This morning I was reading an amazing book ‘The Slight Edge” by Jeff Olson (ISBN: 0-9672855-5-0) and he was talking about being on course in your life and heading towards your goals and dreams. Did you know that when a space shuttle is headed for the moon, they are ‘off course’ at least 97% of the time? That is amazing especially seeing they have loads of technical equipment to make sure they stay on course. In the end they make it to the moon, but how? They have to continually recorrect to get back on their path.

How does this apply to you? Jeff then goes on to say that if you had that space shuttles’ degree of accuracy, you would reach your destination or goal by only being what appears to be ‘on course’ for 10 days in a year! This fact gave me huge relief and also huge belief. How often do you feel like you are off course? If you feel like you’re off course around 355 days a year, then you are right on track. The whole point is though, that you must be continually recorrecting to stay on track to your goals and dreams. This is why accountability with a coach works so well because each week you are ‘correcting your course’ to make sure you stay on track for your goals. Remember also that correcting your course does not necessarily mean huge corrections. Often times it is just a little nudge here, a little move there. It is more likely to be small tweaks to ensure you do not deviate from the path too much.

This is why I also like daily affirmations. Each day I can correct my course in my thinking and attitude. The same goes for reviewing your goals and dreams daily. They will ensure that if you have slipped off course, you can get back on track.

There are lots of different techniques and times when recorrection is needed. Think if you have been sitting at your desk, procrastinating at some of those tasks that you know need to be done, but you just don’t want to do. I often suggest that it is a good idea to have an alarm go off every hour to ‘wake you up’ and get you back onto the tasks that need to be done to reach your goals. Another great idea – especially for those that work at home – what do you do or where do you go when you are procrastinating (code word for ‘off course’)? If you find that you go to do the dishes, then maybe you need a big sign over the sink saying something like ‘Are you procrastinating?’ or ‘Is this the best use of your time?’. I used to have a sign in the top corner of my office, because if I was starting to go ‘off course’ I would lean back in my chair and look up. Of course I’d see my sign and answer yes, I’m procrastinating and then get back to what I needed to do.

So the next time you feel off course or not on track to reach your goals, remember that just like the space shuttle, you just need a little course correction. There is no need to think you are so far off track that you can’t make it back. Are your goals and dreams worth fighting for? If they are, then all you need to do is continually recorrect and you will be on target to reach your goals.

Happy navigation!