Gear Shifters and Change....What A Combo!

I was a tad late to church anyway this particular Sunday. My husband had gone ahead to practice with the band and I was running 10 minutes behind schedule as it was. I slipped the baby into the carseat and prepared to peel....I mean "ease" out of the driveway. After I adjusted the seat to fit my 5' 4" frame as opposed to my husbands 6' 1" frame, I buckled my seatbelt and adjusted my mirrors. Safety first you know. I started the car, looked behind me and prepared to put the newly paid-off automatic car into Reverse. Hmmm....

The gear shift wouldn't budge! No, no, no! So I pulled again. The gear shift was obviously jammed. Now, our car has a nice little button on the side of the shifter (as you can see I know nothing of proper automotive lingo). You must press this button WHILE you shift it. As hard as I pushed that button and pulled that shifter, it wouldn't budge.

Of course, the only natural solution would be to call my husband. So I called....and I called...and I called....then I texted...twice. He told me later that he had put his cell on silent and had 16 missed calls, 2 voicemails, and 2 texts. Anyway, I was desperate.

Clearly, I couldn't beat this gear into Reverse. I couldn't make my husband receive his calls. There was the option to cry...so I did. Then I prayed...hard. I wanted that shifter to work right!! Sad to say I sat there for over 20 minutes, baby still in the backseat, struggling to get it to change to the big orange "R" on the dial.

Finally, a great idea. I decided to pull out the manual in the glove compartment. Genius! Maybe there was a troubleshooting section on stubborn gear shifters, or even a phone number to our dealer so that I could ask them. As I began to peruse the section on the gear shift, my eyes settled on a revolutionary rule today (common for every other), "Make sure the brake is on when shifting from Park."

Ouch....

Ever been humiliated because of stupidity? It's harsh.

As I drove to church that morning, schedule thrown out the window, a thought was revealed to me. I stayed there for 20 minutes trying to make something change. I could have pulled it harder, hit it harder, or even kicked it. It was not going to deliver the right result. FIRST, I had to change what I was doing.

This is a core lesson that we teach our students at Reality Check, Inc. "If they don't like the picture, start over." They need to see that if the road they are taking leads to an end that is undesirable, stop, evaluate where you are. Once they stop and evaluate, they can see what THEY need to do to change the course they are on.

I kept pointing to the gear shifter and saying it was the reason I was stuck there. My situation didn't change because I wasn't looking to myself. I wasn't asking if I could do something different. If you continue to do the same thing, you are going to get the same result.

It's time to reevaluate. Where are you headed? Is the end result where you really want to be? If not, then STOP, and start over with a fresh perspective. When you do, you won't regret it.