Fresh Tracks

As is typical this time of year in Colorado, we awoke to find fresh snow on the ground.  I left the house early to get to a meeting with clients and found myself blazing a trail through the new snow on the road.  As I marveled at the beauty while staying focused on the road, it occurred to me that laying fresh tracks on the ground has a lot in common with life.

Our lives are too often consumed with following the tracks of others.  We go through our daily routines without having (or creating) the opportunity to do something new and different.  Is it any wonder we sometimes wake up in the morning feeling bored or dissatisfied with our life?  Even with snow on the ground, we find ourselves driving along seeking the tracks of those who have gone before us.  After all, it’s safer that way.  We risk less when we follow someone else.  What about the person ahead of us with no trail to follow? 

Like driving in the snow, when you have to be the one blazing the trail, there’s a certain anxiety and tension that comes with it.  Where are the lines?  Have I drifted off the road?  Am I over far enough to prevent the person coming the other way from running into me?  In life, when we have to create a fresh track and the familiar markers are hard to find, we too also face the uncertainty with a degree of anxiety.  Blazing trails though is what leaders do.  They embrace the challenge and take satisfaction in knowing that others behind them will have an easier time staying on the road.

So next time you have the opportunity to be the first to set down new tracks, embrace it.  Just like the snow will give way to the plow, other drivers, or the sun, these opportunities don’t come all the time.  Relish the moments when the path ahead of you appears clean and fresh.  Know that taking the lead is making the way clearer and safer for those who follow.

Duane Grove is founder of Connect2Action, a strategy execution specialist at the intersection of employee engagement and executive leadership, igniting innovation as a lever to accelerate your growth.  Follow Duane on Twitter @connect2action and connect with him on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Google+.  Learn more by visiting www.connect2action.com.