What if the goal isn't to have your life perfectly mapped out?
While listening to Jimmy Buffett's Don't Chu-Know, one lyric stopped me in my tracks:
"The best navigators are not quite sure where they're going until they get there."
Whether it's an old sailing saying or simply a brilliant lyric, the idea has stayed with me for years.
In this short solo episode, I share why I believe the best leaders, entrepreneurs, and even the best versions of ourselves aren't defined by having the perfect plan. They're defined by their ability to pay attention.
Life gives us new information every single day. Businesses evolve. Relationships change. Opportunities appear where we least expect them. The question is whether we're willing to adjust our course or stay committed to a destination that no longer makes sense.
As someone who's built businesses, started this podcast, and experienced more than a few unexpected turns, I've learned that you rarely see the whole path ahead. You simply take the next step, learn something new, and keep navigating.
If you've ever felt pressure to have everything figured out, I hope this episode reminds you that curiosity, awareness, and the willingness to change course may be the greatest navigation tools we have.
Thanks for listening, and as always, keep learning, keep growing, and keep navigating.
[00:00:04] If you are an irrigation professional, old or new, who designs, installs, or maintains high-end residential, commercial, or municipal properties, and you want to use technology to improve your business, to get a leg up on your competition, even if you're an old-school irrigator from the days of hydraulic systems, this show is for you.
[00:00:28] Welcome back to The Sprinkler Nerd Show. I'm your host, Andy Humphrey. This is episode 205, and I'm titling this one, The Best Navigators. And the reason is because I was listening to a Jimmy Buffett song the other day that sparked a thought in my mind. I got out my notepad. Actually, it was a digital notepad. I got out my Evernote, and I made some notes, and I wanted to share them with you.
[00:00:54] So, the lyric that came up on this Jimmy Buffett song goes like this, The best navigators are not quite sure where they're going until they get there. And I think there's something pretty powerful about that. And I oftentimes, internally, myself, have a vision. Well, a lot of times I have a vision. But it's not a plan. It's not a navigational course. It's not a roadmap. It's just a vision.
[00:01:22] So, then the question becomes, how do you make this vision become reality? And this Jimmy Buffett quote really stuck with me. The best navigators are not quite sure where they're going until they get there. And I love that line. And I think that, well, this wasn't the first time I'd heard it, but it was the first time it set in with me a little bit more. I guess I always thought it was just some old sailing quote, but it turns out it was probably just a simple Jimmy Buffett lyric. And the more I think about it, the more I believe that maybe there's something incredibly important there.
[00:01:52] Within those simple words. Because most of us think successful people know exactly where they're going. Successful people must have a five-year master plan. They must have a 10-year vision. They must have every move, every day, every minute, every milestone mapped out. But then you start talking to people who've actually built great businesses or great lives. And something else starts to appear. You realize something.
[00:02:22] Almost none of them got to where they thought they were going. Instead, they simply just kept moving. They kept in momentum. They kept learning. They kept adjusting the sales. They kept paying attention. And I think that's what navigation is. I don't think you can... Well, maybe you could pre-program. Let's say you pre-program a self-driving car. Pick one. You pre-program a Tesla.
[00:02:51] Could you give it every single piece of data ahead of time? Like, you're going to go from LA to New York. And I'm going to program this car in advance. Every single move. I don't think that's possible. I think you have to have... You have to be able to... The car has to be able to interpret real-time data along the way. You might know where you're going. I'm going to go to New York.
[00:03:15] How you get to New York, and if you turn left or right, and when, and what speed you're traveling at what moment, those things are all subject to real-time data coming in. So if you decide on a destination, and then we spend years trying to force reality to match the picture we've created in our heads, even when life is giving us better information, even when new opportunities appear,
[00:03:43] even when we're clearly headed in the wrong direction, sometimes we keep going because that's the plan. But I think that great navigators don't ignore this new information. They use it. What direction is the wind blowing? What is the speed of the wind? What is the tide doing? Just like a sailboat, the captain can't control the wind. He can't control the tide. He can't control the currents. But what he can control, or she,
[00:04:14] what he or she can control is how they respond to the conditions. They can control how they respond to every wind gust, every wave, every change becomes new information. And the going to New York or sailing to a certain point may stay the same, or it may change completely.
[00:04:41] But either way, the captain as a navigator is paying attention. And I think that there's a parallel to this in business. When I started Sprinkless Supply Store, I had no idea that it would become what it is today. When I started this podcast, I certainly didn't know we'd be here over 200 episodes later. When I started exploring sensors and IoT, I didn't know that I would have this tool bag available today. I didn't even know what LoRaWAN was.
[00:05:10] I just knew there must be a better way. And you learn about something, a door opens, you go through the door, and you realize there's another door. And you keep learning and unlocking, learning and unlocking. One simple thing led to another. Each step revealed the next step. And looking back, sometimes everything seems obvious because you lived through it. And life has a funny way of doing that.
[00:05:36] You can only connect the dots looking backwards. You can only connect the dots after you've walked the path or you've sailed the course. And maybe that's why oftentimes we feel stuck. We're waiting until we can see the entire route before we take the first step. But navigation, it doesn't work that way. You just sort of look out onto the horizon. You check your compass. You adjust your heading.
[00:06:06] And then you do it again. Look out on the horizon. Check your compass. Adjust your heading. You do it again and again. And our industry actually teaches this better than a lot of industries. And when I say teach this, what I mean is you have to learn this skill in our industry because it's technical. We use rain sensors. We use flow sensors, pressure sensors, soil moisture sensors, weather stations. Why? Because conditions change.
[00:06:35] Landscape conditions are constantly changing. We don't expect the irrigation systems to make one decision and stick to it forever, even though a majority of systems still work that way. Monday, Wednesday, Friday, 30 minutes at 7 a.m. But now we're trying to learn how to respond to reality. How can we make real-time adjustments? Maybe we should do it the same. Maybe we should do it different.
[00:07:03] Maybe it's asking us to pay better attention. To notice what we're learning. To notice what excites us. To notice what no longer works and what new information is coming in that can make something work. To notice the opportunities that weren't available six months ago. The mess navigators aren't the ones with the best map. They're the ones who are willing to look up from the map when reality says there might be a better way.
[00:07:32] So here's the question I've been asking myself. Am I following a destination that no longer exists? Or am I paying attention to where life is trying to lead me? How does that land with you? Are you following a destination that no longer exists for you? Or are you paying attention to where life is trying to lead you? I don't know exactly where this podcast is going.
[00:08:00] I don't know exactly where my business will be in five years from now. I don't know exactly where life will take me. And for the first time in a long time, I'm good with that. That is great. That is the purpose. It is about the journey. It is super cliche, but it is so true. It is about navigating.
[00:08:26] As soon as you get to where you are going, well, you are probably going to want to go somewhere else because you got there. So for the first time in a long time, I am good with this. Because I think the goal was never to predict the future. The goal is to become the kind of person that can navigate it. Be the navigator. Be a great navigator.
[00:08:49] Be okay with the fact that you're not quite sure how you're going to get there until you get there. That's it, my friends. Thank you so much for listening. If you would like to connect with me, my door is open. You can send me a text message to my personal cell number. That is 208-908-3229. I will make a promise to you.
[00:09:17] If you send me a text message, I will respond within eight hours. That gives me permission to go to bed by 10 p.m. And text you by 6 a.m. So there's my offer and my promise. Send me a text message. 208-908-3229. I'd love to hear from you. Love to know what you're up to. Love to know what you like about this podcast. I love to know what gets you out of bed every day. And just connect with me. So I'd love to hear from you. Send me a text message. And I'll get back to you within eight hours.
[00:09:46] Hope you enjoyed this one. Have an awesome weekend. And I'll catch you on the next episode.