David J.

Pollay

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June 1, 2009

The Rule of the Test Drive

Twelve years ago I learned a powerful lesson in an automobile showroom.

For years, I’d had my eyes on one car. It was a convertible. The shape of the body was unique. The soft top looked great. I liked the body painted red. I liked the top in black fabric. I had never been in the car, but I loved the way it looked.

In 1997, I moved from New York to Atlanta. I needed a car. “Why not get the car I like so much?” I thought.

So I did research. An Atlanta dealership had just the one I wanted. Dawn – my girlfriend at the time, now my wife of 10 years – came with me.

We arrived at the lot. I saw the car. I loved it. A salesman came out to meet us.

We sat down at the salesman’s desk. We talked about the car – how unique and attractive it was. Then I started negotiating. We talked about the sale price, financing and warranties. We talked a lot. The salesman stepped away to get some more information.

Dawn watched the salesman until he was out of hearing range. She leaned into me and said, “Why don’t you take the car for a test drive?”

I laughed. “Why hadn’t I thought of that?” I was so caught up in talking about the car; I had forgotten the most important thing – how the car drives. The salesman returned.

“Can we take the car for a test drive?” I said.

“Sure, let me get the keys,” he said.

I was excited. I was about to drive my dream car. We went out to the lot. I opened the door and slipped into the driver’s seat. Dawn rode up front with me, the salesman climbed in back.

I turned on the car. The motor was louder than I’d expected. I drove out of the parking lot. I put my foot on the accelerator to merge onto the busy street. The pickup was slower than I’d expected. We turned onto the highway. The car was not as comfortable as I’d expected. We returned to the lot. Dawn and I got out of the car and stepped to the side.

“What did you think?” Dawn said.

“The car is beautiful, but it doesn’t drive or feel like I thought it would,” I said.

“What are you going to do?”

“I’m not going to buy it. It still looks great, but it’s not the car I want to drive every day.”

All those years of admiration and all that talk in the showroom, and it took only a 10-minute test drive to make me see that the car was not for me.

Haven’t we all experienced this at some point in time? We’ve dreamed about something for years, only to realize we’re still sitting in the showroom. All we really need is a good test drive.

Many of us experience this with our careers. We say, “That’s what I’d really like to do in my life,” or we say, “If I were doing that, I would be so happy.” Then we look at what we’re currently doing and we see that we’re not spending any time exploring our dreams. We’re stuck in the showroom thinking about what we want, thinking about what we would enjoy and thinking about what we would be good at doing.  

This is when we must follow the rule of the test drive.

If something interests you, get out of the showroom. Take your interest for a test drive.

The rule of the test drive helps us get away from the “ifs.” If we were given the opportunity. If we were discovered. If we had more luck. If we had less responsibility at work or home. If we had more time, money, or support. If only we didn’t have these constraints, we’d pursue the lives we want to lead.

The key is to get ourselves out of the showroom and take a test drive. When we do, we quickly find out one of three things. 1) We like what we explore and do more of it. 2) We don’t like it and we put our energy somewhere else. 3) We’re not sure if we like it; we need to give it another try. Whatever the result, we’re at least exploring our interests. We move ourselves closer to living our best possible lives.

How about you? What are the interests you’re talking about? What are you going to test drive this week?

David J. Pollay is the creator of The Law of the Garbage Truck™. Mr. Pollay writes the Monday Morning Momentum Blog each week. He is a syndicated columnist with the North Star Writers Group, creator and host of The Happiness Answer™ television program, and an internationally sought after speaker. Mr. Pollay’s book, Beware of Garbage Trucks!™, is due out later this year. Mr. Pollay is the founder and president of the consulting and seminar organization, The Momentum Project.

© 2009 David J. Pollay. Distributed by North Star Writers Group. May not be republished without permission.

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