There we were. Happily driving down the road, pulling a trailer with new family members for our farnch…a donkey, a mule, and a goat.
And then, out of nowhere, BANG! Somebody started shooting at us!
Well, that’s what it sounded like, anyway. What really happened was the right rear tire blew out on our F350…at 70 miles per hour…on the interstate…pulling a trailer.
Did I mention we didn’t have a spare tire? Or flashlights? Which was important because it was just past sundown….
Life will throw you curveballs. Travel long enough, and at some point, you’ll encounter an impassible road. Like we did last winter on our way to Colorado.
Somewhere in New Mexico, about an hour east of Albuquerque, we encountered one of those impassible roads. I’d been driving through a blizzard for several hours, and I needed a break. When we were set to get on I-40, I decided to take a break at the truck stop at that intersection. As we crept down the access road through six-to-eight inches of snow on the road, I was careful to not slow down too much. I knew that if we stopped, we would likely be stuck there for a looooooong time.
And then it happened. There was an 18-wheeler parked in our lane. As I maneuvered to pass, I was greeted by a snow plow coming the opposite direction. I couldn’t go around on the left…so I goosed it, turned to the right…and we went off-roading in our Toyota Sienna minivan…through a foot of unplowed snow.
And it would have worked…except…
As I cleared the 18-wheeler and went to merge back onto the road, my nemesis – a freshly plowed three-foot snow bank – stood in my way, snarling manically at me. The Sienna and I made a valiant effort. But alas, 20 miles per hour is only enough momentum to hurtle half of a Toyota Sienna through a three-foot snow bank.
And there we sat. For five hours.
This time, however, this detour of life was…enjoyable. We had boxes of food and water for the trip and plenty of gas, so we sat there, engine running, heater pumping out warm air, while we watched videos, talked, read…and occasionally braved the elements to dig ourselves out of the snow.
The difference? We were prepared.
And that’s what the Detours step in the Roadmap2Destiny program is all about. Thinking through the detours, roadblocks, traffic jams, blow outs, impassible roads. All those things that you’ll encounter on a journey of any significance.
In the Detours step, we use the analogy of a road trip. We’ll look at all the things that could “go wrong,” and identify countermeasures we can put in place to deal with those situations. We’ll take the pain and negative emotions out of the moment by being prepared. We’ll map those road trip analogies to your business, to your goals so that you know what “running out of gas” means in your business, your life, your goals. And we’ll put all of that into a beautiful 24×7 Roadside Assistance Manual. In short, we’ll work through all the crap that can happen along the way, and we’ll come up with countermeasures to make those situations not “bearable,” not “workable,” not “endurable,” but adventurous and fun!
Do you embrace the detours? Do you look forward to them as an opportunity for adventure and discovery? As something to be enjoyed rather than despised and avoided? If not, would you like to?
