"We all want progress, but if you're on the wrong road, progress means doing an about-turn and walking back to the right road; in that case, the man who turns back soonest is the most progressive.” C. S. Lewis

            Two weeks ago I was in Arizona for a function arriving shortly before the airport was shut down due to torrential rains and flash flooding.  Several hundred people were forced to change their plans.  Some choose to forgo the event, others choose to wait for the next available flight while others still took flights to neighbouring airports, rented cars and drove to Phoenix.  The latter group choose to keep their destination and re-chart their course.

            Life can often throw us some curves.  We can be focused on a goal, set a plan as to how we are going to achieve it and then something happens that forces us to re-evaluate.  Success lies not in the giving up, but in keeping the goal at the forefront and coming up with another strategy to get there.  The fastest route may not necessarily be the one that gets us there and the learning that results from the new course is often more valuable than anything else.

            This past week an old friend Facebooked me.  His last six years had been full of tragedy.  He is a personal trainer and fitness specialist, his wife is a chiropractor.  Their young daughter was diagnosed with cancer and they had spent two years and hundreds of thousands of dollars getting her well.  During that time my friend had to shut down his personal training studio and re-chart his course.  As a result of all of the connections he and his wife made through the outpouring of support he has a new business and it is even more successful than his studio.

            My friend had a goal of owning a business and achieving success.  The universe, who I call ‘God’ had other plans.  My friend still achieved his desired outcome however he had to take a different route and grew tremendously because of it.  He is stronger in his attitude, faith and desire.  He has a different appreciation of life.

            Often we choose a goal, such as getting healthier, and we join a gym, start a diet program and let people know that we are making a change.  Inevitably life happens; we get busy, we are tired and it becomes very easy to lose sight of the goal.  Instead of letting go of our success we can choose to embrace that we may need to re-chart our course.  Instead of going to the gym five days every week, we could take 2-3 of those days and powerwalk from our front door or do an exercise video at home so we can capitalize on time.  There are always many paths that lead to the same destination.

            Years ago I wanted to be a millionaire.  I had hoped to be a professional triathlete, win raises, get endorsements and build a brand.  God had different plans for me and in the year 2000 I was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis and was too sick to race.  Four years and much suffering later I was introduced to a network marketing company and low and behold, as the by-product of helping people, became a millionaire there.  I wasn’t meant to be a professional athlete, I was meant to be another kind of professional.

            Had I been successful in triathlon, I would have only helped myself.  In network marketing, my writings and trainings, I am blessed to help tens of thousands of people.  I had the same outcome and had to choose a different course.  The result has been even greater than I could have imagined.  In the last six years I have learned so much, grown tremendously and continue to grow. 

            Lance Armstrong is a great example of the power of re-charting.  Lance too wanted to be a professional triathlete and he was pretty good.  After a successful victory over cancer, Lance went on to win 7 Tour De France cycling races.  He arrived at his destination of success and because of his re-charting the results were even better than he imagined.

            There is a joke about a man and a woman who arrive at a raging river.  The man starts sawing down trees and building a bridge.  The woman pulls out a map, hikes 2 miles upstream and waves to the man from the other side.  

            In life so many of us are like the man who spends a great deal of time, effort and energy building a bridge instead of pulling out a map and looking for a better solution.  We have the opportunity to ‘invite the easy in’ by looking for innovative ways to get to our goals even if it means going out of the way.  You may be looking at a goal that seems so far out of reach.  Perhaps you are wondering if you will ever be fit and health, if you will ever find your soulmate or get out of debt; maybe the solution is re-charting your course to get the result and that means doing something a little bit different.

            A woman I know wanted to find her great love.  After a series of blind dates and set-ups she was no further ahead.  She decided to re-chart her course and do something different.  She used an online dating service and booked 5 coffee dates per week.  In six weeks she met and fell in love with her now husband.  They have been together happily for ten years.  This woman realized that her course wasn’t working so she re-charted and ended up with great success.

            The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.  Are you hoping for your dreams to come true but going about them in the same fashion as always?  If your current course is not working, re-chart it, and try something innovative and new.  Keep your goal at the forefront but do not be afraid to get out there and be creative. 

            The worst thing we can ever do is give up on our dreams.  Chances are, whatever you are dreaming of, will positively affect other people.  When you give up on your goals, others lose too.  You are often so much closer than you think and, like the woman in the joke, may just need to pull out the map and choose something different.  In the short term it may seem that the new course requires more work and may even scare you a bit but the end result may be better than you have imagined.

            This week I invite you to take a breath, re-visit your goals and dreams and chart a new course if that is what you require.  You may need to take a course, hire a consultant or coach or attend a seminar to get some new and innovative ideas on how to proceed but in the end your success will cause you to step into a level of power that will inspire others for years to come.

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Spend time with master trainer, author and speaker Susan Sly in beautiful Los Angeles, California.   The Power Body Weekend is 3 days of inspiration, transformation and motivation.  Learn how your body works, how to eat for pleasure and not out of pain, discover the best exercise techniques for your body type and much more.  You do not want to miss it.