*This content is brought to you by Tracking Success
By Alex van den Heever & Grant Ashfield*
Using an ancient African practice as a modern-day guide to life and business.
In the last essay you learnt how trackers ‘close the gap’ in the Tracking Success Pathway. We now look at how trackers deal with losing track.
Activity four – Regain the Lost Trail
Losing track is an inevitable part of the tracking process.
The expert tracker is never derailed nor surprised when it happens.
It happens if the ground gets hard. Or if the animal radically changes direction. Or if other animals – like an elephant herd – walk over the trail rendering it invisible.
Most commonly though, it happens because the tracker loses concentration.
When it happens, the tracker must confront the truth of their situation. Show courage and face the facts. The best trackers in the world are quick to acknowledge when they’re off track.
They don’t compound the issue by carrying on under a false pretence.
The key mindset in regaining a lost trail is humility. With humility the tracker can be honest about their predicament. To be transparent about their performance.
It’s an acknowledgment that “I haven’t yet arrived.”
We all lose track at some point in our lives. This does not mean we are lost. It just means we must get back on track.
Trackers deal with a lost trail in two ways:
- They return to the last confirmed track and follow again. They do so by picking their way through the difficult terrain with painstaking detail. And they stick to the task until the trail becomes discernible again.
- Or the tracker redefines their hypothesis and moves forward to test their new theory. This is speculative and riskier. It requires a greater level of knowledge and skill.
Both methods need a process of inquiry that is honest, urgent, and fact-based.
The trap here is denial, blame and a victim mentality.
Avoiding the truth of your situation or blaming it on someone else does not help to get back on track again. It keeps you stuck.
Stuck is dangerous. It keeps you in the problem – while the thing we pursue moves further and further away from us.
Losing the track is not failure. With the right mindset it is in fact our greatest opportunity for personal and professional growth.
It’s when we learn the most about ourselves.
See www.trackingsuccess.tv to learn how you and your team can adopt the mindset of a tracker.
