“The Eagle has landed.”
Those were the immortal words that Neil Armstrong spoke when
he landed the lunar module on the surface of the moon on July 20, 1969, at
20:17 UTC.
I was born in 1970, into a world where humans had already
landed on the moon. So I never saw the moon landing till years later, when they
replayed parts of it on television and I was old enough to understand what it
meant.
Then, I watched the movie, First Man, in which Ryan
Gosling stars as Neil Armstrong. This Steven Spielberg-produced movie spans
eight years from Armstrong's early work as a naval aviator and test pilot
leading up to the historic Apollo 11 mission.
As a sci-fi junkie and movie buff, I loved the movie, and
there were a few things that became apparent as it played. The first was that
space travel is pretty darn dangerous, as anyone who witnessed the Space
Shuttle Challenger disaster will know.
What very few of us (who were born after the moon landing),
know is that in the run-up to the actual event, the testing phase, there were
some pretty horrific astronaut deaths.
So I could understand the danger and fear that all the
people involved in the moon landing - and their families – experienced every
day, knowing that they were attempting things that had never been done in the
history of humankind.
They took the risks and made the sacrifices, even though
there was a very real possibility that the mission would fail and they might
never return to Earth.
In one scene, where Neil Armstrong is talking with a senator
in the White House, and the senator says something about “taxpayer dollars,” I
was irritated by his lack of vision.
Because that’s exactly what it took – a vision that united
the entire team at NASA - the rocket scientists, the astronauts, and their
families.
That vision is what gave them the courage to persist in the
face of terrifying odds and make humankind an interplanetary species.
The people who ask, “Why spend money on a space mission when
there are people starving on earth?” are asking the wrong question.
Spaceflight is more than just a technical achievement. We
live in an expanding Universe, and our limited human minds must expand with it.
Just as the explorers of old expanded our narrow vision of
our regional and cultural boundaries, space explorers expand the realms of
human possibility. And once you see those new possibilities, your mind can
never go back to what it was.
As one of my favourite authors says:
The mark of your ignorance is the depth of your belief in injustice and tragedy. What the caterpillar calls the end of the world, the Master calls the butterfly. ~ Richard Bach
That’s why you need a vision. Especially so if you’re an
entrepreneur. Whether that dream is to change the world, like Elon Musk,
or just build a better light-bulb.
Your vision is your “Why.” It’s the reason that you’re
building a business. And it has to be bigger than you to inspire you to
overcome your limitations and go for your dreams.
A vision can be different for everyone and take many forms,
as in:
·
Having a
vision for your life
Perhaps your vision is to take your family out of poverty
and create a better life for them. Or to get a work-from-home job that
gives you freedom from your corporate job.
·
Having a
vision as an entrepreneur
Perhaps your vision is to create a solution to a problem
that affects many people. Or of patenting an idea or invention you came up with
and turning it into a real product.
·
Having a
vision for your business
Perhaps you already have a successful business and your
vision is to grow it into a fortune 500 company or to expand into new markets.
·
Having a
vision for the future
Perhaps, like Elon Musk,
you want to solve the world’s energy and transportation problems or help humans
colonize other planets.
Having a vision gives us the courage and determination to persevere
in the face of tremendous odds until we create that new gadget or app, or an
entirely new world, depending on what you’re going for.
And like the men who landed on the moon, your vision must
excite you a lot, and scare you a little, if it is to inspire and enthuse
others and draw them to your cause.
That’s why every entrepreneur should watch the First Man movie.
Because you’ll see what it takes to have a dream that inspires
the whole of humanity. A “Why” that’s so powerful, it can change our worldview
and the future of our species.
It will show you how implementing a vision will stretch you,
and make you grow and change you as nothing else can.
And that you can only persevere and risk it all because your
vision electrifies you and gives you a sense of purpose that’s bigger than
yourself.
My vision is to
empower people, especially women, to become financially and emotionally
independent, so they can overcome their limitations, achieve the freedom they
deserve, and live their best lives.
What’s yours?
Learn
what it takes to be a charismatic leader in the Free Leadership Lessons
Course. Get a step-by-step road map to Go from Unknown to Well-Known in my Free Personal Branding Email Course.
Comments