One Bite at a Time
How do you eat an elephant? is the question, Alex.
I recently gave that advice to my students who have just started the daunting journey of researching and writing their history capstone this semester. I decided to take it for myself, because the journey of building A Good Spot has been feeling a mite daunting to me lately. (That “a mite” should be “impossibly.”) It all could get lost under the piles and piles piling up from the semester.
Every day—I thusly resolved on a particularly wintery Sunday—I am going to take one step, no matter how small or trivial, toward building A Good Spot.
The first step I took that Sunday was to watch a YouTube video that I had saved to my “watch later” list many months ago. The video was about a couple who built a yurt off-grid home in Vermont. It was a slow-moving video that explained their whole journey, including how they delayed their plans by a year because they found a bit more land to buy which wasn’t in the budget. They worked and saved. They lived in an RV while they built the yurt. They had help building it, but they figured out all the water collecting, solar, etc., etc.1
“What one man can do, another can do.”2
I have watched quite a few videos about living off-grid, building domiciles in the wilderness, because I think A Good Spot may have tiny homes tucked in the woods, for retreats, to be rented, for volunteers, for I don’t know what. You never know what idea or inspiration might come from those who went before you, so watching a YouTube video is a legitimate step toward the goal.
The second step on the second day I took was to submit the annual reports for my LLCs to keep them tidy and legal.
The third step on the third day was to identify a few accountants near me who seem worth contacting.
The fourth step was to list topics I would like the accountant to help me with.
The fifth step was to think about fostering again because I saw an urgent call for fosters. I ended up deciding against fostering at this moment because I couldn’t give enough time to a poor critter. I wish I could but thinking through and recognizing one’s limitations is important to do and helps clear one’s mind. I can think about fostering again after the semester is over.
The sixth step was to write a first draft of the contact email I will send to the potential accountants.
One step per day, sometimes taking only fifteen minutes. One week and suddenly I’m confident about reaching out to accountants to begin the process of finding a good one.
I’m not here to tell anyone how to do their thing. I’m here to explain how and why I’m trying to do mine. I’m holding myself accountable by reporting out. Thank you for listening.
P.S. Since that first week, I’ve been reading Who Will Let the Dogs Out: Stories and Solutions for Shelters and Rescues by
.P.P.S. I’ve also been posting—for a long while now—every day in Substack’s Notes a photo of my new pup, Uša, with a hopefully funny caption, like the one below.
Pledges to A Good Spot
Please, consider pledging to this substack, A Good Spot, as it would be greatly encouraging and well, simply, AWESOME. Click here to learn more about A Good Spot and its long-term goals.
If you’re interested, here’s a link to the video.
That line spoken by Anthony Hopkins in The Edge has stuck with me for years.
Boop. 💕🐾
Slow and steady wins the race 👍🏼