Missing a turnoff in life
Anyone who has traveled on a freeway has likely experienced the frustration of missing a turnoff and having to travel many kilometres down the road before finding a place to get off, turn around and head back to the exit that was missed.
It’s also easy to miss other turnouts in life. We may know we need to do something about a program, but we keep putting it off, driving by many opportunities to head off in the right direction. It’s as if we believe that if you don’t think about the problem, the problem won’t exist any more.
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We can also easily miss many opportunities for growth and development in life. If a job opportunity comes up, some people will say, “Oh, there will be plenty of opportunities later on.” And when there aren’t, they kick themselves, which in turn knocks down their self-confidence and motivation.
If we’re anxious about making a certain decision, we will tend to put it off, missing opportunity after opportunity to move in a new direction.
Don’t miss the chance
If you want to avoid missing the turnoff on a freeway, you must do the following:
- Keep your mind and your eyes on your driving.
- Slow down every time a turnoff looms in the distance.
- Watch out for directions and signals.
- Realize the point at which you have to make a decision, and avoid procrastinating until it is too late.
Successful living involves the same tasks. Only if you keep your mind on a positive goal in life will you get anywhere. If you rush and race around, you’re more likely to miss those turnoffs of opportunity.
Other people and life’s experiences will give you warnings and directions, but if you are preoccupied, you will miss them and sail right past those windows of opportunity.
The moment of decision is exactly that, a moment. If you stop whatever else you are doing and focus on that moment, it can be expanded to include enough time to objectively look at the advantages and disadvantages of any decision.
Make definite plan
However, in the end, only you can make or not make that decision. It’s one thing to defer a decision to a definite time. This can be helpful and lead to better decisions. But avoiding a definite time for any decision is mere procrastination. It only hurts you and your life.
It’s important to realize when opportunities for making change come up. Any decision will create some anxiety or worry. But if you “what if” yourself to death, you will never break free of that long, straight ribbon of highway and discover what is really out there in life.
