____ http://boazpower.com ____(January 6, 2003)
I first started studying the life of this particular man about thirty years ago. I was fascinated by what he was able to accomplish in his lifetime. He changed all of our lives. Hardly anyone knows that he was the inventor of the automobile, the parachute and the submarine.
The early part of his life did not look very promising. His mothers name was Caterina. When she was pregnant with him, she was just a teenager, and a poor one at that. She had lost contact with the father, who was either a lawyer or a notary.
As a child he showed interest in art and, by the time he was seventeen, he began working in a workshop with other artisans. By the age of twenty he was entered into a painters guild.
After many wondrous achievements, he was eventually considered a universal genius. He had an unequalled gift of conception and interpretation of the two apparently opposing worlds of art and science. He had an incredible thirst for knowledge and an insatiable quest for research.
His passion to unravel the mysteries of nature was accomplished by an equally strong passion to record these endeavors. He was constantly making detailed notes of his findings in notebooks and writing manuscripts about topics that were of interest to him.
Therein lies a clue that could further your success. Too much time in life is usually spent on reviewing losses. I suggest you get a journal and make note of your achievements. Every time you have a victory, of which you are proud, make a note of it. Describe achievements from your past. Detail the time your team won a championship game; the day you graduated from school; the time you got a big promotion; a moment of pride achieved by your child.
Then, when you may have a down moment, take out your journal and look at your achievements. As you re-read championship moments, take yourself back to those moments emotionally and bask in the glory. This is a powerful way to get you back on track and to make you realize that there have probably been more victories than defeats in your life; that you are a capable, talented person.
Our subject was trained to be a painter. However, his interests and achievements spread into an astonishing variety of fields that are now considered scientific specialties. He studied anatomy, astronomy, botany, geology, geometry, and optics. He designed machines and drew plans for hundreds of inventions. He had little interest in literature, history, or religion.
As a military engineer, he designed artillery and fortresses. He produced designs for a variety of war machines, among them tanks, machine guns, and movable bridges. As a civil engineer, he devised a system of locks for canals and designed revolving stages for pageants. Many of his ideas and designs were far ahead of their time. He drew plans for aircraft, including the helicopter, and for a parachute.
He never developed his ideas systematically. He was simply an excellent observer, concerning himself with what the eye could see, rather than with purely abstract concepts.
What if we approached challenging moments in life with the idea of being an excellent observer? Too many times we get so emotionally involved that we get paralyzed in the eye of the tornado. I have developed a technique, over many years, that helps me to be cool under fire.
At a difficult moment, I remind myself of what my mother used to ask me when I was upset about something: Who died? If, indeed, no one has died, then the situation cant be all that bad.
Then I emotionally take myself out of the eye of the tornado and pretend as if Im observing the situation from the outside. Remember that our subject this week was an excellent observer. I put myself in the position of an observer, as if the situation is happening to someone else, and I focus on solutions.
By pretending that Ive distanced myself from the problem, I can relax and allow the creative juices to flow. Ive done this so many times that I now pride myself on my ability to solve difficult moments. In most situations, no matter how difficult they may be, there are solutions. Our job is to stay open to creative solutions.
The next time you drive a car, think about the fact that the first spring-driven model of an automobile was designed over 500 years ago by someone who was born in Italy in 1452. Hes better known as the painter of the Mona Lisa. All of us could benefit from being a calm and excellent observer, as was Leonardo da Vinci. Allow your mental parachute to open and youll see what a fabulous world lies at your feet!
If you like the ideas in this video, youll benefit greatly from getting my free weekly e-mail newsletter, where I share more great ideas that will take your life to the next level. Go to my web site, Boazpower.com, and sign up. Thats Boazpower.com. Have a powerful day!
-Boaz@BoazPower.com
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#85 Its Never Too Late - Boaz Power TVby BoazPowerTV325 views
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