Air Traffic

I feel like nobody listens to in-flight safety announcements anymore. On a recent flight, I looked around as the pilot demanded our full attention as the flight attendants demonstrate the safety features of this aircraft. The man to my right was flipping through a magazine. The woman in front of me was tending to her screeching infant (I'll save my thoughts on traveling babies for another post). The kid next to me was making a quick call to a friend, taking advantage of his last moments of connection before he would be asked to power down his electronic device. Considering I was taking the time to see what my fellow passengers were up to, I wasn't exactly "fully attending" the safety announcement either.

But it's the same damn thing every time. As someone sitting next to me mentioned, "I could probably recite this entire speech in my sleep." But it's important stuff. It's not like ignoring your professor during lecture then cramming the night before the exam. It's what to do in the case of an unexpected landing. It's about saving your life. And we could all probably benefit from a refresher no matter how often we travel.

We adapt pretty quickly. A tag might be itchy when you first put on your sweater, but a couple hours later, you've forgotten about the tag. You've adapted to the itch. You are one with the itch. And so much in life is like that itchy tag. It's not exciting anymore. You have to make an honest effort to think about the tag if you want to feel the itch again.

How do you make people think about the itch? How do you make sure you aren't ignored? Well, you surprise your audience. "Welcome. If San Francisco wasn't in your immediate travel plans, it is now," our pilot said as we buckled our seat belts. People chuckled. It was different. It was noteworthy. People were listening. Curious to see what else he had up his sleeve. Hours later as we began our descent into San Francisco, our pilot told his flight crew to prepare for an "excellent" landing.

I wonder how much we're missing. It's pure hubris. We think we've seen it all, done it all. We ignore what we dub mundane and life just passes us by.

Puerto Vallarta seems to be a popular spring break destination this year. To welcome young vacationers, banners with two "cute" sayings embellished every street lamp and doorway. I'm going to let "Party Vallarta" slide, but only because of the other: Expect the unexpected. It's cliche, but meaningful still.

There is so much out there. It's up to us to motivate ourselves to look for what's different. For what is out of the ordinary. To not get wrapped up in the duplicates but to actively search for the new and exciting. As Bill Moyers said, "creativity is piercing the mundane to find the marvelous."

My favorite part of a speech given by the CTO of my group at HP is when he asks, "What's half of 13?" Someone always answers 6.5, and he's right. But he could have said 1 or 3 and been just as right. Or he could have split the graphic horizontally and drawn the image in the air. And still been right. It's all about thinking outside the box. Now, pardon the irony, but I'm going to end with a phrase from another one of my favorites -- think different.