Lesson #4: Think Big, Act Small
Lesson #4: Think Big, Act Small
Hughes’ desire to fly was so great that in 1933, he applied to be a commercial pilot for American Airways under the name of Charles W. Howard. He got the job but was forced to resign when it was discovered that he had tried to alter his pilot’s license number. Although his attempt to gain flight experience was unsuccessful, this was one of Hughes’ first steps towards becoming ‘the world’s fastest man’.
In order to continue to gain as much experience and exposure to planes as possible, Hughes founded the Hughes Aircraft Co. and began working on converting a military plane into a racing plane. With his new creation, he went on to win the All-America Air Meet in 1934 and set a new speed record. He continued to dedicate himself to his aviation company until he felt comfortable enough, four years later, to tackle his goal of breaking Charles Lindbergh’s around-the-world speed record.
With each plane that he built and each test flight he performed, Hughes worked himself closer to his goal of becoming the best pilot in the world. He always kept this bigger goal in the back of his mind, but focused on the steps he needed to take to get there. Although even his smaller goals might seem immense to the average person, in relation to his end goal, they paled in significance. That is why, whether it was a broken down plane with corroded wires or a powerfully advanced H-1 racer, Hughes never turned down the opportunity to fly a plane.
Hughes’ perfectionist nature was also an extreme example of ‘acting small’. For Hughes, every little detail of a project had to be perfect before the final product could be considered completed. Even while playing golf, Hughes would have a camera crew follow him so that afterward, he could run the tape and watch his strokes in an effort to perfect himself.
Amongst the team Hughes had assembled, he was known as the ‘conceptualizer’ and often left it to the team to figure out how to achieve his vision. A former colleague recalled about Hughes, “He said, you know, ‘Make the cockpit look like this.’ And everybody was saying, ‘Well, we’ve never seen a cockpit like that.’ And he said, ‘Well, you make it like this and it will work.’ And it did.” If Hughes was not able to create those small steps in between his goals, he was shrewd enough to get others to do it for him.
Whether driven more by passion and a natural series of events than by a well-planned out strategy, Hughes nonetheless followed a step-by-step progression towards his goals, never losing sight of his end goals.
Lesson 4 Think Big Act Small
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When Hughes said as a child that he wanted to be the richest man in the world, he had a clear vision about where he wanted to go, but he did not yet know how he was going to get there. That is, until, he began taking one step at a time towards achieve his dreams. Hughes recognized the importance of setting high goals and thinking about long-term possibilities, all the while taking small steps in the short-term to achieve those goals.
Hughes’ desire to fly was so great that in 1933, he applied to be a commercial pilot for American Airways under the name of Charles W. Howard. He got the job but was forced to resign when it was discovered that he had tried to alter his pilot’s license number. Although his attempt to gain flight experience was unsuccessful, this was one of Hughes’ first steps towards becoming ‘the world’s fastest man’.
In order to continue to gain as much experience and exposure to planes as possible, Hughes founded the Hughes Aircraft Co. and began working on converting a military plane into a racing plane. With his new creation, he went on to win the All-America Air Meet in 1934 and set a new speed record. He continued to dedicate himself to his aviation company until he felt comfortable enough, four years later, to tackle his goal of breaking Charles Lindbergh’s around-the-world speed record.
With each plane that he built and each test flight he performed, Hughes worked himself closer to his goal of becoming the best pilot in the world. He always kept this bigger goal in the back of his mind, but focused on the steps he needed to take to get there. Although even his smaller goals might seem immense to the average person, in relation to his end goal, they paled in significance. That is why, whether it was a broken down plane with corroded wires or a powerfully advanced H-1 racer, Hughes never turned down the opportunity to fly a plane.
Hughes’ perfectionist nature was also an extreme example of ‘acting small’. For Hughes, every little detail of a project had to be perfect before the final product could be considered completed. Even while playing golf, Hughes would have a camera crew follow him so that afterward, he could run the tape and watch his strokes in an effort to perfect himself.
Amongst the team Hughes had assembled, he was known as the ‘conceptualizer’ and often left it to the team to figure out how to achieve his vision. A former colleague recalled about Hughes, “He said, you know, ‘Make the cockpit look like this.’ And everybody was saying, ‘Well, we’ve never seen a cockpit like that.’ And he said, ‘Well, you make it like this and it will work.’ And it did.” If Hughes was not able to create those small steps in between his goals, he was shrewd enough to get others to do it for him.
Whether driven more by passion and a natural series of events than by a well-planned out strategy, Hughes nonetheless followed a step-by-step progression towards his goals, never losing sight of his end goals.
Lesson 4 Think Big Act Small
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John AlexanderJohn has taught keyword research and SEO skills to small groups of business owners and Webmasters from over 80 different countries world wide since 2002. John is also the Director of Search Engine Academy ; Co-director of Training at Search Engine Workshops offering live, SEO Workshops with his partner SEO educator Robin Nobles, author of the very first comprehensive online search engine marketing courses at SEO Training Online and the SEO Workshop Resource Center. I look forward to hearing from you! - Visit John Alexander's Website |
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Cheryl MatthynssensCheryl is a life skills coach, licensed Chemical Dependency Counselor and a 20 year entrepreneur. Cheryl's dedication to achieving a life of balance led to her expanding her teaching from the simple managing of life's daily challenges to adding financial well being as well. A direct marketer with DrinkACT, she is gaining ground in the online community with her concepts of making sure business owners, entreprenuers and employees have well rounded life styles. She opened up a small affiliate site - The Balance Guide- to help others find resources for mental and emotional well being. Visit Cheryl's blog to see more of the diversity beyond business she has began offering online at www.thebalanceguide.blogspot.com - Visit Cheryl Matthynssens's Website |
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John BrennanJohn Brennan Ed.D. Dr. Brennan is President of Interpersonal Development, LLC, a training and development firm. Interpersonal Development has provided sales training and coaching to more than 3,000 sales reps from over 100 companies. A native of Australia, Dr. Brennan received his doctorate from the University of Rochester. His dissertation researched the effectiveness of Behavioral Modeling Technology in training people in interpersonal skills. While he has spent most of his career designing or delivering training, he was also a Vice-President of Sales of a training and development franchise with operations in 25 markets. Dr. Brennan has designed and delivered sales training in North America, Asia, Europe, Australia and the Middle East. He has been a guest speaker at numerous national and regional professional conferences. When Microsoft wanted Best Practices articles on sales for their web site, they called Dr. Brennan. The results are at http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/FX011387391033.aspx His firm’s clients have included Volvo, The Prudential, Merrill Lynch, Eastman Kodak, Gannett, Equifax Europe, the Economist Group and countless small businesses. - Visit John Brennan's Website |
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