I was listening to an interview with American rapper and singer will.i.am earlier this morning. He mentioned the concept of inspirational GPS. Not original in its idea but he makes a good point. Where you want to be with your life, your career, your health, your wealth, your creativity, and your legacy is not unlike where you want to be geographically at a point in time.

If I want to drive from South Carolina to California, I set my GPS to the address I want to arrive at. My GPS understands the location I entered and where I am now. When I click START, the GPS plots the fastest route by default. However, I can set parameters outside of the default settings, like “Avoid tolls” or “Avoid highways.”

Journal Entry November 1, 2023

Interesting observation: Setting the route to “Avoid highways” and “Avoid tolls” only increased the trip time 8 hours.  If you’re going to travel across the entire country by car rather than plane, I’ll assume speed of arrival is not your primary concern. I’ll also assume that you don’t drive across the country every week. In that case, the fastest route is probably your best option. But let’s assume that this trip is a rare event and that you actually want the experience of driving from the East Coast to the West Coast of this country.  Considering that traveling across the country without driving interstate highways or toll roads is only 84 miles longer, wouldn’t the trip be more meaningful? Imagine crossing the entire country on secondary highways and back roads. Actually seeing America. It could be the trip of a lifetime. Remember that the route is not the trip.

Back to my point: The GPS doesn’t print out a map for you to follow.  It provides the next inflection point from where you are right now, the next time you need to alter your course— turn left, turn right, merge, exit.  Technically, you are not driving to California; you are only moving to the next inflection point. Following the GPS instructions from inflection point to inflection point, you will eventually arrive at your California destination, but your job right now is to move to the next inflection point. Once you’ve made it to your next inflection point, the GPS will give you instructions for the next one.

It is possible to show the map of the entire route on your GPS screen, but it’s hard to make out any details on a trip this long. There’s no way to see your next turn by looking at a map of the entire trip. By zooming in to the point of seeing where you are, you lose the perspective of the whole trip.

I find that if I try to push the map forward to what’s ahead, I miss the details of where I am. By focusing on the route ahead, I miss out on what there is to see right here where I am.  If I focus on the route long enough, I can miss out on the trip.  The route isn’t the trip. The trip isn’t the route.  The route doesn’t exist in time and space; it is just the route. The route doesn’t really exist if no one is making the trip. The trip is what is real.  The route only exists in time and space when intersecting with the trip. Waypoints on the route only become meaningful when they are intersected by the trip.

The route is not the trip. The trip is the trip, and the trip happens at the present moment.

The cow grazing on the other side of the fence may munch grass on that route every day, but she is only real to you when your trip intersects the spot of the highway on the other side of her fence. You look over and see her from the spot your vehicle is at this moment; she hears the sound of your vehicle and looks up from the spot she is grazing at this moment. She lets out a soft “moo,” you smile and give her a “moo” of your own, your vehicle moves on. The route is not the trip. The trip is the trip, and the trip happens at the present moment. (by the way, I always moo at cows when I pass them on a rural highway, even if they don’t moo back. I find it a satisfying little custom, though I’m not sure how the cow feels about it).

There is more to be said about the GPS. There are many waypoints (explain waypoints) along the route from your present location toward your final destination. Each waypoint is an inflection point where you must make a decision that will either continue on your route or alter it. Some decisions may change your route entirely or even end it.

Your mission is to choose your destination and determine your current location. Set your GPS and start moving to the next waypoint. Don’t worry, the GPS will tell you how to find the next waypoint.  From there, it will tell you how to find the next one. Don’t try to decipher or predict all the waypoints to your final destination; you’ll miss one and take a wrong turn. It’s easier to focus on the one just ahead of you. Be faithful to the route, and eventually, you will arrive at your final destination.

  1. Choose your destination
  2. Understand your current location
  3. Program the rout
  4. Travel to the next waypoint
  5. Let the waypoint after that reveal itself
  6. Continue your journey
  7. Pay attention to your location at the moment.
  8. Appreciate where the trip intersects the route.
  9. Moo at cows if you see them along the way.