Yogi Berra, Hall of Fame catcher for the New York Yankees, once said, “When you come to a fork in the road, take it.”  Of course, Yogi didn’t offer any advice on which fork to take.  We all come to a fork in the road sometimes.  In the corporate world, there are times when we must decide which career path makes most sense.   Many factors come into play, but it seems there is always that “safe” pathway and that “more risky, but potentially more gratifying” pathway.  When faced with this, which do you choose?  Some have that natural tendency as adventurers and will always take the riskier path.  Others, including me, tend to “leave well enough alone” or stay within our comfort zone.  There is a short, famous poem by Robert Frost that hits on the this same point.  It is well worth taking the time to read:

The Road Not Taken (by Robert Frost)

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,

And sorry I could not travel both

And be one traveler, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could

To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,

And having perhaps the better claim

Because it was grassy and wanted wear,

Though as for that the passing there

Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay

In leaves no step had trodden black.

Oh, I kept the first for another day!

Yet knowing how way leads on to way

I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I,

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.

 

Indeed, we all come to a fork in the road sometimes.  Choices are essential and cannot be avoided.  As Frost so eloquently says, taking the road less traveled (e.g., the most unexpected, the riskier road, the road others fear to take, the road leading to some unknown place, etc.), could make all the difference in your job, your family, your life, or the life of someone else.  Are you at a fork in the road?  You may only get one chance to chose, so consider carefully.  You may never pass this way again, so we need to choose carefully.

Have a terrific day!  Let’s cherish the good we have in our work and in our lives and consider how we can make “all the difference” for someone else today.