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A big underlying principle in my life is incrementalism. I often explain this as the single footstep phenomenon, where putting one foot in front of the other over time covers a lot of ground. This is true literally…I run, and once in a while look over my shoulder and am surprised at the ground I’ve covered…as well as figuratively. Stringing school days together educates children. Stringing productive workdays together builds a successful career. Stringing workouts together creates fitness.

It’s important, however, to keep an eye on the big picture. This can be hard to do if you’ve always got your head down focusing on the task at hand. This is commonly known as “getting lost in the weeds”, and is usually followed by that “Oh crap, how did I end up over here” moment. The key is to pick up your head along the way once in a while to keep some context and gauge the appropriateness of your daily activities. If you see you’re off track, course correct and head in the right direction…before the cost of recovery is too high.

Yesterday we had a breakthrough course correction at Baby Be Hip, and it was awesome. Not so much realizing that we had been marching in the wrong direction (no one likes to waste effort or money, especially when we should have known better), but identifying the mistake and heading in the right direction was empowering. Now, with the help of a promising new partner (shout out to Mark Kennedy of SEOM Interactive, who is helping us pivot our search marketing strategy), we know we’ll be in a better position to increase our relevant traffic and drive more revenue.

Take a few moments this weekend or in the week ahead to make sure your daily activities are aligned with your bigger goals. If they are, forge ahead! If not, take the opportunity to redirect them so they point to your objective. While the winding road may be interesting, it is not the most efficient. After all, the shortest distance between two points is a straight line.