Three Steps to Greatness – Dare, Prepare and Jump

Dare, Prepare, and Jump

Something utterly amazing happened this week.

Felix Baumgartner, a 43-year-old Austrian skydiver, leaped from a capsule dangling more than 24 miles above the Earth and safely landed in New Mexico, breaking a 52-year-old record.

Broadcast live to millions of spellbound television viewers, the camera watched and shared with us in real-time, as he stepped off his stratospheric perch and plummeted toward earth breaking the sound barrier as he fell.

Writing for Copyblogger, Sonia Simone distilled this one man’s courage into three steps:  dare, prepare and jump.

It occurred to me as I watched Baumgartner step out of the capsule, that all of man’s accomplishments share the same simple formula.

Dare:  First we must dare to do the exceptional, the unexpected.

The poet Robert Browning understood this.  He said:

 “Ah, but a man’s reach should exceed his grasp, or what’s a heaven for?” …

Suspended as he was, between his earthly home and God’s heaven, Baumgartner achieved what many wish for but few attain: victory over fear.

Prepare:  Courage is not a talent we are born with, it must be earned, by countless hours of careful preparation. Baumgartner and his staff spent many years in preparation for this jump — and in the end his flight lasted a mere four minutes.  He did more than set a record, however, he proved that preparation is the path to accomplishment.

Jump:  There comes a time in every man’s life when taking action is essential.  We may be nervous or frightened; we may feel insecure; we may begin to doubt the wisdom of what we are about to do — but in the end there is only one trajectory toward success — jump anyway.

If we are indeed fortunate, each of us will stand on a precarious perch one day: one step away from greatness.  All that is necessary is to dare to accept the challenges, prepare as if our lives depend upon it and jump with courage and conviction.