Thoughts about…

Goals within Goals

After last month’s newsletter, I had the idea of spending this year writing about my participation in the Tahoe Big Year. While I realize that this may not be everyone’s cup of tea. That is, hearing about my experience searching for Sierra Nevada birds. Rest assured that I don’t plan to provide a how-to manual for birding or identifying birds, or just using this as a vehicle to share a bunch of stories about finding this or that bird. My hope, rather, is that you see this correspondence in a broader light. Consider it a behind-the-scenes look at someone pursuing one of their passions over the course of an entire year. Well, at this point, for the next eight months or so.

The reason I decided to talk about this is because it’s very relevant to me. It’s something that’s constantly on my mind. Now, to be clear, I’m not actually saying that birds are constantly on my mind (despite the fact that, realistically, they are this year!). Instead, it’s the process and the challenges to completing longer-term goals that weigh heavy on me. That’s because I’m always working on at least one or two of them at any given time.

Completing long-term goals requires a lot of patience and diligent training. And they can be challenging to stick with, especially if they require more than just a month or two to accomplish. There’s always something else you could be doing with your time, after all.

Washoe Meadows State Park on March 3, 2024. © Jared Manninen

What I find helpful when working toward long-term goals, however, is to make sure that they fit into the SMART model (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Timely). This isn’t to say that I explicitly write everything out or develop a battle plan detailing exactly how I’m going to tackle my goals. There are situations where that’s necessary, and people do advocate taking this approach no matter what. However, many of my longer-term goals just aren’t that complicated. For example, every winter I try to log at least 100 cross-country ski days. And for this year’s Tahoe Big Year, I want to document at least 200 birds. I could totally break down both of those goals into smaller steps for tracking and accountability purposes. But I know that so long as I stay connected to them on a daily and weekly basis, I’ll be successful.

For the sake of clarity and for those who aren’t familiar with SMART goals, I’ll quickly illustrate the process with regard to the 2024 Tahoe Big Year (TBY).

• Specific – I have a specific target number in mind for achieving my TBY goal, which is to document 200+ birds.
• Measurable – Based on that number, I can measure whether or not I’m on track or have completed my goal.
• Achievable – In the 2021 TBY, I logged 201 birds. I have friends who’ve also found 200+ birds during previous TBYs.
• Relevant – I love to find and photograph birds of Lake Tahoe, as well as to learn more about them.
• Timely – The TBY goes from January 1st to December 31st, so I have a specific timeframe in which to complete my goal.

Choosing a SMART goal is the start of this process but that’s just the setup, right? It’s the easy part because it’s not the actual work. Planning and hoping and dreaming is a much different thing than executing and working and doing. To succeed at any long-term goal, though, you need to be able to both plan and execute. But of those two, execution is still by far the most important factor. For example, I can accomplish lots of things without having an actual plan or even a clear vision of what I want that end-goal to be. But a plan without action is essentially just a sequential list of your thoughts. That, alone, doesn’t qualify as completing your goal.

So, action and execution is the real magic behind any operation. It’s the work in the trenches and the daily grind that you have to embrace if you want to see that long-term goal come to fruition. And the not-so-funny thing about this whole process is that taking action is going to be 100% up to you. People may provide support along the way but, ultimately, nobody can accomplish your goals for you. And even if they could, why would you want them to? They’re your goals not theirs.

Kirkwood Cross Country on March 10, 2024. © Jared Manninen

It’s this latter concept that’s had me stressed out recently about doing the Tahoe Big Year. As I previously mentioned, I was on some group texts with birding friends in order to share information about rare sightings. At some point, though, those group texts started featuring all-points-bulletins on just about every bird that everyone was finding.

I exaggerate, of course, but the point is that most of the correspondence started trending toward real-time updates from everyone in the field looking for anything and everything. “Hey! I’m over here and I just saw it fly over there,” followed by an “I’m on my way,” only to be followed up with another person stating, “No, it’s not over here but guess what else I just found?!” As comical as all of that sounds, it became exhausting keeping up with the frenzy especially when I was at work or otherwise occupied.

In my opinion, the group text finally went off the rails when the chatter began one day recently at 8:15am and didn’t end until 10pm that night. To be fair, the birds that people found and were discussing in that group text were good birds. But only one of them was truly rare, and there was already a post about it on the Tahoe Birding FB group.

Needless to say, I didn’t sleep well that night because I knew I had to make a tough decision. And that decision revolved around whether or not I was going to stay on that group text. The reason I was so stressed was that these are my friends and every one of them is a valuable source of birding information. So, in essence, I was increasing the difficulty level of my goal to find 200 birds by denying myself access to that resource.

But I absolutely had to get off that group text to safeguard my mental health. There was just no way that I was going to be able to sustain that amount of texting on a daily basis during the next five months of peak birding.

View from Echo Summit on March 14, 2024. © Jared Manninen

Full disclosure, I actually hate texting except for using brief missives to coordinate a meet-up or whatever. So being trapped on a never-ending and constantly flowing group text is one of my personal nightmares. And, no, you cannot just leave or remove yourself from a group chat on 99% of Android-based phones.

Distracting notifications aside, though, there was something else that was bothering me about being on that group text. With the free-flow of detailed location information and real-time updates about the bird(s) in question, it began to feel like agency was being taken away from me. No longer was it up to me to research and hunt down those birds. Rather, it felt like I was being spoon-fed the exact information that I needed to find them (assuming that I could drop everything and go look for them, of course). I totally agree that it’s never a guarantee you’re going to find that same bird. But, clearly, the odds are stacked in your favor when you’re privy to that type of intel.

That all sounds great, though, right? And I could call those texts “research” if I wanted to. At that point, though, I was just going along for the ride rather than steering the ship for myself. And that’s not how I roll.

Kirkwood Cross Country on March 23, 2024. © Jared Manninen

I prefer to be in the trenches every day fighting for every inch, on my own terms. Again, the magic to achieving any long-term goal is to be on the grind day in and day out. You have to live it. There’s no substitution or fast-track to success by skipping ahead or cutting corners. And even if you do succeed at achieving your stated goal under such circumstances, it’s often nothing more than a hollow victory. We’ve all seen in every profession, industry, or discipline those people who’ve been granted some sort of, for lack of a better term, honorary membership, title, position, or award compared to those who’ve earned it through years of hard work. The bottom line is that those two types of people are simply not in the same league.

I don’t just cross-country ski 100 days each winter so that I can brag about reaching that number. I ski as frequently as I do because I want to be healthy and become a better skier.

And, guess what? At my annual physical recently, my resting heart rate was 63, blood pressure was 100/56, and overall cholesterol was 176. Admittedly, I could afford to drop a few LDL points, but those numbers aren’t too shabby for a soon-to-be 50 year old dude who likes to eat cheeseburgers and drink beer. In addition, I officially earned my PSIA Level 3 certification in cross-country skiing at the end of March. I can say with certainty that had I not logged so many 100+ ski day winters in recent years, I wouldn’t have been able to accomplish that goal. Those examiners see all, and they can spot immediately those who haven’t put in the time and miles in pursuit of that coveted certification. I’m not going to say that I’m part of an elite crew but, realistically, very few people go on to earn their Level 3 certification in cross-country skiing.

Kirkwood Cross Country on March 27, 2024. © Jared Manninen

If I was to compare that level 3 to my experience training in the Japanese martial art of Aikido, I would consider it to be the equivalent of earning a black belt. But the Japanese, as well as myself, see black belts differently than most Americans. In Aikido, the first black belt is called “Shodan” which can be translated as “first step.” Basically, this means that you’ve taken the first step and now you’re truly ready to learn. On the other hand, Americans tend to see black belts as someone who’s mastered their art.

I’m not completely against the latter, but you can see how that attitude can become problematic. That is, to believe that you’ve now become a master because you hold a certain rank. The problem with this is that once you believe you know everything, there’s no reason for you to continue learning. So, again, rather than primarily viewing these types of certifications as indicators of mastery, I treat them as launching points for deeper learning.

So, yes, documenting 200+ birds is a really SMART goal. However, for me, it’s just the tip of the iceberg.

Stampede Reservoir on March 28, 2024. © Jared Manninen

The current Tahoe Big Year standings are different than the screenshot below. So visit the official TBY website to see the current top 5 contenders.

Winter kept rolling through March starting off with an epic snowstorm at the beginning of the month. There were other storms along the way and even on the last day of the month, March 31st, it felt like a mid-January kind of cross-country ski day at Carson Pass. Crazy spring weather here at Lake Tahoe this year!

Thanks for being a part of my life. Until next time…

-Jared Manninen

Tahoe Trail Guide is an online resource for hiking, backpacking, cross-country skiing, and snowshoeing in the Lake Tahoe region. In addition to trail data, I offer backcountry “how-to” articles and information about the local and natural history of Tahoe. Tahoe Swag is a collection of art and design products I create based on my love of the outdoors and appreciation for Lake Tahoe and the surrounding Sierra Nevada Mountains.

If you like any of the images I post in these newsletters, please contact me. I’d be more than happy to upload them to my RedBubble account so that you can order prints and other merchandise featuring the images.

A Note about Patreon and PayPal…

Patreon is an online platform for providing financial support to creators who provide quality digital content that’s otherwise free. I offer various subscription tiers starting at $3. And all subscription tiers from $6 and up will receive original artwork after six consecutive months of contributions. The button directly below the Patreon button is a way in which to provide a one-time payment via PayPal (if subscriptions aren’t your thing).

My newsletters here on JaredManninen.com, the articles that I publish on Tahoe Trail Guide, and the videos I upload to YouTube will always be free. But if you’re interested in contributing to the health and longevity of my websites and YouTube channel, consider subscribing. Even a little goes a long way 🙂

Become a Patron!