The musings of a man on a plane

On a recent long-haul flight, I had a series of thoughts and triggers and the article below was the output of that journey.

Life is like a collection of random dots which when joined up, reveals the tapestry of one’s journey. A new acquaintance, a new job, a turn at a fork in the road.

Every day, we make countless decisions that take us down uncharted roads, and it is only when we look back that we can truly see the path that brought us to the present.

Knowing where you are on this journey of life is critical to unlocking your full potential. When you truly know where you are, you understand what you need to get to the next milestone.

Taking stock of your current GPS location on the map of life is akin to a racing driver checking his car tyres in the middle of a key race at a pit stop. Actually, the driver in a big race like Formula One will tend to have a few people helping him to take stock. The driver gets into a pit stop and everything is checked, changed or modified to give him the best chance of winning the race. We need people in our lives to help us fully understand where we are, people to help us take stock and people to inspire us to progress and move forward.

It’s essential to have people in our lives to help us fully understand where we are, to help us take stock, and to inspire us to progress and move forward. We can look to the example of Richard Williams, father of the two tennis sensations Venus and Serena Williams. He was intentional about mapping out a course for their tennis careers and guided them on the journey with sheer belief and determination. Today, we know them as World Champions, with Venus winning 49 single titles and Serena, 73 single titles they also have 22 joint doubles titles.

Incredible right? But it started with one man saying, “Venus and Serena gon' shake up this world”. And shake up the world they did, against all odds.?It is clear that with the right guidance and support, it is possible to achieve great things.?

I'm an advocate for the notion that feedback is a precious gift. After all, sincere and constructive feedback is a priceless offering. Receiving feedback is like hearing an echo in the depths of a pool — it gives you a sense of where you are. It's like the signal a GPS sends out to a satellite to identify your location. When you open a map app like Google Maps, you're asked to turn on your location. Of course, you still have the option to maintain your privacy by only using your location when the app is open. However, it is impossible your location is on for the app to function. The app needs to know where you are in relation to where you are planning to going.?Only by locating you, can the app truly direct you.

Take a moment to think on this: ?how far are you from your desired destination? In the bible God asked Adam, “Where are you?”

Today, I am asking you, “Where are you on your #career journey?”. Knowing where you are is crucial to knowing how far out or how close you are to the next milestone.

I strongly believe that mentors and coaches can be incredible guidance on our career paths. They can give us an overview of our current situation and help us get a sense of what lies ahead. They are great at spotting potential pitfalls and offering encouraging words. Mentors can provide invaluable direction, drawing from their own experiences to provide us with the best advice.

A coach, on the other hand, is full of encouragement. They help you focus on the goal and chase it down. They help you to find your inner strength, they walk with you and push you forward with inspiring and encouraging words.

#charting your journey in an authentic way requires you to take stock of where you are. Reflecting on where you are at any given time. Take a moment to glance behind you at where you have been. But what’s critical is that you face forward towards all that is ahead of you. Driven and led by vision and purpose.

A lot of people get stuck in the mire of past failures or failings, past success, mistakes, challenges and disputes. You need to push past all of these and lean forward.

John Maxwell’s book “Failing Forward” was crucial in helping me understand this. Failure is not a destination; it is an experience that we learn from and push through. You might feel stuck on the mountain called “the past”. Don’t stay there a moment longer. You need to get up and push forward.

In his book “Winning”, Tim Grover states that winning is a process you need to keep pushing into. The feeling of euphoria from a win could be the stumbling block preventing you from winning again. To keep winning you need to keep pushing. By taking stock of today, you have the incredible opportunity of touching tomorrow today!

Are you willing to push forward and learn from the past? If so, then you are on the path to reaching your desired destination! You cannot truly know where you are unless you have mapped out your destination.

Don't let indecision hold you back! Drawing the map in pencil is actually an intentional strategy to help you find the right path. For example, when I was 8, I wanted to be a detective. Though I'm not in that profession today, that desire birthed curiosity and a thirst for adventure in me. Recently, I was reminded of how I once even worked as a store detective – an incredible experience! However, I was told I was too black to be on the shop floor. Rather than staying put, I used this as a chance to look for a better-paying job in a larger firm. The key to staying on track is not letting a setback in life hold you back.

So, how do you create a map? Your map is built up of your goals, dreams, visions, plans for your life.

Where do you want your life to go?

Where do you want your career to go?

Where do you want your business to go?

All these “where’s” lead you to a point on the map. ?I started my professional career in a security guard’s uniform in the United Kingdom, but I had a sense of where I wanted to be. Once while working the night shift, a man walked over to my colleague and I, pointed at Volkswagen Polo car and said: “People like you will never be able to afford this”, before walking away. Both my colleague and I had engineering degrees. I was a Civil Engineer, and he was an Electrical Engineer.?The only reason we were wearing those security uniforms that evening was because of the recession. The man in the Volkswagen Polo judged us by our uniforms and not by the maps we had plotted for our lives nor the courage of our conviction.

Every time I see a Volkswagen #Polo, it reminds me of that fateful day and the importance of daring to map out a journey.

As my knowledge and life experiences increased, the map evolved.?There have been valleys and mountains on the journey, but I am who I am today because I dared to chart a course. Dare to believe that in you is the strength to achieve great things. Dare to dream.

A map helps you find the path to your destination. The map or the vision capture is your friend, but it can also be your enemy unless it is defined right. I encourage people to write up their maps in pencil, as this gives you a chance to keep evolving it. ?Just like building with Lego, you lay a good foundation and repurpose what is above it.?Drawing in pencil also means you can make adjustments. I studied Civil Engineering, but I do not let that dictate where I am headed in life. As an engineer, we were taught to map things with surveys and surveying the land giving us an understanding of the landscape. We all need to find the map of our lives, the direction we are heading in. We all need to be led by purpose, on purpose. Intentionally charting a course to the place of our destiny. Purpose can be birthed by curiosity and a thirst for knowledge. That is why I love the words famously attributed to Dr Suess “The more you read, the more things you will know. The more you learn, the more places you'll go.”

Our purpose, visions and dreams are all fuels for the fire of map creation. Know where you are. Know where you are going. Both are critical to becoming the best version of you.

You don’t have a map? Start making one now. Take a piece of paper and brain dump and let it evolve from there. Companies, organizations, schools or institutions that we work for always encourage us to have goals. #Goals are like dots on a map of our lives. As you map out a direction of travel, minutes turn into hours and hours into days. Take a minute to plot out a path if you do not have one already, or if you do, take a minute to go over the plan again. Take stock of your strengths that could make this plan work, and mark down the weaknesses that could get in your way. Be honest with yourself then press forward.

Take this map and the plan around it to a mentor, a coach, a boss, a friend, someone you trust, and ask them to validate it with you and don’t forget to draw in pencil. ?I love what I do today, but I only got here because a colleague suggested to me that I would be good in HR. Hers was not the voice of God from heaven even though I believe God can lead us directly, but at this time in my life it was a colleague who helped me re-route my map and that has led me to where I am today. Just a gentle nudge and wow a whole new world emerges as if it was already there. Join the dots!

Today, I am glad to be seen and known as an innovative solutions provider in the people capital space, using technology to drive value for people in organizations.

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Sola Osinoiki

Josh Leadership Academy