Just Like Einstein

If you’ve been keeping up with my travels at all, you know that I’ve been spending an exorbitant amount of time on airplanes this year. A few months ago I sat next to this really interesting lady on one of my flights and I have to say, it was most enlightening. She works as a franchise manager (or some title like that) for Einstein Bros. Bagels. Being a small business owner myself, I love discussing different styles of business ownership and we had a very pleasant discussion where she explained to me the ins and outs of Einstein. I learned about floor plans, sizes, locations, how much the bagels really cost to make (not going to share, but it was one of those things I’d always wanted to know), etc. I’m a huge fan of bagels and Einstein’s has always been one of my favorite places to hit when I’m on the road. I can’t eat them the way I used to when I was 17, but I sure do enjoy them, especially their specialty bagels and bagel sandwiches. I think that I’m getting hungry…

Thinking about this the other day (and this will probably go to show my wandering thought process), it got me thinking about a quote I read from Einstein quite some time ago. “The more I learn, the more I realize I don’t know. The more I realize I don’t know, the more I want to learn.” I love this attitude and if you want to achieve greatness, you need to own it as well.

Last year before I headed over to Australia, my wife and I decided that we wanted to scuba dive on the Great Barrier Reef. So we went ahead and took our open water diving class in the diving capital of Oklahoma/Arkansas. I’ll bet you didn’t know how awesome it is here (quick note: Australia is better…for diving). Anyway, since we finished that class we haven’t stopped learning. In the past year we have taken Advanced Open Water, Nitrox, Buoyancy, Dry Suit (Alicia’s favorite), Cavern and Sidemount. Tomorrow and Monday we are taking Intro to Cave and plan on completing our Full Cave diving class early next year. Some of you are probably thinking…you’re stupid. I will admit that cave diving is not the cup of tea most people like to drink, but I love it. Plus I know that learning a technical type of diving is going to make me a better diver all around. I’ll be safer, more knowledgeable…and I’ll realize how much I still don’t know..even more so than before.

Every time I get into an activity I want to learn as much as I can about it. I love the challenge, but I also love reminding myself just how much there is out there that I can’t comprehend. This in turns cycles back on how I teach jump rope and makes me a better instructor and jumper. Be willing to put yourself out there, challenge yourself and be crazy enough to do something stupid every once in a while. I had no clue how much fun cave diving was going to be. Tomorrow I’ll probably have a few moments where I’ll be a little freaked out, but I’m excited and can’t wait to get going at it. I don’t know if Einstein would join me, but I’m sure he’d enjoy the challenge and the expansion of his world. I do know he’d sit down and enjoy a bagel.