Today we’re celebrating a huge success. Our fourth child passed the road test. I just got back from the store to buy big cake. Woohoo!
What a relief! Joy and new freedom for both of us!
If you’re a parent of a sixteen-year-old, you understand what I mean. We all know it’s NOT a piece of cake to go through the stresses of teaching your kid to drive a car (safely).
I sat next to our kids in the car for many hours with crunched toes, sweat in my palms, and my foot on the imaginary brake of the passenger seat. We all learned a lot about the road to success. These were amazing moments that reflected our life lessons in such a perfect way.
The principles of success are the same, regardless of whether you want to pass a road test, launch a new project, write a book, or lose 30 pounds.
Get on the highway to success to master these principles and your dream has a greater chance of coming true.
Here are (the 4 success principles) some of our “teachable moments”:
- The word TRY is not an option in any case.
On one of our rounds in the car, our son came dangerously close to another car while we were driving downhill. He then spoke the memorable words: “I’ll try not to hit that car, mom.”
“Honey, there’s no such thing as trying when you drive a car. You’re playing for real here,” I responded. He nodded. God bless we didn’t hit the other car.
Never use the word try. A great exercise is to put a jar in your living room, and every time you say the word try place a quarter in the jar. Count them after a week.
I’ll never forget being in a Landmark seminar when they showed us on stage how to try to lift a chair. That was a breakthrough moment for all of us.
This quote says it all: There’s no try, only do. ~Yoda
- The word BUT has to leave your vocabulary immediately.
One day while driving with our oldest son we had to get gas. When we pulled into the gas station he said in a completely serious tone of voice, “I might be able to do it, BUT we might hit the pump.”
Was he really saying this?
“Don’t you dare! You are pulling the car not into the pump, but next to the pump,” I said with an even more serious tone of voice. He nodded and parked the car safely next to the pump. What was he thinking?
No matter what you do, you’ve got to take it seriously (and keep smiling).
The word but stops you, always. It’s having one foot on the brake when going after your success.
- You can’t avoid the roadblocks even if you don’t like them.
Last week I drove with our son for the first time on the highway, and it seemed like the easiest thing to do. Until we hit a roadblock with all kinds of detours we were forced to make.
“Oh, I really don’t like roadblocks, mom,” he sighed as if he was in charge of the road with what he liked or not.
The ride was going so smoothly until now, and then this!
The roadblock took him completely by surprise. I told him he would always meet roadblocks and usually at the most unexpected moments. He said nothing and maneuvered the car with great concentration through the obstacles.
He must have noticed that the only way out was through.
Embrace the roadblocks because it means you are on your way to success. As long as you are on the road, you’re doing great!
- Never give up. Practice makes the master.
Looking back at how we began with all these little chickens, they’ve come far and we’re all still safe. No car has a dent… except my husband’s.
There’s a reason he’s called “The Flying Dutchman” in town.
We have one more kid to go, but he too will pass the road test while learning life’s biggest success principles.
Love,
Saskia