The road you travel can determine the speed of your success.
This may have happened to you, it did with me the other day. I was driving to a meeting, texting while driving (Oops) and before I knew it, I was half on the road and half in the gravel. Of course I quickly corrected it.
Where might you be driving in the gravel vs driving on the road? The path that’s faster, and safer.
Where might you benefit from self-correcting?
Most leaders don’t burn out because they’re not capable. They burn out because they spend too much time driving in the gravel – that noisy, bumpy strip on the side of the highway where progress feels slow, traction is uneven, and every correction takes more energy than it should.
In life and leadership, the “gravel” is subtle. It’s the small misalignments you tolerate, the unspoken frustrations, the habits that drift 1% off course. As James Clear reminds us, “You don’t rise to the level of your goals; you fall to the level of your systems.”
Gravel is what happens when your systems slip.
But there’s another layer to this – one Alden Mills would call out immediately from his SEAL training: the gravel is also a mindset.
- It’s choosing comfort over clarity.
- Distraction over discipline.
- Reacting instead of preparing.
The question every leader must ask is simple:
Are you willing to get back onto the smooth surface – the fast lane – where commitment, consistency, and courage create real speed?
Because the highway is there for you. It’s always there.
The difference between gravel and highway isn’t talent. It’s intentionality.
- A 10-minute daily reset to prioritize the day. Those that choose to pre-plan their day do it the evening before or morning of.
- A weekly team check-in to realign expectations. An effective company meeting rhythm is a must have, not a nice to have. How effective is the meeting rhythm with yourself and your team?
- A small improvement to a broken process. The opposite, what’s going well that you can do a bit more of?
- A courageous conversation you’ve been delaying.
These are tiny steering adjustments, but they move you from drag to momentum. From the gravel back onto the highway.
Alden Mills teaches that “success is never owned – it’s rented, and rent is due every day.” The highway requires that rent. It asks you to look up, realign, and take responsibility for your trajectory.
And here’s the payoff.
When you make small, consistent, courageous corrections, the road smooths out.
- You accelerate.
- You save energy.
- You lead with clarity.
- You create compounding results.
So today – right now – ask yourself:
- Am I driving in the gravel, or am I on the highway?
- And what’s the smallest possible adjustment that will get me back into the fast lane?