When's the last time you paused for a moment and looked beyond the next few steps to review the path that you're on?
How do you know you're heading in the right direction?
How do you know it's the best way to achieve your goals?
It's very tempting to just keep walking, especially when journeys gets tough.
But without continual review of where you're going, how and why, you run the risk of encountering a sliding scale of mishaps, from mild inconvenience and missed opportunity along the way, right through to complete misdirection away from your goals or self destruction in your attempt to attain them.
To avoid the metaphorical head-down walk off the edge of a cliff in your business, career or personal life, I encourage you to take a moment and review your path with these simple steps.
1. Start from WHERE YOU ARE
This may sound like a ludicrously obvious statement to make, but how much time do you spend contemplating the path behind you at the expense of the one to your front?
It's so easy to dwell on regrets, mistakes, missed opportunities and frustrations.
But, not only does this focus your attention in the wrong direction, it reinforces an image of what you don't want at the expense of what you do.
"I don't want to make another mistake"
"I regret choosing the wrong path"
"I wish I didn't mess up"...
...can easily reinforce a future-focus on: "MISTAKE, WRONG PATH, MESS UP"
Start from where you are. Accept it
2. Remind yourself WHAT you want & WHY
What are you working towards?
Is the goal still relevant?
Will it give you what you want?
Why did you set out in the first place?
Is this bringing out the best of you?
What's more important, the journey or the destination?
Don't overlook the importance of this last question. And take caution in a path that is heavily weighted towards the destination at the expense of the journey, especially if the journey is becoming a chore - There may be a better path.
3. Save the HOW to last
If you focus too soon on the 'how', you run the risk of not only becoming overwhelmed by barriers, but of becoming fixated on overcoming them at all costs.
So set your goal first. Then work out how to achieve it.
And make sure you choose a path that's aligned to your overall goal, not just the destination.
If you want to grow, is the path challenging?
If you want fun, is the path enjoyable?
If you want efficiency, is the path direct?
This time last year I was walking the 89 mile length of Hadrian's Wall from Bowness on Solway to Wallsend - a goal that had very little to do with the destination of Wallsend. Had we lost sight of this fact we'd have easily prioritised speed over challenge and enjoyment and found ourselves hiking down the main road, seeing nothing of interest and reaching the end as quickly and as miserably as possible!
Likewise, a detour on the way home to make things more interesting when the goal was very much about reaching our destination as quickly and effortlessly as possible would have equally been rather odd!
Your path needs to align with your goal and your reason for having it.
So ask yourself:
What's your path?
Why are you on it?
Is it serving your needs?
And remember:
There are many ways to reach a destination and only you know what you want, so make sure it's your path.
Good luck!
Martin
For more information go to www.stillwater-coaching.co.uk
Phone: (+44) 07969 653 024
