The Flat Tire Fiasco
The week I turned 16, I remember convincing my dad to let me take his car, instead of my aerodynamic'88 Ford Aerostar van, to take my friend Ryan Malone home. So far my driving record was clean - after 3 days so what could go wrong? Well ... it turns out if you drive too fast over an improperly installed grate on the road you can lose the ability to steer, slide over the large curb and turn all 4 wheels sideways. Yeah ... that was an expensive drive home.
That story is in the back of my mind every time my son, Titus, drives somewhere. He's usually driving our Nissan Frontier 4 Cylinder pickup truck. It goes so fast you have to floor it to get up to the speed limit on the hill by our house. (This makes me feel safer.)
I'd had a long week (7 facilitated session in 5 days) and Meg had two-full days of grad school online. Picture sitting in zoom class from 10 a.m. - 6:30 p.m. and try not to be jealous. Needless to say we were not wanting to prep dinner.
Titus was about to do anything he could to avoid going to pick up dinner so I dropped the one golden ticket I had. The opportunity to take my car. His eyes lit up, jaws dropped and he said, "are you serious?" Then I started to rethink my offer, but doubled down so I could watch the game and sit. We ordered Slim Chickens for pick up and he set out on his first lone journey in the Audi.
On his way home my phone rang and he was in a church parking lot with our dinner and flat tire. My mind was racing. Did the tire get slashed - No we live in Fayetteville, AR. Did Titus ramp a curb on accident - no, he's better than that. Did he attempt some donuts in the church parking lot - no, he's not me. Then the conversation with Chad popped back in my mind.
A few weeks ago Chad at Firestone let me know that I only had another 6-10,000 miles on those tires. He was right. The warning signs on the tires were there, the expert shared his advice, and I pushed the tires to the limit. Since I saw Chad those tires rolled to Omaha, Kansas City, Tulsa and Little Rock.
Is there an area of your life at home or/and life at work that is wearing out? The signs are there, the experts have weighed in and now it's up to you to respond instead of relying on hope that you have one more day, one more week, one more quarter before you have to address it.
Do you need to lean into your marriage by letting your spouse know you care more about a healthy marriage than the next business deal?
Do you need to lean into your kids and let them they are more important than work by spending more time with them?
Do you need to lean into your health by ordering a grilled chicken salad and walking the block?
Do you need to lean into your team by investing in their development and your team formation?
Do you need to lean into your organization by focusing on how to strategically communicate so everyone knows what everyone needs to know?
I'm thankful the tire simply ran flat and did not blow out. A blow out could have put my son in danger and that would have been on me for not responding quick enough to the warning signs and the expert's advice.
If you are running an area of your life on a "tire" that is about to blow. Set a time to talk this week and let's work on the repair before it gets worse.
