LIVING A FOCUSSED LIFE
Set Your Priorities Right
WHEN the first manned flight took place on December 17, 1903, it lasted 12 seconds and covered 120 feet. Only five newspapers in America thought the news fit to publish. The rest dismissed it as some kind of hoax. This was because the two brothers, Orville and Wilbur Wright, who had successfully got their 'heavier-than-air' aircraft off the ground, had carried out their experiments in complete privacy. There was no glare of publicity for their attempts.
The Wright brothers were bicycle makers from Ohio. When they set out to construct a flying machine, starting with the most primitive structures, they persevered until they had developed a craft which was to usher in a new era for humankind.
They set about their now famous work on a 600-acre farm in Kitty Hawk, a secluded spot on the North Carolina coast. This approach was in great contrast to the methods of Samuel P. Langley, who was then America’s most distinguished aeronautical scientist.
The latter had the advantage of funds, expert know-how, and a great deal of publicity. The site of his experiments was just thirty miles south of Washington D.C. The eyes of the nation were set on his project. In spite of these advantages, his endeavours ended in failure.
Public attention, before the task is accomplished, will only act as hindrance. It is a disability which jeopardizes the very outcome of an endeavor.
The Wrights had achieved by quiet endeavour what others could not achieve by substantial funding and much-publicized preparation.
They kept their sights firmly on the goal ahead of them. They shunned publicity until they actually had a positive contribution to make to modern technology. When Orville Wright was asked after World War II whether he had ever imagined the terrible destruction which would be wrought by subsequent aeroplanes, he simply said that on “that day at Kitty Hawk, we thought only of getting off the ground.”
Great success demands unwavering focus, dedication, perseverance, and hard work. Public attention, before the task is accomplished, will only act as hindrance. It is a disability which jeopardizes the very outcome of an endeavor.