Reverse Direction
Consider, for a moment, the irrational humiliation and embarrassment we experience when we reverse directions on a well-traveled sidewalk.
I'm forever getting turned around in New York, trying to follow google maps walking instructions. (Why can't it just point in the direction? Southeast? In NYC? Gimme a break.)
I noticed that I often move to the side, pause a moment, and continue in the opposite direction after the people who saw me are gone.
WHY?
I don't want to be seen acknowledging my own mistake, even though I am correcting it. Turning around abruptly is basically the same thing as saying "I've been doing this wrong."
These are the lowest possible stakes, and still, it's painful.
Being seen pursuing greater integrity will always have a degree of humiliation to it. It's embarrassing to change walking directions in front of people who don't know me at all.
What about when everyone in our lives sees us make a 180 with our kids or our spouse? What if everyone in our lives sees us make that 180 with our career or money or fitness? What if all your potential clients see you make a 180 in your marketing and sales strategy?
These are strangers around me on this street, and that's already embarrassing, now it's gonna be my friends and family watching me reverse directions in a much higher-stakes situation?
I know exactly how hard that is, because I did it.
Now, consider how much easier it feels to realize with a friend you've both been walking in the wrong direction and right it. It might even be hilarious, fun, an adventure, a story you tell later.
That's why we do this work together, long term.
We can laugh off the mistakes, blame the app, and come into greater integrity with ease and sweetness, together.
