Motivational Minute
April 17, 2000

Hello Friends!

Here is a message of POWER and PASSION to get your week started with ENTHUSIASM!

Please feel free to share it with your friends and associates.

Okay...lets say, hypothetically, you know how to fly a plane. 

What if you were given the following instructions:  Step into a lightweight plane, with no amenities, and very few essentials. In fact, you will be the only passenger.  You'll have very little food.  We'll remove the windshield to add an extra gas tank, so you'll have no forward visibility.  The added fuel also makes you far heavier and more combustible.  Your seat will be a lightweight wicker-style chair.  You'll have very little in the way of maps, and your navigation device is essentially a prototype - very little testing.  In fact, the plane is a relatively new design as well, partially made of wood.  

NOW.  FLY TO PARIS FROM NEW YORK.

Does that sound ridiculous?  Maybe.  Or maybe it's already been done.

Charles Lindbergh was a farm boy from Minnesota.  He left college to become a barn-stormer, and was eventually hired to fly mail between St. Louis and Chicago. These were the early days of aviation, when even a mundane mail route could be a perilous and even life-threatening task. 

In 1919, a New Yorker named Raymond Orteig offered $25,000 (an enormous amount of money at that time) to any man who could fly nonstop from New York to Paris.  By 1927, the prize had still not been claimed, despite many attempts.  Several pilots lost their planes, and their lives, in the rush for the prize.  In 1927, Lindbergh was ready to take the risk. 

He convinced several St. Louis men to back him financially.  He had a plane built, modifying a standard design especially for the trip.  These modifications included a navigational device allowing him to fly in darkness and fog.  A large gas tank, for added fuel, replaced the windshield.  Visibility would be obtained by sticking his head out of the side windows, or through a small periscope fixed in the roof.  The cockpit was so small that by extending his elbows outward only slightly, Lindbergh touched both sides.

Can you imagine the fear and anxiety he must have felt before he took off into the unknown?

After a less than perfect take off - Lindbergh's plane, very heavy with fuel, barely missed the telegraph lines at the end of the runway - he was on his way.  Thirty-three hours later, he landed in the city of Paris.   Even Lindbergh himself had no idea of the impact he had.  In taking a risk, he connected the world.

Risk is something we do every day without even realizing it.  You wake up, get dressed and drive to work. You encounter other people, you eat, and you play. If you stopped and thought about the risk and danger possible in every aspect of your life, you'd be overwhelmed.

So, then, why do we fear risk?  Why are we so scared to go out on that limb, take a chance, and reach for any goal?

Baby's are born with only two instinctive fears: falling and loud noises. All the rest are learned behaviors. The very first time a baby takes a step, he or she is a little shaky. But there is a goal.  They don't think about not being able to walk.  They just know they have somewhere to go.  And once they figure it out, there's no stopping them! 

Then we learn about gravity and how it can hurt if we hit the ground wrong.  Our steps become more carefully measured, more deliberate. We fear the consequences if we should stumble.  We dread failure or embarrassment.  We prefer to sit, then cautiously step forward into the unknown. 

Thomas Edison said, "Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up."  When we are willing to take risks, then we are just that much closer to achieving what we hope to accomplish.  Even if it takes more than one try - and most of the time, it does.

Forget about "gravity." Challenge yourself to turn the impossible into reality.   Start with smaller tasks if you need to build courage - short hops - until you make it all the way across that ocean!

In the words of the late John F. Kennedy, "There are risks and costs to action.  But they are far less than the long range risks of comfortable inaction."  Try to make yourself uncomfortable enough today to DO something you want to do - regardless of the risk. The satisfaction of accomplishing something that took boldness far outweighs the momentary feeling of anxiety.

Choose to really LIVE your life!

LAUGH-A-DAY 

Question: Why does love happen between two people?

Nine year old Jan answers, "No one is sure why it happens but I heard it has something to do with how you smell. That's why perfume and deodorant are so popular."

Eight year old Harlen answers, "I think you're supposed to get shot with an arrow or something - but the rest of it isn't supposed to be so painful."

Question: What do people do on the first date?

Ten year old Mike answers, "On the first date, they just tell each other lies and that usually gets them interested enough for a second date."

QUOTE-OF-THE-DAY

"Too many people are thinking of security instead of opportunity."
                                     - James F. Byrnes

                                        
                   
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