Know Your Way Out Before You Get In!

I guess the situation comes to all of us now and again. We are given, or see the opportunity to invest, dive in full throttle with zero plans on how we’ll make it out should the investment not pan out. So how do you put both feet in, and still have one foot out? This isn’t a game of Twister, this is about maintaining your security and self-preservation.

We all know that when we aim to reach a certain self-acclaimed goal, we charge through the starting line in full speed. We don’t look in the peripheral, we don’t watch our components gaining speed, and we certainly pay no notice to the notion that this may not work and the potential for injury may lie ahead. We run, then we walk, then we crawl, and then, quite frequently we stop. We haven’t planned a way out, we just give up. So is there a way to get the best out of that race, and bow out with just as much dignity and grace as though you’ve won the race?

I’m posed with this question now. I keep having that sentence go through my head: “Know your way out before you get in.” I know its wise to have a plan B, but I feel like plan A doesn’t have a shot in hell if you keep thinking about being able to lean back on plan B. Are we really putting the extra sweat, the extra steam, the extra push into plan A when we’ve got the “way out” or the plan B all set to go?

I’m coming towards what seems to be yet another cross-road in my life. I am toying around with the investment now. To keep it vague: I can’t discern whether or not I should put it all in and know there won’t be a great return, and already know that I’ll most likely be falling back to plan B, or do I put it all in and give plan A the chance? What if what you think you want and need, are in fact not the things you want and need, and you’ve only yet to discover what those are? What if what you want and need is just one more left turn ahead? Should you stop at the red light before and shut the car off, or do you just keep driving, following your gut or whatever is leading you, and hope that left turn marked “destination/goal” is just moments, days, or months ahead?

Speaking of driving; you know when you are looking for your destination and all the signs and landmarks along the way just don’t seem to match where you’re trying to get to? You get annoyed, discouraged, and even sometimes turn around. Dare you should ask for directions, get another opinion and potentially reroute your plan, admit mistake and shame your dignity! The signs and landmarks along the way are foreign, they won’t be familiar, they won’t resemble those of which you’ve seen before, because you’re going somewhere new, you’re trying to make this go; you’re trying to make plan A work!

So when the landscape, the signs and the landmarks all don’t make sense and don’t seem familiar, keep on going and soon enough, if you stay the course, you will make it to the sign that will tell you “50 miles to your destination/goal.” Its there, when you see the goal ahead, you see the finish line and you give that last 50 minutes every single ounce of strength you have and you forget about plan B and make plan A!

Heck, fate has a way of dealing the cards we’ll have to just make do with. Perhaps you weren’t meant to get your plan A, perhaps you hit traffic, slowed down, got discouraged, and called it off, or perhaps you crashed- you burnt out and totaled the plan, or perhaps you broke down- your battery just gave up and you exhausted every last bit of energy. Whichever it may have been, you’ve got to decide if you’re going to have faith and follow your gut, trust your directions, and trust what you’ve been told and what you believe to be ahead. If you can’t see that finish line, if you can’t make it to the sign that tells you you are just 50 miles away from your destination, then I guess you had better make sure that plan B is ready to go!

But… and there is always a “but,” perhaps you better know your roadside assistance, and turn to them when you blow your tire, or when your battery fails, maybe they’re the one who has got your parachute all set to go before you have to give up plan A. And hell, if both plans fail, use plan A/B, it will help soften the blow!