“Each of us has the right and the responsibility to assess the road which lies ahead and those over which we have traveled, and if the future road looms ominous or unpromising, and the road back uninviting, then we need to gather our resolve and carrying only the necessary baggage, step off that road into another direction. If the new choice is also unpalatable, without embarrassment, we must be ready to change that one as well.” – Maya Angelou

I love the quote above for several reasons. It helps us understand and provide a framework for accountability to ourselves. It helps us begin to recognize our basic responsibility to continually make informed choices for everything that we do in life, always with a careful remembrance of our past learning as we establish our future course of action. Even to the extent that our future assumptions are incorrect we must take the required detour onto a new path. It’s also important to be committed to your path but not so over committed that you are inflexible to change when change is obviously necessary. There is a careful balance between passion and goal orientation that must continually be monitored and updated. Yes, you have to plan to plan and keep planning and don’t forget to plan for that which you can’t plan, the unknown. [Read more…]