Boy Scout Troop 325
Scoutmaster Minute
A Winter Walk In The Wood
January 10, 2001
George Denise, Scoutmaster (as told by Bill Gertz)

A boy and his father were walking through the woods on a cold winter morning. They came to an open field. A light snow had fallen during the night and the snow was still untracked. The father looked across the field and pointed to a tall oak tree. Son, I'll make you a bet that I can walk a straighter line across this field to that oak tree than you can. "No way!" cried the boy. And they started out together. Looking down, the boy carefully placed one foot in front of the other. Every now and then, he looked up. If he was a little off course, he adjusted his direction, and continued as before. When they arrived at the oak tree on the opposite side of the clearing, they looked back together. The son's tracks went along in a straight line, but you could see every now and then how he would begin to get off course, then discover it, correct it, then continue on until the next correction, forming a slight zig-zag across the field. The father's tracks, on the other hand, formed an almost perfectly straight line across the field right up to the tree. "I don't understand," said the son. "I was so careful. How could your trail be so much straighter than mine?"

"Because," answered his father, "While you were looking at the ground where you were placing your feet, I was looking straight ahead at the tree we were walking toward."

If you want to be successful in reaching your goals, stay focused on them. Visualize them as you continue to move toward them. You will have a far better chance of achieving them.