On the RebootYou.com website, we’ve suggested going back to
school as one strategy for restarting. Well, I took my own advice recently and
went back to school, although it wasn’t exactly what I originally had in mind.
It was driving school – a course for seniors whose skills
behind the wheels may be slipping.
It was a pretty thorough refresher course, lasting about
2-1/2 hours and covering freeway, residential and downtown traffic.
I was encouraged to take this course by my wife, who sees my
driving habits from the passenger seat and has a much more objective view of my
abilities than I do. So while I was initially skeptical, it turns out she was
right – the course did show me several areas where I can definitely improve,
and underscored the fact that I am not the Mario Andretti that I used to be.
For example, glancing in the rear view mirror regularly to
see who or what is behind you and what they are doing – closing on you, passing
on the right or left, etc. It’s a way of staying mindful of your total
environment. I wasn’t doing it often enough.
Another example, when exiting the freeway: don’t step on the
brake pedal while you’re still in freeway traffic. Just take your foot off the
accelerator, slow down to make the exit ramp, then apply the brakes. Putting on the brakes on the freeway may
slow you down too fast and it also sends what could be an alarming signal to
the car behind you.
And looking in the right hand side mirror (and turning
around to look) before turning right at
a stop sign or traffic light – there may be a bicyclist or skateboarder
slipping up beside you.
So, steering out of denial and into the safe lane. The life
I save might be yours – or mine!
