The other day I was driving through the Arabian Desert when the GPS told us to turn right. Seriously, it was the Arabian Desert, and we were on a road marked on the GPS. It was nothing more than a tractor path by Canadian standards, and there were even a couple of spots of soft sand (don’t stop!). It was my good friend Sara Bianchi who was driving as this is her neighbourhood.

It was a part of a day-long adventure from Dubai, across the United Arab Emirates and back, finishing up in Abu Dhabi. We covered almost 700kms in that day. What I love is that it seemed we saw the real United Arab Emirates (rather than just the man made cities of Dubai and Abu Dhabi). We saw sand dunes, mountains, camels, donkeys, local villages, and so much more! 

As we came along this ‘road’ through the desert, we came to a turn marked by the GPS. However, it seemed the locals might have it covered. There was a tire hanging in the tree miles from anything other than this fork in the road as if to say “turn right at the tire”.

Such a simple solution to solve the need for information. The locals could have built an elaborate sign on the corner. They could all buy a GPS for navigating. However, it seems that all that was needed is a tire in the tree. When you reach the tire in a tree, hang a right and continue onwards. Love it!

Thought of the week

Where in your life are you putting GPS satellites in orbit, erecting billboards and adding lighting when all that’s required is a tire in the tree?
  
There’s something in human nature which has us wanting to figure it all out in advance. We have a tendency to want to think of all of the possible permutations and solutions for our problems.

Then when we go to solve them, we can have a tendency to over-engineer the solutions. What if when we’re looking to solve our personal problems, we started by just hanging an old tire in a tree. You never know; you may find it is all that’s needed to create what you want.