If you're on the wrong train, every stop is the wrong stop

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I’ve been on the wrong train twice. Literally. Both experiences highlight a critical life lesson: If you're on the wrong train, every stop is the wrong stop.

The first was a chilling experience. It was a midwinters evening in Scotland. At some point we realized our train was headed away from our destination. We had to get off and call a taxi.

I’ll never forget waiting to be rescued on that deserted concrete platform. Wearing just a T-shirt in the freezing cold. A very romantic start to our honeymoon indeed.

7 years later we were at it again. This time we unintentionally took the subway out of Manhattan, crossed the East River and ended up in Brooklyn. We got off, gobbled up some humble pie and headed back.

If we had stayed on these trains, you’d rightfully question either our intelligence or sanity. But that’s exactly what we do in other areas!

Why do we stay on dead end career paths? Or worry how a project is doing without asking if completing it will even take the business where we want it to go?

No matter how much you've invested in your current path, you have to be willing to jump off the wrong train and write it all off.

You must learn to value direction more than speed. Otherwise you'll be stuck enduring a lifetime of wrong stops.