When obstacles arise, you change your direction to reach your goal, you do not change your decision to get there.
– Zig Ziglar

When obstacles or speed bumps get in your way when working toward a goal, you need to change your direction, but not your destination. It sounds so simple when I write it here.  When you’re in the middle of working toward something, and one of those speed bumps crops up, it isn’t always our first thought.  Too often our immediate response is to give up.

That may be your initial response, but doing that isn’t going to get you anywhere.  You can’t give up at the first sign of trouble.  Change your direction, not your destination. Rethink the goal you’re working toward. Is there any other way to get there? Is there something you can do differently? Is there someone you can ask for help?  All those things could be considered changes in direction.

Always keep your goal in sight, and don’t worry to much about the detours you may take on your way to getting there.  When I started college in 1984, my goal was to be a teacher.  It wasn’t the right time for me to be in college, so I left, worked, got married and went back to school, and in 1997, I received my teaching certification, but it wasn’t until many years later that I actually got to stand in front of my own classroom and call myself a teacher.  I may have changed direction, but I never changed my destination, and neither should you.