qualify as a Dust and Tribe adventure.
But we were curious about what would happen, so we made it hard to say no. We promised free gifts to everybody: stickers, t-shirts, and water bottles. We made it ridiculously inexpensive to participate with discounts that would allow you to do the whole thing for $80. We incentivized with a HUGE grand prize. We essentially subsidized the experiment and after weeks of promotion, we started with 15 participants.
And after four weeks we are down to only seven people who still qualify to win that sweet, sweet, tent!
We learned that Steps is actually one helluva challenge and an OUTSTANDING adventure! One hike and one letter knocked out more than half of our participants!
Dust and Tribe stages adventures as an opportunity for each of us to learn a little something about how we operate. And then we can take those learnings back into the biggest adventure of all: our own lives.
In this way, Steps gives us tremendous insight into the attitudes and approaches we carry that either sabotage or support success.
Those with the highest scores so far have some remarkable things in common. They have set the Step as a priority. They ask clarifying questions. They make a plan. They are timely in the execution of that plan. And they are supportive of others.
There are others who are also doing very well by building extra stress into the process. They delay action, and then fire all cylinders to cross the finish line at the last possible moment.
Then there are those who no longer qualify to win the tent. This group allows for shifting priorities.
They are more prone to the belief that external circumstances have greater weight than internal aspiration. Rather than acknowledge that they have given up on a goal that they set for themselves, they are more prone to rationalizing their failure to execute either as a consequence of forces outside of their control or as a conscious decision to not follow through.
My own thought process is much more in line with this latter bunch. I set goals and very often fail to produce, choosing to invest in a narrative that keeps me grounded either as a victim of circumstance or else a paragon of intellect with unassailable insight into my immediate needs. There are lots of reasons for that.
But that’s for another post. For now I want to celebrate Steps as a fantastic window into the attitudes that both help and hinder growth. It’s been exciting enough that we are considering Steps as an open adventure with the option to jump in and see what you’re made of at any time while earning dope swag along the way.
Stay tuned for that!
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