Following Our Compass
It all came into focus at the top of South Mountain. A recent trip to Arizona with my wife, Jennifer, and children Jacob and Jordan was fantastic for spending precious time together, and also came with its share of meaningful moments. As we stood at Dobbins Lookout, gazing over the Salt River Valley – the Phoenix metro and the many miles of desert extending outward – I thought about all of decisions and opportunities that life affords us.
The drive up the mountain had been slow at times as we snaked back and forth, gaining altitude little by little. With careful navigation, we arrived at our lookout point, and I thought about how we often encounter winding roads in life. These roads will throw different turns and obstacles our direction, and sometimes it might feel like you aren’t making much progress. But the hope is that if we approach each obstacle with thoughtfulness and persistence, we can take one small step after another, eventually leading us to where we want to go. Once we’re there, we can look back on the journey and see how our perspective has changed from the beginning.
At the summit, I watched as Jacob took it all in. Here he was, looking out on the valley, the distant roads and highways all leading to different destinations. He appeared both humbled and inspired by the vastness before him. I put myself in his shoes: a high school senior on the verge of graduation and charting his own course into the vastness of life’s possibilities. It was a special moment as a parent, thinking of our family’s journey to help each of our kids reach the summit of beginning adulthood. It all reminded me of a recurring question I’ve asked Jacob over the years: “Buddy, you’ve got a lot of right decisions to make – which one will it be?” To me, every decision can be a “right” decision if you let it be. It depends on how you approach it, I tell him. A certain decision might not provide the shortest path to our goal, and it might even force us to take a step back. There will always be things that, with the benefit of hindsight, we will wish we had done differently. But who’s to say we can’t learn from one decision, re-think, adjust, and use our new knowledge to make the next one? In the end, that learning experience may have been one you needed before being able to move forward.
I’ve also shared with him that you can better position yourself to make right decisions by doing a few simple things. Being kind to others is easy to do and so important because we all need our network of friends and colleagues to help us along the way. Another tactic is to listen more than you speak: always be willing to admit that you don’t have all the answers and are willing to learn more. Seek advice, seek criticism, and know that there is always someone who has been there before who can offer a new perspective. Finally, try to do the ordinary things in life just a little bit better. It’s a concept I learned from author Jon Gordon and his book Training Camp (and one I discussed in my letter to the community in our district’s most-recent Link newsletter). The book talks about this idea as a quality of a good leader, but it can extend to all aspects of our lives. As you go off and meet new people, don’t just learn someone’s name – learn where they’re from and what makes them unique. Show up to help without being asked, but stay an extra 10 minutes when you do it. Take your daily routines and find a way to improve upon them; maybe for your own benefit, maybe for the benefit of someone else. Of all the decisions you’ll make in life, these small ones are among the easiest. I’ve shared with all of my kids that once you make a decision, you are in control. You won’t have all of the answers right away, and you won’t be able to avoid every challenge along the way, but how you approach these things is still yours to decide. That is an advantageous position to be in.
We took in the stunning view together. The city sprawled below us in clear focus, the mountains to the north a distant haze. The panorama offers an opportunity to reflect, and in this moment, I am thankful for the decisions that led us here.
The drive up the mountain had been slow at times as we snaked back and forth, gaining altitude little by little. With careful navigation, we arrived at our lookout point, and I thought about how we often encounter winding roads in life. These roads will throw different turns and obstacles our direction, and sometimes it might feel like you aren’t making much progress. But the hope is that if we approach each obstacle with thoughtfulness and persistence, we can take one small step after another, eventually leading us to where we want to go. Once we’re there, we can look back on the journey and see how our perspective has changed from the beginning.
At the summit, I watched as Jacob took it all in. Here he was, looking out on the valley, the distant roads and highways all leading to different destinations. He appeared both humbled and inspired by the vastness before him. I put myself in his shoes: a high school senior on the verge of graduation and charting his own course into the vastness of life’s possibilities. It was a special moment as a parent, thinking of our family’s journey to help each of our kids reach the summit of beginning adulthood. It all reminded me of a recurring question I’ve asked Jacob over the years: “Buddy, you’ve got a lot of right decisions to make – which one will it be?” To me, every decision can be a “right” decision if you let it be. It depends on how you approach it, I tell him. A certain decision might not provide the shortest path to our goal, and it might even force us to take a step back. There will always be things that, with the benefit of hindsight, we will wish we had done differently. But who’s to say we can’t learn from one decision, re-think, adjust, and use our new knowledge to make the next one? In the end, that learning experience may have been one you needed before being able to move forward.
I’ve also shared with him that you can better position yourself to make right decisions by doing a few simple things. Being kind to others is easy to do and so important because we all need our network of friends and colleagues to help us along the way. Another tactic is to listen more than you speak: always be willing to admit that you don’t have all the answers and are willing to learn more. Seek advice, seek criticism, and know that there is always someone who has been there before who can offer a new perspective. Finally, try to do the ordinary things in life just a little bit better. It’s a concept I learned from author Jon Gordon and his book Training Camp (and one I discussed in my letter to the community in our district’s most-recent Link newsletter). The book talks about this idea as a quality of a good leader, but it can extend to all aspects of our lives. As you go off and meet new people, don’t just learn someone’s name – learn where they’re from and what makes them unique. Show up to help without being asked, but stay an extra 10 minutes when you do it. Take your daily routines and find a way to improve upon them; maybe for your own benefit, maybe for the benefit of someone else. Of all the decisions you’ll make in life, these small ones are among the easiest. I’ve shared with all of my kids that once you make a decision, you are in control. You won’t have all of the answers right away, and you won’t be able to avoid every challenge along the way, but how you approach these things is still yours to decide. That is an advantageous position to be in.
We took in the stunning view together. The city sprawled below us in clear focus, the mountains to the north a distant haze. The panorama offers an opportunity to reflect, and in this moment, I am thankful for the decisions that led us here.
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