Following the "Road Rules" of Life

“We spend most of our lives devoted to activities that diminish our fuel and then wonder why our tank is empty.”
Andrew J. Sherman

Road Rules by Andrew J. Sherman uses the analogy of how simply driving on the road can teach us life’s most important lessons. Some of these lessons include sharing the road, being guided by our navigational system, and being an all weather driver. Many of the author’s points and analogies are right on, and they can help us in our daily lives. Today I’d like to share some of my favorite insights from the book.

One of the core concepts in the book is that we must “share the road” and drive with a “clear windshield.” In essence, these two analogies speak to the fact that true happiness in life comes when we focus on others. Speeding through life instead of slowing down to appreciate all of our blessings and refusing to share the best of ourselves with others usually leads to a fatal accident: an empty life. Thus, we must learn to share our thoughts, feelings, time, and talents with others before the journey ends.

Another lesson emphasized in the book is we should not fear the “back roads” of life--meaning we need to stretch ourselves, take risks, and learn from our mistakes. Living in fear and/or placing limitations on what we can accomplish in life simply hinders our happiness, fulfillment, and success. Thus, we must take some back roads every once in awhile during our life’s journey to fully enjoy the ride.

One of my favorite chapters in the book is chapter 9 entitled “Accidents Can Happen Even to the Best Drivers.” This chapter focuses on the fact that each of us will fail many times in our lives, but our attitude toward failure will largely impact the success we have in life. As the book states, “failure is merely an invitation to try again.” Thus, when we fail in life, do we give up, move on, or say we can’t? Or like Thomas Edison do we have the attitude that we’ve simply discovered a new way that won’t work, and thus we must try again and again?! According to the author, failure that results in a great learning experience is really not failure at all. We must maintain a positive attitude especially when facing bumps along the road.

One of the most clever and funny analogies the author uses is suggesting that each of us wears a bumper sticker that reads “How am I treating you? Call 1-800-___-____", much like the bumper stickers on the back of many vehicles we see on the road. The author suggests we need to reflect often on how we are treating others and seek feedback from others to hold ourselves accountable and make ourselves better. Such a sticker could be used to warn each other we’ve gone off track and continuing down the same path may lead to danger.

Overall, the lessons discussed in Andrew J. Sherman’s Road Rules will benefit our many travels along life’s roads, and will eventually lead us safely to our final destination.

See how I ranked this book