I almost missed Corsica entirely. Not the flight. Not the reservation. I almost missed the actual experience of being there.
The road to Punta di a Vacca Morta is not something you drive so much as negotiate. It winds up through scenery that makes you feel guilty for the windshield in the way, and on the day I went, the wind was relentless enough that I needed both hands just to stay in my lane. Not scary. Just constant.
Normally, at a mountain lookout, I slow down, glance, feel something small and vague, say "wowwwww," and keep moving. I have done this my whole life with a lot of beautiful things, very quickly.
That day, though, something shifted. Somewhere on that road, I pulled over, cut the engine, and just sat there. Then I did it again at the next spot. And the one after that. Not because I was nervous to drive. But because I was finally okay with having nowhere to be. I was letting myself actually be where I was.
The Hike I Did Not Finish
I got to the trailhead and started up toward the summit lookout. It is not a brutal hike, maybe an hour and change. The kind of trail where you feel pleasantly accomplished without actually suffering. About three-quarters of the way up, I walked into a small clearing where a group of tourists had stopped for lunch.
They were not in any hurry at all. Food was laid out. Someone was lying down. They were laughing about something I could not hear. And I stood there for a second watching them and thought: they actually look like they are somewhere.
So I sat down. I looked out at scenery that felt like Switzerland and Italy had a beautiful argument, and Corsica won. And I realized that going to the top was not the point anymore.
I did not go to the summit. Not because my legs gave out. They did not. But because I did not want to leave that clearing yet. And for once, I let that be a good enough reason.
The Part That Embarrassed Me
On the way back down, I caught myself planning the next day.
I had been back on the trail for maybe eight minutes before my brain had quietly filed "Corsica hike" under completed and moved on to logistics. I hadn't even reached the car yet.
This is not a new problem for me. I have known for a while that I finish experiences before they are over. I extract the value, wrap it up, and start planning the next thing while I am still technically inside the current one. It is a reflex, not a decision.
And in my work? It has made me very good at what I do. As COO of StringCan Interactive, my whole value is being three steps ahead, seeing around corners. Having the answer ready before the question lands. That is real, and I have built a career on it.
What It Actually Costs
But here is the part I was slower to see.
"The same skills that make you effective in the room can also pull you out of it before the room even knows you have left."
I have sat in team conversations that I had already concluded before the other person finished talking. I have moved past wins before the team had a chance to feel them. I have made calls while everyone else was still orienting to the problem, then wondered later why it felt like I was always pulling people forward instead of moving with them.
When you are wired to run ahead, you do not always notice that you have left the group behind. The ops brain does not clock out. It does not read the trail differently from how it reads the room. It is the same mode, and if you never interrupt it, it keeps running. On your vacation. On your team. On your life. Filing things under done before they actually are.
The Lunch That Mattered More Than the Summit
After the hike, I had a very long lunch in a small village ten minutes from the trailhead. I took zero pictures of the food or the terrace view. I drove back to my lodgings slowly, which, if you have ever been stuck behind me on a highway, you know is a genuine personal stretch. Also, the French in Corsica drive like Italians, so that was its own adventure.
I did not fix anything that day. I am not suddenly a person who lingers. But something about choosing to stop before the summit, and deciding that the clearing was enough, keeps coming back to me.
Because it was the first time in recent memory that I stayed inside an experience until it was actually over. That is the thing about always optimizing. Sometimes the most strategic thing you can do is just stay put.
Ready to Work With a Team That Knows When to Run Ahead and When to Stay in the Room?
At StringCan Interactive, we build marketing strategies with the same intentionality it took me a Corsica hike to remember. We stay with your challenges long enough to actually solve them, not just check the box and move on.
If you are looking for a strategic partner who brings both the ops rigor and the human perspective, let's talk. We would love to learn where you are trying to go.
