Starling Moments: Why Showing Up Matters
I was really struck by this image captured by James Crombie in Ireland this past week. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime moment where a flock of starlings, flying in unison, happened to come together to form the image of a giant bird. It’s a breathtaking piece of serendipity. (Even the video is mesmerizing)
It caught me by surprise, as all art does, and it made me reflect on what should we do with moments like that?
Life is messy. Our day-to-day existence tends to be wildly inconsistent. Our carefully considered plans are thwarted by randomness. Our intentions don’t play out in the way we thought they would. It’s the inevitable complexity of being a human.
But every now and then, we experience a moment where everything just falls into place. That moment where the stars seem to line up and we see order in the chaos.
That moment where the starlings align:
It could be the moment when you first realize you’re in love.
It could be the moment when you send the first invoice for a new business.
It could be the moment where you successfully diagnose the medical condition that’s been ailing you.
It could be the moment you put on a pair of glasses for the first time and realize what the world actually looks like in HD.
It could be the moment where you sink a long putt on a green that you spent a long time trying to read.
On an on, these manifestations are like a clarion call in the darkness, a lighthouse through the fog, an oasis in the desert. Fleeting, yet awe-inducing.
These starling moments are addictive. They’re enticing. They make life special.
Yet, they feel far out of our control. So, we write them off as coincidence.
We enjoy them while they last but resign ourselves to the fact that life will return to chaos, it will return to normal. And all we will be left with is the photograph.
But is that true? Is it truly out of our control?
A key piece of the starling story that I’ve held back until now is the fact that Crombie and his friend Colin Hogg had made more than 50 trips to that lake over the few months preceding that moment. Hogg had noticed the starlings and became convinced that there would come an opportunity for the photo of a lifetime.
So, the two of them would regularly go to the side of the lake and wait, patiently, shooting thousands of photos that would never see the light of day. Time and time again they put themselves in the position to get that shot. It almost felt inevitable. If they kept showing up, surely something magical would unfold?
And of course, it did.
The same is true with us. Those starling moments of order in our lives are not mere coincidences. You can impact their frequency by choosing to put yourself in the right position to experience them. You can show up time and time again. With enough dedication and consistency, it becomes inevitable.
Roosevelt spoke about the “man in the arena”.
Wayne Gretzky mused: “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take”.
Woody Allen preached that “90% of success is just showing up.”
Put yourself in the position to see the starlings.
That’s how you create moments of awe for yourself. That’s how you change your life.
You show up consistently in the places where you want things to happen. You invest time and resources in practicing for the moments of great opportunities. You take risks. You ask for what you want. You don’t get dissuaded by the 43rd rejection, you just dust yourself off and try again.
Because eventually, the starlings will align.
And you’ll be the one there with the camera.
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