By Lori Silverman
Last week Friday I had a ticket to see the Milwaukee Brewers play the Oakland Athletics. I was jazzed. I’ve worked almost every day since late September 2007 and was more than ready for an afternoon of playing hooky. MapQuest informed me that the ride from my home in northeast Mesa to the Maryvale stadium was around 40 minutes, Not being one to waste time, I left about 75 minutes before the game, thinking I’d adequately planned for the journey.
Imagine my surprise when ten minutes into my trip, all four lanes of traffic came to a standstill. It took another 15 minutes before an overhead sign announced there was a vehicle fire at the next exit. So, there was no way out of the situation. Like it or not, I was going to have to move at a snails pace. More than an hour after slowing down, the road finally opened up and I sped to the stadium.
Imagine my surprise when I saw no cars, just a lone man sitting in a lawn chair, reading a magazine. I rolled down the car window and said, “Is there a game today?” He responded, “Yep. Just not here.”
“Where is it?” I asked. He replied, “Near Scottsdale, at the Phoenix Municipal Stadium on Van Buren. It’ll take you about an hour to get there.” I replied, “I just came from that side of town.”
With chagrin on his face he said, “Do you have a ticket to another game? Maybe you could come back on another day.” I announced with regret that I didn’t and thanked him for his help.
As I exited the parking lot, I stopped for a moment and wondered if I should turn right and go home the way I had arrived or if I should go left and take a new route home. I opted for left. The way I figured it I could at least see another part of town and make the best of the situation.
As I was driving, I bereted myself for all of 30 seconds on not confirming the location even though I’d had a gut feeling before I’d left that maybe I was headed in the wrong direction. And then I wondered, “How often in life do we get immediate feedback on whether or not we’re headed in the right direction?”
Think about your own life and the various directions it’s taken. How long did it take you before you realized whether you were going in the right direction? Ninety minutes like me? Or days . . . months . . . perhaps years later?
So, I ask you, “What can you do to get more immediate feedback on the decisions that you make? The directions in life that you take?
PERMISSION TO REPRINT: You may reprint this story as long as you include the following attribution. “Learn more about Lori Silverman’s work as a strategist and keynote speaker at http://www.partnersforprogress.com. Her latest book, Wake Me Up When the Data Is Over debuted in the top 100 books on Amazon in October 2006. She can be reached at 800 253 6398 or lori@partnersforprogress.com."
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