Course-Correcting: The Path to Achievement Isn't Always a Straight Line

When striving to reach important goals that challenge you, your process may not always be easy and straightforward. You may think you’re doing all the right things, expecting to reach a goal soon, when an obstacle is thrown your way; or maybe you realize the road you were on is no longer taking you where you need to go. In either scenario, it’s important to have the skill of course-correction. This skill is all about overcoming challenges, learning from failure, and planning a new, more effective route to take. Read on for some ways to practice and strengthen your course-correcting skills as you work towards your goals:

There’s more than one road to achievement

The first part of establishing the skill of course-correction is acknowledging that there are almost always many paths that can lead to the achievement of a goal. It may sound simple, but some people develop a one-track perspective that causes them to believe there’s only one clear way to reach their goal. In reality, the avenue to success is often winding and full of turns and adjustments along the way. So, accepting that there are multiple ways to achieve success is the first step to navigating those roads gracefully.

Admit mistakes and learn from them

Stubbornness and perfectionist tendencies can often prevent people from exercising course-correction. If your outlook on failure is that of a perfectionist, you may have an underlying fear of failure that is holding you back. Perfectionists tend to have very high standards for themselves and equally high expectations for their achievement. This means that they may be less apt to admit mistakes or acknowledge failure. When you’re working away towards a goal and you realize you’ve made some mistakes, ignoring them only prolongs your reaching success. In practicing course-correction, you’ll own and acknowledge the risks, mistakes, and failures you’ve experienced, learn what you can from them, and use that information to adjust your direction forward.

Mid-course correction

The point of course-correction is to work at shifting your path along the way, not just when you feel you’ve reached a dead end. Aim to practice this skill throughout your journey so you can catch errors and misdirection early on. Review your plan and progress, and try to predict your projected path from here on out regularly. Determine if you’re still on the successful path from which you set out. If not, you’ll have the chance to re-navigate yourself in a direction that’s better set up for your success, without wasting valuable time moving in a direction that isn’t getting you closer to your goal. Being proactive is a major key to successful course-correction.

Course-correction helps you grow and achieve more

People with high pride and perfectionist qualities may see the act of course-correction as a sign of a fault or weakness. However, it’s often these snags and adjustments that set you up for greater success. Rather than stubbornly continuing on along the same path that is full of obstacles or pointing you in an unhelpful direction, course-correction helps you to acknowledge the mistakes head-on and to grow from them.

In the same way that a GPS must occasionally recalculate, finding the best route to reach your goals sometimes requires adjustments in your navigating. The need for course-correction is often a sign that you’re taking the right kind of risks and are actively pursuing your goal. The ability to recognize when it’s time to make a shift and to be willing to make the change can dramatically accelerate your progress towards achievement.