“Two roads diverged in a wood and I –
I took the road less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.”
Robert Frost
Recently I was at the Maxwell Leadership conference and was listening to John Maxwell. During one of the sessions he said “quit chasing easy.” As I reflect on that statement and Frost’s poem above let’s look at how both are important.
The Easy Road
This is the road Frost did not take in his poem. This is the path of comfort, security and the status quo. This is not the road to STAY on, but a necessary road.
When we begin something we have never done such as learn a new skill we need easy wins. For example, if I am learning to hit a baseball the difficult task is a home run. On the other hand, the easy task is getting contact and then getting a base hit.
The easy road grows our confidence. The easy road gets us started. When we stay too long on the easy road though, we get stuck. And stuck stinks!
The Hard Road
This is the road that Frost referred to as the one less traveled by. This road requires risk and challenge and stress and an uphill climb. This road also is where great success and significance can lie.
Mother Teresa left the easy road to serve lepers in India. She dedicated her life to the poorest of poor and lived a life of tremendous significance.
Martin Luther King Jr. could have remained quiet and stuck to serving the people in his community, but he saw something bigger. He saw a greater need. He also experienced the hard path.
This is the path of growth. This is the path where individuals become “overnight successes”. . . . after twenty years. This is the path where you build something great as a leader.
Managing the Tension
Both paths are necessary, but it becomes a question of timing. What stage is your life and your work in? If a business is in the startup stage, they are managing both the hard path and the easy. They are trying to get off the ground and become profitable . . . hard. On the other hand, they are trying to get the easy wins to keep the doors open.
We each need to search within to determine if there is something hard we know we should be pursuing, but are not because we are afraid. When we “chase easy” then we choose comfort and choose a path that is less than our full potential.
Take a minute and ask yourself: where do I need to start chasing hard so I can grow into my full potential and help those around me do the same? Need help thinking into this? Contact me for a no cost to you powerful coaching session. Chase hard and lead well!
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