Walking With Intention

Michael had us do the most interesting exercise… After having us stand in a circle in the middle of the room. Michael commented that in New York, people don’t walk timidly — they stride purposefully. Then he had us stride purposefully around the room.  Then he had us walk faster. Then jog lightly. Then jog more quickly.

So here we were, about 60 people in a hotel meeting room, walking and then jogging around the room. No one knew where anyone else was heading. But somehow, there were very few collisions.

How could that happen?

As we discussed it afterwards, two points really stood out:

1. If you focus on what’s right in front of you, it’s hard to avoid a collision. You don’t see things until they are right in front of you, and when you see them, there’s not much time to react.
2. When you focus on the end goal, things get out of your way.

Wow. I found #2 really interesting… So much so that I think it bears repeating:  When you focus on your end goal, things get out of your way.  I observed it first-hand in this exercise. When I focused on where I was going, the things between me and the destination moved out of the way.

What a powerful metaphor for our businesses! When you focus on your goal, your mind figures out how to get there, and obstacles disappear. But if you focus on the obstacles, they stay in your way.

If you stop and think for a moment, you’ve probably experienced this in your business or in other areas of your life.  Are there things in your way now? Or are you focusing on the end goal, and letting the obstacles move out of the way? Please share your stories below.