How Is Your Journey?

It happened again this week, as I started a new consulting assignment about 280 miles away. I got the directions and started out on Tuesday, and for the first four and a half hours, everything was fine. I reached the area I was supposed to be in easily enough. From that point on, though, it was a chore to find the exact place I was supposed to be. I'm not one of those men afraid to stop at a gas station and ask for directions, but I couldn't find any gas stations. The directions seemed straight forward when I left home, but now they were very confusing.

I eventually reached the place I was looking for, and the rest of the day went fine. Then it was time to find the hotel, and once again, I got lost, and was driving around for 40 minutes to a place that was only 5 miles away. The next day, the saga began again, as I got lost trying to find the office, but this time I didn't get lost coming back to the hotel. Thursday saw a major traffic backup, and it took over an hour to get 5 miles to where I needed to be. At the office, I was given another way to come that supposedly would bypass the highway, and only take maybe 5 minutes longer to get to the office. Today I tried those directions, and ended up getting lost because there was one big turn that hadn't been mentioned, so I didn't even know I was supposed to be looking for it.

Why am I going on with my tales of woe as it pertains to my trip? Because every day we start upon a new journey of some kind, and every day there's a chance we might get lost. Because every day we come upon someone who may be starting their new journey, and that person may need some help in getting to where they need to go. It's possible that we play a part in someone else's journey, but are we helping them or hurting them, or delaying them? Will they, or us, eventually get there anyway, or are we forever doomed to be lost, or become lost, and never find our way?

Let's look at this from two business perspectives. The first is from a company perspective. Your company hires a new employee, and it's that person's first day. And, because of the luck of the draw, that person works in your department as a peer. Will you open your heart up to this person and help to show them the ropes? Will you view this person as a threat to your very existence and immediately begin finding ways to get this person out of your hair? Or will you plead the fifth, exhibit apathy, say hello then go your own way and wait to see what kind of person this is? What part do you play in helping or hindering this person on their journey within your organization, while trying to find your own way within these new circumstances?

What if this person reports to you in some way? Do you begin by showing this person the processes in a way that it will benefit both them and you, or do you try to impart as much knowledge as possible in as short a period of time as possible so you can leave this person to themselves and get back to your own work? Does the map you draw for your new employee have roads missing that are integral to the process of the journey, or are your directions so detailed that the person would have to not be paying attention in order to get lost? Do you make the journey so long that the person gets tired before getting to where they're supposed to be and never reaches the ultimate destination, or do you make the journey as smooth and easy as possible so that they'll have as much productive time as possible while on their road to success?

When I first went into business for myself, I started a journey that I never knew was going to be so cumbersome. I kept stopping and asking for directions by reaching out to strangers who had gone on the road before me and asking them to share some of their insights along the way. Unfortunately, the early part of my journey was covered with many potholes that I couldn't get anyone to fill. Every once in awhile someone joined me on the journey and gave me a couple of bucks to put in my tank, but it was rare.

Through perseverance, though I got lost many times, I finally got on the road that I was looking to get to. And, as I've journeyed further and further, I've tried to find ways to help others get into the journey easier than I did when I first started. I'm not the best at giving directions of any kind, but I'm pretty good at warning people when there's blockages, or reasons why the journey might have roadblocks, and I'm always willing to share my couple of bucks of insight to anyone who might ask. Because, I know, I'm never really on this journey by myself. Every time I get lost, I have another story to tell, another lesson to impart.

So I got lost. I always get lost when I'm driving around a new place. But I also see some things that others either haven't seen, or have taken for granted. Each journey gives me the opportunity to either see something new or learn something new. And when I get to share what I've learned in some fashion, sometimes it helps someone else, sometimes it makes me look smarter than I feel, and sometimes it's funny as sin.

Still, there are some detours I didn't need to take, that could have been made easier with better directions. How many of us could use better directions in some facet of our lives? How many of us give good directions, or the best directions we can, to others? A good journey is never a trip where you're always alone, no matter whose journey it is.