Taking a private airplane expedition into South America by two guys just out of college, flat broke, and drunk on optimism, was not exactly a recipe for success. But there was an unseen power source that seemed to override any challenge. It was simply the ability to define, focus, and execute a gutsy goal.
Desire + Clarity = Done Deal
In his book, Think and Grow Rich, Napoleon Hill says success takes two initial components: Desire and clarity.
The desire was there…on steroids! In 1976, an awesome photo appeared on the cover of a flying magazine. Some pilot snapped a picture from 200 feet as he buzzed over the top of Tikal, the lost city of the Maya, deep in the Yucatan jungle of Guatemala.
The gauntlet was thrown down. Flying through Central and South America, and possibly the Amazon, was now a primary goal.
But how do you pull off a private airplane expedition on a rice and beans budget? My buddy and I barely had enough to pay the rent, let alone buzz jungle archives in some rented Cessna.
Goal – Powered by Frigidaire
However, we did have a 20-year-old Frigidaire.
That scuffed up, off-white refrigerator, would serve as a mechanism to empower a dream. The process involved two steps that rivaled grade-school simplicity.
First, I took a clean sheet of butcher paper. Then, in large, magic marker letters, wrote out a single word, “Amazon.” I then taped the sign at eye-level on the refrigerator door. Nothing new, right? Yet it worked wonders.
That pathetically simple sign was the only item slapped against the refrigerator door. Nothing else competed for its attention.
Define Your Gutsy Goal
Napoleon Hill was right. Clarity is everything. In fact, I dare you to try the following experiment with a major current goal.
First, clear your refrigerator door of all the foo-foo. Now, revert to your 6th grade child self. With butcher paper and broad-tip marker, write your one or two-word goal. Make the letters large enough to see across the street.
Now, slap the sign on the fridge, secure it with some scotch tape…and forget it.
Except one thing…you won’t be able to “forget it.” Because it will be IN YOUR FACE, morning, noon, and night. Just like “Amazon” was, in my face.
With that incessantly viewed single word, “Amazon,” the project became more of a reality day by day. The expedition, tag named, Espiritu de las Americas (Spirit of the Americas), would morph into an ambitious 3-month cross-county flight, that would ultimately cover 13,000 miles, include 11 countries, and come in at an insane, “rice and beans” budget of six bucks a day.
The lesson is this: No matter the level of difficulty…clarity, stoked with desire, will pave the way for your goals to develop and crystalize.
So please stay tuned. Next week, I’ll share more lessons, situations, and unexpected snafus, that were overcome to make Spirit of the Americas a reality.
Please share a memorable goal you’ve accomplished in the past, that may have taught you a valuable lesson for life.
If you liked this post, I’d love to hear your comments. Details of the Spirit of the Americas trip (and other aviation-related true stories) are available in the book, Pull Up! by John Tillison