What if many of the problems we experience are actually road signs?
Signals that we might be heading in the wrong direction.
Not punishments.
Not bad luck.
Just… signs.
In both business and life we are constantly creating.
With every decision.
Every project we accept.
Every relationship we build.
Every “yes” and every “no”.
Psychologists call this locus of control — the belief that our choices influence what happens to us.
People with a strong internal locus of control tend to experience higher wellbeing, stronger resilience, and better long-term success.
But there’s a catch.
Responsibility is uncomfortable.
It’s much easier to assume:
• the situation is unfair
• someone else caused the problem
• circumstances were unlucky
And sometimes that is true.
But when the same situation repeats again and again…
something deeper might be happening.
Psychologists call it pattern reinforcement.
Unresolved patterns tend to recreate similar outcomes.
Until we notice them.
I learned this lesson in a very practical way.
On a motorbike.
Three times.
The first accident felt like bad luck.
The second one felt like coincidence.
The third one was harder to ignore.
I was lying on a roundabout with the motorbike partly on top of me.
My knee hurt.
The engine was still hot.
My head was ringing and my stomach felt sick.
For a moment I couldn’t move.
It could have been much worse.
I was lucky.
But something became very clear in that moment.
The problem wasn’t riding technique.
The real message was something else entirely.
Balance.
Or rather…
lack of it.
Too much work.
Too much pressure.
Too little recovery.
And life had been sending signals for a while.
I simply ignored the first two.
Here’s something interesting.
In systems thinking — used in organisational leadership and strategy — problems rarely appear randomly.
They often signal deeper systemic imbalances.
The same can be true in life.
Sometimes the event itself isn’t the real issue.
It’s the pattern behind it.
And something fascinating happens when people start listening earlier.
The signals change.
Instead of repeated problems, people begin noticing something else.
Opportunities.
Unexpected help.
Strange coincidences.
Moments when things suddenly align.
Psychologists call this situational awareness.
When attention shifts, we start noticing patterns that were invisible before.
Life rarely sends loud warnings first.
Usually it begins with something small.
A hint.
A signal.
A road sign.
The question is whether we notice it early…
or wait until the third crash. This time, happily I came off a bicycle and that was enough.
With an open heart,
Audrius
