In Santa Barbara, California, a Chick-fil-A restaurant has become so popular that its drive-thru line extends into the street, causing 90-minute traffic back-ups during the week–longer on the weekend. (Read the story by clicking HERE.)
One city council member said, “Chick-fil-A has a good problem here. They are so successful, they have outgrown their site.“
Unless the restaurant comes up with a solution quickly, the city may declare it a public nuisance. The drive-thru, its biggest source of revenue, would likely be shut down.
That’s a heck of a price for success.
When we set goals for ourselves, we often fail to consider what comes next. What will we do when we achieve success?
I’m not immune from this issue. Back in 2009, I trained for my first half marathon. Every day from January to May, I followed a specific regimen of miles and tempo. (Well, I mostly ignored the tempo stuff.) The race came and all that training paid off. I finished the race and even did better than my time goal. Mission accomplished.
Come Monday, I didn’t know what to do. I had been logging double digit miles for months, and even months before that, but once I hit that milestone, I felt lost. I had planned and planned for one culminating moment; now what?
We can’t stay on the pinnacle of success. We either have to keep growing toward a new pinnacle or fall off the precipice. Without a plan, it’s not hard to figure out which one is more likely.
Goal-setting should be fluid. As you move toward accomplishment, start thinking about what the next one should be. If you don’t, well, at least you went out on top.
Image courtesy of J. Reed, CC BY-SA 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.