Are you heading down the right path to achieve your vision?
I heard a speaker yesterday share insights from the book, The Principle of the Path: How to Get from Where You are to Where You Want to Be. Having headed down my share of wrong paths, I wanted to learn more. I ordered the book from Amazon.
Stephanie used a train metaphor to help us understand her message. She set the stage by telling us there were two trains leaving around 1:15 am. One train was headed to south Miami and the other was going north to Boston. In her story, there was a woman who wanted to go to Miami. But, perhaps due to the early hour, she accidentally got on the train to Boston. She promptly fell asleep as the train got underway and woke up in Washington, D.C. Not at all what she planned! She was definitely moving along on a path. But the path she was on would not take her where she hoped to go.
Have you ever taken the wrong path for you?
I have. I think this story resonated with me because I have taken the wrong path or as I like to say, the wrong fork in the road on several occasions. Let me share a story with you.
About 18 months ago, I began working with Sterling. Sterling is the author of The Brain Trust Planner. She is a planner and her vision when she wrote her book was to help others achieve their goals more easily. She believes that when we set our goals based on an understanding of our core values, we are much more likely to achieve those goals. Now I understand why exercise is something I struggle with. It’s not one of my core values! Okay, I tried.
Sterling’s vision grabbed my attention. Her focus on helping people identify their core values resonated with me. My passion is helping individuals own their unique gifts or superpowers. And, I believe our superpowers are linked to our core values, passions, and strengths. So, when Sterling and I worked on programs centered on identification of core values, I got excited. I set myself on a path to help Sterling in any way I could believing I was accomplishing my vision at the same time. I invested tremendous time and energy into the work we were doing together. I was charging down that path with a full head of steam. I loved what I was doing. Until I didn’t.
You see I realized that the work Sterling was doing to help people identify their core values so they could set and achieve goals was Sterling’s vision. Not mine. It was closely aligned with mine, but very different. I came to the awareness that if I continued to put all my energy into Sterling’s vision, mine must be put on hold. I couldn’t do that. As much as I didn’t want to disappoint her, I felt more and more unsettled as I felt my passion drifting away. Then one day, I pulled together the courage and told Sterling I still wanted to support her in any way I could. However, I needed to move in a different direction than she was headed. I knew I needed to share my message that we all have unique gifts that the world needs us to share. And that meant I needed to find opportunities to speak and finish my book as well.
I took the wrong path. I had gotten on the train to Boston when I was trying to get to Miami. And backtracking and getting myself on the right path was difficult for me and for Sterling. We were a terrific team and we were accomplishing a lot together. However, although she was disappointed, she understood. She too had taken some wrong paths on her journey to achieve her vision. And we agreed, we had learned many things during those journeys. Perhaps most importantly, we learned what our true passions were. And that is powerful.
Today, I believe I am on the train to Miami. I invest a lot of energy in writing, speaking, and looking for ways to use my superpower every day. I feel focused and energized.
Are you on the train headed in the right direction for you? Discover your unique gifts and learn how to discern that you are getting on the right train. Order your copy of Say Yes 2 Your Life from Amazon today.