You Cannot Direct The Wind But You Can Adjust Your Sails

Why the sailing motif?  It's the best metaphor and model I've found for life as we should live it.

I think sailing is a perfect metaphor for the challenges we face in life and business.  Here are a few of the connections I've made, parallels I've drawn and lessons I've taken:

1.  In the words of Harry Chapin:   "It's got to be the goin', not the gettin' there that's good."  
In sailing as in life and business it is the journey, the voyage that is what's most important, not merely the destination.  In other words it is the striving, not the arriving that defines a quality life and a quality business.

2.  "Great minds don't think in straight lines" 
In life and work, like sailing, you can't sail into the eye of the wind.  You can't go from A to B in a straight line.  When you sail, the nearest to the wind you can 'point' is 45 degrees.  Doesn't that remind you of life?  I can hardly ever go straight for my goal.  I find myself stopping or going off in many directions.  If you could pour all your life into the achievement of wealth alone you could reach every financial goal you set.  But real life isn't like that and you wouldn't want it to be.  What about God, family, friends, health, fitness, personal growth, learning, community and all the distractions that make life worth living?

3. "You can't control the wind but you can adjust your sails."  
In other words the skilled sailer can arrive at any destination he chooses by using natural forces of wind and water and by intelligently and skillfully modifying the set of the sails.  Ups and downs, twists and turns, recessions and progressions, these are the winds of life and what about sickness and death?

4.  "Size matters but less than skill and wisdom."
In my local marina very few of the 'big boats' ever get out of their slips.  When they do leave port it is usually under power, not under sail.  The smaller boats have more freedom.  They are less cumbersome, less costly, require a smaller crew and are usually well used.

5.  "The purpose of sailing is the experience itself."
Sometimes we see how fast we can go around a triangular course.  Mostly we just sail out, come about and sail home.  The goal is the the process.  Preparing, casting off, rigging the sails, setting the sails, testing the wind, trimming the sails, tacking and jibing.  It seems to me that this is what life should be about...the living, the doing, the planning, the setting of goals because that's a part of the living process.