Straight Line Leadership
I recently read a great book by Dusan Djukich called Straight Line Leadership. The premise of this book is simple and profound. The shortest distance between two points is a straight line. The most effective way for you to achieve your goal is to move from where you are (point A) to your goal (point B) in a straight line.
The problem is that most people are going in circles of mediocrity, moving constantly but going nowhere. They go slow, and they go fast, but seem to always end up back where they began; tired, frustrated, and no closer to their goal. It’s Groundhog Day all over again and again and again. It’s the insanity of doing the same thing repeatedly and expecting a different result.
Straight line leadership is about breaking out of that circular path and getting on the most direct path to success. It is also about minimizing diversions from that straight line by regular evaluation and coarse correction.
This book has inspired me to ask a few questions: Where have I expected to reach my goal without a fundamental change of direction? When will I choose drop my current story of excuses and create a new story? When will I fully face that the results I currently have are a result of what I have been doing, and that if I want a different result, I must do something different? What am I waiting for to make the change? What will happen if I choose not to change? Why would I base my life on feeling safe and avoiding fear? When and where did I stop growing? When did I give up? Am I ready to choose that new path each day, one day at a time, one step at a time?
Today, I invite you to ask yourself those questions, and choose to get on a straight line that leads to the outcomes you really want. It can happen. You are not the exception. You can start today. What’s holding you back? Wake up. Stand up. Get real. Look at all that is around you, and then smile. Today is a new beginning. The past is just what it says it is – past, and it’s over and you can’t change it. Quit dreaming about the future as well. There is just now. And the time to act is now!
