I just spent the weekend in Nashville for my future sister-in-law’s bridal shower (Congrats, T+K!).

It was a weekend full of family and celebration and laughter.

And in the middle of it all, I was thinking of YOU!

You might be thinking, “Wow, Lindsay, I’m flattered, but aren’t you always telling us to make time to turn our business brain off?”.

You’re totally right. And that was my goal for the weekend, but then we got stuck in traffic.

You see, we were headed out to dinner one night with my one sister, who lives in the area, behind the wheel. While my brother and his future in-laws jumped in a ride-share car.

We set out about 5-10 minutes before the other group.

And arrived at our destination a whopping 15 minutes after them.

So what happened?

My sister followed the directions that she knew since she drives the route pretty regularly. But with multiple big name concerts going on that evening, there was just more people in the downtown area than normal.

And she didn’t deviate much from her usual route.

So we sat and waited and inched our way through the many traffic signals and towards the restaurant.

But the ride-share driver takes this route everyday, and likely multiple times on weekends.

He knew about the concert traffic.

He knew which streets would be backed up and which wouldn’t be.

So he took a different route. And, according to my brother, pulled a questionable driving maneuver at the end.

They arrived, sat down at the table, ordered a round of drinks and even my niece’s meal so that it was ready right when we were getting to the restaurant.

The lesson: Figure out how to do something. Get really good at it that it becomes like second nature, so that you know the ins and outs. Then, burn the rule book (or at least put it back on the shelf) and do it your way.

Take a path that makes it your own.

Get creative.

Have fun.

Above all, delight your clients.

Photo by Kaylah Otto on Unsplash