I've Been Lucky Enough To Fly To

If You Haven't Learned To Ride A Bike By The Time Your Peer Group Has, Then Suddenly It's An Embarrassment And You'll Avoid Opportunities Where You're Expected To Ride A Bike. And Then It Starts Shaping Your Behaviour. Reading Is Much Subtler, But Much More Destructive If You Have Not - For Whatever Reason - Learned To Read By The Time You Should.

Competence Means Keeping Your Head In A Crisis, Sticking With A Task Even When It Seems Hopeless, And Improvising Good Solutions To Tough Problems When Every Second Counts. It Encompasses Ingenuity, Determination And Being Prepared For Anything.

When You Have Some Skills But Don't Fully Understand Your Environment, There Is No Way You Can Be A Plus One. At Best, You Can Be A Zero. But A Zero Isn't A Bad Thing To Be. You're Competent Enough Not To Create Problems Or Make More Work For Everyone Else. And You Have To Be Competent, And Prove To Others That You Are, Before You Can Be Extraordinary. There Are No Short-cuts, Unfortunately.

No One Ever Accomplished Anything Great Sitting Down.

Preparation Is Not Only About Managing External Risks, But About Limiting The Likelihood That You'll Unwittingly Add To Them. When You're The Author Of Your Own Fate, You Don't Want To Write A Tragedy. Aside From Anything Else, The Possibility Of A Sequel Is Nonexistent.