My daughter, Ellie, will be graduating from high school in May. We’ve had on-and-off discussions about college for quite a while. Last week she was over and I was asking her if she had made any decisions on college. She said she had decided to go her first semester to the local community college. She wants to “get a feel” for what college is like before she moves on. I think that’s a great idea. She then said, “Okay, so where do I start Dad? How do I make this happen?” I walked her through the steps that I remembered from my college days and then we went online. We muddled around on the website for a while, and then I said, “Here’s the address of the office of admissions. Just go there and talk to somebody. Tell them what you want to do and they will get you lined out.” For most kids, telling them to drive to an unfamiliar place, go into an unfamiliar setting, ask questions of people they don’t know, about things they don’t understand, would be akin to telling them to climb Mt. Everest. But, that’s not Ellie. The very next day she did it all. On her own. She’s now enrolled in college. I could not be more proud. What am I proud of? Sure I am proud she is enrolled in college, but I’m more proud that she set a goal, made a plan and then took massive amounts of IMMEDIATE action to make it happen. Truth be told, her having an attitude and aptitude of setting goals and taking action will get her way further in life than a college education. Making a plan and then taking massive amounts of action is the difference between wishing and hoping for something, and MAKING something happen.
Speaking of taking action. Last night, I was watching the movie Top Gun. I remember when that movie came out in 1986. I grew up in a town that had an Air Force base. It was a training base for European fighter pilots. I remember seeing those guys around town with their flight suits and cool foreign accents. Inside, I wanted to be one of them. Who didn’t? If only I had the determination then that I have now there is no doubt that I could become a fighter pilot. Sounds crazy, but I could have done it. But, like everything you want or desire in life, it really does come down to how bad do you really want it. Guess I did not want it bad enough back then. Besides, I was too busy getting partyin’ and drivin’ my Trans Am up and down the drag. If only we could turn back time (thanks Cher), but we can’t. Unfortunately, we only get one shot at life. So, save an alien invasion happening and they are really desperate for pilots like in the movie Independence Day, the ship has sailed on me becoming a fighter pilot. Now hang on right there…… with all of that probing we are doing into deep space, there’s a chance we could wake up an alien civilization and they might be running low on supplies and attack earth. Crap, I better get to training. This just got real! As Colonel Marcus Penn said in the should-have-been-nominated for-an-Academy-Award film Under Siege 2 (starring Steven Seagal, of course), “Opportunity favors the prepared mind.”
So go out today and take some action to make your desire a reality. Now go Find Your Adventure and Live Your Life.
PS – Congratulations to my niece Hannah Pond for graduating from Tarleton State University last week. I am very proud of you. Now go and be more awesomer.
PPS – Note to Self: go to Army Navy surplus store and buy a flight suit. Oh, you’ll be needing a Kawasaki Ninja sportbike too.