How many of you had fun on the Sunset Beach campout? How many of you are a rank less than first class? Keep your hands up. How many of you got an advancement requirement signed off? (Down)
There are well over 100 requirements to get to First class, about 30 of which must be done on a campout. To get to Eagle if you figure every merit badge has between 10 and 20 requirements that’s 300 more. Throw in an Eagle project and I bet there’s close to 500 things that have to be done to make Eagle scout.
Question: How do you eat an elephant? (One bite at a time)
Ancient Chinese philosopher Lao Tsu: One of his famous sayings translates roughly to: A Journey of 1000 miles starts with a single step.
What do these two have in common? Both relate to completing a big task or achieving a goal.
At the beginning of the school year you get a bunch of books: Science, Social studies, Math, English. Each book has several hundred pages one had over 800. Do you worry about how you’re going to get through it all? The teacher has syllabus or plan to do it and off you go 3 to 6 pages per day and by the end of the year your done.
So here’s my suggestion for you guys working towards First class. Make a plan before every outing of what you’re going to get signed off and then do it. When it comes to outings, Don’t worry about having fun, in Troop 290, Fun happens! If you get something signed off and have fun at the same time that’s even better.
Let me help you with some math to make first class, you have to participate in 10 outings. If there are 30 signoffs that have to be done on an outing that means you should plan on getting three signed off on every outing.
Remember Fun happens!
