Changing Lanes – Even if you are scared

I stood in the traffic jam at the entrance of Zurich. It was a Sunday night and a lot of people seem to either have returned from the holidays or from their weekend homes. I had been in Germany to see my family and I noticed that on the left lane cars were moving a lot faster but I did not dare to change lanes for a while. At least fifteen minutes I followed the masses in slow track.

After a while, I thought I’d give it a try and despite all the cars coming at the faster speed I found a hole and could change lanes. Then I noticed that the traffic jam was not for the cars moving into the city. All the cars on my lanes had a different direction and did not manage to enter the lane on the right side.

When I finally was in the flow again and reached my target a little later than expected and noticed that we often do exactly that in life and profession too. We stay in a lane because we are scared to change, we follow people who have a different target than us and while we think about what to do lifetime and quality runs through our fingers.

We get stuck in thinking about change, in being annoyed at ourselves for not changing until we have invested too much to quit the lane.

I realized yesterday that once I overcame my fear, an opportunity came up. Other drivers also needed a bit of encouragement to change lanes, so you let them in and support their choice. It took a truck driver about ten attempts before anyone would give him a chance, but he (or she) persisted.

You have choices every day and you can change lanes a lot easier than you might think. Start small and if you need a little encouragement you join our RockMeRetreat and see me for coaching.