Ted the Pilot

A few weeks ago I had what I would refer to as a ‘hepic’ (hectic and epic) week of speaking.??Leading into the week I had two keynote events booked, the first in Toronto for Walmart on a Tuesday and the second for FCCI (an insurance company) in Sarasota, Florida, on the Friday.?

Like a classic 7-10 split in Ten Pin bowling , it seemed ridiculous to fly back west across the country to California on Wednesday morning so that I could spend just one night at home before then flying all the way back east to Florida the next day (I needed to be in Florida on the Thursday night) and so as I was wondering what to do, I miraculously got a last minute offer from Amy E, an amazing human and speaking agent from Big Speak ,?to speak for The Trade Desk on Wednesday morning in New York City. This was too good be true and so naturally I said yes!

As it stood, I had 3 events on the east coast on North America. Easy!

As with any good journey, it was at this time that I received the classic curve ball . You see, after signing contracts and committing to the last minute NYC event, I then realized that the client needed to me to be on site for an AV check at 8am on Wednesday. With a late night finish of 9pm on Tuesday in Toronto, my worst fears were confirmed when upon looking for flights, I realized that there in fact ZERO commercial flight options that would get me to NYC on time!

After double and then triple checking, I was left with only one option; to charter my own plane (insert scary music).??

Yes that’s right, my only option was to rent a jet, or as it actually eventuated to be, a 4-seat propellor plane.???

Here’s where the gift of perspective kicked in:??

Perspective is a funny thing and when we’re offered (or choose) to gain a new vantage point on a specific situation that may initially cause us to feel uneasy, perspective can gift us with a new understanding of ourselves. In this case, although it would have been lovely to not spend $7,500 on a two hour private flight, I actually found it to be a very empowering action that reminded me how much I love what I do.

To put it simply, every single time that I step on stage and connect with an audience, I feel like I’m living my purpose. Without speaking I’d be heart broken.

Perspective from this situation allowed me to realize this and in that moment armed with the attitude I would do whatever is needed to continue to pursue this feeling of purpose in the world, it suddenly became a pleasure to spend $7,500.?

A question that I now think is worth thinking about is this; whether you looks through the lens of personal or professional life, what in your life do you love so much that you would happily pay to do it (or pay more than you currently do)? Being a parent, playing more golf, making people laugh, working more on your passion project or even working more???

Whatever the answer is, take a moment to acknowledge how lucky you are to do it in the first place.

SUBMIT YOUR ANSWER

?Rhythm Versus Balance

Moving on from the plane and to the man who flew it; Ted the Pilot.

Ted, as I quickly found out, is a fascinating fellow. Ted is a through and through aviator nut (he loves flying!) and in fact it was Ted’s love of flying that helped him sell his IT company for $40 million the age of 37 years old.

At 22 years old, Ted, founded a tech company that provided software for pharmaceutical companies. With a need for his employees to constantly visit his growing database of clients, Ted’s competitive advantage laid in the fact that he could personally fly his staff directly to these businesses where as his competitors had to rely on sending their staff via commercial flights.

In a short amount of time, Ted was able to gain large market share, in complement to providing an excellent product, eventually leading to his company being acquired by a larger organization for an amount of money which made me tell him instantly that I was proud of him.

Instead of retiring at that point, Ted decided to continue with his passion of flying and started a charter plane business, which I was lucky enough to find online last week.?

As we cruised at an altitude of 9000 feet, trying our best to weather heavy rain and stop our wings from freezing over with ice, I asked Ted if he had any insight that would help me live a better life. Without a moments pause, he turned around and told me that his belief was that life is not actually about balance, as we are often told, but instead it’s about rhythm.

He went on to explain that to give equal attention to every part of our lives in one moment is almost impossible to achieve. If you think about your life right now and all the elements that make it up, from career and physical health to key relationships and travel, most of us would agree that it’s hard to feel as though we can give attention to every one of these areas at the same time.?

Ted’s theory suggests that the key to his success has been in identifying the right times to grind with work, and the right time to play. He gave many examples of areas of his life that at times gained full attention and at other times were left unactivated. This was the rhythm to his life. The key, he went on to share, is to be aware enough to know when it’s time to change focus, similar to spinning plates.

Ted‘s life is testament to rhythm. Huge amounts of work effort set up time for him to then work on romance, health and the gift now of being a father to a13-year-old son.?

Ted developed his own rhythm and the opportunity is there for us all to identify our own rhythm.

The one constant through all of his rhythms however has been flying and as we touched down in New York City at 1am on Tuesday morning (seven hours before I was due to be on stage with the trade desk), I thanked him for his time and ventured off in the direction of Manhattan to continue on with something that I hope will always be a part of my rhythm: storytelling from stage.

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