"Two roads diverged in a wood and I --I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference."

Robert Frost

If you were to talk my eight-year-old daughter, she would tell you “different is good.” It’s a concept I have been trying to teach her for the past year or so. Being different and trying different things is good. She says it a lot, and sometimes she even says it as if she means it!

I’ve been thinking a lot about taking the road less traveled by lately. I have actually given it quite a bit of thought. I won’t tell you that it has kept me awake at night, but it is creeping into more and more of my thinking.

Let’s start with a simple example. Everyone at my office gets coffee first thing in the morning. The line is long and it can easily take up to ten minutes to get a morning caffeine fix. So I have started each morning by checking my email. By the time I’ve gone through the important messages, there is no line and can get my caffeine and be back to my desk in a fraction of the time.

On a broader topic, let’s take the Internet. Almost everyone surfing the Internet is doing so using a version of Microsoft’s Internet Explorer. Usually, not long after a new security flaw is found in this program some Internet evildoer (hacker) finds a way to use that information to cause all kinds of mayhem for people using that program. For as long as the Internet has been popular, hackers take advantage of these program flaws and the fact that everyone is using them! Enter programs like Opera, Mozilla, and Firefox that are lesser-known alternatives to Internet Explorer. If you take the road less traveled by and use one of these alternative programs you will be exposed to a fraction of the security problems of people who are using Internet Explorer.

Many months ago, my wife and I took the path less traveled and cut our cable service to the absolute minimum. We have the Weather channel, TBS, QVC, the local public television station, and not much else. As a result, our kids do not watch much television. Also as a result, we do more family activities such as games. We have spent a lot of time as a family instead of spending a lot of time as “couch potatoes.”

According to several studies, the number of people who read anything is decreasing. In fact, the average college graduate will read less than twelve books after they graduate. The world we live in is constantly changing and there is always something new to learn. How are these people going to learn about new technologies, processes, and ideas if they do not read? It really isn’t that difficult. For example, I found a fourteen-page document about a current and popular technology. After reading fourteen pages, I now know more about how this technology works. In the time it took me to read fourteen pages I became more knowledgeable than most people who work with this technology. It isn’t because I’m brilliant (well maybe) as much as because I took the time to read a short document about how something works when most people will not.

If you really take the time to notice you will find a multitude of opportunities to take the road less traveled. For what its worth, I recommend follow Robert Frost on his journey down the road less traveled. You may also find that it makes all the difference.