Sometimes it is necessary to take a couple of steps backwards before you can move forward again.  This is not a new concept, but for some reason succumbing to this philosophy does not come easy.  After all, who wants to be faced with the idea of moving backwards, when you worked so hard to get where you are?

Not every step we take leads us in the right direction.  This is true with so many things in life.  We drive our cars, take a wrong turn and wind up hours out of the way.  Was this forward progress?  Of course not.  We get upset over our mistake, backtrack and then move on.  Unlike driving though, where you can see the physical progress of your movement, there is really no telling for sure in business when you took a wrong turn and when once realized, exactly how far back you have to go before you can start on the right course again.  Perhaps this is the reason why so many people and businesses try to forge ahead in the direction they are currently moving when clearly they are not getting anywhere.

This is why it is important to have goals, measurements and milestones.  If you are not reaching your goals, measuring up to your standards and falling short of your milestones, then you have an indication that you are not on the right track.  The faster you realize this, the quicker you can reverse course and the less ground you have to go over again.  The importance of discovering the error of your ways can not be underestimated.  Otherwise, you stand the risk of not leaving enough fuel in your gas tank to backtrack and start to move forward again.

Needing to take steps backwards should not be viewed as a failure.  Valuable lessons are learned by trying different things and taking different roads.  How many wrong paths have the great inventors and scientists taken before they found the right combinations that changed the world – think Edison and Einstein.  The wrong turns we have taken build upon our personal foundations for which to support future growth.  It is only through learning from all of our experiences, both good and bad that we can reach new plateaus and greater levels of success.  Right now is the time to take a snapshot of where we currently are and decide if we need to move backwards, in order to move forwards.