One Thursday last month, I plugged the address of a Thai restaurant into Google Maps to pick up lunch. The restaurant is a few towns over and while I had gone a few times before, I only knew directionally where I was heading.
When the GPS directed me in a completely different way with an ETA five minutes later than expected, I felt like I had no choice but to follow. After all, it knew better than I did where to go.
I drove for a couple of miles on an unrecognizable street and at a stop light, I decided I would change the music. This took me to a different app in my CarPlay and before I knew it, the light had changed to green and I had no idea what my next move was. My blinker was on and flashing right but I thought it must have been a mistake. I clicked it off and drove straight instead. When all else fails, go straight, right?
Nope.
That lapse in attention cost me another five minutes on my already elongated trip.
I metaphorically kicked myself while also being amused at my mistake.
How often do we set a direction for ourselves, get distracted, forget that we said we were going a certain way, and instead, keep going “straight” – the safe way? When I take my attention off where I want to go, I tend to get pulled into other things and then forget I had set an intention. I will go the path of least resistance and in turn, have to re-do my steps.
The moment in the car turned into some good lessons – keep track of where I’m going, trust the direction I had set for myself, and don’t always assume the straight path will get me there the quickest.
