Plant your pole and fly

At a recent meeting, I saw a T‑shirt.  It was a simple T‑shirt with a profound message.

On the T‑shirt was the following:

Pole Vaulting:

  1. Approach
  2. Plant
  3. Take off
  4. Swing up
  5. Extension
  6. Turn
  7. And fly away

Interesting T‑shirt.  The act of pole vaulting can be broken down into a series of discrete steps.  Each step has to be taken fearlessly and thoroughly.  If you succeed you will vault the pole.  If, however, you are not fearless and thorough with each separate step, you will not vault the pole.

This brings to mind Bill Wilson’s answer to the interview question, “Is there anything in the big book that you would change if you were to write it again?”

His answer: “Yes, I would change the word rarely to never in how it works.  A condition, of course, is that the person takes the steps fearlessly and thoroughly.”

This has been my experience.  These steps work, and they work in sequence, and they work if I apply myself to them.

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