Chart Your Life’s Course With Care

By Tim O’Brien

“Where’s the map?” I ask.  Then the ubiquitous reply from the rest of the family, “what map? I don’t have a map. Do you have a map? No, I haven’t seen a map, have you?”

After a minute or two, their Three Stooges routine subsides into a plaintive, “Are we lost Dad?”  To which I calmly answer, “How do I know?  We’ve misplaced our map so we can’t tell where we are!”  

After a good laugh, we check the glove compartment. We make sure all our maps are there and then we pull out of our driveway to begin our trip.

A road map is a good analogy for life. Where we are is a city on the map. Where we hope to be, or what we hope to accomplish, is another city on the map, some distance from where we are now.

That distant point is our priority, the “what” of our desires.  The cities on the straightest line between our present and final positions are the intermediate goals we must accomplish or arrive at if we are to reach our final destination.

All the other cities on the map represent our other choices.

Some might have strong attractive appeal, glitz and glamour.  However, any city not on our most direct route is a distraction to avoid if we want to accomplish our priority in the most efficient way. 

The small red numbers on the map represent the miles between cities. Or to us, they are the time we spend on intermediate goals. Collectively, the miles total the distance to traverse to reach the destination of our journey. In our analogy, they represent the total time we can expect it to take to realize our priority.

When estimating the time between cities and goals we must take all factors into consideration. A 20 mile trip on an isolated country road will take about 18 minutes. A 20 mile trip through Los Angeles at rush hour could take two or three hours. Often, only experience tells us how much time to allot for each segment of our travels.

It is the same with the goals in our life. Not all of our goals will take the same amount of time, though they look closely related.     

During our travels we hit roadblocks, detours and work crews.  All of these can slow us down, divert our attention or suddenly send us off in an unknown and unexpected direction.

Just like on the map, there are very few straight lines between goals and priorities in life. We need to maintain flexibility, calmness and detachment along the way. Our major concern is to reach our destination. Allowing other people or events to disturb our inner calm, or optimism hurts us, not someone else.

A well planned trip plots the course to travel in advance.  It uses outside help like AAA, to guide us if we will travel to unknown places. A well designed plan charts the miles to travel per day. It allows for appropriate overnight stays, rather than pushing beyond reasonable limits, or using stimulants to stay awake. It plans for contingencies, and packs a few necessities to insure against the unexpected.

Life’s the same way. Use a master life plan as your map. Roll with the punches and have fun as you travel the road of life.

“If you cannot find happiness along the way, you will not find it at the end of the road.”