By Timo Kriel
A man goes for driver training with an instructor. The car is fitted with a duplicate set of controls on the passenger side — a second steering wheel, brakes, accelerator and indicators — so the instructor can intervene if necessary.
As they drive along, everything seems normal. The learner handles the car smoothly, keeps a steady speed, and follows the lane markings carefully, diligently trying to be the best driver he can be. Then, without warning, the instructor suddenly stomps hard on the brakes, bringing the car to a screeching halt.
After this has happened several times, the learner, now confused and embarrassed, asks why she keeps doing that.
She explains calmly, “When you look straight ahead through the windscreen, you follow the road and stay in your lane perfectly. But every now and again, when you glance out the side window or check the rear-view mirror, the car begins to drift — slowly at first, almost imperceptibly — toward the direction you’re looking.”
The learner is indignant. “That’s impossible. I can keep the car on course no matter where I look,” he insists.
To settle the matter, they pull into a large, empty parking lot. There are no other cars, no obstacles, no traffic — just open space. The instructor asks him to drive in a straight line while looking ahead. He does so flawlessly. The car tracks true.
Then she asks him to keep driving but deliberately shift his gaze to the right. Within moments, the car begins to arc gently in that direction. Not sharply, not dramatically — just enough to prove the point. When he looks left, the same thing happens. Each time his eyes move, his hands unconsciously follow.
He is stunned.
The instructor smiles. “This isn’t just about driving”.
The driver can choose where he looks. That choice seems small, almost insignificant. Yet where he directs his gaze gradually becomes his direction. And his direction, sustained over time, becomes his destination.
Our focus shapes our actions in subtle ways we rarely notice, forming the intention to get to the destination we have in our vision. What we dwell on influences the tone of our thoughts. Our thoughts guide our decisions. Our decisions determine our path.
Look consistently at obstacles, and you begin steering toward them. You soon find yourself entangled in the details of a destination where you don’t really want to be. Fixate on past mistakes, and you drift backward. Focus on possibility, growth, and purpose, and your movements — small at first — begin aligning with those aims.
Try to figure out what is wrong, and soon you are beset by problems, describe what you want and watch the solutions take shape.
Attention is never neutral. It is an act of steering.
The instructor added “Have you noticed that you are capable of driving where you want to go? You have what it takes. Take us there.”
Where you look is where you go.
This post was written by a human, based on memory of the anecdote. An AI was asked to edit it and most of its suggestions were retained.