What comes to mind as you hear the words whispered quietly in your ear, ‘Program Yourself’?
Why I Won’t Use The Plane Analogy To Demonstrate The Overwhelming Power of Taking Direction
It’s what cults do
Alright, stop me if you’ve heard this one:
Simply put, the rule is that for every 1° you are off course, you will end up being 1 mile off course after traveling 60 miles. Consequently, getting just 1° off course at the start will result in you becoming farther off course the longer you travel. — Randell Turner, Ph.D. in The Difference 1 Degree of Change Makes
You see, I really wanted to use the plane analogy.
Because it’s perfect!
The point couldn’t be made clearer in any other way— small degrees of change have drastic and long lasting results, and you can use this to your easy advantage.
Are you flying the plane?
Yes!!
Yes, you are.
So why not pick your ideal destination?
Think realistically; dream large!
Always.
My Unfortunate Point About The Plane Analogy
It gets used by personal-development and business coaching companies a lot. So much so, I nearly struggled to find a source which spoke from a purely informational standpoint.
Other than Wikipedia on the 60% rule.
Did I call them cults?
Hm..
But even as a smalltime contributor who generally trusts their data, I don’t feel comfortable using Wikipedia as an official source.
And look, I realize a simple mathematical equation could have served just as well.
Now, even the automatic answer to my Google search asking what happens when a plane is one degree off came from an uber Christian website and internet marketing company, in a blog post on the importance of setting and tracking your goals—
“At the beginning of each year, Ed Trim (President & CEO) of Pennington & Trim writes out the goals for the company. In our department meetings we always discuss the company goals and where we’re at in reaching them and any changes we need to make. In a recent department meeting we discussed the importance of making adjustments when things get off course. An Air Force pilot said that for every one degree a plane gets off course, you will miss your targeted landing spot by 92 feet for every mile you fly. If you stayed just one degree off course from JFK in New York to LAX in California, you would wind up 40 miles off in the Pacific Ocean.”
— Pennington And Trim, ‘One Degree Can Make A Big Difference’
In this way, I like how they think.
Neither can I lie about the chance I’d do the same thing one day as you’re about to read here—
We gave all our employees a book (Prayers That Availeth Much For Leaders) and challenged them to read one prayer at the beginning of every day.
Except, I’d have my own Bible.
But since I haven’t created it yet, please enjoy a passage from the ‘original’ Big Book itself—
Psalm 1:1–3 says, “How blessed is the man who doesn’t walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand in the path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers! But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law he meditates day and night. He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in its season and its leaf doesn’t wither; and in whatever he does, he prospers.” (NASB)
— The New American Standard Bible, via Pennington And Trim in ‘One Degree Can Make A Big Difference’
But really, it’s a fantastic article—
“Most of the time, it’s not one big event that shapes our lives negatively. It’s so often that 1 degree that got off course 5 years ago that never got examined.”
And it’s not the only one!
‘https://5amjoel.com’
- Now, you see, right off the bat, I’m taken by surprise.
- This site appears very personal to the owner.
- This site appears pure value from a genuinely kind hearted human being.
- These observations progressively make more sense to me, as I realize the URL contains only the guy’s first name.
IF that’s his real name!
Either way, I tried the ‘Random Post’ feature, and what I consistently received were very positive, upbeat, and most importantly, non-selling vibes. Any marketing is done more subtly, less aggressively, just kind of letting you know of it’s value on the side — long story short, the site was both a helpful and comforting experience.
And if you want to join the newsletter, or check out his other ventures, then it’s really easy to do!
But there’s no pressure to.
Just be aware, he’s seriously kind of fun sometimes—
Well, it turns out he was just an amateur photographer, who was capturing “spectacular wipe-outs”. His hobby is to come to the beach and watch “beginner surfers falling off their boards”. — Joel in ‘I am an idiot #10’
‘garygreeno.com’
This site is similar to Joel’s from the previous example, but far more intense and straightforwardly designed to sell coaching services. A little extreme for my taste. but a) I’m not his clientele, and b) it’s hard to criticize anyone while they’re sharing the 11 following golden points—
“1. Choose to forgive and let go
2. Choose to believe the best is yet to come
3. Choose love, kindness, and respect
4. Choose to be happy and know this choice depends on YOU and not your situation
5. Choose to take ownership of EVERY result in your life
6. Choose to make every experience a learning experience
7. Choose positive thinking over negative thinking
8. Choose to associate with people that lift you up, and make you better
9. Choose to respond rather than react. When everything around you is crazy, remember you don’t have to be.
10. Choose to step out in faith, rather than fear. Remember, both require a belief in something that hasn’t even happened yet.
11. Choose gratitude at all times. Turn your ‘expectations’ into ‘appreciations’ and watch how your world gets better.” — Gary Greeno in 11 Choices to Make in 2021
Indeed, I entirely support his use of the #motivation tag across his blog.
Now, that said, let me tell you a secret held by many of these coaching businesses—
It’s now commonly recommended to offer much value for free as a means to create trust and start positive reciprocal connections with new long-term clients or customers.
Bolded and italicized ‘long term’ because it’s THE key factor in why many of them do it.
And honestly, I’m not mad about it.
Modern day marketing has become much friendlier than it was 200~ years ago— especially since, at least in Canada and the US, false representation in advertisements has been made illegal.
Now they’re all just about forging strong connections and always offering the most value you can give others.
We live in magical times.
‘https://whitehatcrew.com/’
Know what, I’m resigning to the fact I was wrong about what I’d find in these webpages.
I mean, not entirely, but my overall accuracy was abysmal!
Seriously, I was expecting more cult conversion.
Or are these exactly that??
In either case, here, the author, named Antone Roundy, takes the analogy many steps farther, traveling beyond the Earth’s atmosphere, then creates a new story to the same effect, only keeping it more down to Earth —
“Two people come to a mountain with a pot of gold on top, 5,000 feet up. The first is so lazy that, although he wants to get to the gold, he refuses to take an upward step. He walks around the base of the mountain, always staying at exactly the same elevation.
The second guy is pretty lazy too, so he too refuses to hike the steep trail to the top. In fact, he heads off on almost the same course as the first guy, except that he angles off just enough that with each step, he goes up 0.5 inches — about a one degree slope.
No matter how long the first guy walks, he’ll always remain at the base of the mountain. The second guy has a long road ahead of him, but after about 23 miles of hiking, he reaches the pot of gold.
The difference is one degree.” — Antone Roundy in ‘A Mere One-Degree Difference’
I love it!
Now, have you heard this story already before? Because it’d make sense for it to be old as time.
He then ends with the following statement—
“Pick something to do one degree better today, and then never stop doing it. It’ll make all the difference in the world.”
Champion!
This is all good shit. What’s next?
‘https://hypnosisforhumans.com’
This is interesting. Essentially, it’s a far more extreme version of the last few coaching types.
I’m enthralled!!
“When I began helping humans learn how to run their own minds and make significant changes in their lives, the One Degree Rule was (and is) always at the top of my mind.” — Bill Gladwell in ‘The One Degree Rule’
Oh yes.
Now we’re cooking with gas!
Influence — the capacity to shift a human’s perceptions, emotions, and actions — is the most critical skill you can master to improve the quality of your life.
It’s the process of getting another human to associate their most desired feelings, emotional states, and sensations with your idea, product, or service — and feel good when they think of you, your vision, and what you have to offer. — Bill Gladwell in ‘The Edge Sales Training’
This guy has worked for several multibillion dollar companies, I guess you can say helping them get into people’s heads, and just from reading that paragraph alone, are you surprised?
I can’t say it’d be the exact life for me, but still, just imagine the possibilities!
We speak of power not all should wield.
And to be clear, there’s no payment for me to say any of these things today, unless you count the read time from full-fledged Medium members—
Click on the link directly above this sentence, lest you remain an outsider.
The final two search results followed suit:
Just a a bit on him—
Paul Kingsman combines his financial services industry knowledge, his practical experience as a financial advisor (he still works with advisory clients!), and his background as an Olympic medalist, to help fellow advisors overcome distractions, complete what matters most, and succeed sooner. — ‘Get To Know Paul Kingsmen’
So yeah, another life and business coach.
2. ‘What’s Your One Degree?’ by Dr. Steve A. Brown of Arrow Leadership
And another hyper-Christian business—
To become a Jesus-centered leader who lives and leads well, you need to regularly refresh and refocus your head, heart and hands. Arrow Leadership’s blog, Sharpening Leaders, is written to support you on your journey. Each month we provide spiritually nourishing, biblically challenging and practically helpful posts to help you fulfill your calling and Lead Different. — ‘The Arrow Leadership Blog’
Reaching the end of this journey, I presently forget what this was all supposed to be about—
Oh yes.
I wanted to write an article about self-development based around the plane analogy.
And so, I guess I kind of did.
Can I blame everyone for having gotten there way before me?
No.
Not at all.
Did I enjoy giving a quick review to these websites?
Kind of, yes.
Anything you’d like to add?
Respond at will.
Peace!
About the Author:
🔍 ㅤGustave Deresse Is a Canadian Writer, Editor, Cook & Musical Artist Exploring Themes as Spirituality, Logic, Love, Life, Technology, Philosophy, Nature, Art, Neurocognitive Psychology, Creativity, Writing, Humour, Inspiration, Music, Wellbeing — and the Weird.
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Btw, what’s mysterious, ominous, and never goes to sleep? If you know, please keep it to yourself.
My Introduction Page —
I appreciate you, take care.
Sincerely, — G
