It’s Like Sailing

A photo of my daughter enjoying the view in Stowe, Vermont at the Trapp Family Lodge.

Many people want to know how to get what they want. They want to know how to enjoy their lives. They want to know how life works. In many ways, I think life is like sailing.

Sailboats Are Impacted By A Complex World

Whether you sail or do not, sailboats do not travel straight to their destination unless you’re lucky. Sailboats are influenced by many factors, such as the wind and the water currents. These things are outside of the captain’s control. But this does not mean that the captain is not in control.

Captains Focus on The Journey and The Destination

Sailing is a process of being clear where you want to go and continually making adjustments to get you back on course. There is no singular “right way.” However, as long as the captain is committed to the destination, they can get there. They simply have to readjust and commit.

Succeeding in Life is The Same

When it comes to living your life and getting what you want, one of the characteristics of human existence is that there is randomness. There are unexpected outcomes. People often wish they knew it all, but part of what makes life fun is not knowing. When you know everything, life becomes boring. Jokes lose their punchlines. Every movie is spoiled. There’s no point in hearing a story because you would know what will happen. In fact, what people say they enjoy most about life are surprises. They enjoy the “first time.”

Decide Who You Want to Be and What You Want

You can always decide who you want to be and what you want. You can commit that you will be persistent. You can accept that just because you are not at your destination that you will get there. Just because things do not go as planned does not mean that you cannot have what you want.

What determines whether those unexpected things affect you is how you choose to react to them. If you assume that because you’re off course that you’re failing and give up, it’s not the unexpected things that stop you, but the fact that you decided that you cannot have what you want.

Be clear on who you want to be. Be clear on what you want. Decide how the person you want to be would respond to the situation that you are in, and then act that way. Decide how a person who was committed to getting what they want would do in your situation, and then do it. Actions speak the loudest.