My mom has been in town visiting and most significantly, helping me navigate some end of year work travel. As she was leaving, we were all talking about what her flight plan for the day was and she commented that it was a direct flight home, which of course sparked a conversation among the littles about direct flights and travel, upcoming and past.

Never one to miss out of a quip from the kitchen, I added, of course, every flight is a direct flight somewhere. Which is a bunch of nonsense really (because of course) but it also got me thinking more about how we choose the steps we take along our path.

One of my trips this week had me traversing across to Chicago before heading south, a ludicrous series of flights that I only selected for its departure and arrival time. But the decisions behind the series of “direct flights” so to speak, were adjusted to support other priorities, the real direct flight, or big goal of this season personally.

Building a start-up or family, career or sense of self, anything of value really, requires some hundred million-odd questions answered and decisions made on a regular basis.

Knowing the path you’re trying to take, and recognizing those decisions’ inflection points, requires awareness and visibility forward. But all of those things combined are nearly impossible to get right, every time, or at least enough times that it matters.

Instead, I’m focused on creating systems and structures that help keep the goals, and resulting actions, aligned as much as possible.

Love this quote that sums up the thought process by Farnam Street, led by Shane Parish, shared a Tiny Thought a few weeks ago.

The way to improve your defaults isn’t by willpower, by by creating an artificial environment where your desired behavior becomes the default behavior.

FARNAM STREET BLOG — LINK

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