Just Three Degrees!

“My basic principle is that you don't make decisions because they are cheap; you make them because they're right.”

~ Graeme Edwards

Korean Air Flight 007 was a Korean Air civilian airliner shot down with all on board by Soviet jet interceptors on September 1, 1983 a few miles over international waters. KAL 007 was shot just west of Sakhalin island which had been claimed as Soviet territory. KAL 007 carried 269 passengers and crew, including a U.S. congressman, and claims persist that the Soviets captured some survivors. The Soviet Union said it did not know the aircraft was civilian, and suggested it had entered Soviet airspace as a deliberate provocation to test their response capabilities.

As we now know, KAL 007 had erroneously deviated just three degrees off course and anded up a long way off course (see illustration.) At first, 3 degrees is barely noticable, but the difference becomes exponential as time goes by. As Agnes DeMille corrctly observed, “No trumpets sound when the important decisions of our life are made. Destiny is made known silently.” You don’t become obese when you guzzle your first tub of ice cream. You don’t get rich the day you start your own business. But that first decision and the direction you chose will have very definite consequences.

Here’s the good news: We can change direction any time. You can correct your course, IF you recognize that you’re off course! And you can consistently make new choices, 3 degrees at a time, which can fast track your success. Transcripts recovered from the Korean airliner's cockpit voice recorder indicate that the crew were unaware that they were off course and violating Soviet airspace. We have to recognize and understand three things: One, we’re off target; if we keep going in the same direction, a crash is imminent. Two, we CAN take responsibility and change direction. And Three, we have to take decisive, consitent, definite action – NOW. Franklin D. Roosevelt said, “One thing is sure. We have to do something. We have to do the best we know how at the moment... if it doesn't turn out right, we can modify it as we go along.”

And here’s an important note: The crew of KAL 007 did not notice this error or undertake the correct INS checks to discover it later due to a "lack of situational awareness and flight deck coordination". We need to monitor our business and personal progress through life on a very regular basis. I just completed a program with the best business training I have ever been exposed to. It has a lot to do with knowing exactly what is going on in your business and how to take control and predict the future of your business. If you would like to experience a complimentary introduction to this training, e mail me or call me at 1.866.746.0631 (PST) and I’ll be glad to arrange it for you.

“We choose our joys and sorrows long before we experience them.” ~ Kahlil Gibran

Robin J. Elliott robin@dollarmakers.com Call Toll Free1.866.746.0631 Pacific Time
Robin J. Elliott has been officially included in the International Who's Who of Entrepreneurs in 2002 and has been nominated as a candidate for inclusion in the 2004-2005 edition of the International Who's Who of Professionals.

Eagles Joint Venture

My friend, Carol Brailsford, a true Eagle, kindly sent me some amazing information about Eagles. They really do represent commitment and integrity.

Eagles mate for life within the first year of being born. An eagle will never leave its mate and will never mate again if their mate dies. In addition, they will never feed their eaglets anything but live food. If you see an eagle flapping around with something in its talons, you can be assured that the prey is alive.

As I said, an eagle will never leave its mate. A fisherman was out fishing and saw an eagle swoop down (recorded to be almost 200 mph) into the water. The eagle locked on to a salmon, their favorite fish. Pretty soon he saw the eagle's beak come out of the water to catch a breath - they will never let go of their prey once they have a hold on it. So he thought, “The beak keeps coming up and the eagle is getting tired.” Once an eagle’s feathers are wet, he cannot fly. The fisherman thought “Oh my, I think the eagle is going to loose this one!” And, next thing, SWOOSH! Out of the sky came the eagle’s mate. It grabbed onto the eagle in the water and pretty soon two beaks were coming up for air. But each time they came up for air they were closer to the shore and eventually they were both on the shore with the salmon intact!

Cleanliness: did you know that there are 700 feathers in each wing? Every morning the eagle takes the time to clean its feathers. One side of the tongue cleans the other side of the tongue oils the feathers. You can imagine that when diving at 150 mph and more to seize the prey, if the feathers are not in place the sound would be loud enough to scare the prey.

Molting: The eagle molts about every three years. This process is very painful. They pluck out every one of their 700 (each wing) feathers and that is like plucking out a fingernail! That is how painful it is. Then they go to a rock and they completely file down their talons to nothing and on that same rock they decimate their beaks. They do this in couples. It takes forty days and forty nights for them to grow their feathers, talons and beaks back. Another pair of eagles are circling for forty days and forty nights and feeding the molting couple and making sure that they are taken care of and that no predators get to them.

Eagles are hard workers; some of the eagles nests weigh 2 1/2 tons and are passed down from generation to generation. They preserve the next generation and their lifespan is over 125 years. Yet, when eaglets are learning how to fly, 40% of them die on that attempt.
Commitment. Integrity. Community. Excellence. And that, my dear Reader, is why we should cultivate an Eagle Attitude. Join the Eagles: Click here

Robin J. Elliott robin@dollarmakers.com Call Toll Free1.866.746.0631 Pacific Time
Robin J. Elliott has been officially included in the International Who's Who of Entrepreneurs in 2002 and has been nominated as a candidate for inclusion in the 2004-2005 edition of the International Who's Who of Professionals.