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- P18: Fly Higher
P18: Fly Higher
Defy your limitations, embrace creativity's call, and soar to new heights
Maria Keckler, Ph.D.
February 25, 2025
Welcome to the Just One Pivot letter, where I offer small shifts in perspective that can inspire your next best move. If someone shared it with you, you can subscribe here.
Reading Time: 4 Minutes
Today’s Pivot is “Fly Higher.”
Do you remember the first "adult" book you read? Or the first story that gripped your soul?
For me, it was Juan Salvador Gaviota, the Spanish translation of Jonathan Livingston Seagull. I was around 12 when I discovered it on my father's bookshelf, during the same year we lost him to brain cancer. A few years later, now living in the U.S., I read the English version and revisit it every few years.
If you haven’t read it, Jonathan Livingston Seagull is a story about a seagull who refuses to live like the rest of his flock—fighting over food and living a life grounded in routine.
Instead, he’s obsessed with flying, pushing himself to soar higher and faster, mastering the art of flight. His flock sees him as a rebel and outcast.
“For most gulls it was not flying that matters, but eating. For this gull, though, it was not eating that mattered, but flight.”
Jonathan learns that true freedom comes from breaking physical and mental limits and inspiring others in the process:
“Don’t believe what your eyes are telling you. All they show is limitation. Look with your understanding. Find out what you already know and you will see the way to fly.”
We can lift ourselves out of ignorance, we can find ourselves as creatures of excellence and intelligence and skill.
“Jonathan Seagull discovered that boredom and fear and anger are the reasons that a gull's life is so short, and with those gone from his thought, he lived a long fine life indeed.”
The Icarus Deception
The Greek myth of Icarus is also relevant to our conversation.
Icarus is a boy who escapes imprisonment with wings made of feathers and wax. His father, Daedalus, warns him not to fly too high or the sun will melt the wax. Icarus gets carried away, soars too high, and falls to his demise into the sea when the sun melts the wax.
For generations, this story has served as a warning: don’t reach too far, don’t fly too high, don’t risk too much, or you’ll come crashing down.
But that’s not the whole story.
In his book The Icarus Deception, Seth Godin reminds us that Daedalus also warned Icarus not to fly too low or too close to the waves, where the mist would weigh him down.
That part of the warning somehow got lost over time.
We’ve been conditioned to fear aiming too high, but the real danger might be playing it too safe—staying small, avoiding risk, and never testing the limits of our dreams, gifts, and capabilities.
Godin argues that one way we fly too low is by resisting our inner artist or innate inner call to be creative and bring new ideas into the world.
And if you’ve told yourself that you aren’t an artist or creative human being. Think again.
According to Godin, “Being an artist isn’t a genetic disposition or a specific talent…. If you do those things, you’re an artist.”
“Art is the unique work of a human being, work that touches another.
Seizing new ground, making connections between people or ideas, working without a map—these are works of art, and if you do them, you are an artist, regardless of whether you wear a smock, use a computer, or work with others all day long.”
Your Turn.
Flying too low is sticking to what’s familiar, following the rules, and hesitating to put your unique voice and ideas into the world. Yes, creativity feels risky. It invites criticism, uncertainty, and the possibility of failure. The alternative is missing the chance to create something meaningful that touches others.
So, what about you?
Are you holding yourself back—flying too low without even realizing it?
We all have invisible limits and the voices of our inner critic whispering: I’m not ready. I’m not good enough. I don’t have what it takes.
But what if those limits aren’t real? What if, like Jonathan Livingston Seagull, you can fly higher?
The truth is, you’ll never know until you try.
This week, challenge yourself to take one small (or big!) step outside your comfort zone. Say yes to something that scares you. Speak up. Start the thing you’ve been putting off. Choose to fly a little higher.
Or, as my dear friend Karen Hinds, Founder of The Renew Experience, likes to say:
Step boldly into your greatness.
Because the real risk isn’t failure—it’s never knowing how high you could have gone.
The gull sees farthest who flies highest.
Go and soar!
Maria
P.S. I’m celebrating the tenth anniversary of my book, Bridge Builders, with a speaking tour. If you want to discuss ways I can help you inspire your group, Send me a note.
P.S.S. If you know someone who could benefit from this, please forward this message or direct them to JustOnePivot.com.