I remember reading a fictional story when I was child, that I thought was called, The Plane That Crashed Before Takeoff. For the life of me, I cannot find the story online, even with the magic of Google search.

The idea was really interesting. A pilot takes off from a runway and crashes, the twist was that the crash was guaranteed based on a bunch of things that happened prior to takeoff. No matter what the pilot did, crash was inevitable.

The runway had been lengthened, but the distance remaining markers were not adjusted so the pilot thought he had more time to develop lift…the plane carried more weight than normal…and so on…

Of course, the pilot is unaware of these circumstances. He believes he is going to make it, until he doesn’t. That is the real challenge; things can seem sustainable, right up until the moment they are not.

When you look at your behaviors, how do you know which ones are sustainable and which are leading to a crash?