Embrace the Detour

A detour takes you where you may not want to go, but it could potentially end up saving your life, and the life of those you're leading.

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When my kids were growing up, we had season passes to Silver Dollar City, an amusement park in Branson MO.  From our home in Russellville AR, it was about a three-hour drive up scenic (and curvy) Highway 7 North to Harrison, and then Highway 65 into Branson. Russellville sat at the foothills of the Boston Mountains, right in the heart of the Ozark National Forest.

We listened to the radio and played games on the way up the mountain, and after a fun-filled day at the amusement park, I would tell the kids a story on the way home – or at least until they fell asleep.  Several times a year, we repeated the process. It was one of our favorite places to visit.

One particular weekend, we spent the night at a hotel so we could attend the church service at Silver Dollar City and enjoy a music festival taking place that weekend.  About midday, a very heavy rain storm disrupted our plans, so we waited for a break in the weather and decided to pack it in and drive back to Russellville.

As we made our way down the steep, winding road, we were in the middle of nowhere when we started to see the signs no one wants to see with six tired children in the van.

Detour ahead.

The rainstorm had been particularly heavy in this particular area, which caused a portion of the road to collapse and slide down a steep embankment. What was left of the road didn’t look too stable, so the Highway Department barricaded the highway and put up a sign forcing all traffic to detour around the damaged section of the roadway. All we could do was turn left.

Now if you’re like me, I’m not a fan of detours. At least, I wasn’t back then.

Detours do a number of things that we simply don’t like.

First, they take us off our intended route to get us to where we want to go.  If you’re like me, when you’re planning a trip, you find the shortest way to get there so you’re spending as little time in your vehicle as possible. Detours take us off our intended path and delay us in getting to our destination. They make the journey longer than it needs to be.

Secondly, detours take us to places we often don’t want to go. For me and my family, our detour took us on a winding road through many obscure communities I’d never heard of, and wasn’t interested in visiting.  I just wanted to get home, and so did the kids. Our detour that day took us about 12 miles out of our way as we wound around countless backroads to get back to the main highway.

Thirdly, detours tax our patience and elevate our stress levels. The kids were tired, and they were hungry. Driving all over a series of winding country roads and passing through communities that were nothing more than a handful of farmhouses. No restaurants, no convenience stores, not even a grocery store or a gas station.  Everyone just wanted this trip to be over and get home.

But, we kept driving and driving.

As the leader of my home, I had a decision to make. I could let something I couldn’t control (a washed-out section of highway) dictate how I was going to respond or I could choose to be in control and dictate my response.  What was before me was a teachable moment for my children, and my response was going to teach them a lesson either way.

So, I told the kids, “I know you’re tired, and I know you’re hungry. But the road was washed out and there is nothing we can do about that. So, today we are on a journey of discovery. We’ve never gone this way before, and we may never go this way again. Let’s see what this road has to offer us and enjoy exploring a new and different way to go home.” 

To my amazement, the kids sat up in their seats, turned their eyes to the windows, and started taking in the scenery.  As we drove by farmhouses and through the countryside, the kids took turns pointing out things they had never seen, as well as some up close and personal views of some of their favorite animals, like horses, cows, and chickens.  A huge hawk sat on a fence post, staring across a field. A family of deer stood near the road, munching away at the grass.  

We saw kids on ATVs and horses. We saw farmers cutting and bailing hay. We laughed at some of the makeshift scarecrows in the gardens with crows sitting on their arms.  We saw moms drawing water from a well and dogs splashing around in a creek. The normal, uneventful ride home through the forested hills had been transformed into a journey of discovery learning how people in these remote areas lived and raised their families.  

Over the years, we’ve taken the road less traveled. My daughter, Jessie, and I drove to Orlando for a conference.  After the conference, we decided to take a journey of discovery, going miles out of our way to explore. We visited the ocean. We toured a battleship and crawled through a submarine. We saw the Superdome in New Orleans and ate at some, shall we say, interesting restaurants in Alabama, Louisiana, and Mississippi. We drove through parts of America we’d never seen before, and may never see again. And we met some interesting people along the way.

My family has learned that detours can be life’s way of taking you where you hadn’t intended to go. But, they can introduce you to experiences you would never have experienced had you not been sidetracked on your journey. Detours can expose you to people, places, and events that you might never otherwise come into contact with, giving you a different perspective and teaching you some valuable lessons along the way.

So, we’ve learned to embrace the detours.

And you should too.

All through life, we are going to experience challenges, obstacles, and roadblocks.  Life isn’t always easy, and at times it can be quite difficult. How we respond to these distractions to the success we are pursuing says a lot about us. It defines our level of maturity, our ability to manage stress, and our willingness to think outside the box.

If we are rigid, stubborn, and opinionated, we will simply try to push our way through by the sheer force of our will. But some obstacles aren’t easy to move. Others are impassable, at least using the traditional approach. Some roadblocks demand that you go another way, whether you want to or not.  

Black Belt Leaders are flexible and adaptable. They understand that there is always more than one way to complete a task, finish a project, or get to the finish line.  Sometimes God, Fate, or Life may take you on a twist or a turn that, in the moment, appears to be a setback.

But understand that the detours in life may actually be a setup for the next opportunity that’s around a corner you hadn’t planned on traversing. What appears in the moment to be a setback is in reality a setup to discover, learn, grow, expand, mature, or experience something new that takes you to an entirely higher level of success than you anticipated.

 How many times did Thomas Edison experience detours on his quest to create the incandescent lightbulb?  How many times did Marie Curie experience detours on her quest to understand radium and how it could used to treat cancer? 

Walt Disney was fired from his first job at a newspaper because he lacked imagination and had no good ideas. He went bankrupt while trying to start his own cartoon studio.  Detour. His first movie was a total flop. Each of these experiences took Walt Disney on a journey of discovery, choosing to embrace the detours, see what was around the unexpected turn in the road, to become a pioneer in the field of animation, inspiring millions of children and adults.

Henry Ford went bankrupt before starting Ford Motor Company. Albert Einstein struggled academically in school. J.K. Rowling was rejected twelve times before publishing her first Harry Potter book. Steven Spielberg was rejected 2,000 times before he finally made it big in the movie industry.  Steve Jobs was fired from the company he started, only to be rehired and revolutionize the industry with products like the iMac, iPod, and iPhone.

These men and women also embraced the detours, disguised as failure, only to discover something about themselves on this unexpected road of discovery.  What looked to the world, and perhaps to them in the moment, as a setback turned out to be a setup for a greater level of success in life.

So what about you?

Are you willing to embrace the detour?

Yes, a detour takes you off your intended path. But it may take you on a different path, setting you up to learn the lesson that’s holding you back from a greater level of success in your life. But, it requires that you embrace the journey, be open to the lessons this detour wants to teach you and be willing to learn or experience something new or different in the process.

Yes, a detour will take you places you may not want to go. But if you do the same thing the same way you’ve always done it, nothing changes in your life. You’ll simply keep getting more of the same. The detours you experience in life may take you where you need to be to find out what’s missing that’s holding you back. It may also reveal a new and better way to accomplish a goal or a task or expose you to an innovative idea you hadn’t yet considered.

Yes, a detour will tax your patience, but there is a lesson in that as well. Sometimes you’re in such a hurry to get something done so you can move on to what’s next, you rush right past what could be the next, great opportunity because you’re too busy to see it. And sometimes, a detour is God’s, Fate’s, or Life’s way of getting you to pause, take a break, and take some time for yourself.

So, the next time you see the sign warning you there’s a detour ahead, embrace it.

Don’t see it as a setback, see it as a setup. A journey of discovery, taking you somewhere you’ve never been to experience something you’ve never experienced. You’ll learn something new about yourself along the way, and that’s part of the leadership journey…learning, growing, expanding, maturing, and becoming a better version of who you are and what you do in the process.

And don’t forget, that detour sign is often there to protect you from something ahead you need to avoid that you simply can’t see yet.  You can ignore the detour sign…but at your own risk, and the risk of those you’re leading along the way.

So, embrace the detour.

It will ultimately get you to where you want or need to go, just in a new or different way.