Hot Wheels Track Assembly

During my grade school years I owned a Hot Wheels track for my Matchbox car set.  I bought it at church bizarre sale.  Besides the banked corners and the vertical loop, the critical feature was unit that looked like a car wash.  Once batteries were installed and it was powered up, two rotating brushes spinning on a horizontal axis were aligned to accelerate a Matchbox car sufficiently to make a complete lap of the track before returning for another application of speed.  Depending on the length of the track the return speed of the car effected the acceleration through the speedmachine.  Yesterday I attended an event that re-accelerated my commitment to serving causes that inspire.

Seth in Tribeca

I flew to New York City for the day to attend Seth Godin’s “Pick Yourself” presentation in the Tribeca.  The magical part was that Seth spoke from some prepared thoughts for an hour, weaving his themes into a series of anecdotes.  Then he answered the audience’s questions for the rest of the day, while surprising us with musical performers after breaks.  The questions for Seth ranged from the marketing strategies to hiring a hiking guide in South America.  As I reflect on my pages of notes and consider how to amplify the experience, I was taken by one theme in particular.


Seth presented the analogy of walking into a forest with an axe.  One person selects a single tee and starts a concentrated effort of chopping it down.  They understand it will not fall after only a couple hacks.  If they are committed and continue making progress eventually they will yell ‘timber.’  However, many of us give up after a couple swings and move onto another tree.  Eventually we find that we have left a scar on many trees but never committed long enough to fall any one of them.  The reality is that nobody knows which the right tree is to be wielding our axe on and that in itself is the adventure.  There is no shortcuts.  Hard work, perspiration, and blisters are the realties of a committed effort.  However, the biggest obstacle for most of us is that we fear our own super power.  The combination of skills that make us unique and accomplished artists.  

Ready?

What tree have you selected to chop down?  Are you willing to put fear aside and commit to the effort?  Are you prepared to experience your own art in the process?