Astronaut Alan Bean was the fourth person ever to walk on the moon, but that’s not the end of the story.  Well, if it was, that would be way too short a story.

While his journey to the moon as part of the Apollo 12 mission was doubtlessly the zenith of his career, he didn’t stop there.  In 1981, he retired from being an astronaut and pursued painting as… not quite a career, and not quite a hobby.  Alan Bean is a Progeek From Space.

Our passions can morph over time, taking sometimes radically different forms, but at their core, they remain the same.  Despite the flying leap between moonwalks and brushstrokes, Bean’s art reflects his previous achievements.  He specializes in lunar landscapes and actually incorporates real moon dust into his paintings.  Real moon dust!  How cool is that?

Beyond being a really neat story, it offers up some questions that all progeeks should ask themselves.

1. What is my “going to the moon?”
In other words, what goal of yours out-and-out tops all the others?  What’s the thing you want to be remembered for?  This serves as a reminder that a career is a long term string of goals all put together.  A career is a lifestyle.  So what is the super-epic-awesome achievement you want to reach through that lifestyle?  How do your daily choices support it? 

2. What is my overarching theme and what connects me to it?
In Alan Bean’s case, his theme is exploration (of space and of things artistic) and his connection is the Apollo 12 Mission (both being on it and painting pictures of it).  Your theme might be compassion, communication, mediation, discovery, leadership… Give it some thought and then ask yourself what you’re involved with that conveys your theme.  What do you do every day, year after year (or what would you like to be doing) that gets you into your theme?  What is your connection to where you’ve always wanted to be?

It’s all about making sure that the little things in your life are building towards the big things.  After all, super-epic-awesome accomplishments are really just the culmination of many years of dedication and hard work.  So set your trajectory for a fulfilling life, and always remember to shoot for the moon.