A personal GPS

Today I was driving – headed out to the mountains – just to rejuvenate and get a sense of perspective about life. It had been several months since I had made the trip and I knew I desperately needed the break. I was riding and about to pull out my laptop to do a little work while on the road when I was interrupted by a British woman’s voice reminding the driver to turn right in 300 meters. A little surprised, I then remembered the new addition to the van – a GPS, mounted on the dash. For several minutes I was absolutely engrossed in the visual and auditory map guiding us to our predetermined destination. A Global Positioning System. I was captivated by the accuracy and the features of this accessory. And when I mentioned that I found it hard to hear the voice over the sound of the traffic, my husband asked me to set the radio at 88.7 fm – and there was the voice now – over the entire sound system of the van! I watched carefully as the route was mapped out before us – and used the plus and minus signs on the touch screen to see bigger and smaller maps. It even told us how far we had left to drive, our speed and estimated time of arrival. Then I began to think about the reason for my daily sojourn. I was taking the day off to gain perspective – to see if I could determine my direction – check the map so to speak. Then I began to wonder what it would be like if we all had our own business or life GPS. What would it be like to get out of bed in the morning and set our destination for the day – and then have laid before us the map and the route we should take. We could punch in destinations like ‘success’ ‘enjoy the day with a friend’ or even ‘make a thousand dollars’ and before us would be the verbal and visual view of exactly how to arrive at the destination. Even better would be the functionality of warning us of the detours that we could encounter along the way – or even the possibility of bad weather or foul moods. What then would prevent us from reaching our destination? Then it became very clear to me. It was only ourselves of course that could prevent arriving at the destination of success – or whatever destination we had determined. If you think about it for a minute – when you type in your destination into the GPS – a specific set of directions pop on the screen – and then several warnings if there are weather or road condition concerns. And no matter how I tried – there was no way I could get the British woman to tell me that reaching that destination was impossible. The same thing applies to both our lives and our businesses. All we need to do is to decide on the destination, find the directions, watch for the warnings, bumps in the road and set out with the firm belief and understanding that we would arrive if we followed the directions. It is no more complicated than that. But many of us have our business or life ‘global positions service’ unplugged. We are so busy looking at everyone else that we fail to set our destinations. Your destination whatever it is – is in reach. So plug in and strap on. Turn on the radio and enjoy the ride. The directions may not always be as clear as you would like – but the destination is reachable. What destination are you in-putting?