Live Reckoning

“Send them upstairs, take the ladder away, and set fire to it.” – Soichiro Honda

This quote reminds me of a part in “The Art of War” where Sun Tzu introduces the tactical advantage of painting one’s army into a corner. Sun Tzu describes that when an army is flanked on one side by an impassible barrier that offers no means of retreat, the only options are to defeat the opposing army or die. This sink or swim concept is nothing new and has been a philosophy championed by Honda and it has allowed them to build one of the most successful and admired automobile companies in the world.

In my opinion, this philosophy has been significantly under utilized and I feel Honda has done an admirable job of popularizing this concept in their “Power of Dreams” video series available on You Tube. Just think of the moment when the momma bird tosses the baby bird out of the nest in order to teach it to fly. In nature, you either die or fly, but when it comes to you and I, it’s not quite as black and white.

The high road often gives way to the road most traveled just as water finds the path of least resistance. I admire water for its’ persistence and ability to cut deep crevices into rock and I admire the baby bird as it flaps it’s wings as it fights to defy gravity. Nature has a simplicity that we often overlook but it all comes down to survival. If birds built nests on the ground they wouldn’t fly. They would walk. It is because birds build their nests in trees that they have the ability to fly. Where are you building your nest? The nest that you and I build are critical to our chances for success. A nest is a diving board that leads to a leap of faith.

Calculated risks are my safety net. Monkey’s have this down. They don’t let go of one branch until they have a grasp on the next one. Evolutionarily speaking this is probably why monkeys never learned to fly. I have admired many people over the years who just did it! Most of the people I know didn’t “make it”, but they made the leap anyway and I have a lot of positive things to say about them. We often tend to view heroism as character trait of successful people but I think the real heroes are the ones who hit the ground hard, dust themselves off, and pick themselves back up again. My struggle has been with taking the leap. Leaving security behind and being willing to experience the exhilaration of a sink or swim situation is a terrifying thought, but one that is integral to achieving big goals. When we decide there is no Plan B only Plan A, we put ourselves in a position to succeed because we are unable to retreat. In 1519, Cortez ordered his ships be burned before leading his men to battle against the Aztecs. Guess what. They won.

A few years back my friends and I began learning to sail and on the final day of our adventure at sea, our instructor Carl lead us from Silva Bay into the straight of Georgia, told us to sail to Vancouver, and went below deck. It was a high pressure situation that ultimately lead to a successful arrival in False Creek. We were all a little pissed by this challenge and we probably exchanged a few heated words with each other, but just like the baby bird, we got pushed out of the nest. In hind site I must say that Carl is one of the best teachers, period. But we had to get out of our comfort zone, let go of the branch, and experience a moment of free fall before we could truly understand what we needed to do in order to succeed. This trip left our egos bruised and I wasn’t sure after that if I would sail again…Suffice it to say we are on our way to Nanaimo on the 15th of July for our 4th adventure in the Gulf Islands just off the east coast of Vancouver Island. I owe a lot to Carl because had he been easier on us, I don’t know if we would have felt confident enough to sail on our own.

When we have a backup plan, Plan B can very quickly become Plan A when the going gets tough. I don’t want to get too carried away here because sometimes Plan B might be the right course, but we need to be able to rationally evaluate when obstacles are merely roadblocks and when obstructions are dead ends. My goal is to be like deep water. The wind can blow on the surface but no matter how hard it blows, deep water is more likely to keep calm and weather the storm.

Continue reading →

Why is it that some people achieve success while others fail? Are successful people more gifted, luckier, or just plain smarter than the rest of us? I have been very successful in a lot of areas in my life, however, I still haven’t figured out how to succeed in the areas of my life that matter the most.

I’ve spent the better part of a decade creating a career as a videographer, I’ve gotten married a little over a year ago, and my wife and I are now looking for our first home. But aside from that, most of my life goals continue to eluded me. I had a conversation with a friend at work a while back and I remarked that I have become proficient at doing things that don’t really matter to me. Every month I pay my Visa bill, phone bill, utilities, line of credit, etc. and for what? A better credit score? Benefits of a strong credit rating aside, this got me thinking…I have a tough time achieving big goals because they usually take a number of years to accomplish and sometimes the shear scale of these aspirations pushes them a little too far out of my grasp. Let’s take a look at this problem from another vantage point. Getting a mortgage and owning a home is a big goal that most people can identify with and it is a goal that most people are able to achieve. So, why is it that this particular goal, which can be a 25 to 30 year project, is easier to accomplish than the 90 page screenplay that I have been writing for more years than I am ready to admit?

It basically comes down to the monthly payment. If you don’t pay your mortgage or rent, you are not going to have a place to live. Same thing with utilities and a phone bill. You don’t pay, you get disconnected. For the most part these expenses are necessities and they need to be paid every month just to stay in the game. Unfortunately, our goals and dreams don’t show up as expenses at the end of the month. This leads me into the paradox of my life. I am sacrificing the dreams that will allow me to live so I can focus on the minutia that allows me to survive. If we could find a way to service the “dream debt” every month, would we be able to open the door to opportunity?

Defining the goal is the easy part. Designing the battle plan to achieve the goal is a little more complex. Any navigator knows that you have to deduce where you are before you can plot a course to get you where you want to go. Getting a fix on your location is not as easy as using the GPS in your iPhone but it is as just as important as determining your destination. Every race has at least two things. A beginning and an end. Sailors will use a map, compass, and known landmarks to triangulate or get a fix on their position. The sextant was used to measure the angles between known stars while at sea in order to provide a consistent frame of reference for navigators as they crossed the oceans.

The next phase of this endeavor is plotting your course. There can be a million miles between the start line and the finish line and we need to decide how we are going to get there. Way points on a chart are the milestones we want to achieve and they break up a long journey into more manageable legs and provide us with a short term goal. If we do our best to stay on course and make corrections as necessary, there is no reason why we can’t arrive at our intended destination.

This initial post is my first plot and this blog is my sail plan as I commit to turning my goals into expenses. Life should be about progress, not perfection and it is my intent that this forum will serve as an opportunity for me to discuss my strategies, hold me accountable, and to share my journey with you. Welcome to Live Reckoning.