Alan Weiss’s Monday Morning Memo® – 8/15/16

I was in a four-seater once flying from DC to someplace in Delaware, which must have seemed like a good idea at the time. I was in the co-pilot’s seat, and the pilot was navigating with aplomb the taxiways in Reagan Airport amidst what seemed like behemoths, and with what I interpreted as absolute garble on the headphones (which I was wearing). Eventually, we took off, a mosquito amidst eagles.

Once airbrne, at about 10,000 feet, the pilot took his hands off the wheel, took a sip of coffee I hadn’t noticed, pulled off one earphone, and started to chat with me. I was, as the British proclaim, gobsmacked. But the plane was on autopilot, and there’s really not much to do up there in clear weather (as II’ve since learned in my own, three piloting adventures).

When we drive our cars, we make constant adjustments of the wheel without realizing it—unconscious competency. We are on a sort of autopilot as we listen to music, chat, or just think.

The danger, of course, is that we lead our lives on autopilot, simply content with a steady course, staying on the path, reacting only to threat or the unexpected. In the air we have flight plans and on the ground we have roads. But in life, the truly successful carve their own paths.

And you can’t do that sipping coffee, singing the score of Hamilton, or chatting with whomever is next to you. You need to get off that road and onto your own.

The true joy in life is to be a force of fortune instead of a feverish, selfish little clod of ailments and grievances complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy.

– George Bernard Shaw

Two Retreats Remain in 2016: One on branding and intellectual property creation, in San Francisco, one on creating a retail business for your expertise, in Palm Beach: http://www.alanweiss.com/growth-experiences/alans-2016-retreat-experience/

Thought Leadership Conferece:  Rise to the top of your field and avoid the detours: http://www.alanweiss.com/growth-experiences/2016-thought-leadership-seventh-annual-conference/

TransAtlantic Workshop: Join us in Washington, DC for a day on creating six-figure proposals and a day on running a seven-figure practice with zero employees: http://www.alanweiss.com/growth-experiences/the-transatlantic-workshops/

Periscope from Nantucket: Join me Tuesday, August 16 at 4 pm Eastern for my next broadcast, on perseverance: @BentleyGTCSpeed