On Getting Lost and Making it Work
On Sunday I had an appointment. It's a place I have been many many times before. I knew there was a closed road... and I was sure I knew which road was closed. So off I went, leaving plenty of time. However the road I was sure was open was very much closed.
Being the sort of person I am, I was sure that if I just went a bit further and took the next left it would loop me around... How wrong I was... The road started looking like it was going the right way, but then it took a turn, and narrowed. It was single track, continuing to narrow, grass growing up the middle, until it became a dirt track, in the middle of a common and my goodness it was beautiful. a bird of prey swept over me, and I realised I probably needed to just turn around and head back the way I had come... admit defeat, and go the long way round. At no point was I lost... I had simply undertaken Creative Route Management, which led me up a path I struggled to turn around and get out of!
On another day, possibly on foot I would have basked in the beauty of the weather, but I wasn't where I needed to be, and precious time was used on my Creative Route Management.
When I arrived at the place I was supposed to be (exactly 31 seconds before the event, which I was leading, was due to begin... ) we laughed, my absence had caused a little worry for the folk waiting for me (especially considering they knew I knew about the road closure and would factor it in!)
What they didn't know was that I would make up a new route that wouldn't work. Because it's fine to think you have a plan, but when the road simply runs out, carrying on isn't an option!
The folk at the venue told me 2 things. Had I turned left earlier on in my Creative Route Management process I would have headed down a small track and arrived where I was supposed to be, much more quickly than turning right around got me there.
Had I stopped where the road became a track and asked for directions at the only habitation I had seen in a long while, the occupant would have been delighted to see me, as they wanted to be at the event, but frailty prevented them getting out without assistance- an opportunity missed.
So what could I have done differently?
Realise I am not the eagle
It almost certainly wasn't an eagle, and I wasn't stopping to grab the Merlin App and identify it... but had I been able to admit that I was perhaps, not lost, but certainly on a Creative Route Management experience, and that I didn't actually have a birds eye view of my surroundings I could have done things differently
Stop and check
I have tools in my car... google maps, my phone... I could have rerouted around the closure, or called the folk at the venue... but obviously I know best!
Ask for directions
There was opportunity to get out and ask for help, and in not doing so I missed the chance of a human connection with someone who would have made my detour worthwhile.
Gone the long way to start with
To try and save time (and an unpleasant right turn) I headed on what I thought was a brilliant short cut... that turned out to be a long long way out and back.
Enjoy the Creative Route Management
Be thankful that even though I came very close to being late, I experienced a beautiful Common, and wildlife that I wouldn't have seen otherwise, having factored in the time to be wrong, and enjoy the present moment. This is what I came closest to, and am grateful that I found a beautiful bit of countryside tucked away so close to where I know so well... I just wish I had factored in even more time for the eventuality that I might be wrong.
Coaching Through the "Creative Route Management" Moments of life.
As I reflected on my adventure I saw how it's a great metaphor for being coached...
There are moments in my life which feel like that car journey.
I am sure I know where I am going, I think I have everything I need, and I set off, I can even cope with the odd spanner in the works.
What coaching does is gives me time to stop regularly, to check the map, work out if I actually have everything I need, and when those moments of unexpected change arrive I am prepared, and equipped, encouraged to pause, to take stock, and to make a plan. There's no point berating yourself when you're stuck, or a little off track.
Just like this car journey, on my own it's only with hindsight I can see my alternative options. In coaching I can explore them all before moving on from the unexpected road closures of life... it saves me time, and me and others stress.
On the journey as in life I had the potential options and solutions in me, I just didn't stop and explore them. Coaching helps me do that, and it can help you too.
(Photos by Jonny Gios on Unsplash-with huge thanks as I didn't have time to take any pictures!)