The map and the actual land!
When I plan a trip I enjoy plotting it in a map before I start. It helps me to be prepared to the choices I have along the way.
However, perception of distance in maps can be decieving. Recently I planned a roadtrip from Belgium to Portugal. It was ‘only’ 2000 km and 20h driving! Everything went perfectly according to the planned route, nevertheless the map said nothing about tired dry eyes, leg cramps, back pain and annoying radio stations!
This reminded me the importance of the simulation tools we often use in coaching to help our clients to ‘feel’ the different steps of the path they want to start, prior it even begins. They will then have the opportunity to take other ‘not so obvious’ needs into consideration. Enjoying the trip is quite often at least half of the fun!
therainmaking 
Good insights, as usual…
The process is definetely important in many cases; coaching is one of them.
In my work related with communication in strategic asset methods this way of thinking is very relevant.
I agree, thanks for your comment. Moreover, the parameters by which we chose to adjust the ‘map’ to ‘reality’ make all the difference to our satisfaction with the outcome. In the above example, measuring the length of the trip by ‘how long can I stay seated’, would have been as useful as ‘how long can I drive’. So, simulation tools are as useful in planing ‘long journeys’ as per the parameters we chose for giving structure to the simulation process.
In coaching, a very frequent simulation tool is based in walking backwards in a time line. We start in the desired (future) state and we apply a methodology to explore the path that ‘took’ us there. In your opinion, can this be an interesting approach in strategic asset methods?