Today I attended the annual Willow Creek Leadetship Summit simulcast in Salem. It is probably the biggest such event in the world in that it is broadcasted in almost a hundred countries and over 400 cities in the U.S. I have attended it every year for about 20 years. One of the speakers this morning was Jim Collins who is considered one of the foremost experts on what it takes to be successful in business as a leader. He has studied businesses and those who lead them for years and has written many best sellers, my favorite is “Good to Great”, and for the last year he has been teaching leadership at West Point. His talk this morning was “The Five Intangible Traits of Great Leaders”. The first and most important trait of the five was what he called “Grit”. It was quite fascinating to listen to him talk about various leaders who accomplished a phenomenal amount in their lifetime because of this trait that refuses to quit or give up, rarely gets discouraged, works super hard, and has a passion for their goals that does not wane with set backs and barriers. All of the five intangible traits can be developed and made stronger and one of the ways to develope grit is to pursue a crazy physical goal like running a marathon, climbing a mountain, peddling your bicycle across the U.S. I think I will do that, pedal across the U.S. again. In March and April several of us are going to go from San Diago to St Augustine, Florida. We will average about 70 miles each day and mostly camp along the way most nights. I am building a Trike Recumbent, a three wheeled bike with 2 wheels in the front and one in the back. They are quite expensive to buy but I am building mine for a tenth of the cost of a new manufactured one. I hunted around and found a great set of plans. A friend is helping me with the welding and design. I am looking forward to developing grit in myself on this bicycle trip.