A weekend away often rejuvenates a person, especially this person! This last weekend was spent with women in their "jammies" sewing quilts, scrapbooking, or doing other projects together all day and night with no phone interruptions, no makeup, no family responsibilities, and no meals to prepare or clean up. The weekend was designed to rest and relax in community with others. I expected relaxation and progress on a difficult quilt pattern. The bonus I had not expected was hearing about the famous Wallenda family.
As most know, the Wallendas are famous for their pyramid of 7 performed on the high wire with no safety net. In the '60's the 7 fell and lost 2 members of their family and permanently paralyzed a third from the waist down (who incidently still crosses the high wire in a wheel chair today). Most of us think they are nuts or have nerves of steel to return to the high wire without a net, but the retreat leader interviewed Tino Wallenda personally and found a completely different perspective. The reason they walk without a safety net is that the net is actually a distraction. It allows for error. It allows for sloppiness. Without the net, every step is a surety, every action requires an adjustment on the part of the other 6 in the pyramid, every breath requires trust!
When the interviewer questioned how this could be done, Tino Wallenda stopped her gently and explained that their perspectives of the high wire were entirely different. For the interviewer, the wire was a thing of fear and potential trauma. For the Wallendas, the high wire is a thing of fun. Fun!!! to walk across a wire hundreds of feet in the air with 6 other people's lives dependent on your sure footing. That is definitely a new definition of fun for me.
The lessons of the fall caused the family to put in new safeguards. More communication is used today. There are safety checks, but still there is no net. What they continue to do is keep their eye on the goal and never, never waiver from it. Their first pyramid performance after the fall was at the same site as the fall. The memories were fresh requiring even more concentration. In the middle of the wire with the pyramid complete, an electrician accidentally turned off the lights. The Wallendas were suspended with no visual goal to keep their eyes on. The stood. "Hold . . . hold . . . hold . . . hold . . . hold . . . hold . . . " being called by the lead. After what I'm sure seemed like an eternity, the lights were restored. Their goal was once again visible. They moved to the end and one by one stepped off to safety. That is goal driven behavior. That is focus. That is training. And to Tino Wallenda, that is fun!
I thought of my career in real estate. The end of the year is when goals are examined, when we re-focus for the next year, when we see if we fell off the wire. Do I have the commitment and focus in my career that the Wallendas do for theirs? I definitely consider my career fun or I'd be out of it by now, but the goal driven behavior and focus? Do any of us have the kind of focus on our careers that would make us sure we could cross a high wire like the Wallendas without the distraction of the safety net?
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