By Bill Quain
Higher heights than world record holder
In the spring of 1967, I was a high school freshman pole vaulter. I managed to leap higher than the 1963 world record holder, Russian athlete Valeriy Brumel.
How is it possible that a skinny kid from Philadelphia could outjump the world record holder, not once but many times? Well, it has to do with leaping and leveraging. You’ll get the details later in this column. First, let’s talk about the leap we’re about to take on Feb. 29.
Leap, leverage, dream, and dare daily
In the 2012 leap year, I released my book, “Happy Leap Year – Leap, Leverage Dream & Dare,” which is available on Amazon. I had a goal for that book – to become a No. 1 bestseller on Amazon.
To achieve this, I called on Ocean City Broadcast Television Engineer Steve Trauger. He set up a temporary studio in my house in Ocean City. We did one of the world’s first livestreaming events on Facebook. While I delivered my “Happy Leap Year” presentation, many of my book fans began to place their orders. It was exciting! We watched as the book climbed from total obscurity up through the top 1,000, to the top 100, and finally, it broke through to a top-10 position. We were working the phones, emails, and Facebook itself to get that coveted No. 1 spot. Late in the day, we moved to No. 2 in our category… and we stuck there. I can’t remember which book title held first place, but they must have had a pretty good set of salespeople, because try as we might, we never beat them out. However, No. 2 in an Amazon category was pretty good. I learned a lot from the experience – and sold a pile of books!
The real prize came when we repeated our sales efforts, throughout the year. We didn’t just leap one day and then stop. We kept on leaping for all 366 days.
Leap years: Officially qualified as uncommon
Non-leap years are called “common years”. As I was writing my book I did a lot of research into leap years and discovered why we have them. It seems that the earth doesn’t rotate around the sun in exactly 365 days. It’s actually 365 and ¼ days. We need to add an extra day every four years just to keep the calendar straight.
As I read the history of leap years, I thought – why not turn every year into an “uncommon year”? When you look back on 2024, do you want to look back on a common or uncommon year? When you look back on any year, do you want to see a common or uncommon year in your rearview mirror? I can tell you, I want every single year that I’m lucky enough to live through to be as uncommon as possible.
Most people never take a leap.
If I see an obstacle, I know there are just two decisions I want to make. Do I want to get a ladder and struggle up one rung at a time, or do I want to get a running start and leap over that sucker? I find that leaping is more fun.
Many people are afraid to leap because they don’t want a bad landing. The secret is to choose the landing spot first. In every situation, you need to know where you are going. Have a solid, identifiable goal. In my book, we call it a dream. If you know exactly where you want to land, you can muster up the energy you need to get there.
Did I break the world record?
Remember Valeriy Brumel’s 1963 world record leap of 7 feet, 6 inches? That is pretty high. Brumel was tall, but not that tall. Yet he ran up to that bar, leaped over it, and set the world record. That record was still standing in 1967 when I ran down the runway and flew way over that height, landing safely in the pit. How did I do it?
You see, Brumer was a high jumper. However, I was a pole vaulter. I had learned to leverage my leaps! I wasn’t even that good at pole vaulting! But there I was, jumping higher than the world champ.
Next week, we learn to leverage.
Do you want a leap year every year? If so, you need to learn to use leverage to turn your limiting leaps into terrific triumphs! It’s just a matter of changing your thinking.
Feb. 29 is the perfect day to begin an uncommon year. Why stop there? When you learn to leap, leverage, dream and dare, you can look back every 366 days and see the difference you made by changing the way you think. You’ll see an exciting year of “uncommon” achievement!
Tell me about when you leaped.
Shoot me an email with your “Leveraging over Leaping” story. As I say each week, “I’ll see ya in the papers!”
