Sky Diving - Tandem Jump

By Jim Cathcart
(See also the full action video link at the end of this post)

It seems that the "rites of passage" experiences have all found their way to my path.

Though I never had the "Middle-Age Crazy" phase I have nonetheless done all the ethical things that go along with that process. My regular readers already know that I'm into motorcycles, cars, rock and roll, and mountain hiking. Well, yesterday I added sky diving to the list.

What a day! After a brisk mountain hike with my usual crew (36:03 to the top), I joined my friends Neil & Louise Paton in their private plane, a beautiful Cirrus, and flew to Lompoc, CA for the sky diving.

The sky remained overcast for almost two hours (we flew in on instruments) but finally cleared enough for the jump. Louise got the tandem jump as a birthday present from Neil and they invited me to go along. So I called in and quickly reserved my own tandem jump with SkydiveSantaBarbara.com. In a tandem jump you just follow the instructions of your jump master (the guy directly behind you.) He pulls the rip cord and makes all the life or death decisions. (And believe me, you are aware that they are life or death decisions!)

We flew for about 25 minutes before the jump. Our jump started at 13,000 feet (the towns were microscopic from up there.) And we opened the chute at 5,500 feet. I jumped first and Louise and her partner soon followed.

My jump master was Victor and I was strapped and hooked to his chest. He wore the chute and reserve chute and he would be pulling the rip cord. My job was to keep my back arched against him and legs together and feet back...and pray. All of which I did with fervor. When they opened the side door on our little plane he said, "put your legs out the door and keep your feet back". The next thing I knew we were airborne! There was no decision point with the fateful query, "Are you ready?" We just jumped. And boy did we jump!

I kept my eyes closed as we exited but then forced them open once we were somewhat leveled off. The 120 miles per hour descent is truly forceful but there's no ordinary sense of falling. However, check out the cheeks (and the hair) in this photo! We flew for about a full minute and then opened the chute. As it jerked us to a slower descent I could see our cameraman below us, on his back falling toward the Earth still filming us! Then he opened his smaller chute and quickly landed and resumed filming us from the ground. I saw my friend Neil on the ground about 4,000 feet below us and shouted hello to him. He later said he heard me clearly.

Then my new best friend Victor guided us to the landing where we came to a cold stop just as smoothly as standing up from a chair.

Wow, no exertion, no impact, just standing up. I was impressed. The thrill was fabulous, the experience memorable for a lifetime, and the lesson?

Heck, I don't know. It was just a great thrill ride. I've wanted to do this all my life and now my bucket list is one item shorter, but then, they do have more jumps available....hmmmm.

I'll reflect on all of this later and share my thoughts with you. For now, please enjoy the story and photos. I'll see you soon.

www.cathcart.com

Tandem jump from 13,000 feet at Lompoc, CA with Skydivesantabarbara.com. The first minute shows me before the flight and as we ascend. The second minute is me free falling at 120 mph. The third minute is the cameraman opening his chute and landing, then it switches to his footage of me landing. 4:42 total time.

P.S. If you would like to see all 88 of my photos from the jump I'll be happy to send you a link to my Shutterfly account. Just drop me an email request.

B.F.O. - Blinding Flash of the Obvious

By Jim Cathcart

I just returned from a motorcycle ride over the Santa Monica Mountains and along the length of Malibu. It's Labor Day weekend and tens of thousands were at the beaches. But I was lost in a world of thought. I've been pondering ways to describe more succinctly what it is that I do. 

This is a process I've been involved in for three decades now. How do I explain simply and easily how I help others? I've tried "Business Growth Specialist", "Professional Speaker and Trainer", "Business Advisor", "Executive Coach", "Psychological Researcher", "Business Author" and simply "Consultant." But none of these quite clicked for me. All were accurate but none truly captured the whole picture. 

Well today I had a BFO, a blinding flash of the obvious. 

I'm a Motivation Expert. 

For 31 years I've done motivational speaking all over the world, written 14 books on personal and professional development, conducted training on Relationship Selling and Customer Loyalty, owned a psychological research firm and collaborated with a team of researchers to help people understand how to make better choices in business and in life. I've earned every designation and award that a professional speaker could aspire to and yet, it has eluded me that I am and have been simply "A Motivation Expert." (duh!) 

I know motivation better than most people because I've studied it for more than 35 years. I've also practiced it in direct applications with client companies and my own teams around the nation. I know and am known by all of the top experts in this field and have the professional credentials and body of knowledge to back it up. How do we miss these things????? 

I've consulted with colleagues on hundreds of occasions and I seem to have a knack for defining what they do and how they can best communicate it. Why not for myself? I don't know, but I am humbly grateful for the insight God blessed me with this day. 

Now, I can finally answer the question, "what do you do?" 

I'm a motivation expert. I am an author, speaker, trainer, consultant and coach who focuses specifically on how to get people to do what needs to be done when it needs to be done whether they feel like it or not and still do it well. So I write books and articles, create training systems, deliver keynote speeches, conduct training programs, advise and consult with executive teams, and coach individual executives and top performers. I help them motivate themselves, their coworkers, their prospective clients and their families. I teach "Intelligent Motivation for a Challenging World." 

(I just captured the domain name: "themotivationexpert.com" to stake my claim a bit more firmly.) 

So, my friends whenever you need assistance in getting people (including yourself) to do what needs to be done, I'm your guy. I always have been, but now it's easier to explain it because I just noticed what the rest of the world has seen for decades. I'm a motivation expert. 

Now, go out there and do something that matters. :-)

Jim  

Cathcart now has his own town!

By Jim Cathcart

OK, everyone who has their own city or town please raise their hand. 

Yep, that would be me holding up my hand. 

Yesterday I got a fun envelope in the mail. My colleague Neil Dempster, a speaker from 

Scottsdale, Arizona sent photos from his recent trip to Canada. He had driven through the tiny town of Cathcart, Ontario on his way to a speaking engagement. 

Being the generous guy that he is, he searched for a place in Cathcart to buy a disposable camera so he could send me a picture. Seems they haven't grown quite large enough yet to have a place where one could buy a camera, so Neil drove to the next town and returned to take the photos you see here. 

So, the next time you are in Ontario, Canada please stop in and tell the fine folks in Cathcart that I said "Hello". I plan to make a trek to Cathcart myself as soon as I can. 

BTW, for those who are into genealogy and heraldry, Cathcart started as a place in Scotland. 

It was a castle (Cath) by the Cart River in Glasgow. We went there years ago and traced our family roots. The family's motto is "I hope to Speed." (Me too.) 

Happy travels everyone, may you discover your own town soon. 

Jim Cathcart 

www.cathcart.com 

The Ultimate Taxi - Aspen, Colorado

By Jim Cathcart




Yesterday I was in Aspen, CO for a speech on "Behavioral Economics" to a group of insurance executives at the St. Regis Hotel (what a great venue!)

While I was there, on the advice of my friend Mike Howe I booked a taxi ride.
That's right a taxi ride. But not just any taxi, this was a yellow cab owned by Jon Barnes and appropriately dubbed "The Ultimate Taxi."

Ultimate Taxi Website

Jon has created a theme park on four wheels. Here is the description from his website.

The World Famous Ultimate Taxi is a 1978 Checker with 493,768 miles on the odometer. The Taxi has been modified with 4 Red Lasers, 1 Green Yag Laser Projector, Wildfire Blacklight Effects, Color Kinetics C-30's, LightWashers, LightOrbs, Mini-Strobes, Color Changing Fiber Optics, a Mirror Ball, a Dry Ice Fog machine, 14 Mini Stage Lights, a Killer 900 Watt Alpine 6 Disc CD System, the Yamaha PSR-620Keyboard, Yamaha DD-55 Digital Drums, a Nikon CoolPix 4300 digital camera, the Panasonic EZ-1 DV Cam, a Sony GRS700 Notebook Computer, a Sony Mini Dye-Sub Photo Printer , an Aironet 2 Megabit high-speed Wireless LAN, an SFX Haze Machine, a Nokia Cellular Phone, and 100 feet of Cool Neon EL Wire from elbestbuy.com.















Paula and I took the ride with our friends Connie Podesta and her husband Chuck Heinz. I'll post a few of the photos here, but you've got to visit the website and see the interviews on Fox and other stations to get a true feel for it. Also, until you ride in the cab you cannot truly "get it" as to how much fun this is!













During the ride Jon plays the keyboard, the electric drums, an electric clarinet and even shows a roller coaster ride on the computer screen!



Yes and he still drives...about 15 miles per hour. There is no way to leave his cab with a frown. You'll feel good all night.




























Now you've just got to ask yourself, if he can do this with a taxi ride and become nationally famous for making it so much fun, How can I add some fun and creativity to what I offer so that the word of mouth advertising pays off even better than my paid promotion? If you need my help on thinking about that drop me an email.

Enjoy! And a special thank you to Jon Barnes.
Jim Cathcart

In Praise of Rock and Roll & Guitars

By Jim Cathcart

Dan Clanton was my college room mate and best buddy back in 1964-5-6. We met during registration in our freshman year at "Arkansas State Teachers College." Ironically, though neither of us originally intended to ever become a teacher, both of us ended up as trainers and speakers.

An important element in Dan's profile is He Plays Guitar! Even back then, he knew enough to help me learn to play a few songs I enjoyed. I ultimately bought a broken guitar for $1 and later a nice Classical Guitar for $60 and followed Dan's instructions. At that time I was in my late teens through early twenties and music was everywhere! I listened to the radio and played "records" (I know, I'm a relic!) every day.

The Beatles were the big hit and Elvis was still at the top of the charts. Folk music had become big and groups like Peter, Paul & Mary, The Kingston Trio, The Four Preps and The Mommas & Poppas were getting more popular every day. The "British Invasion" of Beatles, Rolling Stones, Dave Clark Five, Gerry & the Pacemakers, The Animals, Herman's Hermits and the Kinks all had hits around that time. (Baby boomers are saying "Man, Yeah!" while GenXers are asking "Who?") Yes, The Who were big also. :-)

I played almost everyday and regularly gathered my friends together for an evening of singing a beginner's version of what was on the radio that day. As you'd expect my skills improved and before long I was performing in clubs and lounges for pay. Not much pay but they gave me an audience and a chance to hone my skills "live and in person!"

For a short while I had a two man group called "The Harper Brothers" (we made up the name) and my partner played an upright Bass while I played guitar and banjo. Three nights a week in beer joints for a net of about $600 a month each. One place paid us $15 each per night plus tips. We didn't care, we were "musicians" and we had an audience.

My goal at the time was a career as a singer/guitarist. I was going to leave Little Rock, Arkansas and move to Nashville, get a day job, take music lessons in the afternoon and play the clubs at night until I got "discovered" and then became famous. Nice plan, but life had other designs for me.

When Paula and I married in 1970 I was playing the lounge at Steak n' Ale restaurant "The Jolly Ox Pub" and during the day I worked as an investment salesman for IDS. Business paid off more than singing so I left the entertainment business for many years and just played and sang at home. And then...

A few years ago, here in Lake Sherwood, California, one of our friends invited us to a "Hot August Night" party at their home and requested that I bring my guitar. :-) Oh, Yeah!
In preparation for the party I got a Neil Diamond songbook and started practicing songs from his Hot August Night album. One song led to another and I ended up playing guitar almost every day. By party time I had a repertoire big enough to keep a crowd singing along for most of the night. My skills were minimal but the parties were great fun. We held a "Guitar Night" at our home and then another. Then a neighbor started hosting them and now it's part of our social calendar about once a quarter. We play in the parlor, on the beach and anywhere we can gather a group.







My son and I both play and we stimulate each other to learn even more. Some good friends have joined in the fun and our social calendar has expanded in very exciting ways.
Naturally, I don't know the more recent music but happily my son knows and loves much of the music from my era. So, he's teaching me guitar techniques now.











Last year I did a speaking engagement for a music company and acquired three high quality guitars (acoustic electric Takamine's and an Ovation Adamas 12 string). Now I'm happily playing for a half hour or more every day. In my office there are two guitars on stands and in our living room is another plus two music stands with stacks of songbooks from my favorite artists.

Why am I telling you this? Because I want you to see the enormous joy it brings to my life and then think about what might bring that kind of joy into your life. It may not be music but whatever it is, it should challenge you to keep on learning, while giving you enormous happiness as you pursue it. Luckily my "hobby" increases my contact with others. Some endeavors tend to isolate you too much for my tastes.

Think about what gives you joy and what you'd like to become much better at doing. Don't wait till you have lots of spare time, just start doing a little of it every day. Put your "tools" in a handy place so it's easy to get started and to stop if other needs arise. Stretch and grow, find some people who can be your teachers and role models. And Rock On!

PS Dan Clanton is now touring with a group of singer/guitarists and has released a recent CD of his own original songs.
PPS I wrote a song about motorcycling back in 1968 and recorded it in 2004. It is on my website. The title is "Riding Free." And I'm even adding a song or two to some of my speeches when appropriate. The first photo in this article is of me on stage at Opryland in Nashville playing in front of 1,000 people at a convention during my keynote speech.