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Today is September 9 and the Navigate the Chaos question to consider is “how often do you remind yourself to never quit?” People who navigate the chaos know that things will go wrong, they may run low on money, or the road they are traveling appears up hill, but they never quit. While other Navigate the Chaos posts focus on the benefit of quitting that which is bad for you, this reflection piece today challenges you to increase your self-awareness regarding your approach when things get difficult along your path. Upon the first obstacle what do you do? When someone or a group of people get in your way how do you respond? When some external event makes progress seemingly impossible for you, do you quit? You can. Quitting is certainly an option. But then how do you translate your dreams into reality? Edgar A. Guest was a popular poet for several decades during the twentieth century, and his poems appeared in a syndicated newspaper column. On March 3, 1921, he published a poem entitled “Keep Going” ----- “When things go wrong, as they sometimes will, When the road you’re trudging seems all up hill, When the funds are low and the debts are high, And you want to smile, but you have to sigh, When care is pressing you down a bit, Rest if you must—but don’t you quit. Life is queer with its twists and turns, As every one of us sometimes learns, And many a failure turns about When he might have won had he stuck it out; Don’t give up, though the pace seems slow. You may succeed with another blow. Often the goal is nearer than It seems to a faint and faltering man, Often the struggler has given up When he might have captured the victor’s cup. And he learned too late, when the night slipped down, How close he was to the golden crown. Success is failure turned inside out—The silver tint of the clouds of doubt, And you never can tell how close you are, It may be near when it seems afar; So stick to the fight when you’re hardest hit It’s when things seem worst that you mustn’t quit.” ----- One such person who decided to keep going was Steve Delabar. From the time he was drafted by the Major League Baseball team San Diego Padres in 2003, until he made his professional baseball debut on September 11, 2011, for the Seattle Mariners, it took him eight long years. Delabar’s story about his road to becoming a professional baseball player illustrates another example of how one can navigate the chaos of life by a steadfast belief in their ability to keep going. In 2003 the San Diego Padres drafted Delabar, and he began playing in the minor leagues the following years. For five years he played in the low minor leagues until he sustained a severe elbow injury that required a steel plate and nine screws embedded to stabilize the elbow during the surgery. In 2010 he worked as a substitute teacher and then became an assistant high school baseball coach. He helped to implement an arm conditioning program for pitchers at the high school and found that his own pitching velocity improved significantly. Using a throwing program developed by Tom House and Jamie Evans, Delabar saw his fastball velocity spike to 97 miles per hour. Since he kept thinking about playing professional baseball, Delabar tried out with the Seattle Mariners in 2011 and got assigned to the team's class A affiliate. He progressed to Classes High A, Double-A, and Triple-A, then to the major leagues. His MLB debut came late in 2011 at the age of 28. He was traded to the Toronto Blue Jays in 2012 and in 2013 posted a 5–1 record with a 1.58 ERA and an American League reliever-leading 57 strikeouts in 40 innings over 35 games played prior to the All-Star Game. On July 11, 2013, it was announced that Delabar had been elected to the 2013 All-Star game in the Final Vote contest, receiving 9.6 million votes. British statesman Winston Churchill noted “Never give up on something that you can't go a day without thinking about.” Delabar never gave up on playing professional baseball. How often do you remind yourself to never quit? Have you ever given up on something you ‘cannot go a day without thinking about?’ When you were at your lowest point in life, what did you do? Did you quit or did you find a way to keep moving forward?

Today is September 8 and the Navigate the Chaos question to consider is “do you wait until the iron is hot to strike it or do you heat it by striking it?” People who navigate the chaos seldom wait for the iron to get hot. They go about making the iron hot by continually striking it. In a 1782 letter from the famous statesman Benjamin Franklin to Reverend Richard Price about using the press to spread ideas, Franklin wrote “The facility with which the same truths may be repeatedly enforced by placing them daily in different lights in newspapers which are everywhere read, gives a great chance of establishing them. And we now find that it is not only right to strike while the iron is hot, but that it may be very practicable to heat it by continually striking.” Another way of asking today’s question is “how does your perception impact your ability to navigate the chaos?” According to research published in a March 1, 2018, Wall Street Journal article your perception plays a significant role in your ability to navigate the chaos. “Researchers who study attention and perception distinguish between narrow focus (seeing specifics) and open focus (observing the wider scene). The most important talent anyone who seems lucky possesses is the ability to pay attention on many levels and to notice opportunities.” The psychiatrist, entrepreneur and philanthropist Henry Jarecki made his first fortune in the late 1960s when 25% of the currency in circulation in the U.S. was still backed by silver. The bills said right on them: “Silver payable to the bearer on demand.” Dr. Jarecki realized that the silver could be worth more than the dollars—so he collected millions of certificates by paying people $1.10 or more for their $1 bills. Converting them to silver and then selling them as silver futures was a complicated, multistep process, but once he got bank financing behind him, he made more than $100 million from the exchanges. In 1967, Jarecki became involved with the London bullion house, Mocatta & Goldsmid, Ltd. In 1969, he established the American counterpart to Mocatta & Goldsmid, known as Mocatta Metals Corporation. In partnership initially with Hambros Bank and subsequently with Standard Chartered Bank, Jarecki managed the Mocatta Group until he sold his shares in the late 1980s. Reflecting upon his transition from medical doctor to financier Jarecki said “My father thought I was crazy, abandoning a medical practice and teaching job at Yale Medical School in 1970 and moving into a New York World Trade Center fifth-floor office to plunge full-time into the bullion business.” Jarecki’s story highlights one critical aspect to understanding. Many people had silver backed dollars in their pockets but only a few learned how to make millions from them. As Jarecki said “I can’t figure out why I was one of the very few who figured out a method for transforming the certificates into real silver since we all had the same bills in our pockets.” Therein lies the lesson. Many people have the same opportunity, yet they fail to perceive the possibilities available to them. Instead of waiting for the iron to get hot, Jarecki chose to strike the iron to heat it. He created his opportunity by paying attention on many levels and focused on what researchers defined as both the narrow focus (specifics) and open focus (general). Today’s lesson calls to mind a scene in the best-selling 1988 book The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho. In the scene there is a young shepherd boy who is sent to a wise man to understand the secret of happiness. The wise man instructed the boy to wander around holding a teaspoon with two drops of oil. After two hours of wandering around the wise man’s house the boy returned. Below is the excerpt of the remaining part of the scene: ----- “‘Well,’ asked the wise man, ‘did you see the Persian tapestries that are hanging in my dining hall? Did you see the garden that it took the master gardener ten years to create? Did you notice the beautiful parchments in my library?’ “The boy was embarrassed and confessed he had observed nothing. His only concern had been not to spill the oil the wise man had entrusted to him. “‘Then go back and observe the marvels of my world,’ said the wise man. ‘You cannot trust a man if you don’t know his house.’ “Relieved, the boy picked up the spoon and returned to his exploration of the palace, this time observing all of the works of art on the ceilings and the walls. He saw the gardens, the mountains all around him, the beauty of the flowers, and the taste with which everything had been selected. Upon returning to the wise man, he related in detail everything he had seen. “‘But where are the drops of oil I entrusted to you?’ asked the wise man. “Looking down at the spoon he held, the boy saw that the oil was gone.” “‘Well, there is only one piece of advice I can give you,’ said the wisest of wise men. ‘The secret of happiness is to see all the marvels of the world, and never to forget the drops of oil on the spoon.’” Jarecki understood the value of paying attention to the specific and to the general. Doing so allowed him to heat the iron of opportunity and create possibilities. Jarecki did not wait for the iron to get hot. The young boy, on the other hand, learned this lesson the hard way. He needed to be taught to pay attention to the specific and the general. Do you wait until the iron is hot to strike it or do you heat it by striking it? If you are waiting to strike the iron why is that? What part does fear play in you not striking the iron? If you are waiting for the iron to get hot, how long will you do so? Who do you think is going to strike the iron for you? And do you really want to place your fate in the hands of someone who may or may not strike the iron? Are you paying attention to both the general and the specific? How often do you reflect upon the belief that the most important talent anyone who seems lucky possesses is the ability to pay attention on many levels and to notice opportunities? How often are you paying attention on many level in order to notice opportunities?

Today is September 7 and the Navigate the Chaos question to consider is “how often do you adjust your sails to propel yourself forward?” Avoiding storms is virtually impossible. People who grow both personally and professionally understand this and leverage the wind from a storm to propel them forward. Since storms are a natural course of life people who navigate the chaos do their best to avoid them but know doing so always is virtually impossible. When the storm is inevitable, those who navigate the chaos welcome it and figure out how best to leverage the wind. The quote often attributed to today’s strategy of navigating the chaos stems from the well-known spiritualist Cora L. V. Hatch who delivered a lecture at the Cooper Institute in 1859 and said, “You could not prevent a thunderstorm, but you could use the electricity; you could not direct the wind, but you could trim your sail so as to propel your vessel as you pleased, no matter which way the wind blew.” Three people who learned how to adjust their sails to navigate the chaos are Julia Stewart, Vincent D’Ornofio, and Matthew Modine. Julia Stewart used adversity to strengthen her career path. Stewart, who worked as an IHOP waitress as a teenager, was in marketing when a serendipitous plane ride with Carl’s Jr. founder Carl Karcher brought her to the restaurant industry. According to Stewart: "I was flying to a presentation with a client, and I ended up sitting next to Carl Karcher on the plane. And the man kept trying to read my Wall Street Journal. Finally, we struck up a conversation-we are dear friends to this day-and he said, 'You are just the type of person I need to meet. I very much want to have you come to work for me.' From that moment forward I have done nothing but be in the restaurant business." She eventually ended up at Applebee’s and was an executive there during the late 1990s. In 2001, Stewart jumped to IHOP, and became its first female CEO in 2002 and continued to serve as CEO of the combined entity until 2017. After graduating from high school, D'Onofrio started to appear on stage. During an 18-month stint at the University of Colorado in Boulder, Colorado, he was involved with small, community-theater productions. He later studied method acting at the American Stanislavsky Theater and the Actors Studio, under coaches Sonia Moore and Sharon Chatten, which landed him his first paid role in off-Broadway's This Property Is Condemned. He went on to appear in several of their productions, including Of Mice and Men and Sexual Perversity in Chicago. D'Onofrio continued his career by performing in many New York University student productions while also working as a bouncer at the Hard Rock Café. In 1984, he made his Broadway debut as Nick Rizzoli in Open Admissions. In 1986, D'Onofrio took on the role often considered the defining moment in his acting career, as Pvt. Leonard Lawrence, an overweight, clumsy Marine recruit in the movie Full Metal Jacket. On a tip from friend Matthew Modine, D'Onofrio was urged to send audition tapes to director Stanley Kubrick, in England. Four tapes later, D'Onofrio landed the role. Originally, the character of Pvt. Lawrence had been written as a "skinny ignorant redneck"; however, Kubrick believed the role would have more impact if the character were big and clumsy. D'Onofrio gained 70lbs for the role and had his weight balloon from 210lbs to 280lbs. This remains the record for most weight gained by an actor for a film. In an interview about the making of Full Metal Jacket, D’Onofrio provided some additional perspective on his life situation at the time: "I was working as a bouncer at the Hard Rock Cafe and Matthew Modine and his wife walked in and I asked him what he was doing. He said he was doing this Kubrick thing and there was a part available. I didn't even think about being in film. I saw a lot of films, but I thought of film actors as very different from myself…Stanley made my career. There's no question about that. I've done over 50 films because of him. Because of that part. Because Stanley cast me. There is no other reason why I am working as an actor.” D'Onofrio adjusted his sails and considered the role, sent Kubrick audition tapes, gained 70lbs, and in so doing completely altered his life and career. Such a decision, of course, was based off a conversation he had with fellow actor Matthew Modine. Imagine if D’Onofrio had not been working as a bouncer that night, or if Modine and his wife went out to a different restaurant. If the two actors had not discussed Kubrick’s film their career paths would have probably gone in completely different directions. Moreover, Modine himself used the strategy of adjusting his sails during his audition for the 1984 American drama film Birdy based on William Wharton's 1978 novel of the same name. Set in 1960s Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the film focuses on the friendship between two teenage boys, Birdy (Modine) and Al Columbato (Nicholas Cage). Modine originally auditioned for the role of Al Columbato, but the director Alan Parker decided to cast him as Birdy, believing that the actor possessed an "introverted honest quality" that best suited the character. Modine said, "I was flabbergasted because I hadn't auditioned for Birdy. I had never imagined playing the part of Birdy. So, I had to really go through an extraordinary transformation in my mind of trying to bring this remarkable character to life. It was an incredible experience making the film." Modine adjusted his sails to undergo the required transformation of mind as he needed to learn a completely different character. Kubrick contacted Parker while his was shooting Birdy and expressed interest in Modine. Parker sent an audition tape to Kubrick of Modine. Upon reviewing the young actor’s tape, Kubrick was less than enthusiastic. Luckily, there were a few minutes of Modine not acting, and just being himself, and that is what caught Kubrick’s eye. If Kubrick had not cast Modine, and since Modine helped recruit D’Onofrio there would have been no D’Onofrio either. For today’s post, let’s reflect upon the following questions: What would have happened to Stewart’s career if she had not engaged in a conversation with Carl Karcher on the flight? Sitting next to a random stranger on a plane offers serendipity and chance to enter into your life. How often do you allow serendipity and chance to enter your life? Stewart started her career in one industry but switched to another. Have you had the opportunity, or even thought, to switch industries? If so, what is holding you back from adjusting your sails? Where would D’Onofrio be today if he chose not to gain weight for his Full Metal Jacket role? D’Onofrio never saw himself as a film actor but adjusted his sails. Has someone recommended a different type of position for you? How did you respond? Modine auditioned for one role, but the director asked him to play a different part. Would you adjust your sails to play a different one, or would you be so set on the one you auditioned for that you would turn down the other opportunity? How often do you adjust your sails to propel yourself forward? What is holding you back from adjusting your sails more frequently?

Today is September 6 and the Navigate the Chaos question to consider is “how often do you see the opportunity in every difficulty?” People who navigate the chaos deal with difficulty different than others. They realize challenges are a part of life. Instead of letting an obstacle stop their forward progress, they find the opportunity in every difficulty. One historical example of this occurred the night of April 29, 1849, when The Hannah, a brig transporting immigrants fleeing the famine in Ireland, sank in the Gulf of Lawrence. Encountering heavy winds, the brig struck an iceberg punching a hole in the hull. Captain Curry Shaw, along with his first and second officers, fled in the only lifeboat leaving the passengers to fend for themselves. To escape the sinking Hannah the remaining crewmen helped the passengers onto an ice floe next to the bow. The passengers viewed the very object that caused their tragic event as a potential life-saving strategy. They climbed onto the ice floe and waited for help to arrive. The Nicaragua under the command of Captain William Marshall appeared the next day and rescued the 127 survivors. An example when people failed to viewed opportunity amidst a difficulty occurred 63 years later. On April 14, 1912, the RMS Titanic collided with an iceberg in the north Atlantic and sunk in less than three hours leaving just 705 survivors from its 2,200 passengers and crew. While the Titanic’s passengers and crew used 16 lifeboats and waited for the Carpathia to rescue them they ultimately failed to utilize the iceberg as a mean of survival like those from The Hannah decades earlier. As Tony McCaffrey and Jim Pearson wrote in the December 2015 issue of Harvard Business Review “imagine how many more might have lived if crew members had thought of the iceberg as not just the cause of the disaster but a life-saving solution.” These two historical events exemplify the quote “A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.” The quote, interestingly enough, is often wrongly attributed to Winston Churchill. An earlier point of origin for this quote comes from a 1919 speech by Bertram Carr who was the Mayor of Carlisle, England. Carr addressed “The Fifty-First Annual Co-operative Congress”, a gathering inspired by social reformers and the cooperative movement and said “The past history of an old walled city such as this leaves its legacy of ideas antiquated and out of date. These, as expressed in tangible form, are an embarrassment, and hinder the wheels of progress, but we view these, I hope, in the spirit of the optimist to whom every difficulty is an opportunity, and not as the pessimist, to whom every opportunity presents some difficulty.” Writing in Inc. in July 2015, Jayson Demers wrote “You're always going to have problems in your life, whether they come up as personal issues, professional challenges, or flat-out bad luck that ruins your day. If you can train your mind to view these problems as opportunities for growth, you'll become far more adept at handling them quickly, efficiently, and with less stress.” One of the reasons why people choose to avoid seeing opportunities in each difficulty is the necessity to leave one’s comfort zone. As Dr. Stephen Joseph wrote in a November 5, 2016, Psychology Today article “The truth is that staying in your comfort zone—particularly when you do so out of fear—is not always exactly comfortable.” When you avoid challenges, and intentionally avoid seeing opportunities in each difficulty, you then prevent yourself from having a new experience to learn about yourself. “To lead an authentic life,” Joseph suggested, “we need to take on new challenges that stretch us and give us more opportunities to be ourselves. It is not that the authentic person does not feel the same fear; rather, they are simply more willing to face their fear.” Those who navigate the chaos remain true to their authentic self and seldom allow difficulties along their path limit where and how they see opportunities. Translating dreams into reality requires you to remain open to new experiences and cherish the challenges of learning about yourself. Amanda Kahlow is one example of someone who finds the opportunity in each difficulty. Kahlow is the founder, executive chairman and chief strategy officer of 6sense, an account-based orchestration platform. Aside from her role in 6sense, she is committed to inspiring women and girls to achieve their dreams. So, on top of her involvement as a board member of Girl Rising, Amanda launched a retreat in 2019 for women CMOs, the Empowered CMO Network, where like-minded women come together to share ideas and inspire others. She dubs herself a passionate, positive, spiritual warrior for women and girls, and has a mission to prove that educating women is the number one solution of our time, not the number one problem. What is the strategy Kahlow used to navigate her life and career path? As she noted in a February 12, 2019, Forbes interview “I’ve always seen problems as opportunities — in fact, I look for them. Uncovering the real problem is the hard part, but solving it is easy.” Kahlow’s strategy goes beyond today’s reflection point of finding opportunities within difficulties as she seeks out problems, issues, or difficulties. Doing so allows her to create a solution, which in her mind, is far easier to do compared to identifying the difficulty. Decades before Kahlow sought out opportunities from difficulty, George de Mestral did so and ended up revolutionizing clothing. Annoyed with burs and stickers always getting attached to his socks and to his dog, Swiss engineer George de Mestral decided after a hike in the Alps to look at the burs in his socks under the microscope to find out why they stuck so well. What he found is the tiny hooks in the burs that were allowing them to get attached to loop weave of fabric and the dog’s fur. This near-constant annoyance led to his invention of Velcro. It took Mestral decades to manufacture, perfect and distribute his product, but by the time astronauts were using it to get in and out of space suits, Velcro become a household name. It is important to note that finding the opportunity within his difficulty required George de Mestral to practice grit, determination, and discipline over many years. If you are looking for the opportunity in a difficulty, be sure to remind yourself that doing so could take years and perhaps even decades. As mentioned in another Navigate the Chaos series post, there is no such thing as an overnight success. If you are having trouble finding opportunity in every difficulty you should assess your self-awareness to better understand why that is. Your personal growth and professional development will only grow when you are able to leverage difficulties into opportunities. If you want to grow as a professional you will have to grow as a person. How often do you see the opportunity in every difficulty? If you are not seeing opportunity in difficulty why do you think that is? Do you have any role models who see opportunity in difficulty? Who or what is holding you back from seeing opportunity in difficulty? Have you considered the role fear plays in allowing you to see opportunity in difficulty? How often are you afraid of leaving your comfort zone? How often do you think about the connection between staying in your comfort zone and being unable to fine opportunity amidst difficulty?

Today is September 5 and the Navigate the Chaos question to consider is “how often do you have a will to prepare to win?” Fielding H. Yost was the head football coach at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor for 25 seasons at the beginning of the twentieth century. His remarkably successful squads dominated opponents and won several national championships. During the 1929-30 academic year Yost delivered a speech to teachers in the Public Schools Athletic League of New York City. His “Wingate Memorial Lecture” included this statement: “The will to win. We hear a lot about that. The will and the wish to win, but there isn’t a chance for either one of them to be gratified or to have any value unless there has been a will to prepare to win: the will to prepare for service, to do the things that build and develop our capacity, physical, mental, and moral.” Yost reiterated this notion during several speeches over time as this ‘will to prepare to win’ was adopted by coaches, athletes, and others. Do you have a will to win or a will to prepare to win? If you visualize your desire to lose weight, write a book, or any other goal, what good is that if all you do is think about it? Research illustrates having the will to win without putting in the daily grind over years often results is disappointment, unfilled dreams, and lost goals. Researchers Heather Kappes and Gabriele Oettingen, publishing in the July 2011 edition of Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, found that not only is positive visualization ineffective, but it is also counterproductive. In their article “Positive fantasies about idealized futures sap energy,” the researchers discuss how their experiments helped them understand how conjuring positive fantasies of success drains the energy out of ambition. This is critical to understand for anyone trying to navigate the chaos and translate dreams into reality. When people visualize having reached a goal the research by Kappes and Oettingen found that brains routinely fall for the trick. Instead of mustering more energy to get "there," people inadvertently trigger a relaxation response that mimics how they would feel if they had reached the goal. Physiologically, the researchers discovered people fell back into their comfort zone and came under the illusion that all is well in their world. Falling prey to this ‘energy sap’ separates those who navigate the chaos from those who lack the ability to do so. Another study out of UCLA looked at the differences between when people visualize the desired outcome versus when they visualize the outcome and the required process for achieving it. College freshmen were asked to either visualize receiving a good grade on a midterm exam or to visualize the good grade as well as the study habits they would use to achieve a good grade on the exam. The results echoed the findings of the work by Kappes and Oettingen. This study found that students who visualized only the good grade (and not the process by which they would achieve it) scored lower than the other students. Visualization is an important tool successful people use but do understand simply visualizing some sought after goal without putting in the daily grind over the long-term required to translate a dream into reality is a likely a detour to an unfulfilled life. Author Roy T. Bennett noted “Dreams don't work unless you take action. The surest way to make your dreams come true is to live them.” Like so many Navigate the Chaos posts, today’s question has an interesting nuance to consider. One can be preparing for something and not quiet know it until life presents an opportunity. The story of Cliff Young provides such an example. Born the eldest son and the third of seven children of Mary and Albert Ernest Young on 8 February 1922, Young grew up on a farm in Beech Forest in southwestern Victoria where his family lived on a farm close to 2,000 acres in size with approximately 2,000 sheep. As a child he was forced to round up the stock on foot as the family were very poor during the depression and could not afford horses. At 61 years of age, Young decided to pursue his dream of competing in the Sydney to Melbourne Ultra Marathon, a 544-mile race in 1983. The race organizers, worried about his health, asked if he'd ever run a long-distance race before. He said no. They asked him what made him think he could run this race and he said, "I'm a farmer. Once I spent three days running non-stop with no sleep, rounding up my sheep before a major storm came in, so I think I can do this." The race organizers still thought he should stay out of the competition. With some more coaxing they finally acquiesced, and when everyone took running fast, Cliff ran slowly. Young didn't know he was supposed to run for 16 hours and sleep for 8, and repeat that process to the end, so when everyone went to sleep he was so far behind no one was awake to tell him to go to bed, and they were up and gone before he got there. This went on for two days, but on the third day, while everyone was sleeping, Cliff ran by them again, with no one telling him to sleep. He claimed afterwards that during the race, he imagined he was running after sheep and trying to outrun a storm. The Westfield run took him five days, 15 hours, and four minutes, almost two days faster than the previous record for any run between Sydney and Melbourne. How often do you have a will to prepare to win? What have you done today to develop your physical, mental, or moral capacity to win? What lessons can you take away from the story of Cliff Young and apply them to your life? Are you so busy visualizing you forgot to put in the daily grind necessary to translate your dreams into reality?

Today is September 4 and the Navigate the Chaos question to consider is “how often do you reflect upon the trail you are on?” Those who navigate the chaos often reflect upon the trail they are on. If they are satisfied with the direction in which they are traveling they continue. If, however, they are dissatisfied they work at making the necessary changes so they can get on a life trail more to their liking. In the award winning 1990 film Dances with Wolves the character of Kicking Bird (Graham Greene) told John Dunbar (Kevin Costner) “I was just thinking that of all the trails in this life there is one that matters most. It is the trail of a true human being. I think you are on this trail, and it is good to see.” Kicking Bird’s observation contains three points for reflection. First, he mentions ‘all of the trails in this life’ referring to all the paths available for one to follow. Are you aware of all the available trails? Do you think you are stuck on the trail you are currently on? How happy are you traveling down your current path? Have you had opportunities in the past to change paths? What did you do? Second, Kicking Bird declares ‘the trail of the true human being.’ How do you define the trail of the true human being? What traits, characteristics, and attributes should one possess if they are walking on the trail of the true human being? Are you walking on the trail of the true human being? How do you know? Third, Kicking Bird tells Dunbar ‘I think you are on this trail, and it is good to see.’ Do you understand people are looking at the trail you are on? While the thoughts of others should seldom deter you from forward progress, it is important to remind yourself that others, particularly those closest to you, might have an opinion about the trail on which you are traveling. Now this can also be a good thing as those closest to you can be a resource for you as you navigate the chaos. Of course, life offers opportunities for strangers to provide you with guidance on your trail as well. One such example involved Albert Einstein. Some months before Einstein’s death in April 1955 an editor of LIFE magazine, William Miller, visited the famous scientist at his home in Princeton, New Jersey. The journalist was accompanied by his son Pat Miller and by Professor William Hermanns of San Jose State in California. Einstein responded to the son’s desire for guidance in life, as printed below, appeared in the May 2, 1955, issue of LIFE Magazine: “The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existence. One cannot help but be in awe when he contemplates the mysteries of eternity, of life, of the marvelous structure of reality. It is enough if one tries merely to comprehend a little of this mystery each day. Never lose a holy curiosity. Try not to become a man of success but rather try to become a man of value. He is considered successful in our day who gets more out of life than he puts in. But a man of value will give more than he receives.” Kicking Bird’s ‘trail of the true human being’ is synonymous with Einstein’s ‘man of value who gives more than he receives.’ The trail of the true human being requires one to provide value to others, to give more than they receive, and to remain curious while traveling along life’s trail. History provides examples of various people who created their own definition of the ‘path of the true human being.’ Benjamin Franklin and the father of John Wooden serve as two examples. In 1726, at the age of 20, Benjamin Franklin created a system to develop his character. In his autobiography entitled The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, he listed his thirteen virtues as: 1. Temperance. Eat not to dullness, drink not to elevation. 2. Silence. Speak not but what may benefit others or yourself; avoid trifling conversation. 3. Order. Let all your things have their places; let each part of your business have its time. 4. Resolution. Resolve to perform what you ought; perform without fail what you resolve. 5. Frugality. Make no expense but to do good to others or yourself, i.e., waste nothing. 6. Industry. Lose no time; be always employed in something useful; cut off all unnecessary actions. 7. Sincerity. Use no hurtful deceit; think innocently and justly, and, if you speak, speak accordingly. 8. Justice. Wrong none by doing injuries or omitting the benefits that are your duty. 9. Moderation. Avoid extremes; forbear resenting injuries so much as you think they deserve. 10. Cleanliness. Tolerate no uncleanliness in body, clothes, or habitation. 11. Tranquility. Be not disturbed at trifles, or at accidents common or unavoidable. 12. Chastity. Rarely use venery but for health or offspring, never to dullness, weakness, or the injury of your own or another's peace or reputation. 13. Humility. Imitate Jesus and Socrates. John Wooden's Seven Point Creed was given to him by his father Joshua upon his graduation from grammar school: 1. Be true to yourself. 2. Make each day your masterpiece. 3. Help others. 4. Drink deeply from good books, especially the Bible. 5. Make friendship a fine art. 6. Build a shelter against a rainy day. 7. Pray for guidance and give thanks for your blessings every day. Through his steadfast belief in his father’s Seven Point Creed, Wooden would go on to create his own 'Pyramid of Success' consisting of 15 building blocks. The cornerstones were Industriousness and Enthusiasm, climbing to such strived-for human traits as Intentness, Team Spirit, Poise and Confidence, all leading to the top of the pyramid to reach the ultimate goal of Competitive Greatness. Just as Coach Wooden will forever be in the sports history books for leading UCLA's men's basketball teams to 10 NCAA Championships in 12 years (1964-75), his 'Pyramid of Success' illustrates another path to follow. The examples of Franklin and Wooden help us understand today’s approach to navigating the chaos is about reflecting upon the trail you are on. What trail are you traveling? How often do you reflect upon the trail you are traveling? If you were to create a list of traits to use while traveling your life path, which ones would you include?