Even visionaries envision in increments

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What a relief! Even visionaries can only see a short distance down the road.

Check out the (seemingly) tiny dream Paul Allen and Bill Gates had when founding their company, Microsoft. From Success Magazine (Second Act by Sally Deneen, Feb 2012):

Allen and Gates were dreaming about an entrepeneurial future. It was the early 70s and Allen was a college dropout who lived in a lousy apartment and drove an oil-burning 1964 Chrysler New Yorker. 

He asked Gates how big the company could be if everything went right. 

“I think we could get it up to 35 programmers,” Gates replied. 

“That sounded really ambitious to me,” Allen recalls thinking.

You know what that means for the rest of us? That it’s OK not to have big, hairy goals. Inspired incrementalism works. And works well.

For me, if I can only see the next 100 yards, fine. It’s not out on the horizon, it’s doable. It’s just a goal post away.

 

Paraphrasing Socrates: It is the engaged life that is worth living
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