"We're Goin' to Vegas, Baby!" (Sort of)

A few years ago, I traveled with a colleague on a business trip to Sante Fe, New Mexico. We researched the flights and found the most economical option was to fly into Albuquerque and then drive a few hours East to our final destination in Santa Fe.

We passed the time with small talk as the desert and the mountains formed an idyllic backdrop for our unremarkable road trip. But suddenly, everything changed!

We rounded a corner of the highway and there stood a massive green sign with block letters screaming out a glorious destination:

“Las Vegas 120 miles”

We were both a little delirious from travelling, but big green signs don’t lie! We were only only 120 miles from paradise.  We’re going to Vegas, baby!

Our energy level went through the roof. We started our impromptu game-planning for a day in Vegas before our conference started. We would drop the bags at the hotel, quickly change, and then jet on off to Sin City.

Next big green sign:

“Santa Fe 10 miles  Las Vegas 70 miles”

Boom!  This was happening. We pulled into the hotel complex and I dropped my colleague off to unload his bags. I never saw him move that fast in my life. I then pulled around to the valet parking and met the attendant.

“Can you watch the car for five minutes? We’re heading off to Vegas!”

The parking attendant smiled.

“Ah yes, Las Vegas. That’s a quaint little town.”

I thought he was being sarcastic and offered a “yeah right” sneer in return. He glared back at me.

“You do know that is Las Vegas, New Mexico, right? They have some great antiques there.”

W-w-w-hat? Those trusting and unmistakable green signs couldn’t be wrong, could they??

Everything unraveled in an instant. We were 965 miles from Las Vegas, NV.   The entire state of Arizona was in between. And anyway, we were headed East, not West.

I considered myself a reasonably intelligent guy. My colleague was a Rhodes Scholar (yes, an actual Rhodes Scholar!) How could we be so clueless?

In hindsight, our mistake bordered on the comical. But we got caught up in the moment. And despite all the ill-fated logic, we wanted to believe it.

And don’t we all find ourselves in that situation at some point in our lives?

We Don’t Have the Luxury of Hindsight

In our work lives, we can beat ourselves up for missing the painfully obvious.  Of course we should have known not to hire that guy or girl.  Of course we should have never moved to a new city to take that job. Of course we should have seen that competitor coming after us?  Of course we should have never started that business. Our decisions seem so obvious in hindsight.

But we all get caught up in the moment. We all want to believe certain things. We all get blinded to logic at some point. And that is okay. We can’t always reconstruct the faulty reasoning that led to our ill-fated decision. And we shouldn’t waste energy trying to justify it. We just need to recognize the comedy of our errors and move on.

We Can’t Dwell on Our Mistakes

The same is true in our personal lives.  Of course we should have never dated that guy or girl.  Of course we should have never spent that much money for our house.  Of course we should have known not to trust that person.  Of course we should have never bought that stock. It all seems so evident through the prism of time.

But sometimes we make decisions out of emotion. Sometimes we make decisions in a vacuum. Sometimes, we make decisions that make no earthly sense. We can’t beat ourselves up over it. We are not perfect. We will make foolish mistakes. Sometimes, we just need to laugh.  All of life is obvious in retrospect, but not necessarily in the moment.

Resilience Always Looks Forward

But our ability to recover from these “obvious” mistakes is the key to our resilience. We can’t let these mistakes impact our resolve. We can’t let these errors in judgement destroy our confidence. We can’t let our miscalculations define us.

Resilience doesn’t gaze in the rear view mirror. Resilience allows us to look at our mistakes with a healthy perspective. Resilience ensures we don’t retreat and freeze in the spotlight of our next big decision.  No one is immune from these classic bloopers. But we can all recover. Resilience gives us a second chance.

Vegas, Baby!

I got an A in geography in fifth grade by filling in the states on a blank map of the USA. Yet, some forty years later, I actually believed Las Vegas, NV was 60 miles from Santa Fe, NM. I can’t explain it. I can’t justify it. But I can give myself a break. And I can sit back and laugh at the absurdity.

I hope the same goes for all of us. Sometimes smart people do really dumb things. Let’s not be too hard on ourselves. It’s time to stay resilient.

I have heard Las Vegas is a quaint little town. I can’t wait to get back to New Mexico to see it.

Rob Clark is a motivational speaker and author. For more on resiliency, please visit his weekly blog, The Resilient Worker.