A Forest for the Trees

Has anyone said to you “You can’t see the forest for the trees”?  It’s a widely known saying that is accepted by many as truth whether they are talking about issues in the workplace or about life in general.  It means that at times we cannot see situations as they really are while we are in the midst of them. The point is… we lose our perspective when we are too heavily invested in a particular situation, approach, organization, etc.

Everyone, including myself, can attest that this saying is true and it stirs up some emotional memories in many that hear it. At some point in our lives, we will all find ourselves lost.  Whether it be for minutes, hours or days….it can often seem like a lifetime.

What path are you on? What’s your purpose? Do you feel like your feeling of freedom has become constricted because you feel lost?

When this happens in our business or personal life, sometimes with each new attempt to find our way out of the forest, we find that we are right back to where we started…just going in circles and getting nowhere.

Eventually, we accept the truth and often start to fear the worst…that no matter where we turn all we see is trees and the trail has disappeared along with our sense of direction.

In business and in life, we sometimes cannot see the forest for the trees. Sometimes, to the detriment of ourselves and others, we can be too heavily invested in our way of doing things (an organization, strategy, philosophy, leadership style, management approach, group of people, etc).  When we are, we cannot see the forest for the trees. We no longer see the bigger picture and we lose our perspective. Whether it is our own inability to admit we were wrong, our honest but naive loyalty, or our strong sense of perseverance, the result is the same.  We lose sight of the big picture, and we escalate our commitment to following a path that is leading us in circles instead of moving us forward.

We can only see the forest when we get out of the trees!  Blind allegiance to something that is flawed, no matter what the reason, keeps us going in circles. Albert Einstein had it right:

“Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”

Avoid the pitfalls of pride. Don’t give into your ways. Seek God’s promise and guidance and the truth will set you free.