Extra Points – GPS

Last Thursday, I was driving home with my daughter on the last leg of a week-long, cross-country trip that took us 3,004 miles from doorstep to doorstep. I had the GPS on even though I knew the way. I always like to know about how long it takes to get home.

I was getting frustrated with the GPS as she kept telling me to take an alternate route home. I couldn’t understand it. After all, I knew where I was going. Why would this electronic device try to take me off my own course? In jest, I kept telling her that I was simply going to ignore her and go my own way. She had the last laugh.

Turns out the GPS had a built-in sensor for traffic. She was trying to help me avoid a huge traffic jam being caused by the start of a 3-day weekend on the Interstate. By the time I realized my mistake, it was too late.

How often does that happen to us? We think our way is the right way; we can do it best by ourselves; we don’t need any help…we’re smart. Like I laughed off the good advice from the GPS, we also often disregard opportunities to really rapidly advance our careers and improve our lives when we don’t seek help.

Do yourself a favor. Find some smart GPS to guide you “home.” Business coaches and mentors often sense those “traffic jams” that await ahead of you and can divert you to roads that lead to faster and more effective destinations. You ignore at your own peril. I wish I had been more humble with that GPS…I would have been home faster. Are you humble and smart enough to take the right road for your success?

 

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