There’s a moment every goal-setter knows well. You had a plan. You were excited. You took a turn somewhere, and now you’re staring at a blank screen wondering how you ended up here. Goal setting is a lot like navigation, and the way we’ve navigated over the years has some surprisingly useful lessons for how we pursue our biggest dreams.
The Road Atlas Era: Big Goals, Simple Routes
Before GPS, before the internet, there was the road atlas. A massive paper map that lived in your glove box and made you feel like an explorer every time you unfolded it. I still remember poring over one before my first major solo road trip—Texas to Massachusetts. I was nervous, determined, and very new to driving long distances alone.
I mapped it out on the major highways. Was it the most direct route? Not even close. But it was clear, manageable, and (bonus) it got me free lodging at friends’ places along the way. Not a bad tradeoff.
That’s what early goal setting often looks like. You pick the clearest, safest path. Maybe it’s not the fastest route to your goal, but you can see the road, you know roughly where you’re going, and you make progress. And honestly? There’s real value in that. Getting started on goal setting, even imperfectly, beats staying parked in the driveway every single time.
The MapQuest Phase: More Detail, More Chaos
Then came the internet, and suddenly we had MapQuest and Yahoo Maps. You could map out your exact route, turn by turn, with precision you’d never had before. Revolutionary! Except you had to print out six pages of directions, manage them in a moving vehicle, and somehow not let them fly out the window every time you rolled it down.
I remember driving from DC to Jersey and my printed instructions kept telling me to take the JFK Memorial Highway. The problem? Every sign on the road said I-95. Same road, different name, and my directions never mentioned that little detail. I almost pulled over to ask someone, which would have been its own adventure. (“Turn left at the big oak tree. Not that oak. The other one.” Country directions deserve their own category.)
This is what happens when we have too much information and not enough context. We’re so buried in the details of how to reach our goals that we lose sight of the bigger picture. Six pages of turn-by-turn instructions sound helpful until you’re white-knuckling the steering wheel trying to figure out if you missed Exit 14 or Exit 41.
GPS and the Power of Recalculating
Then came GPS. And look—we take it completely for granted now that it lives in our phones, but those first dedicated GPS units were genuinely life-changing. Not just the routing, but the ability to search for a gas station or a fast-food place along the way. Suddenly the whole trip felt less stressful. More like an adventure, less like a test.
But here’s my favorite part of GPS technology, the thing I’ve come to appreciate most in how to reach your goals: what it does when you make a wrong turn.
Recalculating.
I’ll be honest, I’ve been annoyed by that word. Sometimes deeply annoyed. Usually because I was convinced I knew a better route and the GPS was just being dramatic. But here’s the truth: almost every time I heard “recalculating,” it was because I hadn’t followed the plan. I missed a turn. I went off course. And the GPS, without judgment, without a sigh, without even a hint of “I told you so,” just quietly figured out the new best route from wherever I was.
That’s not a small thing.
What a Productivity Coach Does That GPS Can’t
A good productivity coach works a lot like GPS, except for your goal journey, and with better conversation skills.
When we’re deep in pursuit of our goals, it’s incredibly hard to see where we’re going wrong. We’re emotionally invested. We’re exhausted. We’ve convinced ourselves that the path we’re on is the right one, even when all the signs are pointing somewhere else. We can’t see the forest for the trees, as they say.
A coach isn’t emotionally attached to your decisions. They see the patterns you can’t. They notice when you’re staying on track with goals and when you’re quietly drifting off course, often before you notice it yourself. And just like the GPS, they don’t shame you for taking the wrong exit. They just help you recalculate.
There’s also something powerful about working with someone who’s been on a goal journey before. Maybe not your exact journey, but they’ve seen the terrain. They know what a detour looks like versus a dead end. They know when to say “this is just a longer way around” and when to say “hey, we need to turn around.” That kind of experienced perspective is invaluable when you’re chasing a big dream for the first time.
You’re Never Too Lost to Recalculate
Here’s what I want you to take from all of this: being off course is not the same as being lost. It’s just a data point. The GPS doesn’t give up on you when you miss a turn. It doesn’t close the app and tell you to figure it out yourself. It recalculates every single time, and keeps moving forward with you.
Your goal journey works the same way. Missed a milestone? Recalculating. Life got messy and you fell off your routine? Recalculating. You started chasing a goal and realized it wasn’t even the right destination? Definitely recalculating, and that’s okay too.
The goal isn’t to have a perfect trip. It’s to actually arrive.
If you’re not sure where you are on your goal journey, or you want someone in the passenger seat who can help you read the road ahead, I’d love to connect. Book a free 20-minute strategy call and let’s figure out your next best route together.