Yesterday, while walking in the city of Madrid, on a sunny summer day, my daughter Hope, 10 years old, turned to me and asked, “Daddy, is every direction forward?”
It stopped me dead in my tracks.
Because she’s right – every direction is forward.
You just have to choose it.
The greatest mistakes I have seen friends make in life and business, most notably my own self, have come from compromised goals, unclear direction, or – worse – the desire to somehow go back.
But you can’t. There is no back.
Because every direction is forward.
So just do the things in front of you. If you need to make a note on the past to take care of tomorrow, then do so. But don’t get stuck trying to unwind time. You don’t have that power.
Because every direction is forward.
Similarly, as we craft goals there is profound temptation to hedge every bet, to go three directions at once, or to tip toe into the future.
There’s no point.
Because every direction is forward.
I’m not saying strategy is pointless.
I’m not saying careful analysis and planning is unwarranted.
I am saying, ‘is where you want to be ‘forward?’
Then just get moving. Just take another step.
Because every direction is forward.
A few minutes later my other 10 year old daughter, Faith, turned to me and asked, ‘Does that mean your back is pointed forward too?’
I started to expand on the beauty of all this, of goal alignment, momentum, narrative, and the power of making choices and committing to action… and she interjected, ‘Daddy, what? That’s not what we’re talking about. Don’t change the subject.’
