Why Your GPS Gets You There: 7 Success Lessons from Navigation - Christine Kane

I use the ol’ GPS metaphor a lot.

In fact, I found myself doing it yet again yesterday.  And the reason is this:

It works!

Think about it.

You are a walkin’ talkin’ energetically tuned-in navigation system – all rolled into an amazing body!

Here are 7 success lessons from the technological miracle that is called Navigation:

1 – Enter a destination.

Your GPS is useless if you don’t know where you’re going.  It serves no purpose without a destination.

Same goes for you.

So, always ask yourself:

Where am I going?  What do I want?  Who do I want to be? What do I want to do?  What do I want to have?

Set an intention. Write down a goal. Make it clear, concise and meaningful to you.

If you’re one of those “go with the flow” people, that’s fine. But check in about something: Are you “going with the flow” because you’re scared to actually ask for what you want?

2 – All you need is the next step.

When you enter an address in, say, Little Rock, the voice of your GPS doesn’t shout, “Little Rock? You wanna go to Little Rock? Do you have ANY idea what that’s going to take? How many HOURS? I mean, I can’t even GO THERE, okay? Not today. No freakin’ way.”

No. It doesn’t do that. (Only our minds work like that!)

Your GPS gives you THE NEXT STEP.  Drive to the highlighted route. And move forward for X number of miles.

What is YOUR next step? Do it now.

3 – Get Back on The Road.

When you get off course on your trip, your GPS will direct you to get back on the road.  If you stop to pee, or grab some deep fried macaroni & cheese at Arby’s, your GPS will simply show you to your original path.

It doesn’t say, “Well, then.  Looks like you screwed it all up again, didn’t you? You were going along perfect – but no! You had to pull off. And now look at us. We’re like 2.6 miles from the highway.  And we have to spend THAT much longer getting BACK to where we were. You had built up so much momentum, too. You know what? Don’t even bother. Let’s just stay here. In fact, you should probably consider looking at an apartment to rent cuz you’ll never get back on course now.”

I don’t know anyone who doesn’t get distracted, thrown off course, have a bad day, lose their focus, momentum, or mindset.

NONE of that matters. All you have to do is GET BACK ON THE ROAD.

4 – Re-enter Your Destination When Necessary.

Sometimes when you turn the car off, you lose the destination. No worries. Just re-enter your destination – and your navigation will begin again.

So it is with your goals and intentions. Sometimes our minds can’t remember why we got started in the first place. We get caught up in something else.  Everything feels lost. We can’t find motivation.

No worries. Just re-decide. Re-commit. Re-enter your destination and your navigation will begin again.

5 – Change the Routing.

In the face of traffic jams and undesirable roads, you don’t turn to your driver and say “Oh well. I guess that’s it. This trip is over.”  With a GPS  – you just change your routing.

I call it “Changing the HOW, Not the WHAT.”

One of my Uplevel Your Businessâ„¢ students was all set to give up on her business. She hated it. She was burnt out. She was ready to throw it all away and become something – anything! – different.

I told her to stick with me during the program – and to think of changing the HOW of her business. Not the WHAT.  If she changed the HOW and still felt like walking away, then that would be fine.

Consistently, she began cleaning up her business systems, letting go of clients that drained her, hiring better people to support her, automating her marketing. Within months, she was happier and could see that there was lots of new opportunities in her business – and lots more excitement and creativity in her daily life.

When you’re tempted to give up on your situation, ask yourself if you need to change the routing. Do it differently. Clean it up. Change the scenery!

6 – Count the On-Ramps and Off-Ramps.

Your GPS always gives you the mile-count of your on-ramps and off ramps.  These are considered an element of your journey. They are not ignored.

Same thing with your path each day.  Gotta go to the gym?  Remember your on-ramp: (Getting dressed, grabbing your Sigg water bottle, driving to the gym.)  Getting home from work? Remember your off-ramp: needing time to sit still, taking a moment to stretch, changing clothes.

Give yourself TIME and SPACE for your on-ramps and off-ramps. They are important.  They set you up for the next road you’ll be traveling.

7 – Move Forward Without Drama.

Your GPS is a beautiful tool because it charts your course. It doesn’t judge you, give snarky commentary on your latest stupid move, or comment on the other idiots out on the road. It simply tells you how to move forward on your journey.

I’ve worked with over 500 people on their lives and in their businesses – and I’ve come to believe that 98% of what blocks our success and stalls us out is our own thoughts, mindsets and emotions.  We stop ourselves from success with our drama.

This is the biggest lesson from your GPS:  There’s no need for drama on your trip. It’ll only stop you in your tracks.

Here’s to moving forward and having a great journey!

13 COMMENTS ADD A COMMENT
  • Nikhil

    Fantastic Analogy.
    You are great.
    Last year, I changed my designation from Partner to Leader- customer happiness. This has galvanised myself and the organisation in a different manner.
    Writing down – right now was another miracle producer.
    Unconsciously, I used your idea of “word or set of words” to express ourselves to transform my life.
    Many thanks for your contribution to humanity.
    Namaste !
    Nikhil

  • Faye Constantino

    Okay, it’s done, and I hope you like it. It’s the story of how I found you, and what you have done here. It’s as if this was all waiting for me to find it.
    Thank you.

    http://hubpages.com/hub/Christine-Kane-or-Leap-and-The-Net-Will-Appear

  • Suzie Cheel

    I heard someone else referring to a GPS system today and i really like the analogy. How simple it can be when we are not beating ourselves up or giving ourselves a tough time.
    Re-decide. Re-commit. Re-enter that resonated for me
    Thanks for a great article

  • Kat

    I enjoyed your post, but I had to chuckle because we’ve learned one little important tip (at least on using the GPS on our travels in Europe over the last year): It’s good to have a street map handy printed of your destination because you never know when you’re going to run into a pedestrian zone or the GPS doesn’t quite have the address right. So I wonder what parallel you would draw for that into your analogy? It’s good to have a back up plan just in case? 🙂

  • Christine Kane

    Faye – I’ve always wanted to understand Hub Pages better – so glad to see you making that work! And yes indeed, add links to me at your leisure. That’s how it’s supposed to be! and thank you!

    Annie – here’s a link for you on that topic: https://christinekane.com/blog/what-to-do-if-you-dont-know-what-to-do/

    Thanks all! Happy Friday! 🙂

  • Annie

    What if you don’t know where you want to go? How do you go about figuring that out?

  • Laura Mixon, PhD

    Thanks for the powerful encouragement to keep calm and carry on, to simply keep moving forward. Reaching the defined destination is inevitable and it’s the twists and turns that make the journey interesting. Happy Friday!

  • DawnS

    Genius!

  • Sue Sullivan

    Christine, I love your on-ramp/off-ramp analogy. It’s something I have so ignored until I started doing your time management system. Then I got into the reality of my time. It feels so good to take care of myself and plan for my on-ramps and off-ramps. Thank you!

  • Inna

    Thank you for the post. I’ve used GPS, the recalculating, analogy for myself. This really adds to it:)

  • Paul

    Awesome Christine! I love my GPS, and had never connected the parallel. But you’re so right…. Still occasionally (like now) find myself caught up in the drama and listening to that nasty little voice. Being a visual learner, I’m thrilled that you offered this as a reminder. The picture of that GPS on my dash is bound to pop in when I’m struggling with the “voice.” Thanks yet AGAIN! for starting my day with more inspiration!

  • Faye Constantino

    This is amazing stuff. I started with your songs on YouTube and ended up here. I don’t believe in coincidence and so the whole bit being an accident (I was searching for songs by Christian Kane and your song came up in the list) I must have been guided here. Obviously I have no GPS and have been on auto-pilot and spirit guides my whole life. So here I am. I want to write about your blog. I write on Hub Pages and I like to highlight things and people who strike me. You strike me. Feel free to sample my work at Hub Pages, and then let me know if I may write about you on Hub Pages. Two Samples of my work :
    http://hubpages.com/_37rwyukekj9wv/hub/Learning-Something-Everyday-Its-What-Kids-Do
    http://hubpages.com/_37rwyukekj9wv/hub/Kseniya-Simonova-and-The-Art-of-Her-Fingertips
    I hope you will allow me to highlight your blog and your videos on my Hub Page
    Sincerely,
    Faye Constantino aka Faybe Bay on Hub Pages