I Am Lost but I Am Making Good Time

There was a season a few years back when I spent a lot of time driving through Washington, D.C. and northern Virginia. I was completely dependent on my GPS. Every turn was perfect. Every route was optimized. My estimated arrival time kept improving. And yet I had absolutely no idea where I was. I wasn't learning the roads. I wasn't seeing the big picture. I was "making good time," but I wasn't actually oriented.

It struck me later how much that moment mirrors the life of an entrepreneur. Often we move fast. We execute. We follow advice. We hit deadlines. We adopt the newest tools and "best practices." But if we're not careful, we confuse motion with meaning. We confuse activity with progress. We feel successful because we're busy, yet we have no idea if we're headed in the right direction.

Before any journey, it's worth asking a simple question:
Why am I even going there?

Not the external answer. The internal one. Does the path align with your values? Does it honor who you want to become? Does it serve the people God has placed in your life? Or are you climbing a ladder that's leaning against the wrong wall?

In a world full of experts, frameworks, and how-to guides, it's tempting to outsource our judgment. We follow maps built for someone else's life. We chase models that worked in other industries, for other personalities, in other seasons. And when things don't work the way we hoped, we feel confused or disappointed. The truth is, wisdom rarely comes from following a perfect set of directions. It comes from understanding the landscape beneath your feet.

Part of that understanding comes from stepping back and looking at the whole map. Successful leaders don't only follow turn-by-turn instructions. They zoom out. They study the terrain. They understand where traffic builds and where the road narrows. They see alternatives. They anticipate trouble before it arrives. They know where they are, not just where the next turn is.

And then there are the detours. You can have the clearest destination in mind and still encounter unexpected turns. Markets shift. Customers change. The economy wobbles. A key leader leaves. A deal falls apart. Trouble arrives on a Tuesday afternoon when no one asked for it. The question is not whether you'll face detours, but how you'll respond to them.

Will you panic, or will you adapt?
Will you double your speed, or pause and pray?
Will you spiral inward, or will you reach out for help?

Most of the time, resilience is less about brilliance and more about patience, humility, and perspective.

For most of my life, I tried to do everything on my own. Asking for help felt like weakness. Men in my generation often grew up believing we should "figure it out" ourselves. But the older I get, the more I realize how foolish that is. Whenever I've tried to navigate a difficult stretch alone, I've multiplied the struggle. Whenever I've reached out to someone wiser than me, I've found clarity that would have taken me years on my own.

Every city has "locals" — people who know the shortcuts and the potholes, who know which neighborhoods to avoid at rush hour, who've lived the terrain. Business has locals too. People who have been where you're going. People who have failed and succeeded in the environments you're trying to enter. And the best leaders I know are not embarrassed to ask them for guidance.

The older I get, the more convinced I am that no one drives well alone. A good co-pilot — a mentor, a trusted advisor, a supportive spouse, a friend who tells you the truth — changes everything. Their perspective becomes a gift when your own is clouded.

And in the end, the purpose of your journey determines who joins you. When your goals are self-serving, you travel alone. When your mission serves others, the right people come alongside. Customers, team members, partners, friends — people are drawn to purpose. They can feel authenticity. They can sense integrity. They respond to leaders who live for something bigger than themselves.

As I look back on my own winding road, I'm grateful for every turn, even the wrong ones. There were moments when I burned time, money, and energy on paths that led nowhere. But those moments weren't wasted. God used them. My family supported me through them. Friends showed up in those seasons in a way I'll never forget. Without them, many of my journeys would have been dead ends.

Maybe you've had seasons like that.
Maybe you're in one now.

If so, you're not alone.
We've all been lost at times.
And sometimes the illusion of "making good time" hides the fact that we need to pull over, take a breath, ask for help, and re-center our direction.

My hope is that you'll take a moment to reflect on your own path. Where are you headed? Why does it matter? What might God be teaching you right now? And who could walk with you in this season so you don't have to guess your way forward?

Because at the end of the day, life is not about speed. It's about direction.
And the right direction makes all the difference.

When I look back, I can see God's hand in every turn, even the ones I didn't understand at the time. He has a way of using detours to develop character, deepen trust, and remind us that speed isn't the goal. Faithfulness is. And if we let Him, He'll guide us toward a destination far better than the one we mapped out on our own.

Never stop Driving!

~ Bryan