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We rely on a GPS to get us to where we are intended to go. It is helpful and provides the best advice and direction on how we might accomplish our journey. It is programmed to get us there the safest and most efficient way. As we drive or walk, we listen intently for the next direction prompt and then we proceed our merry way and know that somehow, it will get us where we need to go. We don’t have to do anything and we are magically whisked away by a reassuring voice.

I am not sure about you, but some times I have veered off track and I get this abrupt, “RECALCULATING” and a voice that seems annoyed that I did not listen to the best advice. I carry on and it keeps recalculating and at a certain point, I think it is just going to say to me, “Look, if you don’t need me, just do what you want and I am not going to help any more!” Either way, I seem to make it safe, with or without the GPS.

I sometimes think that the GPS is also reflective of life and the journey we are on. How many times are we traveling through life with people telling us what to do? We are unfamiliar with the territory and region, so we allow others, much like a GPS to guide us. But does the GPS always provide us the best route? Maybe, maybe not. Do people always provide us the best advice? Maybe, maybe not. I think that no matter what, one must be their own GPS and allow others to offer suggestions but ultimately, you must decide the path and journey.

Don’t be afraid to re-calculate! If we journey off the common path, what might we encounter? As I travel through life, many times I have veered off the main path and have discovered amazing places that I normally would have not. For example, in Cambridge, I saw a small little alley and as I went down it, I happened upon the cutest little book shop I had ever seen. The same thing with my life and career, I have veered off the safe and what we consider the ‘normal’ route and I have led an unconventional, but fulfilling life. There is richness is recalculating and opening oneself to what is out there.

So how might one recalculate?
• Start appreciating and understanding who you are and what matters to you. Only by getting to know who you are, can you start focusing on where you want to go and what you want to do. I have written many posts on discovering your path.
• Reflect on what you have done in the past and think to yourself, am I always taking the safe route and is it time for a change? Do you want to change? If so, recalculate!
• Instead of just listening to the noise around you, activate the voice within and look for those individuals who support your journey of ‘recalculating’. Find those champions and enablers who are there to ask you how they can help you get where you might need to go.
• Realize that life is a journey and that it is not the final destination that matters, it is the journey that is the most important part.
• Any wrong turn in life is not a bad thing. Instead of focussing on it as, “I made a mistake”, look at where you have wound up and what can you learn from this place?
• As you will encounter the fork in the road, do not fear it. Instead, bravely pick a path and start walking and never regret if you made the right or wrong choice. See where that path guides you and then as the next fork emerges, recalculate again.

One saying I use is that your life is a compass but you are the needle. Don’t be afraid to ‘recalculate’ and discover what is out there. Don’t treat your life as a GPS that tells you where to go and how to get there. Instead, it might allow you to go in a direction but ultimately, you decide the destination and if you don’t wind up getting to where you thought you would be…that is totally fine. Embrace where you wind up!