This weekend I was on my way to a friend’s house after a very long drive. I printed a Google maps to a nearby restaurant where I had a pre-scheduled meeting, but I didn’t print a map directly to my friend’s house. I had been to this friend’s house before, so I figured I would just make it there by memory.
Well, I actually did pretty good. I took a few wrong turns (she and her husband live in one of those developments where all the streets look the same). Every time I took a wrong turn, after driving about a block, once I realized it was the wrong way, I did a u-turn, then headed back to the main street. I then took another wrong turn. Know what I did? I did a u-turn and headed back to the main street. I finally got on the right track and made it to my final destination.
I occurred to me that my experience of finding my friend’s house is a lot like business. We’re on this path to success and sometimes we take a wrong turn. Frankly, even life is like that, isn’t it? But what you gotta do is, make a u-turn and head back to the “main street.” In the case of your business, the main street is the core of what your business is about.
I think a lot of people think making it in business requires a Google Map or GPS to lead you exactly to your destination. If they listen to enough podcasts, watch enough webinars, go to enough workshops, they’ll get the “map.” But all of these things are more like the map to the city of your destination, vs. the exact address. They’ll get you to the general area, but you can bet you’ll make a number of wrong turns along the way. When that happens, just remember to quickly make a u-tur nwhen you know you’re heading down the wrong road. Don’t dilly dally hoping things will get better. Just turn around and get back onto the main street.
What are examples of wrong turns you’ve taken?
Your post today made me remember a bumper sticker I saw recently and in all honesty it should be on my car. It read, “I’m not lost, I’m Exploring” That defines me trying to navigate in the car if my wife is not there. It could also tie into your thoughts today in that when we do make a wrong turn we are sometimes forced to “explore” things we didn’t plan. Sometimes those can become a growing experience that will make us a better person or business person.
At least that’s my excuse for doing too much “exploring.” Now if I can get my wife to believe that when we are in the car. 🙂
That is a great sticker Philip! Good post Ron, you are right on. I have a saying that I live by… I use it in the context of marriage, especially when my wife & I are mentoring or counseling engaged couples at church, “You can’t succeed unless you give each other permission to fail”. I find that to be an essential key to a good marriage and it also applies to business. I have so much less stress when I have the proper perspective on failure… that the path to any success is paved with failure and the then paved again with perseverance! My wife granted me permission to fail years ago, I have taken advantage of that permission 🙂 and the result has been major growth! I have learned the MOST in life hearing about peoples failures. Well, I should go screw something up so I can learn something today 🙂
I Like that quote, “You can’t succeed unless you give each other permission to fail.” My wife and I have also mentored a few couples at or church and I will have to remember that one if I get to do it again. We’re a small church so not many marriages going through it but we are one of 3 couples to do mentoring.
I am gonna post that quote on facebook….it’s a goodie.
Haha, glad you can use my quote Philip.. I just licensed it under Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 🙂 just kiddin. Mentoring is SO important! Thanks for doing that. I don’t know where my wife & I would be today if it wasn’t for a few couples who loved us enough to pour into us and help us to put God first in our relationship. Never knew how selfish I was until I got married. The only requirement I see for mentorship is failure… I am very qualified and I have PLENTY to teach others what NOT to do! I am beginning to qualify myself in business now 🙂