TITLE: Surprises, Problems, and Small Aircraft
AUTHOR: Eugene Wallingford
DATE: May 12, 2009 4:22 PM
DESC:
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BODY:
Earlier today I listened to a
TED talk by Tony Robbins.
One snippet stood out. Here is a paraphrase,
in part to clean up the language (because
that's how I roll):
If I ask you whether you like variety, you'll say
yes. Baloney. You like surprises you want. The
others, you call problems.
Some people are better than others at accepting the
surprises that they don't want. Perhaps that is why
Robbins's anecdote reminded me of a story I read last
summer in a book by John G. Miller called
QBQ! The Question Behind the Question.
The story, perhaps fictional, tells of a father
and young daughter out for a fun plane ride one day,
with dad behind the controls. When the plane's
engine dies unexpectedly, dad turns to his daughter
and says, calmly, I'm going to need to fly
the plane differently.
I don't make generally New Year's resolutions, but
when I am next tempted, I'll probably think again
of this story. I want to be that guy, and I'm not.
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(Quick book review: QBQ! is pretty
standard for this genre of business self-help lit.
It says a lot of things we all should already know,
and probably do. But there are days when some of
us need a reminder or a little pep talk. This book
is full of short pep talks. It's a quick read and
good enough at its task, as long as you remember
that unless you change your behavior books like
these are nothing but empty calories. A bit like
software design methodologies.)
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