The main takeaway I learned from reading about Evel Knievel was that he had no f*cking idea of the physics involved in jumping. It was all roughed out - essentially a calculated guess on the back of a fag packet.
For those of you too young to remember Evel Knievel , he was a stunt man, or more specifically a ramp to ramp jumper using a motorcycle; put something interesting between the ramps to capture the imagination, like buses or sharks and Knievel would attempt to jump it. As one of the biggest names in America, he became a defining figure of the 1970's filling stadiums across the country. My abiding memory of him was when he came to Wembley stadium.
The sad reality though, was that many of his jumps were doomed before he even sat on his bike. The Harley Davidson was the wrong choice for the job. But as he often said, it was the best looking bike - and that gave him the confidence he needed. Contemporary riders have 3 times more travel on their suspension; the setup Knievel had, effectively 'bounced' him off his bike at the moment of impact. The advent of computer modelling has worked out the necessary angles, forces and speeds to execute a successful jump; essentially hit the right speed and with the correct technique the jump will work. Knievel never had the luxury of computer modelling to guarantee a safe landing.
"Hell, I can't do that!...."
Evel Knievel came to Wembley in 1975 to jump 13 London Buses. On arriving in England, his manager explains that his client went missing for 2 days. As the story goes, Knievel walks into the commentary box where his manager is sitting, looks at the 13 buses, turns to him and says "hell, I can't do that!" Changing your life can feel just like that. Your next big move may meet all your criteria but for whatever reason it's simply not what you expected. It's really not that surprising, after all, we don't really know what we want...we have a story in our heads, essentially a guess on a fag packet, and then believe it. There is no computer modelling for this stuff.
It is said that courage is the only trait that has to be 'faked'; despite feeling scared, you must proceed towards the danger. There are no certainties to outcomes and yet I believe, the biggest danger is that we never try anything new as it's perceived as too risky. No matter how hard we mitigate against disaster, there will always be a risk. There are times in our lives when we will just have to make a decision and live with it, good or bad.
I have some good news and some bad news on how your big decisions are likely to go. According to Dan Gilbert, we are extremely poor at making decisions about our future self. When faced with a choice, we run our 'Experience Simulator', based on our past experiences. We then overlay that onto the future and bam, we make a decision. Unfortunately we are likely to be wrong! That's the bad news.
"It's the best thing that ever happened to me"
The good news though, is really good news. In fact, there is no reason to feel any anxiety. As Dan Gilber explains, we 'synthesise happiness'. How else do you explain Pete Best's comment 40 years after being replaced by Ringo Star as drummer of the Beatles - "Its the best thing that ever happened to me". Whatever decision we make, we'll synthesize happiness until eventually we believe it was the right choice.
So, go ahead...jump! It'll turn out just great! The decision is loaded in our favour - it'll either work out or we'll synthesise it to ensure it turns out just fine. All you need to to do is get on the bike and hit the ramp.
You may interested to know how Evel Knievel got on at Wembley. Well, I was there, the most excited10 year old there to watch my idol; he nearly did it. You can watch it here, look how hard he tries to stay on the bike....now that's courage.
Clearly, moving away from your friends and family to begin a new life elsewhere is not the act of a daredevil motorcyclist, but be prepared to do some serious synthesising of happiness.
Anyway, I'm off to the woods now to make some firewood, not to synthesise anything other than energy to help keep me warm in winter.
PS Don't forget to share this with friends...they may need to do an Evel Knievel.