September 21, 2011

Your Life is Not a Space Shuttle. Your Life is a Bicycle.

A significant amount of thrust is required to lift a 4.5-million-pound space shuttle off of a launch pad. In order to do so, the shuttle's main engines must build up to 90% of maximum thrust before takeoff. Then the solid rocket boosters are ignited and the journey begins.

On a bicycle, the journey begins when your foot pushes down on the peddle. Prior to exerting force on the peddle, there is no movement or build up of energy. Nothing happens until you push the peddle, but as soon as you push the peddle the bicycle moves. 

Your life is not a space shuttle. Lift off does not require that 90% of maximum thrust be achieved before takeoff. 

Your life is a bicycle. Movement will not occur as a result of you thinking harder, meditating more, planning better, researching deeper, studying longer, considering one more option, or doing 100 jumping jacks and hopping on one foot 5 times before climbing on the bicycle. Movement occurs when your foot pushes down on the peddle.

Your life is not a space shuttle. There is no pre-launch checklist that can assure you that everything will be OK if you move forward with the mission.

Your life is a bicycle. Do you remember when you first learned to ride a bicycle? Or maybe you remember teaching a child how to ride one. Some lessons from that first attempt:

1. Training wheels are OK. Lose the ego, put on the training wheels. 

2. You will fall. Wear a helmet, but get back up and try again.

3. You will never move forward if you don't push the peddle.

4. You cannot prepare to ride a bicycle for the first time. You just do it, and learn while doing.

What do you feel you are not ready to do, but would love to try? What have you been putting off your entire life because "now" is just not the right time? Have you always trained, but never entered the race?

Your life is not a space shuttle. You are not going to reach your dreams sitting on the launch pad hoping to build up enough thrust to one day "shoot into outer space in T plus 45 minutes". You are not going to grow and change as a person while sitting on a launch pad. You will not be challenged, you will not get hurt, you will not fail (or fall), or learn while sitting on a launch pad. There is no amount of running around in a circle you can do that will result in you shooting out of that circular pattern and suddenly taking flight toward your dreams. There is no amount of thinking you can do that will provide the answer to all your questions or planning you can do that will develop the "treasure map" that leads you to all you hope to achieve. You will not find whatever you are looking for while sitting on a launch pad.

Your life is a bicycle. You will find answers, find yourself, and reach your dreams when you start to peddle. 


2 comments:

  1. Excellent! I like it. I didn't know you had a blog. I will have to do some perusing.

    ReplyDelete