Look where you are going

I had the sheer pleasure of being part of an amazing team building experience recently. (Have I told you that I work for an amazing company??)

Anyway, there were a range of activities all targeted at a particular learning experience. After each activity we debriefed on what we had learned and how it applied back into our professional lives.
Each person experienced each activity differently and the impact varied.

However one particular experience only began resonating with me a week later. It was fun at the time, but I had not understood its impact.

The exercise was about driving on ice. We were on a race track with pretty fast and powerful cars and we had to get round the circuit as quickly as we could. As said the track was solid ice.

We had to learn to over steer and under steer, how to use the brakes and when to accelerate. We had co pilots who encouraged and offered tips.  We had radios to communicate when we span out of control, frequently in my case, and we had specific terminology to communicate quickly and effectively.

The advice we were given, was to always focus on the path ahead. Look where you want to go and not where the car is taking you.

This was impossible for me at the beginning as I could only look where the car was going, ie into the snow banks, but whenever I looked onto the path ahead, somehow I got back on track.
And this is so true.

When things go wrong and go off on an unexpected tangent, we should always look where we want to go and get back on track. Often we find ourselves looking where the problems are and continuing on in that direction. Possibly getting ourselves deeper into the issues.

Driving on ice was surprisingly possible, despite being thrown about all the time and spinning regularly.  It was always possible to get back on the track, by seeking out the path ahead.

Today when I was cross country skiing, I fell. This was no big deal, but all the same I fell. It was an ungroomed path and I was concentrating on, and looking at, the ungroomed path beneath my skis. I fell mid way down the slope.

The next time this happened, I said to myself, focus on the path ahead, keep your eyes up and look to where you want to go.  I swear I did not fall. I did not even wobble. I knew where I wanted to go and remained focussed on that during the 15 second descent.

So today's post, is dedicated to all of you who are stuck in a rut and can't find a way out. I say life is like driving on ice, focus on the path ahead, and somehow your wheels will turn and you will find a way out.

This may sound overly simplistic, but I believe in it.

Maybe knowing the path ahead is the hardest thing of all, so make sure you really know where it is that you are going. Once you know that and keep looking at it, you will get there. Of that I am sure.