October Sky embodies universal success principles

This week, my 6th grader is launching a rocket in his class. Since I am always a fan of the timely coordination of family movie night with whatever else is going on in our lives, I wanted to dust off the 1999 film October Sky.

What I saw shocked me completely. October Sky perfectly embodies 12 of the 13 principles of success as written in Napoleon Hill’s book Think and Grow Rich. In doing so, October Sky helps communicate how these principles have universal application toward any goal we have.

If you don’t know the story, in October of 1957, Sputnik was the first satellite launched into space. October Sky tells the experience of Homer Hickam, Jr., (Jake Gyllenhaal) a high school student who was so inspired by these global events he decided to build his own rockets. With the help of his close friends in the small mining town of Coalwood, the Rocket Boys not only were successful with their rocket hobby; but it took them all the way to the national science fair. Hickam eventually became a literal NASA rocket scientist.

Principle 1: Desire

Right from the beginning of the story, Sputnik stirred something deep inside Hickam. The more he thought about rockets and space, the more willing he became to learn, experiment, and grow.

That burning desire caused him to befriend the class geek. He studied and learned things he previously didn’t understand. That desire pushed him to fail, over and over again as rockets continually exploded before his eyes.

When you allow yourself you be consumed by desire, you no longer focus on failure as an option. You see it as part of the path. You become willing to do whatever it takes to succeed.

Do you have a burning desire to be, do or have something more in your life? Most of us shut off our desire, as Homer almost did. He grew up in a mining town, where his fate would have lead him to work in the mine just like his father, John (Chris Cooper).

If you listen to other and extinguish the flame of your desire, you will end up leading lives and having careers just like the people you spend the most time around.

Principle 2: Faith

Hickam didn’t know the first thing about rockets. He was an average student, with an even greater average athletic ability. Athletics was the only way for these kids to escape the future of the mine.

Hickam believed his desire to build rockets could create a path out of his mining future. As he started down that path, he even remarked to friends their chances of winning the science fair are 1 in a Million.

That seed of faith is sometimes all we need to get started. The path of faith moves us one step at a time on a foggy trial where we can only see one or two steps ahead. Hickam had faith he could learn and grow and become the person that succeeds.

He was also willing to take risks as part of that faith.

When was the last time you fed the faith of your dream? Without the remote possibility of success, you will never take a risk. Instead of feeding your fear with reasons why you cannot succeed, why not do something to grow your faith instead?

Principle 3: Autosuggestion

During the film Hickam and the Rocket Boys are met with countless obstacles. There are times where they are effectively shut down.

But even during those times, what is remarkable to met in the film is the impeccability of their self-talk. Certainly there are times were doubt creeps in, but they often fight that doubt with positive self-talk.

We become what we think about.

What the Rocket Boys focused on was telling themselves, “there must be a way.”

In the movie, Hickam’s teacher Miss Riley (Laura Dern) gifts him a book on the Principles of Guided Missile Design. She tells him the math is very advanced, and Homer immediately and enthusiastically replies, “I’ll learn the math!”.

Autosuggestion creates faith. It needs to use the language of the subconscious mind, which is emotions. Homer’s enthusiastic admonition that he will learn the math is a classic example of autosuggestion.

How is your self-talk?

For most of us it is negative and filled with that emotion, too! Be mindful of how you speak to yourself. It matters more than you think it does.

Principle 4: Specialized Knowledge

There are several people Homer needs to enlist to help reach his goals in the film. The first is his friend Quentin, the quintessential nerd. Quentin is a wizard with math, trigonometry and the mechanics or rockets.

Several adults help Homer with the welding of his rockets and the use of the right materials. They entered the journey of the Rocket Boys to advance toward their goals when they needed answers.

All the specialized knowledge Homer gained made him the perfect fit for the position of NASA Aerospace Engineer.

The message of specialized knowledge is twofold. First, you do not need to learn everything to reach your goal. I don’t do my taxes and rely on a professional to take care of that work for me.

But you also need to be developing specialized knowledge yourself. What are you really good at? What do you do well? Are you developing your specialized knowledge? What are you doing to become better?

If you are a jack of all trades, it is likely you are not as valuable as you would be if you relied on specialized knowledge.

Principle 5: Imagination

Hickam’s burning desire fired his imagination into action. He had a clear vision of success. There is a great scene when the Rocket Boys find an open slag pit which they use as a base to launch their rockets from.

Homer immediately visualizes a launch pad and a nearby control center (to hide themselves from the exploding rockets). When it comes to finding solutions to problems, the Rocket Boys use their imagination to come up with different solutions and ideas.

Imagination is where all problems can be solved. It also is the place where you hold the vision of your inevitable success on the screen of your mind. It is clear Homer continued to hold his vision of working at NASA on his mind through his youth, and later adult hood. His career at NASA is proof of him doing so, whether he was aware of what he was doing or not doesn’t matter.

Most of us dream up all the reasons why we could fail. We hold the image of the worst-case scenario in our mind. This is using our God-given ability to create the images we want the wrong way.

When was the last time you dreamed about your potential? What vision of success do you hold for yourself?

Principle 6: Organized Planning

If you fail to plan, you plan to fail. I’m sure you have heard this.

The Rocket Boys are continually sketching out plants, following through with new math and equations to unlock the secrets of their rocket inventions. Sometimes their plans don’t work, and back to the drawing board they went.

The truth is, the plan can change. You plan, but also need to adapt.

Do you have a plan for your personal and professional growth? When was the last time you adapted that plan to the vision of success you are creating?

Principle 7: Decision

Nothing happens without a decision. There are strong examples in the movie. Homer needs to decide to commit social suicide by befriending Quentin. He decides to ask people for help with their specialized knowledge.

But more importantly, he decided early on he was going to build rockets no matter what. He decide to do with without knowing anything about rockets or how he was going to succeed.

And guess what, he failed and failed. Until he didn’t.

His first rocket blew up his mom’s white picket fence! They destroyed dozens of rockets in the process. He nearly quit and gave up!

Then he decided to return to his passion.

The number one thing that stops you from making a decision to do something differ is you don’t know how to do it. The how doesn’t matter until you decide!

The power of a committed decisions elevates your thinking to a new frequency, where potential ideas and solutions flow into your mind. The committed decision moves you outside your comfort zone and taking action, and starting to walk the path of success by faith.

Stop toying around with ideas and decide to do them! I cannot stress this enough.

If you feel like you need to quit your job, do it. If you want to start your own business, do it. If you want to find freedom and greater financial rewards you must decide to leap.

Principle 8: Persistence

Through discouraging events, adults who try to close the way, literally getting arrested for potentially starting a fire, and defeat after defeat the Rocket Boys continued to persist.

You are only a failure when you stop trying and decide to quit.

The entire film is an example of persistence. Even when someone steals pieces of his display during the national science fair, Hickam finds a way to persist and enlist the help of people back home to send replacement parts.

When you watch this movie again ask yourself, do you pass the persistence test?

Napoleon Hill writes you need a definite purpose, backed by a definite plan expressed in continual action. He also says you need a mind closed tightly against the negative influence of family, friends and acquaintances and a friendly alliance with those who will support you in your vision of success.

Stop listening to the negative voices around you. You will never persist listing to the common opinions of the average you surround yourself with.

What can you do different to persist with greater faith, determination, and desire?

Principle 9: Power of the Mastermind

When you coordinate with a spirit of harmony, you give birth to the mastermind.

Hickam did this time and time again, most of all with is friends. This close alliance was created in a spirit of harmony. Even the adults who ended up helping the Rocket Boys had to come into harmony with the ideas.

The mastermind is a principle that has become very trendy, but it is powerful. It leads the Rocket Boys to solution after solution.

Do you have a mastermind you rely upon? Are you in harmony with them? Or do you spend time negative brainstorming about obstacles?

Make certain your mastermind is helping you push forward and turning obstacles into opportunities the way the Rocket Boys did.

Principle 10: The Mystery of Sex Transmutation

Okay, this is the one missing from the movie. And it’s about high school kids in the 1950’s, so of course it is absent. Moving on…

Principle 11: The Subconscious Mind

The Subconscious mind has all the power we need to achieve our goals. It is programmed by our genetics and environment. The programming of the subconscious mind will lead us to our fate.

Hickam must challenge his programming to change courses away from his miner’s future to a one of his choosing.

The Greeks often referred to the subconscious mind as the heart. In the film, when Homer has all but given up, he has a conversation with his teacher, Miss Riley.

“You know what? Sometimes you really can't listen to what anybody else says. You just gotta listen inside. You're not supposed to end up in those mines. You know why? 'Cause I think you made other plans.”

The heart and subconscious mind is our connection with the infinite intelligence. Our soul and inner knowing. This message from his teacher allowed Homer to follow his heart. It led him out of the mess he was in to eventually triumph.

What is programmed into your subconscious mind that is blocking you from listening to your own inner wisdom? Maybe you have ignored that inner voice so long it has become too quiet to listen to? What are you willing to do to wake it back up?

Principle 12: The Brain

When accused of starting a forest fire, the Rocket Boys were disbanded. Homer’s father became injured and he went to work in the mine. Over time, he began to dream again with the message Miss Riley gave him to listen to his heart.

This started his brain and mind working again. He realized he couldn’t have started that fire. He persisted to find a way to prove it.

You have a marvelous mind. You need to use it correctly.

The Brain is the thought receiving and transmitting organ of your body. As Homer reached for thoughts of “I can” he was greeted with more thoughts equal to “I can” until he eventually did.

Henry Ford is famous for saying, “The man who says he can, and the man who says he can’t are both usually right.”

The brain is wired in such a way as to alert you to danger in time to avoid it and to seize opportunity in time to leverage it. Homer used his brain the right way.

Are you?

Principle 13: The Sixth Sense

Call it intuition, inspiration or revelation; it all means the same thing. There is a power greater than you that has things figured out and it speaks to your brain through the sixth sense.

In the film, as Homer is searching with Quentin to find his missing rocket, at a time when all the trigonometry got them close enough and they were about to give up, he was struck with an intuitive thought.

“Was there a wind that day?” Homer asks Quentin.

“I don't remember.”

“'Cause if there was, the wind probably came from the west,” thinks Homer aloud. “Which means that it would've pushed the rocket...” as he gazes across the stream “right there.”

This is a clear case of intuition filling in the gaps when he needed it most.

Do you rely on your intuition? Or do you second guess yourself continually into paralysis?

Inspiration is part of the human experience. If you are no relying on it to push you forward you are missing out on the greatest tool at our disposal.

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In summary, October Sky is a wonderful film. It is one of the last films I watched with my father before I moved out on my own over 20 years ago. After all, at its heart is the story of Homer and his relationship with his father. The movie chokes me up every time.

But after studying the science of success authored by Napoleon Hill in Think and Grow Rich, it is a wonderful reminder that these principles of success are universal and constant. You can use them no matter what goal you have, and they will help you achieve it.

This is what I do.

I help people integrate these principles of success into their profession, their business, and their life. When you do, you open yourself up to a world where you can be, do and have whatever your burning desire leads you to. 

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Todd L Bauerle is a certified coach helping people unlock their professional and personal potential. Todd is personally trained by Bob Proctor to coach the “Thinking into Results” curriculum to leaders, teams and individuals. Todd also works with executives to make powerful career transitions, leading them closer to financial success and fulfilling careers.

To learn more about Todd and his coaching, schedule a consultation with him today at https://calendly.com/bauerleconsulting.