Be Ridiculously Optimistic
Apollo 11
Objective
Land a man on the moon.
Bring him back to earth.
Make sure he doesn’t die on the way.
Resources
- 3000kg of steel.
2. An onboard mini-computer with 74KB of memory.
3. Lead Programmer writing the landing software: 26 years old.
4. Average age inside the Mission Control Room: 28 years old.
5. Optimism.
Result
First mission to land a man on the moon. Then return him home safely.
‘But we’re going to the moon!’
Landing a man on the moon was considered an impossibility back then. Just think: how the hell could you get a man across the galaxy onto a foreign planet?
How the hell could they do that with a 74KB ‘PC’? You couldn’t store this article on a machine with that memory!
The US dedicated 400,000 of its best scientists across 20,000 organisations to do it. There were many false starts, countless failures and lots of explosions.
People died.
Many times.
The community working on the problem got stuck 1,000’s times. Often there would be technical requirements that were not possible. Often there were scientific facts that would not budge.
The community came to respond to these insurmountable challenges in the same way.
‘But we’re going to the moon!’ they would argue.
Then they would knuckle down and continue with their mission. And somehow solve what needed solving. Somehow they would find a way through the impossible.
The call of every great leader: But we’re going to the moon!
Setting your sights on the impossible: an exhilarating way to learn.
Going to the moon: a journey that will change your life forever.
An inner journey.
A process of self-realisation.
Carpe Diem
Optimism originates from the Latin word optimum: that we live in the best of all possible worlds.
Or, put differently: an optimist is someone who lives her best life.
Think about that for a second: to live your best life: why would you aspire to anything else?
Why would you not spend every waking second living your fullest life, standing bare-chested in the pelting rain, shouting to the world who you are and what you will become!
Why accept anything less from yourself?
Carpe Diem. To live life to the fullest. To suck the marrow out of life
To live your best life.
To be ridiculous in what you dream.
To set your sights on the highest peak and expect to fly over it.
To live!
The Story of Us
This is the Story of Us. Every day we write a new version of it.
Progress. Growth. Betterness.
Defying the odds. Doing the impossible.
Living life at the edge.
Going to the moon!
Optimism.
There is only one way to live then.
Aim for the stars. Believe in your dreams.
Keep going. Don’t stop. Never give up.
Find a way.
Pick up your guitar. Stand before the world. Play your song with everything you have.
Knock it out the park.
Hit it with a big stick.
Carpe Diem.
Be Ridiculously Optimistic
An EXPLORE Value
