Let's Make a Flying Machine
Good Morning,
I have been doing a fair amount of flying lately and I still find myself amazed at just how busy every airport seems to be. I did a little research and learned that on average, there are 93,000 daily flights originating from about 9,000 airports around the world. At any given time, there are between 8,000 and 13,000 planes in the air around the globe. In 2016, 3.6 billion were expected to fly. That is just under 10 million people every day!
On December 17, 1903, Orville Wright piloted the first powered airplane 20 feet above a North Carolina beach. That triumph did not come easily. Orville and his brother Wilber battled depression and family illness before starting a bicycle shop that would eventually lead them to start experimenting with the idea of flight. After years of hard work, and numerous failed prototypes they finally created an airplane that would get off the ground and stay there.
As I stood in the Atlanta airport recently, I could not help but wonder if in their wildest dreams the Wright brothers could have imagined the staggering impact their flying machine would have on the world. My guess is that they created this machine out of passion for the idea, the wonder of creating something new, and sheer determination to be persistent every day. I doubt that their vision was billions of people flying around the world every year, families being brought closer together, and flying machines that would carry hundreds at a time.
What a lesson in faithfully pursuing the dreams and visions that are right in front of us. We can get so caught up in looking far down the road that we miss the value in executing in the moment. What we put our hands to may or may not change the entire complexion of the world. It may not spawn an entirely new industry and it may not transform the way people travel and communicate. Much of that is out of our control.
Yet it might. And whether it does or not is not isn't ultimately the point. The real lesson from the Wright brothers is to pursue your passions and dreams relentlessly starting afresh each morning. Every day and every year that goes by without pursuit of the passions of your heart is lost. You cannot get them back. That is a high price - I would argue too high a price, to pay. Each step forward has merit. Each conscious choice to not give up is virtuous.
Is there something you need to begin putting your hand to today? Is there a journey toward a long-held vision that requires a first step forward? Is it time you hire a coach and begin putting a strategy in place? Make today the day it begins.
Who knows, 100 years from now someone may write a Monday morning missive telling of what came from the thing you started!
Live this week on purpose,
Ron
