Ever wondered how you intuitively find where you parked your car in a mall garage?
Or for that matter, how you automatically drive that car home once you find it?
It turns out there are physical structures in your brain that help you solve these complex problems. I don’t understand the details, but I’ve heard it described as your “inner GPS.” These brain structures tell you where you are now relative to where you were… and which way you’re going.
This is a fairly new discovery, by the way. The biological details weren’t settled until 15 or so years ago. And since this question puzzled philosophers for centuries, it’s no wonder that the trio of scientists who finally unlocked the mystery of your “inner GPS” got the 2014 Nobel Prize in Medicine for their work.
But here’s a much trickier riddle.
How do you know where you are in life, not physically, but in other ways?
How do you know where you are relative to where you were, say 5 years ago?
And how do you know if you’re moving in the direction you want to go, or away from it?
These Nobel laureates figured out we have an inbuilt system to help us navigate the physical world. It’s not certain we have such a system to help us navigate life more broadly.
And that’s why achieving success can be so mystifying.
So what’s the solution?
Well, my best guess is that you have to consciously build up your systems and maps and checklists for navigating life, and becoming more successful, in a way that doesn’t make you miserable.
It’s kind of how a road trip worked before MapQuest and then Google Maps came on the scene.
Traveling won’t be as quick or easy as with a real GPS…
You might occasionally go down an abandoned road into the woods…
And maybe your entire map might need to get tossed out or updated.
It’s not very efficient… But what else is there?