Are You Driving A Parked Car?

Before I learnt how to drive, I had a fear of being in any car with a running engine; I would picture the car having a mind of its own and suddenly driving itself with me feeling completely out of control and unable to stop it. I was hesitant about learning to drive but I had to overcome my fear. I realised I could watch how driving is done but I would never learn how to drive if I only felt safe in a parked, ‘engine-switched-off’ car.

This fear ended the day I knew how to handle this ‘beast’ called a car.

Fast forward a few decades and we now have driverless cars. Go figure! I watched a video of two older men experiencing a driverless car for the first time and their commentary of the drive was hilarious and a joy to watch.

They quickly moved from fear and apprehension to shock and awe; by the end of the drive, they were laughing at other people who were wondering how the car was driving itself and navigating the road. Seeing the transformation and how their minds quickly adapted to the change was inspiring.

I have memories of young children on their fathers’ laps pretending to drive a car whilst making the commensurate sounds. They think they are driving the car but the car is going no where as it is parked or they are driving in a car racing game.

In another video, a young lady taking her driving test adjusted the mirrors, turned on the indicator sign, engaged the gear and depressed the hand brake but was shocked when the car did not move. She repeated this a few times before it became obvious that she never turned on the ignition. Her instructor maintained a straight face and I wondered how he managed to keep it together.

This reminds me of those times when our life choices and decisions are akin to driving a parked car; people making pretences of achieving their goals when they are not taking any actions that will move them forward.

In the same way that you can’t learn how to drive in a parked car, you can’t go anywhere in a parked car. You must turn on the engine, engage the gears and take your foot off the brake and accelerate the car. All these steps must happen one after another. Miss out one of them and you are going nowhere.

Taking action is the only way forward

It’s not enough to be able to talk a good game; you can have the best ideas in the world but they remain ideas at best unless you take action. Taking the necessary actions to achieve any goals is your only chance at success.

Some steps can not be missed out

You can’t learn to run without first knowing how to walk, running a conglomerate starts with running a small business. All the wishes in the world can’t catapult us to certain levels in life as the only way to get to them is to follow the due process, learn and be diligent through every step.

If you skip one of the steps in the driving process, you are unable to drive the car; in the same way if you skip a key step in your learning process, you could jeopardise the outcome.  

Be ready to advance to more serious stages

That little child pretend-driving at the age of 5 or 6 eventually realises the car is going no where. After a while, the child would ask questions because they realise you didn’t take some actions which they know you should have taken. One day the child will challenge why the car isn’t moving in response to all actions.

Once the gig is up, the child begins to ask to learn to drive. This shows progression in that child matched by a continued desire to drive the car. Similarly, we must know what is demanded of us at each critical stage of our growth. We must stop play-acting, pretence-driving, and deal with distractions that stop us from moving forward.

When it is finally time to learn to drive, we must step up to the plate and give it what it takes. Your challenge this week is to look at those areas of your life where you know you have been ‘playing at’ instead of actually driving towards your goals.

Thanks for reading and sharing my posts with others. Have an awesome week.