Walk confidently in the wrong direction

Hi friends -

As I’ve mentioned here before, I bought a new house in Knoxville, TN, a few months ago.

My family lives just an hour and a half down the road in North Georgia — and it’s so nice to have them close by. They are all coming here for Thanksgiving this year, and I’m SO excited to see them.

I love cooking and hosting. My favorite things are having a full house and a “crowded table.”

I also have an extensive list of things for my dad to do now that I’m a cute little single lady. Apparently, air filters don’t change themselves.

In my family, I’ve always been the decision-maker. I typically have an opinion about how things should go — especially when it comes to special events. I always get a text in early October that says, “Rach, what’s the plan for the holidays?”

This is a role I embrace full-on.

I remember when my sister graduated from high school. She was asked what restaurant she wanted to go to to celebrate. I chose the restaurant on her behalf (which also happened to be my favorite restaurant at the time).

My family gave me a lot of crap about speaking for her - but I’m such an excellent decision-maker that I felt like I was doing her a favor. And, in my defense, it really was the right choice.

This character trait has followed me into adulthood. I love making decisions — big ones and small ones. I don’t often worry about making the wrong decision — rather, I like to decide swiftly and see where things go.

A good example of this is how I act when I’m traveling.

Anytime I’m in a new place, I usually take some form of public transportation — either the subway or an Uber. When I step out onto the sidewalk, I always start walking very confidently in one direction.

The reason for this is two-fold:

1. I want to look like a local, and I figure locals hate it when tourists stand in the middle of the sidewalk, staring at their phones and

2. GPS doesn’t start picking up your location until you start walking in one direction or the other.

More often than not, the direction I walk in is, in fact, the wrong direction.

But I don’t know it’s the wrong direction until I try.

To me, this kinda sums up what it means to be an entrepreneur.

One of the reasons I started Motivo was that I wasn’t afraid to fail. I knew the statistics about how few startups succeed, but I still wanted to give my idea a try.

I have never been afraid to walk in the wrong direction. Instead, I’m afraid of standing stagnant on the sidewalk.

There is a quote that’s often circulated in the tech startup scene. It was coined at Facebook and says, “Move fast and break things.”

The quote is often misunderstood as promoting recklessness and having little regard for others.

However, the quote actually refers to the process of software development. It encourages engineers to emphasize speed and experimentation—to see what works and what doesn’t when they are building new features and products.

There have been so many things (like, so many) we have tried at Motivo that have not worked. But every single one of these wrong decisions has helped us inch closer to the right direction.

Zooming out a bit, I think the idea of taking a risk and making a decision can be applied in many areas.

As therapists, we often don’t know the “best” course of action to take with our clients — but we give it a shot anyways.

As parents or caregivers, we often feel like we are flying blind and hoping we are making the best possible decisions with the information and resources we have.

As humans, we put ourselves out there, attempting a new skill or trying to make a new friend, often with uncertainty about the outcome.

I don’t know about you, but I would far rather walk confidently in some direction than be paralyzed by fear and doubt.

How does this land with you today? Are there any decisions you are making that are giving you pause?

Maybe allow yourself the space to walk in the wrong direction for a moment — trusting that you’ll quickly realize if you’re veering off course.

As always, I'd love to hear any thoughts or reflections you’d like to share with me today.

Warmly,

Rachel

Rachel Ledbetter, LMFT
CEO/Co-Founder, Motivo
rachel@motivohealth.com