This week Yahoo! news reported on a woman in Belgium who drove 900 miles out of her way because she was following her GPS to a train station. The station she was aiming for was only 90 miles from her home, but she claims she was "distracted," so she kept driving. For TWO days she kept driving! She didn't catch onto the hints that road signs were in different languages. She slept on the side of the road and woke up still "distracted" from the wrong direction. (full report here)

I clipped a map of the distance she drove and am struck by how many countries she had to drive through while being "distracted." Check it out.

This woman had a bent to follow (and trust) directions. Obviously, this didn't work out well.

At some point her own logic, opinions, and skepticism should have kicked in… (somewhere about 810 miles earlier, to be exact). Somewhere along the road, something should have made her take a reality check.

While it's easy to laugh at this colossal mistake, I wonder if I ever ignore the signs and "hints" along my path. Do I think I'm on a short trip and really headed to Zagreb? How long does it take me to notice that I'm not going where I want to be?

Some of us take a "I got this, no help needed" approach and work without any map, but others of us aren't merely just open to influence, we don't even move unless we've received instruction from others. Moderation on this continuum is clearly the most sensible approach.

Which way do you typically go? How do you keep from being distracted and what's your reality check?

Too Trusting