The Same Road

A few years ago, I ran into an old friend I hadn’t seen in a while.

And she looked really good.

In fact, she looked better than I’d seen her in years.

Of course, I had to know her secret, and I was surprised to learn that she’d adopted the Keto Diet.

This woman loved bread almost as much as I did, but I couldn’t deny that giving it up certainly seemed to agree with her.

The diet itself wasn’t new. It had been around for a while, and although I’d heard of it, I’d never tried it.

But after listening to her sing its praises and seeing for myself the transformation in her weight, skin, hair, and overall health, I was ready to jump on the low-carb bandwagon.

Naturally, I went all in.

I consumed all the information I could find and prepared my pantry for this new lifestyle.

She’d warned me about the infamous Keto flu, so when it came barreling in like a hurricane, I was prepared.

I welcomed it as a sign that my body was adjusting.

I wasn’t overweight when I started, but the pounds began shedding like a white dog on black pants.

My clothes hung on my frame like they had when I was twenty.

But my skin wasn’t glowing.

My hair seemed duller than normal.

And I began getting dizzy when I stood up too quickly.

“Oh, it’ll pass,” my friend reassured me. “Just stick with it.”

So I did.

Fortunately, about three months later, I was due for my yearly wellness exam.

I went in ahead of time for the bloodwork so the results would be available when I met with my doctor.

Normally, she and I spent the first few minutes talking about our children, who are similar in age.

This time was different.

“What’s going on, Kimberly?” she asked as she walked into the exam room. “I’ve never seen your numbers this bad.”

I told her about the Keto Diet I’d embarked on a few months earlier.

She didn’t mince words.

“Stop.”

According to my doctor, it simply wasn’t compatible with my physiology.

“I can’t believe you don’t feel terrible with readings like this.”

“I do,” I admitted. “But I thought this was just part of the process and that it would pass.”

She explained that while a short period of adjustment might be expected, what I was experiencing was no longer part of the adjustment.

Continuing down that road could have consequences I definitely wasn’t interested in discovering.

I was floored.

I’d done everything by the book.

I’d followed the same approach that had worked beautifully for my friend.

But even though I walked the same path as her, I came to a very different destination.

The thing was, somewhere along the way, I already knew I wasn’t thriving.

The dizziness.

The way I felt.

The changes I could see in the mirror.

There had been signs.

But because I believed I knew where this road was supposed to lead, I interpreted every warning as something I simply needed to push through.

If I stuck with it long enough, surely I would eventually arrive where she had.

It took my doctor and the irrefutable evidence in those numbers to convince me otherwise.

The road wasn’t necessarily bad.

It just wasn’t mine.

I think we can do something very similar in business.

We see someone succeeding and naturally want to understand how they got there.

We study their strategy.

Their systems.

Their marketing.

Their pricing.

Their routines.

And sometimes we find ideas that change our businesses for the better.

There’s tremendous value in learning from people who have already traveled somewhere we want to go.

But their map was drawn from their starting point.

Their resources.

Their strengths.

Their customers.

Their circumstances.

We can follow every turn exactly and still discover that the road taking them somewhere wonderful is taking us somewhere entirely different.

And that's where I think direction requires something more than knowing where everyone else is going.

We have to pay attention to what’s happening along our way.

Are the numbers moving in the right direction?

Is the business becoming stronger?

Is what we're doing moving us closer to what we actually want?

Or are we ignoring the signs because we've been told this is what success is supposed to look like?

Sometimes perseverance means continuing when the road gets difficult.

But sometimes wisdom means recognizing that difficulty is trying to tell us something.

Knowing the difference isn't always easy.

It certainly wasn't for me.

I’m happy to report that my numbers and blood pressure returned to the healthy range they were in before my little experiment.

I’m even happier to report that bread is once again a staple in my diet.

The pounds I lost came back.

Fortunately, they didn’t bring friends.

So I consider that a win as well.

And I did come away from the experience with something worth keeping.

Someone else’s results can show us what’s possible.

They can’t tell us which road is ours.

Sometimes the most important part of choosing a direction isn't knowing when to keep going.

It's knowing when the road you're on is no longer taking you where you want to go.