“Choices are the hinges of destiny”, is a quote by Edwin Markham. The meaning the author is pointing to is that, choices make destiny. So, if our choices create our destiny, a question you might want to consider is: how do you decide?
In the process of creating something new, say a business venture, there are a million and one decisions to be taken! This can be overwhelming, especially if you’re doing it alone. What’s more, in this day and age we are constantly bombarded with information. Every Joe Bloggs has his 2 pence worth to say on how to be productive, the best marketing strategy for your business, and the secret to
With so much information, often conflicting, who do you listen to? What are the options for navigating in life?
I decided to take a moment and reflect on this a little bit.
It seems to me that most people follow a map. Perhaps you’re following a formula to succeed, that you inherited or adopted from someone else? That might be a general map you’ve been handed down from your parents on how to be happy in life, or a more specific map on how to succeed in business that you’ve adopted from a role model. In these cases, the information comes from the outside.
The map is not the terrain
Maps can be useful, to a certain degree! You can benefit from the wisdom of someone else who has travelled similar terrain to the journey you’re making, providing you with a road-map to success. The 7 steps to take, at the end of which you’ll arrive at the destination you envisioned. Problem is, if you’ve got someone else’s map, you might arrive at the destination they imagined.
Maps have other limits. The map is not the terrain. People sometimes get confused about this, hence lost!
Maps are outdated the moment they are created. In today’s world, the territory is constantly changing. What worked for someone say 5 years ago might be quite irrelevant now. Take marketing, for example. Someone gives you the map of the best practice for acquiring clients in your sector, say by advertising on Facebook at a given time. Then Facebook changes their algorithm or your client group start moving to Instagram and the map is no longer accurate.
Maps are generic, rough approximations of the territory, but not the territory! The intrepid cartographer put on it what they thought was important and what they saw when they travelled that path. If you discovered the same territory, perhaps you’d notice other items of importance, and things that you valued.
Consider going for a walk in nature; each and every person on the walk would experience it differently. They would probably focus on different things, and even their reasons for going in the first place would be varied.
Maps often only contain an outer layer of information, focusing on the action the person took. The qualities of the person who made the map such as their way of being, passions, values, preferences, aptitudes, and a host of other inner information is often missing.
A modern day example
Using Google Maps, for example, you might tell it you want to go to the nearest ice-cream shop. Google plans a trajectory 3 blocks down, 4 blocks across. It doesn’t know about the new ice-cream store opened only a block from your house, nor does it know about all the dog poo on the pavement that you need to navigate to successfully get to your ice-cream. And it’s completely oblivious to the fact that you’re trying to lose weight and are just comfort eating to alleviate your feelings of loneliness.
Where is your attention?
Another problem with using a map is that you’re constantly looking at it and your attention is there. Being so busy focused on the map, you forget to look up. You fail to observe and respond to the territory in which you find yourself, the obstacles and opportunities it presents.
Walking down the street to the ice-cream store, looking at your mobile phone, did help you see the dog poo, but not the new store or the friend that passed by on the other side of the road!
Perhaps these are some reasons why people often don’t instinctively take advice very well. Deep down they know that it’s another person’s experience, and it doesn’t completely fit them.
What if you could find advice that was made to measure?
Where?
How about your own advice! Your own wisdom!
Destination vs Direction
In his book, “7 Habits of Highly Effective People”, Stephen Covey’s second point is, ”Begin with the end in mind”. This makes sense. On any journey, the first thing you do is decide where you’re going. Obviously, the clearer this is the better. But typically the end is not so clear. This might take some work to refine, however, this doesn’t mean that you can’t get moving, especially if you learn to navigate in a way that permits this.
There is a difference between destination and direction, though this is often missed, and causes a lot of heartache in life. For example, in terms of career, a direction might be that you want to spend your time exploring, creating, inventing and innovating. Jobs such as Chef, Graphic Designer and Accountant are more like destinations. Following the direction of creating, you will more likely end up at the destination of Chef or Graphic Designer, and it will less likely take you towards being an Accountant.
How to navigate
Navigating with a direction in mind can get you going, even when the problem is ill-defined. It gives you a way of navigating that is open to change. If you get blown off course by unforeseen circumstances, or even arrive at a destination, and it’s not as you imagined it to be, you are able to adapt and are not utterly lost.
A destination is fixed. Navigating with a map and a destination puts emphasis on the result rather than the process. A direction naturally allows you to focus more on the experience you want to have. Too much focus on the destination can cause a loss of enjoyment and joy in the journey, often leading to stress.
An alternative way to navigate is to use a direction and a compass. A direction is set, in which you proceed. Although the path might not be a straight line due to the terrain and obstacles, you always know you have your bearings, so to speak. At any given moment, you know which way you’re heading. You can set a general direction and in the process refine it. In life, do you actually at any point arrive? There is not an end-point. Sure there are landmarks, where you might stop for a while, but the journey continues.
Having a direction, as opposed to a destination, gives you an open focused approach to where you want to go. To navigate in this way requires trust. There is room for manoeuvre and flexibility to take opportunities, allowing you to enjoy the journey and to flow. It allows you to move forward even when the path is not clear. Its focus on the process provides more resilience to uncertainty than just following a map.
So we can see some obvious advantages to setting a direction and navigating in this way with a compass. It looks within for direction and guidance, therefore developing the capacity to be more self-guided and self-reliant.
Map, compass or both
Perhaps both the map and the compass are useful in creating a successful business, for example. You have a map of the terrain to know what your predecessors have discovered, the steps they took to get to their destination. Yes, you can learn from their wisdom, but it would also be useful to have a compass and learn how to navigate the uncharted and changing terrain. I say uncharted and changing because this situation is in fact like that. Time has moved on. The world is different, the project you’re creating is also unique and the person making the journey, you, are unique with your particular qualities.
In the next post, I will explore how one might go about setting a direction initially, then how you go about reading your inner compass to help you in making decisions and developing a strategy for your project. I will look at how you can refine and calibrate the compass and navigate successfully, using it to empower you in finding clarity and making decisions deeply aligned to yourself.
For now, I would love to know how decision-making and finding direction is working for you currently. How is your experience? Perhaps we can learn from each other’s maps of this essential part of life!
And if you’re struggling with making a choice that will lead you forward into a more beautiful life especially in your work, get in touch and let me help you tune into the most essential part of you to create work that satisfies your soul!
