Resource Management Innovations

Why Do Really Smart People Get Lost?

   Have you ever considered that? Seriously. Would I knowingly accept directions from someone who is lost themselves? I can’t imagine why I would. Do those folks freely offer their advice? Sure. Did they intend to misdirect me? I suspect not. Did they know they were lost when they offered me navigation advice? Possibly not.

  How common is it to be directionally challenged? I don’t know that either … but I seem to know a lot of people who didn’t wind up where they wanted to. Do you know people with regrets? The coffee shop I go to has way too many. That, I know. 

  My (experiential) data is highly unscientific, but let’s consider marriage statistics or business success rates for a moment. Are you getting an idea of how many people do know where they are going and how they will get there? Are the success rates increasing and the failures decreasing? That’s not a promising story either is it?

  My kids grew up hearing me tell them that misery was elective. Life doesn’t have to hurt. I understand that it can, my point is it doesn’t have to. Are there basic principles that if applied … could navigate a successful life course? I believe there are. Are they available to you before your third marriage? Yes they are.

  In his book The Principle of the Path author Andy Stanley leads us in a process of discovery that it is my direction not my intention that determines my destination. There have been lots of folks flow through my counseling calendar who were really well intentioned. Who, like Charlie Brown felt that hard work and a good ethic would see them through. It’s a hard lesson though when you come to realize that a really well maintained car, driven responsibly, abiding by all the traffic laws … eastbound on highway #401 is not going to terminate in Yellowknife NWT as you had hoped. Yes you are a really good person, and you have worked really hard and followed the rules. Simple (maybe not so simple?) thing is … you took the wrong path. It really isn’t a matter of life being fair or unfair, you were on the wrong road.

  As my dad would say “this is dirt simple” … the road I am on always determines where I end up. It really doesn’t matter where I intended to be. The path I take ultimately determines my destination. My counseling calendar has been filled with really capable people who seemed to have a propensity for choosing paths that did not lead them to their intended destination.

  Ladies … let me share this one insight with you. Being directionally challenged is not gender specific. In fact the numbers are fairly well balanced. It seems ‘our’ tendency is … to disconnect direction from destination. When it comes to life, love, business, ____________ (fill in the blank) please take the time to chart your course. Have a plan. Be intentional. Be discriminate about who you take directions from … and make sure before you head out that the path you take does in fact terminate at your planned, organized and coordinated point of destination.

  Then, pack a lunch, look both ways … and give yourself permission to enjoy the ride.

Cheers;

Rick @ RMI
 

Posted By: Rick Kneeshaw 2010/03/21
Categories: Leadership and Management