Befriending the Red Herring

A friend of mine recently wondered if there was actually such a thing as a red herring, and did a Google image search to see one. What he turned up first was the painting you see here, Befriending the Red Herring by L. Kelen. He was so entranced and amused by the whimsey that he promptly purchased it. I don't know what the artist intended, but think the image makes a great point. Have you befriended any red herrings lately?

In case you're not familiar with the term, a red herring is something that lures you away from the correct path -- a deliberate distraction or misleading information. The idea comes from fox hunting, when smoked herring was dragged across the fox's trail to confuse the hounds. The image of a boy hugging a false trail bemused me, and I immediately thought it applied well to my own life, and to coaching. Are you prone to embrace your distractions sometimes? I can remember a year ago when I was chewing on a heavy question and wildly casting about for answers. I chatted with a friend about it, and when I mentioned a particularly far-fetched (but oh-so- easy) idea, she latched onto it and dug in, making me look at it from all angles. She had me almost convinced that I was a fool for not jumping on it. However, it just plain felt wrong, and I knew it was a real regression, not progress -- a true red herring. The easyness of it distracted both of us for awhile, and yes I tried to befriend the idea. After hanging up the phone, I realized that tempting though it was, it was a pure distraction and didn't really solve my problem, only sidelined it.

You grabbing onto any red herrings lately? You know they're taking you away from a better answer or truly important goal, but you give them time, attention, and importance. You successfully sideline yourself from the real game. It's easy to do, but once you realize you're holding a cold, wet, and smelly fish ... throw it back! Things might not seem easy, but they will get clearer.

Comments

[Mark]

Interesting. Ive loved this image for a long time. I have a little different feeling about it.
I think sometimes you have to embrace something positivley to understand if it presents an opportunity that you might have otherwise dismissed. So grab the red herring and embrace it, it may turn out to be a whole new direction

[sanemom]

Nice point Mark, thanks for the thought! I agree that sometimes true direction comes in the most whimsical of packages. Always keeping our eyes open to opportunities is important.