Airplane behavior tells a lot

When I fly I notice what other people are doing, and it tells me a lot about who they are.

Most people watch movies, play games, sleep, drink alcohol, or do nothing at all.

It’s a free country, and I am not saying that anyone should do any particular thing.  But looking at it from the perspective of explaining why people are where they are and get what they get, you can see why.

As for me, I value time.  I use the time on airplanes to read, study, capture good ideas in my journal, and to plan.  I bring a journal and colored pens and use the time productively.

It’s funny that I get the marketing material for private jet sharing and I think to myself, “Why would I want to pay all that money and lose that productive time?”

If you want to break free of the crowd, you have to think different than they do, and act different than they do.  If you want to be normal, do what everyone else does and get the same results.

It doesn’t mean you don’t play.  I have plenty of fun.  (For me, my work is fun.)  I go on many adventures with friends and people I love.  But the story of my life is that when others were watching TV and social media, relaxing and passing time away, I was using that time productively to study and learn and getting better.

Do that for 20 or 30 or 40 years and you’ll wind up in a very different place.

Do you REALLY want it?

Everybody wants things.

Do you want a fitter body?  Yes

Do you want better relationships?  Yes

Do you want more money? Yes

So why doesn’t everyone have these things already?

“If you don’t get what you want it’s a sign that you did not seriously want it, or that you tried to bargain over the price.”

So the question is “What do you want bad enough that you will pay the price for?”  Those are the things you will get, and only after you have paid the price.

It's not supposed to be easy

If you go for a life of ease and comfort, you will fall very very short of your potential.

Struggling when you are breaking new ground for yourself makes you better and stronger.

Suffering is the result of not accepting reality

From “Living Untethered” by Michael Singer – 

Acceptance is best understood as non-resistance to reality. 

Try as you may, no one can make an event that has already happened not have happened. 

Your only choice is to accept the event or resist it.

Are you resisting reality and causing yourself suffering?

Keep a light hold on your beliefs.

Beliefs are hypotheses to be tested, not to be treasured and protected.

You could be wrong by locking in a belief without all the information and experience.

I have believed many things in my life that turned out not to be true.

Keep a loose grip on your beliefs.

What's valuable?

When we are asked this question, the first thing our minds go to is what things are worth in dollars – what someone else is willing to pay for it. 

But there are many things that are valuable to you that others don’t care about, or that they would not pay anything for.  

What’s valuable to you and what is valuable to others are two different things.

Buying something, even something expensive, is a means to what you really want. 

What’s that?

What’s valuable to you?

Real food has no ingredient label.

If God made it, it’s good.

If man made it, it’s probably not good.

Health is Wealth

“The man who has his health has 1000 dreams.  The man who doesn’t has but one.”

Eat right.  Move well.  Sleep well.  

Feel good and prevent disease.

Today.

Trouble

Ann Landers spent her life giving advice in newspaper columns.  Here is her advice on trouble – 

“If I were asked to give what I consider the single most useful piece of advice for all humanity, it would be this; Expect trouble as an inevitable part of life and, when it comes, hold your head high, look it squarely in the eye and say, “I will be bigger than you.  You cannot defeat me.””

Is that how you are approaching your troubles?

Baja 500 part 2

We kept pushing through the hard terrain.  It’s amazing what abuse these machines can take.  

At mile 90, on our way up a mountain in very rocky switchbacks we had the dust of another vehicle in front of us.  We pushed forward into it and when we were close enough we could see it was 1925, the guy who had passed us earlier.  We were on his bumper easily.  It seemed we were faster in the really technical rough stuff.  Maybe it’s from my motorcycle days with my eye continuously scanning for the best lines for my wheels.

We lit him up to pass him by pushing a button in our car which would light up a blue light in his.  We got by him.  Second palce again.  The guy to beat in front of us.  In just a couple more miles we start seeing dust again.  We charge in and soon see it was 1957 – the leader!  We were on him and got by.  We were leading!

I tried to build a gap, driving fast.  We had 380 miles to go.  We went up the “Summit”, to the top of a mountain and down a very steep very boulder strewn “how the hell did anyone make this trail up here?” course.  

About ten miles later I was surprised when 1957 came by us.  Dang!  Second place again.  The course opened up to a 200 yard wide sandy wash.  The deep sand sucked the horsepower out of my machine.  I could see 1957 pulling away – he had more power – my foot was to the floor and there was nothing I could do.  

At mile 172 I had planned a driver change to give myself a break.  My friend Victor would get in and drive for 40 miles while I took a break in the chase trauck while it sped down the highway to meet him at 212.  It took about 3 minutes to change drivers and refuel.  Too long.  Victor took off 5 minutes behind the leader and 90 seconds in front of 1925.

Twenty miles later 1925 got by Victor, and then he got a flat tire.  Flats happen out there.  Dustin changed the tire and the strapped themselves back in.  I waited with the chase truck with a new spare to swap the flat one.  Victor came in 11 minutes behind the leader and five minutes behind second.  I jumped in the driver seat.

We had planned to get Dustin out for a break for 50 miles while Victor jumped in the navigator seat, but since they got a flat, we told Dustin to stay in the car so we didn’t have to stop to swap Victor out and him back in again in 50 miles.

At about mile 300 we came up on 1957.  He was out of his car with his helmet off.  They had overheated when their electric fans blew a fuse.  Later I learned they fixed it and got back in the race, only to have a flat and break a suspension part later.  They fixed those things and kept going.

We were in second place again, and I was determined to hunt down the leader.  One rough transition, one off camber turn, one whoop section at a time.  We stayed about six minutes behind him for about 100 miles until we got another flat!  Dustin changed it again in the dark, and we were back in the hunt, having lost about six minutes.

We stayed about 13 miles behind the leader, matching their speed.  Again, they didn’t race the first race so we weren’t worried about beating him.  But if we could beat 1957 by two positions we’d make up more points than if we beat him by one.  Oh yeah, and the other motivation – winning the Baja 500!  

In the end, it wasn’t to be.  We had the speed to lead, but two flat tires and the driver change had cost us about 17 minutes, and we were 13 minutes behind.  We took second place in 13.5 hours at 1:00 am.

We came out of the race second in the points with one guy to beat – #1957.

Next race – the Baja 400 in September.