How to Tackle a Goal That Feels Impossible

Five years ago, during the isolation of the pandemic, Dr. Timm Döbert had an ambitious idea: cycle from Alaska to Patagonia alongside the migration of one of the world’s most remarkable shorebirds.

This July, the University of Alberta researcher and global change ecologist began turning that idea into reality. Alongside endurance athlete Leanna Carriere, Döbert is undertaking a nine-month, 30,000-kilometre expedition through 15 countries. Called Wings of Survival, the journey follows GPS-tracked Hudsonian whimbrels as they migrate south through the Americas.

The ride will support bird and human endurance research, connect virtual classrooms with the expedition and encourage people to build a stronger relationship with nature. But getting to the starting line took five years of persistence, sacrifice and conversations that sometimes went nowhere.

Here’s what Döbert learned about pursuing a goal that once seemed almost impossible.

1. Accept that your timeline will change.

When Döbert first imagined the expedition in July 2021, he hoped to leave within a year or two. The urgency of biodiversity loss made waiting feel unacceptable.

He soon discovered that a big idea moves at a different pace than the person who conceived it.

“It takes a lot of relationship building and trust building,” he says. “You have to have a lot of patience and belief and grit to really turn an idea that is quite novel and out of the box into something people are going to believe in.”

That patience paid off, helping Wings of Survival attract partners including Patagonia, Birds Canada and Wildlife Conservation Society Canada.

2. Build proof along the way.

Before asking organizations to support a journey across the Americas, Döbert and Carriere cycled across Canada in 2024. It was an adventure, but it also demonstrated what the team could accomplish.

That smaller journey helped them build experience, professional content and partnerships. It gave potential supporters something tangible to believe in.

Some relationships still took years. Döbert first connected with Birds Canada four years ago. The organization officially joined the project only shortly before his departure through a collaborative initiative called Conserva Aves.

The lesson: don’t think of a smaller milestone as a detour from the larger dream. It can be what makes the dream credible.

3. Find people who will stay with you.

“The biggest takeaway when I’m looking back is just how important it is to build community,” Döbert says. “You’re never going to do this on your own.”

One turning point came when Edmonton film producer Justin Brunelle joined the project. Brunelle and his team have since travelled with Döbert and Carriere to Alaska, Colombia and Patagonia, helping transform an individual idea into a story others could see themselves joining.

Advisers, researchers, conservation organizations and volunteers followed at different stages. Each helped the project move past a roadblock Döbert could not have cleared alone.

Plenty of people liked the idea. The harder task was finding those willing to remain invested in the long journey from possibility to reality.

4. Decide what you are willing to risk.

Döbert finished his last postdoctoral position in May 2023. Rather than follow a conventional academic path, he stepped away to devote himself to the expedition, supporting himself partly through teaching.

“I’ve hardly had an income for the last three years,” he says. “It’s like going full in.”

He admits that leaving a predictable career trajectory looked daunting. But the strength of his belief in the project made the uncertainty worth accepting.

Every ambitious goal comes with trade-offs. For Döbert, pursuing the expedition meant stepping away from a conventional career path, living on a modest income and accepting years of uncertainty.

5. Make the goal bigger than yourself

Wings of Survival uses an extraordinary bike ride to tell a larger story. Döbert hopes the expedition will offer a hopeful counterweight to the constant stream of daunting news about climate change, pollution and biodiversity loss. Stories of hope and resilience, he believes, can help people see that they still have the power to act.

“We all have the leverage to be storytellers,” he says. “If there’s something we strongly believe in, it’s the power of story.”

Schools can join weekly virtual classroom sessions from the route. Grads and other supporters can follow the expedition, share its message or connect with the team as it passes through their communities. Viewers can register online through expedition partner Exploring by the Seat of Your Pants, an Ontario organization that virtually connects scientists and explorers to hundreds of thousands of elementary and high-school students every year.

Döbert may be cycling the distance, but he doesn’t see the journey as his alone. That may be the final lesson of pursuing an impossible goal: its greatest power can come from giving others a reason to join you.