Reach Forward To Go Back - Grasshopper

Out of the blue came this Grasshopper directive: "Reach forward to go back." I haven't a clue what this cryptic message means, so let me explore.

My first question is: "Go back to what?"

 

The answer I come up with is back to basics. Reminds me of a story . . . years ago, I was a fan of the New York Knicks of the NBA. One of their all-star players, Willis Reed, retired and became their coach. During an interview he was asked what the team needed to do to get back to its past level of greatness. He said, "Believe it or not, these talented players have to relearn how to dribble." He said it was basic to the game of basketball and they had let the skill erode by placing flashy play in its place.

 

So back to basics is clear, but how does reaching forward fit in?

 

What are you after? Most reply to that question with a fuzzy answer - some global generality that has no meat on the bone like, "I want to be successful" or "I want to be satisfied" or "I just want to be happy."

 

To make the target more specific you have to have sensory building blocks in place. Future paced questions like, "What does it look like to be successful?" "What does it sound and feel like to be satisfied or happy?" You have to go to the future in your mind to see, feel, hear, taste and smell the benefits of achieving your goal.

 

That forward vision will prompt you to go back and find the building blocks of your desires - the basics.

 

I think many would agree that basic decency has left our culture. To reestablish it in our little corner of the world, we have to find out what "decency" means to us. That's reaching forward. Doing so presents us with a sense of the pieces necessary to get back to basic decency.

 

"Reach forward to go back" seems to be a formula that works. The only question now is, "Do we have the foresight to reach back to a time that basics were in place and put them back to work now?"

 

How you answer that question can change scattered quibbling into adept dribbling. I hope your answer will be the word that legendary basketball announcer Marv Albert loudly uses when a player makes a spectacular score: YES!

 

All the best,

John