Drift

The script

What keeps you going? For me, it’s this. Most people think the trick is to never drift. But drift is inevitable. Pilots know this. Without correcting, a 20-mile-an-hour crosswind can push a plane 20 miles off course in an hour. So pilots and their navigation systems correct for wind constantly.

Flying isn’t about never drifting, it’s about correcting. Goals work the same way. A skipped workout. An “I’ll start Monday.” Every climb drifts.

Rewards and cairns both show you when you’ve drifted. The difference is how it feels when you find out. With a reward, drifting means you missed it. Now you’re off course and you lost the prize. That’s when people quit.

With a cairn though, the good thing comes no matter what. When I’m sitting at Fazoli’s, breadsticks in hand, realizing I drifted, I’m still enjoying myself and feeling motivated to correct my path by next Thursday.

A missed reward makes drift feel like failure. A cairn makes it a chance to correct. And sometimes, life pushes you so far off course, with a new job or a new season of life, that you need a whole new summit. That’s okay. Pick a good cairn, enjoy the journey, and you can climb any summit you want.