Much can be learned through the experience of road trip randomness. Road trips are an extemporaneous way to create memories while learning along the way. Specific destinations with a wide-open path of possibilities.
Road Trip Randomness
The Albright family hit the road this weekend…in a lot of different directions. The catalyst was a wrestling tournament for Grant and church camp for Ashtyn.
After his high school baseball season ended a few weeks ago, Grant got back in the wrestling room for his summer training. As we were looking through some potential tournaments for him to wrestle in, one in Gatlinburg, Tennessee popped up. There is plenty to do there, so we could make a road trip out of it. One of our favorite things to do.
Ashtyn, fresh off her high school graduation attended Fuge Camp in Ridgecrest, North Carolina. She went with our church, NorthStar Church. It’s a summer tradition for her.
Grant and I left on Friday around noon. Our intentions were to play a round of golf when we arrived since the weigh ins and tournament were on Saturday.
Shannon drove up later on Friday to meet us. It was a shorter drive to pick Ashtyn up the next morning from Gatlinburg than it was from Acworth.
Here are three random lessons from the weekend’s road trip:
Adjust
While we were making the three-and-a-half-hour drive to Gatlinburg, I asked Grant to double-check the weigh in schedule. Thankfully we did. The weigh ins were between 4:00 p.m. and 5:00 p.m. on Friday, not Saturday. Good…we were scheduled to arrive at 4:00 p.m. We would adjust, get him weighed in, then go play golf! All was well.
We arrived to weigh ins on schedule. All was still well. Then, we waited in a one-and-a-half-hour line to weigh in! Golf…not happening! But, we do like racing go-karts, so we made an adjustment and headed to the NASCAR SpeedPark. All was well again.
Life and leadership tend to deviate from our intended plans. We really have two options on these detours, to get Stuck or to adapt. The ability to adapt is a great differentiator in ordinary and extraordinary people. It’s also a great differentiator in ordinary and extraordinary experiences.
Heed Warnings
Grant and I have spent a full day racing go-karts at the NASCAR SpeedPark in the past. It is not your typical run of the mill go-karts. They are fast!
Due to the nature of the facility, it brings out serious competitors in the go-karting arena. Things get intense. Therefore, Grant and I have a policy…pedal to the metal and NEVER take your foot off the gas! We are there to win!
Before our second race of the day, the teenager running that course heeded a warning. There was some rain in the area and it was misting at the time. He warned us that the track was slick in two areas and that his boss was watching closely. If any of us spun out, it would likely mean closing of the track.
Going into one of those two areas, Grant and I both remained committed to our policy. And…both of us found ourselves spun out! As he said would happen, his boss immediately closed the track. We did get a good laugh out of it though as we were both stranded on the track, pointed in the wrong direction.
It started to pour shortly after and they closed all the tracks. We didn’t feel as terrible about ruining the fun for everyone else!
Life and leadership can offer several clear warnings. The warnings don’t always point us in the direction of fun, but can keep us from getting spun out.
Do Tough Things
Fast forward to Saturday. In a wrestling tournament, wrestlers are given at least thirty minutes in between matches. If they are due to take the mat and that time frame has not elapsed, they will push the match back.
This wasn’t your typical tournament. They were burning through the brackets! Grant was having to turn around and wrestle quickly, at times well before that thirty minute threshold.
Being that he had only been back in the wrestling room for two weeks, his conditioning wasn’t where he would have liked it to have been. It was certainly going to make the tournament tougher, but he chose to compete anyways.
Wrestling is already one of the toughest things he will ever physically do. Add to that not being optimally conditioned and the quick turnarounds, it makes it even tougher.
In addition, he was participating in two separate brackets, freestyle and folkstyle. Those are two different types of wrestling formats, one of which is newer to him. Grant would go on to wrestle six matches that day. He could have easily used his brief conditioning period to prep for the tournament as an excuse, he could have only wrestled in one bracket, but he chose to do the tough thing.
In life and leadership, we can easily shy away from doing tough things. Tough things stretch us. Those experiences place us outside what is comfortable in order to take us places we never thought we could go. We may not see it in the moments, but it builds necessary endurance to succeed later.
Conclusion
Three completely unrelated leadership lessons. No rhythm, no rhyme, and no reason.
Here is the thing…sometimes not having a rhythm, not having a rhyme, or reason is opens up opportunity. The randomness of road trips possesses the ability to do so.
It’s not always the intended path of travel that counts, it’s the arrival at the intersection of Unexpected Moments, Unforgettable Memories that do. It’s a great destination to pursue and an even better one to arrive at.
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