Felix Baumgartner jumped out of a balloon capsule 24 miles up and landed safely on earth after breaking the sound barrier in a free fall, and then parachuting safely to earth, a jump watched on U Tube by over 8 million people and generating more tweets than seven NFL games.
In how many ways is this effort reflected in the Code? It took a large team, working together to pull it off. It took over 7 years of planning, goal setting and execution. It involved risk. Presumably, there will be scientific learning (NASA was interested in the pressurized suit he developed) that will benefit others in some way in the future.
Have you ever worked for over 7 years on a goal? Were you successful? If you started playing a sport as a young person, did you have the goal of making the high school or college team?
In your professional career, how many years will it take you to reach your goals?
When the Code says, “I will develop my skills to the best of my ability and give my best effort in practice and in competition” it is referring to the long term, day in and day out, week in and week out, year in and year out effort it makes to achieve any significant goal. Efforts like that of Baumgartner remind us of this.
