Running after every snap and crack.

There is this great story I once heard about a man who was walking through the Appalachias and came across a clearing. To his surprise there were a number of the scrawniest pigs he had ever seen running around the clearing. They would run from one end to another. Approaching the home he found an old farmer on the porch and asked him what was up with the crazy pigs. The farmer responded that a while back he had lost his voice and when he needed to feed the pigs he would call them by rapping with a stick on a pan or post. Now whenever a twig snapped or something fell the pigs would run to that spot looking for food.
We need to be careful to not be like these pigs. It is too easy to start down a road with a plan or a goal and get distracted. While occasionally that distraction may be good information that we can and should incorporate, we need to weigh the information carefully to make sure that it’s not distracting us from our final goal. I remember listening to a presentation by William Glasser <http://www.wglasser.com/> on his highly successful educational programs. At the end of the presentation he told the audience that what he had presented worked, but that there were dozens of other programs out there that also worked and he urged everyone to pick one and do it.
Sometimes lots of roads lead to Rome and sometimes there is only one path to your goal. Either way, the real trick is to make the plan and stick with it unless you are absolutely sure you need to alter course.