If you want to change the world sometimes you have to slide down the obstacle head first.

Risk. In order to experience the best of life, we all must take some risks.

The price we pay for anything of value in our lives is a combination of the time and risk involved.

Weigh carefully the price of those things you are pursuing in your life to make sure they are worth it.

And then go for it. If it’s worth it, it’s worth it. Don’t let anything hold you back.

Is there an obstacle you need to slide down head first in your life?

Decide today to take the plunge.

Make it a great day.

Jake

Here is the text of this section of his speech:

At least twice a week, the trainees were required to run the obstacle course. The obstacle course contained 25 obstacles including a 10-foot high wall, a 30-foot cargo net, and a barbed wire crawl to name a few.

But the most challenging obstacle was the slide for life. It had a three level 30 foot tower at one end and a one level tower at the other. In between was a 200-foot long rope.

You had to climb the three tiered tower and once at the top, you grabbed the rope, swung underneath the rope and pulled yourself hand over hand until you got to the other end.

The record for the obstacle course had stood for years when my class began training in 1977.

The record seemed unbeatable, until one day, a student decided to go down the slide for life head first.

Instead of swinging his body underneath the rope and inching his way down, he bravely mounted the TOP of the rope and thrust himself forward.

It was a dangerous move — seemingly foolish, and fraught with risk. Failure could mean injury and being dropped from the training.

Without hesitation the student slid down the rope perilously fast, instead of several minutes, it only took him half that time and by the end of the course he had broken the record.

If you want to change the world sometimes you have to slide down the obstacle head first.
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