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Five Steps To Freedom

Steven Barnes
4 min readNov 14, 2019

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Jerry Pournelle once told me hat as you get closer to finishing a project, you progress toward your goal “asymptotically”. In other words, you can get half way there. And then half way. And then half way…

It feels like you’ll never get there. And if your goal is “perfection” you are correct. But for all practical purposes? That’s another matter.

If I want to finish the WOMAN WARRIOR’s JOURNEY program, I have to deal with the frustration of things getting more and more granular, and therefore requiring more and more time, and causing frustration. So… I’d use a tool from the program itself. And its working great.

Choose a goal, any goal. Define where you are now. What is the “gap” between where you are and where you need to be to finish?

Let’s say the goal was to earn a black belt. I’d say your “five steps” might be:

  1. Decide on your reasons. If you aren’t clear on the “Why” the “How” doesn’t matter.
  2. Decide on a school. More important than style. You need to find a school that appeals to you emotionally, where it would give you a sense of joy and belonging (perhaps) to be a part of the “family”
  3. Model the Black Belts at the school. Be sure they are the kinds of people, with the skills and emotions that you find appealing. What did they do to succeed? Talk to them.
  4. Make your commitment. DECIDE that you are going to stay the course.
  5. Begin to walk the path.

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Steven Barnes
Steven Barnes

Written by Steven Barnes

Steven Barnes is a NY Times bestselling author, ecstatic husband and father, and holder of black belts in three martial arts. www.lifewritingpodcast.com.

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