Be the Shopping Cart with the Broken Wheel…Go In Your Own Direction

I needed to do some grocery shopping last week, and made the routine trip to the local grocery store. I went about my typical routine, walked in and grabbed the closest shopping cart. As I departed the store entry, I experienced what most of us have experienced at some point, that stubborn cart with the broken wheel that wants to go in its own direction, no matter how hard you try to steer it where you want to go. After a few minutes of frustration, I had a self-reflection moment where I suddenly became aware of my self-talk. Here I was in the middle of a grocery store, allowing this intimate object to hijack my emotional state. It was in that reflective moment that it hit me… This shopping cart is on to something. I should be more like IT.

As I continued my trip around the store, I couldn’t help but continue to think about the lesson this cart had just taught me. How many times do we get steered away from our goals and aspirations, by forces or objects that we shouldn’t even allow that opportunity? For those of us who work in organizations, these “forces” are all around us. Maybe it’s an individual, or even a family member. Maybe it’s even the culture of the organization that is actually steering us in a direction that isn’t quite aligned with where we envision ourselves. This grocery store shopping cart had just re-charged me to think about all the lessons and modules that I was so grateful to receive from The Pacific Institute.

After getting home from that trip, I sat down and reminded myself of the affirmations that I had written for myself. In doing so, I realized that I had indeed “steered off course” from what I had truly seen myself achieving. This was quite the recharge for me to become laser focused and re-craft my affirmations to get my vision back on course. You see, the shopping cart was right all along, I could have steered it where ever I wanted it to go, but instead it stayed it’s course, not allowing my outside force to change its path.

The lesson from this experience: Be the shopping cart with the broken wheel… Stick to the vision and reach for the potential that you know you have inside of you. Don’t allow outside forces to “steer” you away from what you know you are capable of doing. And next time you are in the grocery store, thank that stubborn cart for being a great reminder of who we should be.