August 6, 2025
Today’s Thought of the Day and Question of the Day tackles one of the most dangerous detours we can take in life, the moment we realize we’ve veered off-course and decide the best solution is… to go faster. In this post, I unpack Walt Kelly’s sharp observation and a question that hits closer to home than I’d like to admit: What do you do when you’ve lost your way? If you’ve ever marched boldly in the wrong direction, or sprinted there with purpose, you’re in good company.
Thought of the Day:
“Having lost sight of our objectives, we redoubled our efforts.” — Walt Kelly
There’s a special kind of madness in working twice as hard when you no longer remember why you’re working at all. This quote hits like a mirror I wasn’t ready to look into.
I’ve done this. We all have, right? You lose track of why you started a project, a relationship, a diet… and instead of pausing, you dig in harder. You optimize. You troubleshoot. You buy a planner.
I once spent a full weekend reorganizing my notes for a project I didn’t even believe in anymore. Color-coded tabs, post-its, even a playlist. The energy was real. The direction? MIA.
Kelly’s quote reminds me that effort is not a substitute for clarity. More hustle doesn’t fix the wrong goal, it just gets you to the wrong place faster. It’s like sprinting through a corn maze thinking, If I just go faster, I’ll get out of here. No, buddy. You’re just gonna get winded near the same old scarecrow.
Question of the Day:
What do you do when you’ve lost your way?
Short answer? Panic quietly. Then open a new Google Doc titled Plan to Get Back on Track (FINAL FINAL).
But if I’m being honest, what I want to do is stop, breathe, and ask some questions:
- Why did I start this?
- What am I hoping to get out of it?
- Is this still aligned with who I am now?
Most of the time, losing your way isn’t dramatic, it’s subtle. You wake up one day and realize you’re knee-deep in tasks that don’t matter to you, serving goals you didn’t choose. You’re not off-track because you made one bad decision. You’re off-track because you didn’t stop to check the map.
I try to course-correct with small things. A long walk. A good question. An honest conversation. A nap.
Sometimes, I need reminders like the one in “The Person You Could Have Been Meets the Person You’re Becoming” or even “You can learn a lot by watching.” Both posts dig into what it means to reroute with intention.
Let’s Hear From You
What do you do when you’ve lost your way? Keep going? Double back? Redesign the whole journey? Leave a comment below, or better yet—join the daily email and get a Thought and a Question delivered every morning. Just one small thing to help you stop, think, and maybe smile.