Which Path Do You Pick?

Imagine if Robert Frost were alive today and pondering the great decisions of life. Perhaps the opening lines of his poem might read like this:

Six roads converged in a roundabout,And glad I could not take them allAnd be one sane driver, long I circledAnd looked at each one for they all looked alikeTo see where it curved out of sight;

Perhaps life was simpler 100 years ago when Frost penned The Road Not Taken. One thing is certain, travel was slower.The average speed of the 1916 Model T was only 25 miles per hour. When you approached a fork in the road you had time to ponder which path to take, but you probably didn’t have information about your options, where they would lead, and what you would find along the way.Obviously, travelers in 1916 didn’t have smart phones with GPS to guide them on their journey. Heck, in 1916 many roads were not yet marked and it was still a few years before road maps were widely distributed. (That began in earnest in the 1920s.)Approaching a fork in the road was a major decision. One with lots of consequences.While I’ve always had a fondness for Frost’s The Road Not Taken, it’s only recently that I really began pondering the poem’s significance.In his day, when you encountered a fork in the road, the best way to know the wisdom of the crowd was to see which path showed more signs of being frequently chosen. Remember, this was almost a century before swipe left or swipe right could be helpful to inform your choice. And there was no GPS to recalculate your route when you strayed down the wrong path.In today’s world, we frequently find ourselves facing forks in the road, deciding which one to take. There are still plenty of opportunities to choose between paths, perhaps even more decisions to make than in Frost’s day.And expediency, while not the only criteria, is often the most prized. Which road will get me there fastest?Still today, the popularity of the path is no guarantee that the road is right for you. There are there factors to consider. Lewis Carroll pointed that out 50 years before Frost.Carroll used a short, but pithy conversation between Alice and the Cheshire Cat in Alice in Wonderland to dispense his wisdom.

One day Alice came to a fork in the road and saw a Cheshire cat in a tree. ‘Which road do I take?’ she asked. ‘Where do you want to go?’ was his response. ‘I don’t know,’ Alice answered. ‘Then,’ said the cat, ‘it doesn’t matter.

Although so much has changed since Lewis Carroll and Robert Frost first composed those lines. The dilemmas they describe are just as real today as they were then. Perhaps even more so.What about you? When confronted with a decision — large or small — do you seek out the wisdom of the crowds and the well-traveled paths?Or are you willing to leave what’s safe and familiar and risk exploring the roads less traveled?Frost opted for the road less traveled and that made all the difference in the world for him. How about you?Over the next few posts, I’ll share some of the less-traveled roads I’ve taken and what I’ve learned along the way. I hope you'll join me.In the meantime here are some actions you can take:

• Share this post with a friend who is struggling to pick a path.
• Join the Living Your WHY Facebook Group.
• Schedule a quick connect call with me. We will discuss whatever is on your mind.
• Sign up to be one of the insiders and get dibs on what's new or next on this journey.

[convertkit form=4868835]