Lessons in Engineering Your Life

Someone sent me a joke I’d like to share with you.

Scientists at NASA built a gun specifically to launch dead chickens at the windshields of airplanes, military jets, and the space shuttle, all traveling at maximum velocity.

The idea was to simulate the frequent incidents of collisions with airborne fowl to test the strength of the windshields.

British engineers heard about the gun and were eager to test it on the windshields of their new high-speed trains. Arrangements were made, and a gun was sent to the British engineers.

When the gun was fired, the engineers stood shocked as the chicken hurtled out of the barrel, crashed into the shatterproof shield, smashed it to smithereens, blasted through the control console, snapped the pilot's backrest in two, and embedded itself in the back wall of the cabin.

The horrified Brits sent NASA the disastrous results of the experiment, along with the designs for the windshield, and begged the U.S. scientists for suggestions.

NASA responded with a one-line memo: "Thaw the chicken."

How often have you jumped to conclusions, assumed something that wasn’t correct, or not thought through a process or decision? Or, heaven forbid, didn’t even read the manual?! (Gotcha!!)

We all make dumb mistakes, goof up and get things wrong. So when you do, what is your next step? Do you get mad at someone else, trying to find someone to blame for your predicament? Do you get mad at yourself, calling yourself dumb, stupid, and other unflattering names?

Or do you laugh at yourself, pick up the pieces and start again, get help, or at least learn from the experience?

I have been learning some things in my relationships and communications lately. Hopefully, the frozen chicken syndrome won’t apply to do any significant damage in the process before all is resolved!

I encourage you to stop the blame game, take the responsibility for the results in your life, forgive yourself, learn and move on to your next level of excellence!