Bertrand Piccard is planning to circle the planet in a solar-powered airplane. He watched 6 Apollo takeoffs as a little boy. His Dad was a deep sea submarine diver and has been to The Mariana Trench – the deepest part of the world’s oceans. His grandfather invented the pressurized cabin – first person to see the curvature of the earth with his own eyes.
He grew up in a home where was no limit to big dreams – he thought it was normal in every family.
30 years after watching the Apollo spaceship go to the moon 1999 – Bertrand and Brian Jones were the first men to circle the earth in a hot air ballon. They landed with less than 2 hours worth of fuel – after 20 days of flying. And Bertrand made a promise to himself – that the next time he flew around the world it would be with no fuel. To not be threatened by the possibility of running out of fuel.
He says a “pioneering spirit” is to observe what we have learned to do and what we now think and believe and try something else. An active disruptive behavior from what you have learned to what you would like to achieve. 
He plans to fly his plane, the Solar Impulse, around the world next year – in 2015. And he’s already taken the maiden flight – just happened on Monday, June 2nd.
When Lindbergh crossed the ocean everyone knew that was the stretch limit – only enough fuel and capacity for one person. 20 years later we had planes carrying 200 people across the Atlantic.
Bertrand says people will tell you things are impossible – and that’s exactly why we should try to do them.
In the NPR TED Radio Hour where I heard this interview, Kai Ryssdal asked Bertrand, “Do you see a future where we will use solar energy to move us around?”
Bertrand replied, “I would be crazy to say Yes and stupid to say No.”
Today we don’t have the technology but we have to release our pioneering spirit to open new doors. People who fight to keep things the same will disappear.
Do you have a “pioneering spirit” or are you trying to keep things the same as they are now?
What personal dream do you have where you would be crazy to say it can be done but stupid to say it can’t be done? I love that kind of dream –
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Let me hear your dream. I’ll select 3 answers from responses received by Monday, July 21st and send you a copy of Chris Guillebeau’s book – The Art of Non-Conformity: Set Your Own Rules, Live the Life You Want, and Change the World
I have a dream of creating a website that connects small to medium sized businesses in my community who have projects they want to outsource and to local freelancers looking for work. I believe this website can help create more work for freelancers and help SMB’s find good local help. I think this idea has a lot of potential and I am using the HEROES guide you recently posted on another blog about crowdfunding and am going to submit my idea to a local crowdfunding site!
Wow, simply amazing! I thought I had big dreams 🙂 My next dream Dan is to buy some land and build a second home in Mombasa. We want to spend one month a year in Kenya near my family.
Wow, he seems to come from a family that dreams big and lives their dreams. We should all be teaching our kids that no dream is to big for them. My personal dream is to create an online community of Christian husbands and dads who what to live their life by design and not by default. To not just live their life, but to live their life on purpose and for a purpose.
Amazing! It just shows you that environment is key to dream-making and dream-living. My dream is to fully support my family through my writing, speaking, and coaching.
Piccard’s questing is a touchstone for us! We need to write a new story, freeing ourselves from that worn-out script we’ve been living by. I love his thought about initiating an “ACTIVE DISRUPTIVE BEHAVIOR” — moving from what we’ve previously learned to what we aspire to achieve. A fresh dream for me is to develop creative online learning resources which intersect with real needs. It seems crazy: there’s a stiff learning curve to develop a system to deliver learning content. But I’d be stupid to say it can’t be done, because deep-down my instincts tell me I’m wired for this.
I’ve heard some people criticize Piccard stating that he is not accomplishing anything different than what has been done before. While he is standing on the shoulders of the work that has come before, his “disruptive behavior” is taking this technology around the world and creating a vision of what is possible. The work of Piccard and his team has inspired me in my own aviation endeavors to bring the awesomeness of flying your own aircraft to the public. More recently I’ve become a conduit to bring the safe and ethical use of small commercial drones into reality in the USA.
My “solar powered plane around the world” is starting a writing and coaching business that helps artists bust the myths that keep them from leading fulfilling lives. As an artist, I understand the unique needs of this group and am passionate about helping them. Although i just started building my ‘plane’, I realize the sunshine is in abundant supply… I just have to finish building it, climb in and take off. God’s rays will provide the power as long as i keep it in the air, and pointed in the right direction.
Dan thanks for the opportunity for us to share our dreams with you. My dream is to empower women who are running from their past and afraid of their futures. I want them to know that their past does not define their futures and fear is only a thought in the mind. I want to teach them the three prolific steps of 1) Comitted decision to change 2) Self-Awareness 3) Personal Development and how these create a lasting change towards a happy, healthy, and abundant life.
Awesome post Dan! I ask myself this question more and more – What is impossible, really? The answer is nothing is impossible as long as you believe a way can be found. If you believe something is impossible, YOU will be right 100% of the time for yourself. But, someone will always come along and prove you wrong. I love the quote –
Bertrand replied, “I would be crazy to say Yes and stupid to say No.”
Clark – you are so right! Think about how many things we take for granted today were “impossible” just a few years ago. I ask myself every day – what have I done today for the very first time? Those are the things that lead me into new adventures. I like to look for those crazy Yes opportunities.