Another Way
Don't settle for only the way you know.
“I know the way.”
Edward de Bono, the brilliant author famous for inventing Lateral Thinking, tells a story of meeting up with friends for dinner after work.
The group had finished work and decided on a nearby restaurant. They all left the office simultaneously, but de Bono arrived much later.
De Bono knew THE way, or so he thought. It turned out he only knew a way, and it wasn’t the fastest.
He had been going this same route to this restaurant for decades.
The Road to Costco
My family has been shopping at a Costco nearby for years. A while back, I started using the Waze Navigation app. One of the advantages of Waze is real-time traffic updates and previously unknown ‘best way’ routes.
I decided to try it to see if I was going the fastest way to Costco. Sure enough, the app had a quicker route than the way I had always driven. As a bit of a surprise, the app directed me to a small back road I didn’t even know existed.
In both of these examples, the assumed best way wasn’t the best at all.
For de Bono, circumstances pointed it out to him as well as some teasing from his colleagues. In mine, an intentional act of experimentation pointed to a better way.
It is easy to think the solution to a problem is the answer we already understand. The lesson here is to challenge any assumption that the way we know is the best.
🌀Reflection:
What process, approach, or habit have you had for years that’s gone unchallenged?
How might you experiment and find out if there are better ways of doing things in your life?
An overall expectation that the best way to do anything hasn’t been discovered yet seems healthy. Ontological humility FTW!
You have to first define what is the best way. For instance, Google Maps tells me to drive to the end of the street I live, and turn left on the divided highway controlled by a stop sign in my direction. There is always traffic on the highway. Crossing 3 lanes of northbound taffic to make a left turn is not something I cherish, so I turn left a few blocks earlier at a traffic light, and make a right turn and end up at the same place.
It's not faster, but there is less stress.
And I enjoyed the days I skipped the car an rode my bicycle to work. It took over twice as long, but I arrived at work (and back at home) much more ready to hit the day. And the sights I was able to see beat speeding down the Interstate.