I was watching a TV show and the interviewer asked a dog handler why the dogs seem to go way off course at first. What the dog handler said made perfet sense for the dog and for us. 

He said “Once the dog gets the sent, it makes a wide arc. Unfortunately, the farther away from the source the dog is the more it smells other sents. So, the dog is smelling how far it can go before it looses the sent. Once it looses the sent it moves back to the direction it could smell it. The dog then continues in a zig zag pattern based on strength of the sent. That is why you see dogs sniff from side to side. The closer they are to the target the easier it is for them to determine a strong or weak sent” 

As people, we have to do the same thing. We all want to be successful in life so we start looking for success in a broad sweeping manner. The reason dogs are very successful is they stay focused on the one sent they are searching for. Most people unfortunately continually change their goal depending on what sent seems strongest.

The big problem for people who do that is the target is rarely stationary. Before long the second sent goes weak and a third sent becomes stronger and once again people change their goal and shoot for the strongest sent. 

This is why many people feel they are wandering through life. They’re not even sure what their goals are because they have changed them so often.  With this analogy you can easily see why some people are said to be, “Chasing the wind” or “Going in whatever direction the wind blows.” 

In conclusion, we should all survey the area to be familiar with all the oppurtunitties that are around us but we need to be like the blood hound that knows its final goal and bases its movements on the strengths and weaknesses of the sent. We too must base our movements in life as to wheather these actions are strong or weak in aiding us in acheiving our goals.