This week’s Pearl of Leadership Wisdom is on…….

Free Will

“We choose to go to the moon……and do the other things, not because they are easy but because they are hard…..because that challenge is one we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone…..” – J F Kennedy

Of all the beasts on the earth only we humans have free will.

A Russian dog did go into space but I don’t think it was informed consent.

No bruises please…

In this life, we can strive, or hide. For some, life is about getting to the end with the fewest bruises (and the maximum number of regrets I suspect).

Good plan? If you’re like me, I’m sure you’d say “that’s a bit of a shoddy plan.”

I just can’t help it…

You may thing that you can’t afford the time to strive for more….there’s too much stuff to get out of the way, piling up, endless. But your time is yours. You have free will.

Most of what you do if you do it unthinkingly is due to conditioning. Conditioning gives you an automatic response mechanism to most situations. This is great because you don’t have the time to work out how to talk to a person you’ve never met; how to dress for a certain occasion; how to cross the road; which part of the knife to grasp.

Autopilot…

But conditioning is a kind of autopilot. The problem with autopilot is that it flies you straight and level at an “acceptable” speed.

The Eagle Has Landed

On July 20th 1969, the Eagle landed on the moon. It did not land on autopilot.

Conditioning is a blessing and a curse. Use it. But be ready to stick a knife into its heart before it sticks one into yours.

Next week…..you tell me (really – email me now).