When you're at the front of the line in a left-hand turn lane, you have a job to do. When the arrow turns green, move. Turn with confidence. Operate the vehicle with a sense of dispatch.

You are setting the tone. You are the pace-maker. When you delay with your start – when you lag – everyone who follows lags too.

When you go first, when you speak first, when you respond first, you begin the story.

And if you stumble out of the gate (through carelessness or through unpreparedness) those who follow your lead have to work harder to set the right tone or to correct the pace. Their actions become a kind of response to how you've begun.

* * *

There are times when you will be first in line. First up. First to go. It may be through chance, through election, or through self-selection.

No matter how you got there, when it's your turn... mind the green light.