Dealing with Detours on the Road to Success

We have created a clear path to our dreams - what we need to do to get there, how long it should take - and we leave markers along the way to show ourselves we are accomplishing just what we set out to do. Sometimes though, in spite of our best laid plans, we find a detour along the road that we didn’t expect. Maybe it’s an injury that keeps you from running, maybe it’s a business trip that takes you off a secure eating plan, or maybe it’s a business competitor you didn’t see coming. How do we handle these detours in the path of our goals?

There is an old saying that “it isn’t the destination that counts, but rather the journey.” While this might be true in some cases, when we really want that end prize, the journey can be frustrating when we see the all too familiar orange cones sending us in a different direction…an unknown path.

I think we can learn from our GPS in times like these. We need to stop, take inventory of where we are, evaluate what it means to our goal and recalculate the route back to the road we need to be on. Maybe it is a few miles out of the way to get back on the correct road, or maybe you have to do a U-turn and re-drive on some roads you already have been on to correct your path.

Ultimately, I think detours can be life’s way of saying we missed something. Maybe like a video game where we have to pick up little treasures along the way to get to the next level and if we miss one, we have to go back and get it. Did you miss something? Do you need to learn something? Is the detour going to let you meet someone instrumental to you later? Is it going to teach you how to care better for yourself?

The most successful people in the world have great failures attached to their names. For them, these were the detours, not the final destination. Instead of focusing on the frustration of being rerouted, look around and see what treasure might be waiting for you to pick up and send you better equipped back on your road to success.

Remember when life’s path is steep to keep your mind even.

~ Horace