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Have you ever heard the phrase, “Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you’ll land among the stars”? Have you heard it? Sure, you have. First, you probably heard it from your grandmother, but it is credited to writer Norman Vincent Peale. He was a protestant clergyman and best known for popularizing the concept of positive thinking.
As a person who gave himself the nickname, “Mr. Blue Sky.” I think Peale’s logic is about as sound as Bruce Willis going into space to destroy an asteroid. Peale died in 1993, three years after the launch of the renowned Hubble telescope. He had three years to learn very clearly that there are exactly zero stars around the moon. Actually, there is one, the sun, and it’s 93 million miles away. If you shoot for the moon and miss…Well, you should watch a Ron Howard movie because they solved that problem with some NASA ingenuity.
Welcome to Swimming in the Flood; a podcast where we develop the resilient leader’s mindset by navigating difficult currents in business. My name is Trent Theroux.
We are back from our extended vacation and are looking forward to providing you with your weekly dose of behavioral science items, relevant empirical business stories and humorous (at least to me) humorous personal anecdotes. All in your bitesize 10-minute snack. Thank you for coming back.
Have you seen any recent photos from NASA’s James Webb space telescope? They are completely amazing. It is hard for me to describe the brilliant colors and shapes that the telescope delivers. Saturn is a vibrant blue. Nebulas look like psychedelic lava lamps. Cartwheel galaxies look like lonely jellyfish.
The first image produced showed a universe with thousands of stars, hundreds of visible planets and endless amounts of space matter. What struck me about this image that could look back into time over thirteen million years ago is that the section selected for the first published image was the equivalent of a single grain of sand, held between your thumb and forefinger with your arm extended out. The size of that sand to your eye was the fraction of the universe that this single image depicted.
I went outside and took a piece of sand between my thumb and forefinger and extended my arm. I could barely see the sand crumb. I visualized the image in my mind and thought…these NASA folks have all the coolest toys. Standing on the sidewalk, I thought of Peale’s phrase, “Even if you miss, you’ll land among the stars” and thought it was too broad of a statement. The acceptable landing zone is too large to consider any mission a true success.
Brandon West in Projeda writes, the idea of cultivating a narrow focus is one part of a philosophy, practice, and process of living that enables us to always move forwards powerfully in life. While at the same time being able to fully leave the past in the past because we have done what we have desired to do, fulfilled our ambitions, and learned what we needed to learn from our past experiences, mistakes, failures, and successes. This results in our resolving these issues intellectually and emotionally within ourselves so that we do not carry them within us, where they would otherwise continue to cause problems in our lives and obstruct our progress forwards.
The image of the salt grain resonates with me because I am trying to imagine the same image of the universe, but on a much larger scale. What if it was a stone between your thumb and forefinger? How would the picture of the universe look to you?
I would think that the universe would seem blurry and unattainable. It might seem smaller by comparison. Planets that are massive in the pictures now may seem trivial as the lens is opened wider. As our world gets bigger each individual item seems smaller.
Through a narrower lens, we can identify the opportunities in front of us easier and with a narrower focus consider how best we can achieve these opportunities.
I am now going to give you my unscientific, non-peer reviewed, resilient leader theory on shooting for the moon. Are you ready? Got your pencils out? Here’s it is. Aim Small, Miss Small. You heard it. Aim small, Miss Small.
The golfer Ben Hogan is credited with having the purest swing ever. The same swing whether he was hitting his driver or pitching wedge. He perfected his golf swing habitually. During one golf tournament, he has a semi-blind tee shot up a hill. He asked his caddy what his target should be. The caddy told him to aim for the tree up along the left side. Hogan replied, “which limb.”
Hogan was very narrowly focused. He knew exactly what to expect from his golf swing. He only needed the precise coordinates in which to aim. The opportunity to gain a stroke on his competitors and win championships was molded on his ability to accurately understand his limitations and clearly project what he needed to accomplish to succeed.
His philosophy was that there could be up to 5% variability in each swing. So, if he could hit his driver 300 yards, then he would accept a variability of 15 yards in his shot. By narrowing his target and by reducing his swing variability, Hogan can more accurately predict where the golf ball would land.
Let me tell you how I thought about golf when I was younger. Let’s assume that there is water on a particular hole. First, I would pull out a crappy ball because if I was going to put the ball in the water, I didn’t want it to be an expensive ballata ball. Quick show of hands. How many of you have pulled out a water ball? My magic mirror shows me that there are a few golfing cowards in the audience.
My initial premise for pulling out a crap ball was that I was expecting to fail. I was planning for the event, or eventuality, that I was going to dump the ball in the water. And more than likely, I dumped the ball in the water. Somewhat glad that I used a water ball.
In time, I started to narrow my focus when aiming over water. My target became smaller. The water wasn’t in my line of vision. I learned to aim small and miss small. My game is not up to Hogan’s. Heck, he’s been dead for 25 years and he’d still have to give me two a side if we played a match. Now, I use 10% as my accuracy barometer. If my job was golfing, the variability may be lower, but as a weekend golfer, it’s small enough for me.
Let’s finish with NASA. The Webb telescope is 1 million miles away from Earth. The darkness is what aids in the quality of the photographs. And, it provided great photos of a perfect example of Aim Small, Miss Small. On September 26th, 2022, NASA’ Double Asteroid Redirection Test, or DART, proved to be a success. NASA launched a missile into space ten months ago. The missile traveled seven million miles and crashed directly into an asteroid named Didymos. NASA made a missile hit an asteroid that was the size of a football field and a half seven million miles into space. Heck, I watched some quarterbacks last Sunday that couldn’t throw a pass that accurately. NASA exemplified the theory Aim Small, Miss Small.
Sometimes the greatest opportunities are the smallest ones. NASA created a clear plan for their success. Me, when I was thirteen, I couldn’t get past the third level of Asteroids without my ship getting blown up. Maybe, that’s why I’m talking to you rather than developing a way to cut Bruce Willis out of a movie role.
Folks, thank you for listening to Swimming in the Flood. Resilient leaders face challenging currents, and it is tough navigating, but with one tack or another, we can get there together.