Poetry can often be interpreted differently by different people. “The Road Not Taken,” by Robert Frost, shown below, is a great example. Whether one interprets this poem to be about making difficult choices, individualism or the paths we take in life, it causes one to stop and think about 3 take-aways from the paths we take.

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

One thing is for sure, we will all travel down various paths in life. Some will be easier than others, some will bring different rewards, some may even appear to be dead-ends, no matter what, we can learn valuable life lessons from the paths we travel.

Every Path Has Challenges, Obstacles and Opportunities

Every opportunity has a difficulty but it doesn’t mean the opportunity doesn’t exist. Every difficulty has an opportunity but it doesn’t mean difficulty won’t be part of the journey toward success. The difference between an obstacle and an opportunity may have more to do with our attitude toward it. For some, the first sign of difficulty means the opportunity is over or never really existed in the first place. In his effort to develop his beacon light, Thomas Edison made between 1,000 – 10,000 attempts that went nowhere. His response to the repeated failures? “I have not failed, I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”

A Dead-End May Simply Be an Opportunity for a Miracle

The Bible tells of one leader who led his people into a dead-end situation only to experience a great miracle. In their escape from Egypt, Moses found himself and his people trapped against the Red Sea, a body of water with an average depth of 1,600 feet. With an angry army approaching from one side and approximately 10 miles of water on the other, all seemed lost. While the people grumbled, complained and lost all hope, Moses remained ever confident. According to the Exodus story, God opened a path through the water and Moses successfully led his people to the other side. A dead end does not mean permanent defeat. It may mean it’s time for a dissection of your direction. Take your time. Don’t panic. Look around and you may find a path you didn’t know existed.

Napoleon Hill said, “Opportunity often comes in the form of misfortune or temporary defeat.”

No Matter the Path in Life, Enjoy the Journey

It’s easy to get into the mode of simply going forward with our head down, racing to reach the destination, achieve the goal or accomplish the task. All which are very important and in many cases, what we get paid to do. However, we’ve all heard others say, it’s not the destination but the journey that brings the most joy. It’s along the way that we develop friendships, get and provide encouragement, gather information, expand our knowledge, grow as individuals, and gain new insights.

Author Ursula Le Guin may have said it best, “It’s good to have an end to journey toward, but it’s the journey that matters in the end.”

Early pioneers who helped settle and tame the Wild West had to overcome many challenges as they made progress toward success. Planning enough food and water, avoiding wild animals, maneuvering through Indian territory, overcoming disease, and arriving safely and successfully before inclement weather hindered their progress were just a few of the factors to consider before loading up the wagons and heading out. Those who headed west were driven by the desire for opportunity and were inspired by the dream of land ownership, farming and freedom.

Helping to spur the migration west was a newspaper editor by the name of John O’Sullivan who wrote, “…the right of our manifest destiny to over spread and possess the whole (land) of the continent which Providence has given us for the development of the great experiment of liberty and federaltive development of self-government entrusted to us.”

From the mid 1830’s to the late 1860’s hundreds of thousands of settlers, ranchers, farmers, miners, fur traders, missionaries, businessmen and their families made their way through a network of emigrant trails. Following trails blazed by others was beneficial to those pioneers who traveled from the mid-west, however, they also had to avoid the ruts that were cut into the trails by the thousands of wagons before them. It’s been said that at the entrance to one trail a sign was posted that read, “Avoid this rut if you don’t want to be stuck for the next 25 miles.”

Much like pioneers of old who had to carefully avoid the ruts in emigrant trails, today’s business professionals must avoid ruts in life’s paths if they hope to achieve their goals.

Develop a Routine Not a Rut

Some people begin each work day by planning and listing the priorities that need to be done while others plan their day the night before. Some will take the time to review their day’s work and see what was accomplished and how well it was done. Some take notes, make adjustments and look to see how they can improve. At the age of 20, Benjamin Franklin developed a list of 13 virtues (which can be found online) in order to continually improve his character. Regarding his work, Franklin wrote, “Industry. Lose no time; be always employed in something useful; cut off all unnecessary actions.”

A daily routine will help you to be more focused, waste less time and be far more productive.

Develop Goals

It’s good to have goals. What do you want to accomplish by the end of the year? How many sales calls do you want to make each week? How much money do want to have for retirement? When do you want to pay off a certain debt? Which musical instrument would you like to learn?

Setting goals increases one’s motivation, drive and achievement. Those who set goals have a tendency to demonstrate greater persistence and creativity in pursuit of those goals as well. Zig Ziglar once said, “I don’t care how much power, brilliance or energy you have, if you don’t harness it and focus it on a specific target, and hold it there you’re never going to accomplish as much as your ability warrants.”

Developing, focusing, and working toward goals is one way to avoid falling into a rut.

Develop an Accountability System

From Bible studies to CEO peer groups and everything in between, accountability keeps people accountable. Inviting trusted individuals into your life for the purpose of accountability increases a sense of personal responsibility, improves performance, and helps to achieve potential. When a family in a covered wagon found themselves stuck in a rut, others came along side and assisted in the effort to help them out. Allow others to assist you in your effort to avoid falling into a rut, limiting and delaying your success. Trusted relationships are important in the advancement of one’s career and the development of their character. As Charlie “Tremendous” Jones said, “You will be the same person in 5 years as you are now except for the people you meet and the books you read.”

In the diaries of the pioneers who traveled the emigrant trails, they often referred to those trails as, the dusty road, steep road, rocky road, long road, endless road, tiresome road, and winding road. You can’t help but to get an image in your mind of the difficulties and challenges those early pioneers faced in their effort to reach their goals. In making your way through life, your professional career, and in your effort to avoid life’s ruts, remember to always take the high road.

Image credit: MPI/Getty Images

In 1832, George Muller arrived in Bristol, England to take charge of a small church called Bathesda Chapel where he served for 64 years until his death in 1896. Early in his work at Bathesda, Muller was struck by the overwhelming number of orphans who roamed the streets with nowhere to go for food and shelter.

In this era of Britain’s Industrial Revolution, children as young as seven years old were forced to work in dangerous factories in horrible conditions. It was not uncommon for orphans to lose their lives in this state sponsored child labor environment. Some of the boys and girls were forced to work as chimney sweeps in the most deplorable conditions. They were a type of indentured servant, bought by the chimney sweep master from financially poor parents. According to information gathered from various chimney sweep web sites, these young chimney sweeps were to climb up, inside the chimney, brushing the flue as they went, and they weren’t done until their heads poked out of the chimney top. Due to their fear, these children were often reluctant to climb up the chimney. In order to motivate them, many masters would force the child up the flue and then light a fire. Since the child couldn’t come down, they had no choice but to climb up the flue. If a child happened to die while inside the chimney, another child was sent up the flue to help remove the deceased child.

Moved by what he saw, George Muller felt called to make a difference in the lives of the many ragged children running wild in the streets destined for slavery and forced labor. At a public meeting on December 9, 1835, Muller communicated his vision to his congregation about starting an orphanage. On April 11, 1836, Muller opened the doors of his first orphanage where he took in 26 children. Seven months later, on November 28, 1836, the second orphanage opened. In September of 1837, a third orphanage was opened. Over the years, more than 10,000 orphans were housed in the orphanage started by Muller. Not only did Muller provide food and shelter, he also provided an education to over 120,000 children through the 117 schools he established. He was actually accused of raising the poor above their natural station in life. At his funeral in 1896, the streets were lined with multiple thousands of people, some having climbed trees lining the funeral procession, attempting to get one last glimpse at the man who cared enough to make a difference.

The Power of Purpose

People and teams need purpose. They not only need to ask the question but need to have an answer for, “why do we exist?” An NFL team coming out of training camp and into the regular season lacking purpose will lack the passion and direction to reach the game of games, the Super Bowl. Studies show that people without purpose are vulnerable to boredom, anxiety and depression. Without purpose, individuals will drift aimlessly through life and through their professional careers. When people have purpose, they have focus, direction, desire, aspiration, resolve, determination, tenacity and a will to achieve. They are not deterred by setbacks, delays, or impediments. Fredrick Nietzsche, the German philosopher said, “He who has a why, can endure any how.” George Muller had a “why.” His purpose was to lift orphan children out of a life of neglect and slave labor by providing them with food, shelter, education and an understanding of their purpose in life.

The Power of Passion

Passion is the fuel in the engine of purpose. Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines passion as, “a strong feeling of enthusiasm or excitement for something or about doing something.” Author Michael Nolan wrote, “There are many things in life that will catch your eye, but only a few that will catch your heart, pursue these.” Leaders can tap into the passion of their teams by casting vision. Helping others to see the end result of something that’s yet to be accomplished is the key to good vision casting. When George Muller shared his vision for starting an orphanage, he had two schilling in his pocket and never asked a person for a single donation, yet throughout his years in ministry work, he raised what is considered to be over $70 million in today’s dollars. He cast a compelling vision for what could be and then got to work to make it happen.

The Power of People

When people are motivated by a compelling vision, there’s no stopping great things from happening. It’s been said that teamwork makes the dream work. The power of people to accomplish goals and objectives can never be overlooked. Michael Jordan said, “Talent wins games, teamwork and intelligence win championships.”

As leaders in industry and in our communities, may we be alerted to the needs of others and harness the power of purpose, passion and people to meet those needs.

On July 16, 1969, the world watched and waited as 3 astronauts rocketed their way toward the moon. The flight actually began on May 25, 1961 when President Kennedy laid out a bold vision of space exploration including, “landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the Earth.”

In a matter of days, the Lunar Module named Eagle, would disengage from the Command Module named Columbia and gently land on the lunar surface. Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin would utter phrases that are still part of our vernacular today. Those phrases include, “The Eagle has landed,” and “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.”

While Armstrong and Aldrin would be hailed for being the first humans to step foot on another planet, there was a third astronaut on the mission who was largely forgotten. Michael Collins was the pilot of the Command Module, Columbia, and continued to orbit the moon as Armstrong and Aldrin collected moon rocks and performed scientific experiments down below.

No one could have imagined the “aloneness” Collins would experience aboard Columbia being 250,000 miles from Earth and at times out of radio contact with his companions. Add to that the anxiety Collins felt with regard to the mission potentially ending in disaster. Should the Lunar Module’s engine fail to ignite, Armstrong and Aldrin would be stranded on the moon with no hope. Collins would return to Earth as the sole survivor. Armstrong believed they only had a 50-50 chance of success. President Nixon was prepared to deliver a speech in the event the mission ended in failure. He would have attempted to comfort a grieving nation with the words, “Fate has ordained that the men who went to the Moon to explore in peace will stay on the Moon to rest in peace.”

As it turns out, the mission was an overwhelming success and 8 days after lifting off from Cape Kennedy, Apollo 11’s Command Module splashed down in the Pacific Ocean carrying all 3 astronauts. The names of Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin are known world round, while Michael Collins fell into relative obscurity. To this day, Michael Collins has no regrets about his role in the mission.

Much can be learned from Michael Collins about life and leadership.

Remain Calm Under Fire

While wrestling with the angst of all that could go wrong with the Apollo mission, Michael Collins remained calm and in control. Excessive nerves and anxiousness can cloud one’s ability to think clearly in stressful situations. When others are depending on your best, it’s important to find ways of minimizing fear, worry, and anxiety.

Remain Focused on the Team’s Goals and Mission

Everyone on the team has a critical role to play. Certain positions naturally glean the spotlight, however, without the contribution of the whole team, everyone loses. The goals of the team cannot be achieved if everyone is more concerned about individual accomplishments, attention, and accolades. For a quarterback to achieve maximum results, the offensive linemen have to know their blocking assignments, receivers must run proper routes and running backs have to have hold on to the football.

Vince Lombardi, former Green Bay Packers Coach said, “Individual commitment to a group effort — that is what makes a team work, a company work, a society work, a civilization work.”

Remain Humble Through It All

Michael Collins’ unique ability to allow others the accolades for the team’s accomplishment kept him from a life of anger, resentment and disappointment. He was secure in knowing his contribution and the value of his involvement. His actions set him apart as a true leader.

As one ancient Chinese philosopher said, “I have three precious things which I hold fast and prize. The first is gentleness; the second is frugality; the third is humility, which keeps me from putting myself before others. Be gentle and you can be bold; be frugal and you can be liberal; avoid putting yourself before others and you can become a leader among men.”

Photo credit: NASA