A recent flight took a painfully wrong approach to landing the plane. It took way longer than it should have. I have a much better solution, and it’s so obvious, you may wonder why no one has ever thought of it before.
A Rookie Pilot
So there I was in the plane, looking out the window. We were just starting to see the ground as we broke out of the clouds. It had already been about 10 minutes since we started our decent and we probably still had 10 minutes to go.
I began to wonder just how green this pilot was as I had the perfect plan to drastically decrease that landing time.
So Simple
When I tell you my plan, you may be completely amazed at my intellect (It happens. So often.) I will have to warn you that you may immediately feel a sharp pain in your forehead as you smack yourself for not thinking of it yourself.
Because the truth is, the shortest distance between two points is a straight line. What’s more, here we are burning all this fuel staying in the air, when what we want is the exact opposite. Why not just turn off the engines and point the bird at the ground? Not only does it save on fuel, but it lets gravity do all the work.
You May not Be Rolling Your Eyes Long
Okay, obviously that won’t work. The journey may be short, but the destination would be about 50 feet further into the ground than hoped for.
So then why do we expect the same thing out of success? Why do we want to take this super fast trip that we think will solve all our problems? Why do we hope to win the lottery instead of investing our money (especially since it’s the habit of using money wisely that makes us rich, not a sudden influx of cash… as 70% of bankrupt lottery winners might attest)?
The best way to land a plane is at a steady pace and methodically. The best way to be successful is the same way. Just like the tortoise and the hare, the steady, constant drumbeat is the drumbeat of success. Better to be consistent than to burn out fast.
The Quickest Way to Succeed
So the quickest way to succeed may not be the thing to shoot for. What’s better is to focus on the best way to succeed. Work hard. Build good habits. Be consistent. Have integrity.
It may not be the fastest road to success, but it’s much better to survive success when you arrive.
