It turns out winging it isn’t a strategy.

Before I became a communications strategist, I was just a guy with a backpack and a dream.

Fresh out of college, I moved across the country to start my first real job in Colorado Springs. I had landed the job, bought a new car (thanks to my new boss Tom Wistrcill), and signed a lease near Pike’s Peak. I was living the dream. So I figured hey…let’s top it all off with a bed and a TV.

What I wasn’t willing to do was pay for delivery. I was poor: this first real job paid $18,000 per year. Besides, I had a new Honda Civic and a strong sense of confidence. So I tossed the TV in the back seat and then the nice mattress salesman smiled and helped me tie the box spring and mattress to the roof of the car with a couple of ropes, threading them through the open windows of my doors.

Seemed solid.

I held the mattress with my left hand out the driver’s side window, just in case. (I’m not left-handed, but I was optimistic.)

Somehow, my bed made it home in one piece.

That’s when it hit me…literally.

Those same ropes that secured the mattress to the car also sealed the doors shut. I was trapped inside. No way out. And no knife to cut myself free.

Too embarrassed to ask for help, I pretended to be on the phone whenever a neighbor walked by. This was 1999. I didn’t even own a cell phone. I held my hand up like a cartoon and fake-chatted with my mom. True story.

I used my car key as a makeshift saw. It took hours.

And when I finally got through the rope and yanked it around, I got a nice smack in the eye from the knot. But I was finally free. At 2 a.m. Humbled and tired. And with a shiner.

That was the night I learned:

Excitement and enthusiasm aren’t enough. Without a plan, you’ll eventually get stuck.

What ColePress Offers

At ColePress, we help clients avoid Trapped-in-the-Civic moments.

We partner with organizations to build thoughtful, grounded communications strategies that consider where you are, where you’re going, and how to get there…with clarity, purpose, and the right tools in the glove box.

[ Need to know where the story goes from here? Hop over to the Execution Page. ]