For 36 years, Mr. Klein taught mainly older women, whose husbands had died or become ill, how to drive. He devotes a whole chapter to steering. According to Norman, if you can steer, you can drive (and if you can't, forget it). He talks about students who watch the nose of the car or the emblem on their steering wheel to keep the car straight, and he tells them that the most important thing is to look straight ahead and to, "Look where you want to go."
This seems like such obvious advice, and yet many of his students look everywhere except in front of them. Some stare at stop signs as they approach and veer off towards the side of the road. One woman watches the scenery pass by her side windows. When he asked her why she does this she said, "I thought this car was automatic."
In my career consulting practice with people going through a career transition, I would say that looking ahead where you want to go is also one of the most important pieces of advice that I can give. When changing careers, it's important to focus your energy on as specific a goal as possible without spending a lot of time getting stuck on the obstacles (stop signs), perpetual introspection (nose of the car) or everything else on your "to do" list (scenery). But like driving, not only do you need to keep your focus on where you want to go, you also need to move forward by taking action.
A long time ago I thought I wanted to be a massage therapist, until I took a class and realized that I had to massage naked people I didn't know. Yuck! If I hadn't taken action towards that goal, I never would have known that it wasn't right for me.
If you look ahead where you want to go and take action, eventually, you will get there.
Photo of beach in Maui taken by me. At this moment, that's where I want to go!
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Thanks for the reminder, Britt. Your philosophy is very similar to mine (envisioning health). If we don't have a vision of where we want to go (e.g. with health, in my case), it's tough to move forward. With the goal in mind, it's much easier to take steps toward it. Looking forward to your next post.
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ReplyDeleteSuch an inspirational post, and the driving analogy is absolutely perfect for days in our lives when we change careers! The main thing here is the place you are going to continue to go, so moving forward is very important. It's awesome that you’re practicing your driving; facing fears helps a lot. And speaking of driving, it’s nice to be always ready for any unforeseen incident on the road. That’s good information to have because you never know when your vehicle may break down and flatbed service can help transport it safely. Thanks for the evergreen advice – just what I wanted today!
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