When I first lived in Bali in 2009, “Where are you going?” quickly became my least favorite question. I would see someone in the street and they would ask “Where are you going?”It drove me nuts! It was none of their business where I was going! Why would they want to know?

I quickly learned that the source of my irritation was a translation issue. The greeting for good morning translates as “where are you going?” They were just saying hi and had no interest in knowing where I was literally going! And so I learned to reply “Jalan jalan”, walking walking… That’s the best answer you can give, just walking with no destination in mind means you’re doing well.

I share this because a few days ago, I was the one asking “Where are you going?” And I know it drove the person on the receiving end of the question… nuts! This client was getting annoyed because they were trying to get somewhere but I helped them see that since they didn’t know where they were going, how did they expect to get there? They were fixated on the destination.