Wisdom-Trek / Creating a Legacy

Welcome to Day 97 of our Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.

This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom.

Hiking the Trail of Genius (2)

Thank you for joining us for our 7 day a week, 7 minutes of wisdom podcast. This is Day 97 of our Trek. Yesterday we started our exploration of the four zones of life, or as we referred to them as trails, where we can choose to spend most of our time. So far we have hiked the Trail of Incompetence and the Trail of Competence. Today we will explore the Trail of Excellence and the Trail of Genius. When we finish this two day hike, we will have a clearly marked map showing how we can navigate toward and spend most of our time on our personal Trail of Genius.

We are recording our podcast from our studio at The Big House in Marietta, Ohio. We are making slow but steady progress on the woodwork in the dining room. My hope is to be ready to complete a couple of coats of polyurethane on the woodwork and floors before we head back to Charlotte at the end of next week.

In addition to my client work and preparing for this daily podcast, I am also preparing to speak at Putnam Congregational Church the next two Sundays. I will be using a few of the notes from Wisdom-Trek.com as the lesson material. Life sometimes is quite busy, and we yearn for a less hectic pace. But in the same way, it is rich and satisfying. We do deal with the emotional rollercoaster each day, just like you, and it is with the preparation of this Wisdom-Trek journal that we are able to maintain a reasonable balance in life.

I trust that listening to the podcast or reading the journal helps you to find balance as well. Thank you for allowing me to share each day. Let us know in the comments on the daily journals how it is helping and what we can do to serve you better.

 

It is time now to break camp and set out to explore the final two trails. If you missed our hike on the first two trails of Incompetence and Competence, please listen to Day 96 of our Trek.

 As I mentioned yesterday, the zones or trails that we are exploring were originally mapped out in a book called The Big Leap written by Gay Hendricks. In this book Gay plots the zones or trails that will help us to conquer fear and take life’s trek to the next level. This is possible, but only if we are willing to make the changes needed.

Trail #3 – Excellence

The Trail of Excellence is where most proficient and successful people hike. This is a trail that you can excel on. You are more successful than most other hikers, and you are rewarded for it. This reward can be monetary, like in a job or business situation, or it can be recognition by others for your particular giftedness.

While you may have a sense of satisfaction on this trail, it is also easy to become too comfortable on this trail. Although you may be compensated and recognized for your achievements, there is a gnawing sense that you're not making the kind of impact you want, and you live on a plateau of tolerance. You are on the brink of breaking through into genius, but you have to take that leap of faith and venture out of comfort.

A personal example for me would be the remote technical support work that I do for one of our clients. I have excelled in this field and enjoy the work most days but feel that I am on a plateau and desire to break through to the Trail of Genius. While I feel that God still wants me to use my gifts on this current trail, this podcast and some of the other business changes that I have briefly mentioned will help us to move upward to the final trail.

Trail #4 – Genius

The Trail of Genius often requires a bold decision. Your friends and family will question you because you are leaving behind what, to them, seems like success to pursue something speculative.