Metaphor: The Coach Provides the Map, But You Must Bring the Compass
One of my favorite metaphors for pursuing difficult goals is the story of the compass and the map. I first heard the story retold by Seth Godin, as he retold the account retold by Steve Pressfield. It’s the story of an escaped soldier during World War II:
A Ghurka rifleman escaped from a Japanese prison in south Burma and walked six hundred miles alone through the jungles to freedom. The journey took him five months, but he never asked the way and he never lost the way. For one thing he could not speak Burmese and for another he regarded all Burmese as traitors. He used a map and when he reached India he showed it to the Intelligence officers, who wanted to know all about his odyssey. Marked in pencil were all the turns he had taken, all the roads and trail forks he has passed, all the rivers he had crossed. It had served him well, that map. The Intelligence officers did not find it so useful. It was a street map of London.
The points that Godin and Pressfield make to turn this story into a useful metaphor are similar, but not exactly the same. Godin focuses on that although the map was not accurate, the compass the soldier was using was. Moreover, knowing how to use an accurate compass will serve you better than knowing how to follow a map.
Pressfield, on the other hand, uses a “confidence” angle for his metaphor. He focuses on the fact that having a map gives you confidence if you believe the map is accurate. As long as you have an accurate compass to keep going the right direction, the details of the map don’t matter as your confidence will get you to the destination.
Coaches Provide Maps, You Must Bring the Compass
Dove tailing on both Godin and Pressfield, I will add a coaching angle to this metaphor. The best coaches are extremely good at providing their students with maps. However, those who get the most out of a coach’s map come to practice with an accurate compass they know how to use.
It’s the coach’s job to instill confidence in their map, but it’s not their job to give you a compass and confidence in using that compass, at least not in a group coaching session. Instead, private one-on-one coaching is ideal for learning how to be accurate with your compass. As the compass comes from setting S.M.A.R.T (Specific, Measurable, Actionable, Realistic, and Time bound) goals, knowing how to use your strengths, and using the unique qualities of your personality to fuel your motivation. In addition, the confidence in using that compass comes from working on your mindset and mental skills.
It doesn’t matter what type of map the coach uses if you don’t know how to be accurate with your compass. Moreover, if you do know how to be accurate with your compass, then the details of the map don’t matter as much to your success as long as you have confidence in yourself and your coaching. This is the power of the compass.