Off-Road driving is a perfect metaphor for getting any result in any area of your life. You can learn some simple skills and principles in off-road driving that will give you confidence and spread it to other areas of your life. The best part is off-road driving is easy to learn, extremely fun and accessible to just about everyone.
Yes, I am talking about off-road driving like that quasi sport or pass time that hillbillies and rednecks live for. There have been, in the last 15 years, a big surge in people buying Jeeps, SUVs and trucks that are made for some form of off-roading. These are regular folks who work day jobs and drive their rig to work during the week, then on weekends they head out on the trail looking for adventure. I should know, I'm one of them and this is my story!
I think it is that sense of adventure that compels some to go places they have never been. The excitement of not knowing what is around the next turn or over that hill. The thrill of conquering a big hill climb or gnarly obstacle to find a lake or a beautiful view. While off-roading I often think of the very first pioneers who came to America or who moved west. Here I am driving down rough and rutted dirt road with a map, a gps, a big Jeep with 35" tires, tools galore and these people came through these areas making a trail as they go, with no map, no idea where they are, no idea what they will find, and yet they chose this over staying where they were.
I am an optimist, optimism is one of my top two core values. When I think about leaving the comfort of home to forge a path into the unknown, I see optimism. If you knew what you were going to find was going to be terrible, you wouldn't go. It is the belief that, what you will find will be worth the effort of getting there, that is optimism - the belief that things can, and will, be better. Even if, you are only leaving because you can no longer tolerate where you are, you believe that things can be better, or can't get worse, somewhere else.
How does off-roading have anything to do with success at anything in life. Simple, successfully navigating an off-road trail and succeeding at anything requires a few ingredients, an end goal or destination, a few skills and principles to keep you on track, upright and moving forward.
In these articles I will present situations from my life and compare them to off-roading, I'll also take several leadership and success principles and put them into terms of off-road driving to show how well the metaphor works. I call this a MetaphorX4.

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