Pursue the extraordinary The power of moonshot thinking

Pursue the extraordinary The power of moonshot thinkingPursue the extraordinary The power of moonshot thinkingIn September 1962, President John F. Kennedy stood before a packed Rice University stadium and pledged to land a man on the Moon and return him safely to the Earth before the decade was out. We choose to go to the Moon, he said, not because its easy, but because its hard.At the time, this pledge was a moonshot - literally and figuratively. The Americans were lagging severely behind the Soviets in the space race. Much of the technology required for the Moon landing didnt exist. JFK admitted as much The giant rocket to take the astronauts to the Moon, he explained, would be made of new metal alloys, some of which have not yet been invented, capable of standing heat and stresses several times more than have ever been experienced, fitted together with a precision better than the finest watch on an untried mission, to an unknown celestial body.Yes, even themetalsrequired to buil d the rocket hadnt been invented.We jumped into the cosmic void and hoped wed grow wings on the way up. And grow those wings, we did. In 1969, less than seven years after Kennedys pledge, Neil Armstrong took his giant leap for mankind.As astronaut, and later commander of Apollo 13, Jim Lovell put it, It wasnt a miracle. We just decided to go.In our personal lives, we equate moonshots with miracles. We pause to launch a new business because we think we dont have what it takes. We hesitate to apply for a promotion, assuming that someone far more competent will get it. We dont ask someone on a date if they seem out of our league.If Kennedy were doing the same thing - if he were looking to stay within his league - his pledge would have been very different (and far more boring) We choose, he may have said, to put humans in Earth orbit and make them circle round and round - not because its easy - but because its doable given what we have.I get it Theres far more uncertainty in moonsho ts than in small bets. Once you decide to abandon the comfort of the center and the warmth of the crowds, once you decide to explore the edges, you might fail. You might make a fool out of yourself. People might even point at you and laugh.Do it anyway.Take comfort in Rumis wisdom that the path will appear once you start to walk out on the path. Once you pursue the extraordinary, youll rise above the stale neural pathways that dominate ordinary thinking. If you persist - and learn from the inevitable failures that will follow - youll eventually grow the wings you need to soar.All moonshots are miracles. Until you decide to go.Ozan Varol is a rocket scientist turned law professor and bestselling author.Click hereto download a free copy of his e-book, The Contrarian Handbook 8 Principles for Innovating Your Thinking. Along with your free e-book, youll get the Weekly Contrarian - a newsletter that challenges conventional wisdom and changes the way we look at the world (plus access t o exclusive content for subscribers only).Thisarticlefirst appeared onOzanVarol.com.