I'm currently in a hotel room in Los Angeles with a few minutes between meetings, and I'm thinking about the plans we make, the courses we chart, and the way those can change so instantly and usually for the best.
I had a big meeting today. One I've been waiting for for years, and didn't go at all the way I thought it would. A bump in the road like this is so often perceived as a sign of failure. We blame ourselves for not being prepared enough, for not wanting it enough, for not being good enough. But today, a bump in the road means something different: Find another road.
My expectations for this meeting were very high. I had this idea of exactly how it was going to go, and how everything would unfold afterward, and none of it came to fruition. When the meeting ended, I felt like I had misjudged my preparedness and mismanaged by expectations. But after five minutes passed, I took a breath and realized none of that was true. I couldn't possibly have been more prepared, and I believe there's nothing wrong with having high expectations, so there must have been something about this meeting that wasn't quite right. Instantly, I thought of my favorite Joseph Campbell quotation, "We must be willing to let go of the life we planned so as to have the life that is waiting for us."
I was so focused on what I wanted from this meeting that I was blind to the myriad other options waiting for me. So, today's lesson: Dream big and be open to the change in your course, it may be leading you to a much, much better place. It takes just as much energy to dream big as it does to dream small and there's nothing wrong with having high hopes, so don't skimp on your dreams, just be open to the dreams you have yet to dream.