A friend of mine - actually the oldest person I'm friends with - he's well into his 80s - is a retired pilot of a major airline. He first learned to fly in a biplane - Tiger Moth before graduating to a DHC Chipmunk and joining his first airline flying Dakota DC3s, Vickers Viscounts, B707’s and then onto the DC-10. As a senior pilot and captain he finished his career flying Boeing 747s
But on a recent trip to the US he visited a flying school that offered lessons for seaplanes. He spent time chatting with the instructor and after the required background checks and payment returned a few days later for his lesson. When the instructor asked him what flight plan he should file, my friend smiled and told him, " No need I, I've flown all kinds of aircraft all over the world but never on water. I just want to take off and land"
And so for the next 45 minutes he took off and landed on the water eight times. And as he told me the tale he had the smile of man doing something he loved but in a new and totally different way.
And that made me think - how often do we get set in our ways and do the same thing over and over - and how often do we spot the opportunity to do it differently and then take that opportunity?