He Jumped, I Saw it, And I Cannot Unsee It Or What Happened Next

I yelled for him not to jump.

It was too late though.

As I looked out my window I saw it all from start to finish.

The thing that makes this worth sharing and writing about is that the little fella was a chick, probably about 6-days away from being able to fly. But I think he jumped the gun, so to speak. Maybe he was a little over eager to take to the skies when he hadn't quite earned his wings yet.

Yeah. A chick. A baby'ish bird.

There's a bit of backstory though

About a month or so ago, several Oyster Catchers decided to make nests on the roof of my building here in Norway. Ok, it's not "MY" building but rather the place where I live. The Oyster Catchers, or OC's, are usually discouraged from nesting on the roof, but this little couple managed to sneak in and set up house. And the rule of thumb here is that if they set up a nest, then you gotta leave them alone.

Protecting the environment and stuff.

The spot where they set up is a slight outcropping on the 2nd floor, and from the 3rd floor we can peer down at them as they set up to you know…make some Nordic nookie. And no, we didn't watch them bumping uglies, that would be weird. I'm just sharing so you have a visual of how we can see them on the roof.

But I digress.

The long and short of it is they did build nests. They did lay some eggs and the eggs did hatch these cute little Oyster Catcher chicks. And in case you're wondering, baby "OC's" are as cute as little puppies or kittens when they're born. Or hatched. Hell, you know what I mean.

Over the weeks we watched them grow.

You can tell they're maturing because not only do they obviously get bigger, but their beaks turn bright orange. It's a site to see. Mother nature doing her thing right before your very eyes.

One day a little chick ventured to the edge of the roof and peered over. In his own little bird brain he probably thought and said to himself, "oh heeellllll Nah!"

He went back to the nest.

His bro did the same. Peered over the edge and gave a little wing flap.

My heart skipped a beat.

Was I actually going to witness a little bird take flight for the first time? It's almost like watching a kid stand and take a step. Wobbly at first. But alas, he went back to the nest.

You could tell that this bird was the bolder of the two.

About 4-days passed and they did the same thing. Big bro peered over the edge, flapped, went back to wait for mom at the nest.

Then little bro waddled to the edge too. Peered over. Flapped his wings once and in his bird brain said "fuck it, I'm out"…

And he flew.

He flew exactly four inches before his wings tried to engage but they never did. He wasn't ready to fly.

He hit the ground.

Dead on impact.

And just like that, he was gone.

His little bro still peers over the edge on the daily. The mama bird flies off to get fish for the nest. Their little bird life and family goes on.

There's a deeper lesson here

I've been thinking a lot about that whole saga.

Not in a sad way or lamenting the passing of the little OC. I mean, it is tragic, but it's also nature.

No, I've been pondering it in terms of all the lessons that it brought forth.

One of the biggest is the whole dang, stupid saying that some of my fellow entrepreneurs say over and over again about how starting something often means to "jump and build your wings on the way down."

And then they wax poetic about how entrepreneurs "never fail, we either succeed or learn."

Then I thought about that bird.

He was born to fly.

He was designed to fly.

He was supposed to fly.

And he's dead.

So why the hell would any human, who has a dream to "fly" with their very own idea, startup, company, passion, or dream think that it's totally fucking normal to jump and then build wings?

Seriously.

Do these foolish mentors who teach and preach this even know how to build wings? Do the entrepreneurs and freelancers who they advise to take that leap have any idea that wings are not easy to build AFTER you jump? Have they even ever built those wings and lept themselves?

There's no glory in failure due to lack of preparation.

We both know, you and me I mean, that you won't literally splat on the ground. But taking that leap and figuring it all out as you descend is no way to start, launch or grow. There's certainly no cool life lesson learned when the fall and metaphorical 'splat' results in lost savings that you invested into the idea. A drained 401k, or a loved one who leaves you because you cost the family everything.

You see the truth about "leaping and building wings on the way down" is that it sounds cool, sexy and something that entrepreneurs should embrace, when in fact it's pure lunacy.

And for the ones who teach and preach it, it's just plain immoral and ethically inept.

There's a right way and a calculated time to leap.

So let's get back to the OC a sec

You see the surviving bro is practicing flying. He's taking small leaps everyday and opening his wings to catch air. Often he'll take a few bounding steps to grab speed and then leap into the air.

ON THE ROOF.

But each leap he's a little higher. And each day his beak is a little more orange. His feathers even seem to be sharper by the hour, as if they're becoming more flight worthy with each and every practice jump.

Sound familiar?

It's a lot like what a real pro would teach and preach. To find the idea. Build a model or MVP. Test it. Test it again. Test it in the real world.

Then launch.

You see once we've done all the above, then in a real sense, we've built our wings and have set ourselves up for flight, and maximum success. You won't always succeed but I'll bet dollars to donuts you and your idea, or freelance career will have a flighting chance. Get it? I said "flighting" instead of "fighting".

The lessons learned

There are two big lessons here. 

One is for entrepreneurs, founders, freelancers or creators. The other is specifically for those folks who are writers or freelance writers. And I suppose they may be interchangeable.

Lesson #1 

…is that if a mentor, advisor, goo-roo or one of your homies says that you should "leap and build wings" then you have my permission to slap that son of a bitch across the face with a rubber chicken.

It won't leave bruises, break the skin or require stitches, and you'd be paying homage to the little birds who have lept and met their bird maker.

Tell 'em that's from Rick and the rooftop OC's.

Lesson #2 

…is that you should never, ever have a dry well of ideas to write about. Stories are all around us and are begging you, pleading with us as writers, to give them meaning.

So give them meaning.

Go now. Create something. Save a bird.

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I appreciate your reading this. I'd love to get to know you better…