Not long ago I attended an event in Santa Fe, New Mexico, at which astronaut Captain Mark Kelly and his wife, former congresswomen Gabrielle Giffords, were in attendance. Ms. Giffords represented Arizona's 2nd Congressional District in the U.S. Congress, elected three times. On January 8, 2011, she was shot in Tucson, along with 18 others, six of whom were killed. Mr. Kelly, among many other accomplishments, flew on four Space Shuttle missions and was the commander on his last two, including the final mission of the Endeavor.
Several of us were able to talk to Mr. Kelly at the Santa Fe event, and someone asked him a fascinating question: For those of us who've not been to space, what perspective do you have as an astronaut that could help all of us here on earth? After he thought for a moment, Mr. Kelly talked about two points to keep in mind: As an astronaut, he said, he lives and breathes in a world that is driven by data. If the data support a particular perspective, great; if not, then try a different approach or move on to the next thing. Second, accomplishing things takes time. Looking at Earth from space fills you with awe—and at the same time reminds you that the universe wasn't created in a day.
That stuck with me. It made me think about the profound process that he and Ms. Giffords must have gone through to arrive at where they are today. They reinvented themselves through hard work and gut-wrenching loss in order to continue their collective contributions to the world. This made me pause and examine my own life and the contributions I've made and am working toward. Are the data on which I'm basing my own decisions accurate? Is my perspective about what I am doing complete? Am I missing something that could later prove to be critical?
Sometimes we have to do hard things, and that takes time. There are times when I grow impatient with myself and my rate of progress, but Mr. Kelly's comments remind me to celebrate incremental changes.
Mr. Kelly's observations caused me to also think about risk-taking. Risk is inherent to undertaking anything worthwhile, especially those things that perhaps have not been done previously or within a particular environment. The first person through the wall always gets a bit bloodied, but the rewards can be pretty incredible.
In my experience, the patient and sometimes courageous act of making incremental changes and the willingness to take risks not only lead to improvements; they also cause us to undergo a sort of continuous reinvention that can be exciting. They prompt us to examine our own participation and tap into talents and abilities we may never have noticed we possessed had we not taken the risk of putting ourselves out there as we worked to make things better. I have found this process of reinvention and the knowledge that there are possibilities yet to be imagined quite liberating, even when it can be unsettling and a little scary. As well, it's such a blast when you find yourself leading the way.
