Our family just returned from a trip to the beach at Gulf Shores. The Gulf Coast is one of my favorite places to spend time. I love the breeze off the gulf, the warm air, the crowds of people enjoying themselves, but most of all, I love the waves. I could just watch and listen to the waves roll in for hours. Occasionally, I will go into the water to cool off and experience the fun of just floating around in the Gulf. I’m always reminded of the power of the current, and how after just ten to fifteen minutes, I can look up and find myself in a very different location than when I entered the water. In the moment, I never knew that I was moving in a different direction or changing course.
Drift can sneak up on you without knowing it. Ironically, I have been thinking a lot about the concept of “drift” lately as I want to implement that “watch-out” into my teachings on leadership development, personal growth, and teambuilding. Drift, in the sense that I am using the term, is that gradual, unintended movement over time from our original destination to an outcome that we didn’t necessarily target. Drift occurs when we take our eyes off purpose, start making compromises on little things, lose sight of those beneficial habits in our life, and wake up one day in a place that we never outwardly pursued.
Drift can affect our focus in life by moving us away from foundational convictions over time. Drift can impact our approach to work and how we relate to others in the workplace. Drift can impact relationships. Drift can impact us physically in our diet and exercise commitments. There’s not a key area of life that the concept of drift cannot impact in some manner.
The parable of the sower found in Matthew Chapter 13 of the Bible describes one of the causes of drift. Verse 22 describes the seed sown among thorns as the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and it proves unfruitful.
The verse depicts just how this drift occurs in the life of individual people but also in the lives of others seeking to lead people in organizations, civic groups, teams, or any other establishment. Similar to how we can be distracted, overwhelmed, and consumed by the cares of the world, so can those seeking to lead others. The opportunity for power, advancement, financial gain, and the list goes on and on and can eat away at the noblest of plans if not kept in check.
We can have good intentions and possibly even good habits in our life, but small compromises made continually over time will erode those intentions and gradually move us in a different direction. We may not even realize how far we have shifted course until we wake up one day in a place that we never thought we would be, or even worse, somebody we never intended to be.
Here are three quick ideas to avoid drift in your life whether you are leading others or just seeking to refine your identity and grow personally.
1. Set short-term goals (90 days or less) that focus and direct you to stay on course with not only your destination in mind, but also your motivation. Goals are a great way to stay on course for your purpose. Goals help manage your day, measure your progress, and motivate your effort.
2. Be accountable to someone or some oversight group. We need people in our lives that we can go to for honest, direct feedback. Find like-minded people and tell them you want to be held accountable to avoid drift in your life.
3. Be intentional with a periodic check-in on how you are doing with those key positive habits that you have developed or are developing in your life to ensure you are staying on course. What do you need to start doing to stay on course? What do you need to stop doing to stay on course? Check in every two weeks to ensure you aren’t comprising key areas of your life. Take the time. Be intentional. Your life is worth it. Make the most of it.
