Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons
Were you stuck in traffic yesterday?
If you tried to drive to or from the Bay Area, most likely you got stuck in traffic. We had invited some friends over and some of them got so fed up with the traffic that they turned around and went back home!
While discussing this with Goldie last night, we realized that this provides a great metaphor for life: sometimes, while attempting to reach our goal, we will get stuck in traffic. The more important our goal is, the more likely we are to be faced with challenges – both internal and external – while on the road to accomplishing the goal.
Is the solution to give up and turn back home? Obviously, the best outcome is to arrive at our destination. Here are three tips that can help you successfully navigate the traffic:
1. Have a clear picture of your goal. Remind yourself along the way what motivated you to work toward this goal and what is motivating you to accomplish it successfully. If the goal is important enough, a little silly traffic won’t deter you.
2. Be realistic about the challenges that lay ahead. Yes, it is Thanksgiving Day – there will be lots of traffic. By managing your expectations and realizing that it will take an extra hour or two to reach your destination, you will successfully manage and overcome the challenges that lay ahead.
3. Adapt when necessary. Of course an initial plan is needed; turn on the GPS and start following the quickest route. But sometimes that’s not enough – you need to use Waze. Waze is an Israeli GPS company (recently bought out by Google for over one billion dollars!) that updates your route based on the conditions of the road ahead. In life, we may have to adapt based on the unforeseen realities that lay ahead. It doesn’t mean abandoning our goal, it means modifying the route to get there.
One more thing: you know how emergency vehicles get through traffic? They turn on their lights and the cars ahead move to the side (at least they should) and allow them to pass. Its Chanukah today, and an important message on Chanukah is that sometimes the obstacles ahead are not real challenges, they’re just darkness. We don’t need any special techniques or tools to banish darkness; all that’s needed is a bit of light. A little light pushes away a lot of darkness.