Are you choosing the easy road, or are you making the road easier?
A number of years ago, I was driving home from a friend’s house late at night. I had recently moved to a new home, and this was the first time I had driven there from that part of town.
This should be easy, I thought. I know how to get from my friend’s house to the highway, and from the highway home.
Then I saw it. A sign for a major road that went near my house. A shortcut, I thought!
I was wrong. Instead of being a quick shortcut, the road meandered and dead ended. It didn’t actually connect to the road of the same name by my house!
I had to backtrack, get back on the highway, and head home the way I had originally intended.
What went wrong?
Has this ever happened to you? You took what you thought was the easy road, the shortcut, the path of least resistance.
And then it backfired. You had to backtrack, undo and redo, and likely it cost you more time, money, or energy than you would have if you hadn’t taken that shortcut. If you hadn’t taken the easy road.
So are we stuck with the “hard road”?
There’s a difference between taking the “easy road” and making the road “easier”. When we take the easy road, we’re taking shortcuts, we’re not being thoughtful or intentional, we’re following someone else’s path.
When we make the road easier, we’re prioritizing with intention, we’re making decisions on what we’re doing and how we’re going to do it. We’re learning as we go, iterating on our plans, and finding ways to achieve our goals with more ease.
So how do you know you’ve picked the easy road?
Three clues that you may have picked the easy road instead of making the road easier:
You didn’t actually pick (or you rushed your choice)
Just like I made the split-second decision to get off the highway when I saw a familiar road name, you didn’t really think through your decision, or maybe you didn’t actually pick. You kept going down the road you’ve always gone down without taking the time to think about how to actually achieve what you wanted.
Maybe you signed up for the running club your friend leads because she invited you and will give you a ride. Or you kicked off the project with an all-hands because that’s how you’ve started your last three projects.
You thought it would be easy but it isn’t
If you had made the hard road easy, it wouldn’t be a surprise when you face hard stuff. You’ve already considered it, and know you can continue to iterate until you hit your goal. But when we take the easy road, we’re often surprised when it isn’t, in fact, easy.
Perhaps you didn’t prep for a meeting because you thought it would be routine, but then found yourself surprised because it didn’t go that well. Or you ordered delivery for dinner, then the driver got delayed and your food was cold.
Continuing down the road fills you with dread
When you dread what’s next on the road, don’t want to continue, or when you know it’s just not right, it’s a clue you’re not making your road easier.
Perhaps you agreed to lunch with that former colleague who cornered you at the conference, but the morning of you know you don’t want to go. Or maybe you continually avoid that “easy task” on your to do list, doing anything but checking it off the list.
We’ve all been there - the easy road is tempting because it promises to be… easy. But when we take a moment to reflect on the goal we’re working towards and ask ourselves “how can I make this road, my road, easier?”, we’ll often find a better, easier, path for ourselves.
In the case of my ill-fated drive home from my friend’s house, if I had actually considered what would make the drive home easier, I would have googled the directions before I left to confirm which route was actually the most efficient.
For tips on how to make the road easy, check out my post “What would this look like if it were easy?”.
When you think about something important in your life right now, ask yourself…am I choosing the easy road, or am I making the road easier?
As you think about how to make your road easier, you probably realize there’s opportunity to explore this further. Want some help? Book your free strategy session and let’s dig in.
How will you iterate towards the person you’re becoming?
September 19, 2024
About the author:
Christina Von Stroh is a leadership coach who helps her clients become wildly successful by applying iterative software development practices to achieve their dreams. Want to work with Christina to help you iterate towards the person you’re becoming?
Book your free strategy session.
