Coming up with fabulous ideas about the life you want is the easy part of setting a goal. It's the follow through that trips most people up. The annoying thing about life, is that it just keeps happening. Do you remember playing Hide & Seek as a child and hearing, 'Coming, ready or not!' when you really weren't ready at all? Life is like that and honestly, it's a miracle we ever achieve anything we planned.

There are so many options available and so many demands on our time that a lot of life is spent doing the best we can under the circumstances we are in. Just like not finding the perfect hiding place as a child and having to make do! We often don't or can't achieve the standards we would like either at work, or at home and the question I want to pose is whether that's a bad thing or not?

I see it with clients, they are steadily working towards their goal when all of a sudden something happens that derails the process. In some cases, clients genuinely realise that the goal they thought they wanted means absolutely nothing to them. Sometimes something comes up, a new direction becomes apparent or priorities change and the goal is no longer relevant.

When I first started coaching, I used to worry that something had gone wrong with the coaching process. Now, I applaud this change of direction. Interestingly enough, nine times out of ten, we end up getting where we wanted to go, just not in the way we expected to get there.
In the midst of the chaos of an unexpected event, it is easy to focus only on what is right in front of us, like diving into the first hiding place you spot during Hide & Seek. But if you can hold steady a moment and raise your vision to look at the longer term perspective, you will notice that there are more options available than you may have realised.

Sometimes a detour here and now, saves time and effort later. There may need to be some groundwork done before we can take flight. Learn to take your time and trust your judgement that you can make good decisions. Trust that a detour is not the end of the road but simply part of the long road ahead. Then take a deep breath, smile and take one small step to get yourself back on track.