By Design or Default: Where Are You Going?

“Direction, not intention, determines destination.” – Andy Stanley. 

Course and Heading

These are two terms I heard more than anything else while serving on a ship during my time in the military. They are easily conflated because they appear to be similar. Heading refers to the direction a ship is pointing, while the course is the direction the ship travels through the water. Notice the difference? It taught me that my intention might be to go north (heading), but I might be going east (course). Pastor Craig Groeschel once said, “All people end up somewhere in life, but few end up there on purpose.” 

We have good intentions (heading), but our daily decisions, actions, and habits (course) directly oppose those intentions. After years of decisions and actions that led us to the wrong destination, we end up in a place we never intended. Hopefully, Nick Leeson’s cautionary story will help these words sink deeper.

Nick Leeson, former derivatives trader at Barings Bank, had the best intentions (heading) and backed them up with the right decisions and actions (course). He was so dependable that his seniors trusted him and gave him promotion after promotion. Then Nick started taking serious risks and started losing money. To cover up his miscues, he gradually began defrauding his company. Nick still had good intentions, but his actions took him down a path that would later bankrupt his organization and imprison him. 

The best way to ensure that your intentions, decisions, and actions are aligned properly is to periodically check the next three things to keep you on course and avoid running aground.

1. Your Destination

A lot has been said about enjoying the journey, but a journey without a destination is simply wandering. Even worse is a journey that leads to a fateful destination, like a prison, in the case of Nick Leeson. If you have ever planned a trip, the first and most important input is usually the destination. Without this important piece, you are left with an aimless existence. Awareness of the destination makes us enjoy the journey and sometimes endure it. The latter was true of Harriet Tubman, the American abolitionist who escaped slavery and subsequently rescued other slaves and helped them experience freedom. The journey was treacherous, but she and the slaves tolerated it because freedom awaited them. Your destination not only keeps you focused in a world of distractions, but it also helps you to stick to your plan.

2. Your Plan

Leeson was on course for a great career until he changed his plan one decision and action at a time. By deviating from the right plan, he compromised his future. Sometimes, we abandon our plans because we compare our behind-the-scenes to someone else’s highlight reel. We get consumed by how well others do and ditch our plans, thus forfeiting our future. Without a plan, a goal or destination, although greatly desired, remains out of reach. Executable plans, on the other hand, close the distance between where you are and the destination you seek. What is your plan to reach where you are going? Is it executable? Besides your destination and plan, your means are integral in keeping your course and heading aligned.

Without a plan, a goal or destination, although greatly desired, remains out of reach.

3. Your Means

The means we use to get to our destination matters. Keeping your character intact should be at the top of your list as you execute your plan. Best-selling author Kindra Hall once said, “No goal is worth sacrificing your dignity and values. Ever.” Along your journey, there will be tempting opportunities to shortcut or cheat your way to your goal or destination. Resist these temptations. Cutting corners is the surest way to sabotage everything you have worked hard for. Leeson used deceptive means and ended up in a cold prison cell in Singapore.  Shortcuts may get you there sooner, but your stay will be short-lived. Instead, use the means of sincerity, integrity, courage, civility, honesty, kindness, humility, service, and caring for others on your life’s journey. 

Final thought: We face a multitude of uncertainties. By periodically checking our destination, plan, and means, we can ensure that hope remains intact no matter what the journey brings our way. 

Keep on keeping on!