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On a beautiful day in the summer of 2005, I hopped on my bicycle for a ride amidst the cornfields of Indiana. I always liked to ride my bike but I never rode more than 10-20 miles at a time, so I wasn’t going far. As I was riding, the thought occurred to me that the following summer would be a good time to fulfill my dream of riding my bike across the country. As I approached the end of my ride, I got more and more excited about the trip. I thought of all the adventures I would have, and I thought about how much fun it would be to ride across deserts, mountains, and cornfields and to go cross-country with a bunch of friends. I became more and more enthusiastic envisioning the whole trip until, finally, something within me snapped. I made a definitive decision: the following summer, after my second year of teaching, I was going to ride my bike across the country.

You must understand that I knew absolutely nothing about how this trip would work. I didn’t know how to fix a flat tire, I had never ridden more than 20 miles on my own, I didn’t know how much it would cost, I didn’t know if anyone else wanted to come, and I had no idea about where we would start, where we would finish, or the route we would take. There were so many unanswered questions that needed answering, but the decision had been made: I was going to ride my bike across the country, even though I knew absolutely nothing about how to make it happen.

I ran into a peculiar problem, though, when I told other people about what I wanted to do. I calculated that we would need to ride 80 miles a day, but someone would tell me, “You can’t sustain that. Your bodies won’t handle it.” I found out that it would cost about $2500 per person, and someone would ask me, “But how are you going to get that much money?” I decided I wanted to start in LA, and someone would say, “It’s way too crowded. That will never work.” I decided we would take a longer route of 3500 miles, and someone would say, “But your bikes will break down along the way. You are going to have some major problems.” So many people kept telling me why this wasn’t a good idea and how it probably wouldn’t happen.

But you see, all these people were looking at these problems from a different perspective than I was. They saw these as problems that would prevent me from even attempting in the first place, but I saw them as challenges that were going to be overcome on the way to our final destination. Some people asked questions that they thought would need to be answered before we started, but I guess I’m either not good at listening or not good at reality because I just didn’t view it that way. Some people think you must clear every hurdle before you begin, but I just ask if it something worth doing and if so, then I start doing it.

Barrier vs. Hurdle. Stumbling Block vs. Challenge. Risk vs. Opportunity. Problem vs. Solution. Whatever you name it, there is a big difference between these two perspectives.

People are really good at figuring out all the reasons why something won’t work. They know all the problems, who is to blame, what is getting in their way, and the risks that are involved. However, a lot of people fail to look for and seize the solutions to these problems, the answers to their issues, and the rewards that are on the other side of the risks. If you want to be a leader, don’t complain, don’t find all the reasons why something will not work, and don’t point fingers. Just find something that is worth doing that you are excited about, and then start doing it.

People want to increase student achievement and standardized test scores, but if you are only concerned with finding the problems, the barriers and the risks, then you will never attain what it is you want. “We don’t have smart students.” “We can’t afford enough computers.” “My principal is just not supportive of me.” These are all complaints, not solutions. Schools need more leaders, and these leaders do not have to be your administrators. Schools do not need more people in charge, they need more people who are willing to take initiative. They need people who are willing to create the vision, and then put in the work to attain that vision. Student achievement will not improve by just wanting it to happen. It requires the willingness to overcome the inevitable challenges that come along the way.

Bobby Knight said, “It’s not the will to win that is important. It is the will to prepare to win that is important.” Many people want to do great things, but leaders are people who are willing to put in the work to attain that vision. And most importantly, they don’t wait around for somebody to tell them to do it.
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Fast forward to the summer of 2006: We assembled a group of 8 teachers (myself included) and we rode our bikes 3500 miles, all the way from L.A. to New York City. We decided to also visit a ton of schools along the way to get a national perspective of what was happening in education, and we had the opportunity to interact with so many talented and passionate individuals. But it wasn’t all “fun”, and we had to overcome huge hurdles and challenges along the way. We had tires explode, hospital visits and enlarged hearts, detours, arguments, a trip through (I kid you not) the “endless mountains”, and really, really sore legs and butts. However, in the end, it was one of the greatest summers of my life! I am forever grateful for the opportunity to have spent so much time with such an awesome group of people. I am so glad I didn’t listen to all the reasons why the trip wouldn’t work. I’m so glad that, at least for this one opportunity, I had the courage to lead.

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P.s. Our trip website, miraculously, is still up. Click here to visit it, and then you can click through the archives to read more about the whole trip. I just finished reading almost all of the posts, and it brought back some great memories. If you ever want to ride your bike across the country, I can give you some advice about what NOT to do!