I remember watching the movie "Indiana Jones: The Search for The Holy Grail," where Harrison Ford plays Indiana Jones and Sean Connery plays his father. As they are closing in on the Holy Grail, the bad guys shoot Connery. The only thing that can save him is the "holy water" from the Grail. Jones has to pass a series of "tests" to prove he is worthy enough to get to the Grail. One of those tests is a "Leap of Faith."

Here's the scene: Jones, after passing the first few "tests," comes to a tremendous cliff and looks down into an endless abyss. Across the way is the cave where the Grail is located. He has to make a "Leap of Faith," according to his father's guide book, to get to the Grail. As Jones stands at the edge of the cliff and ponders the physical "leap" that he must undertake, his wounded father realizes that it is not a physical "leap" that is needed but a spiritual "leap." Jones, realizing that he is his father's only hope, closes his eyes, overcomes his fear and steps off the cliff, expecting to fall into the abyss. But, it never happens! Instead, he steps out onto a rock crossing that appeared to be part of the abyss. As soon as he stepped on it he realized that it was there. That allowed him to cross, get the Grail and have a happy ending.

I've highlighted the word "realized" because that is the key to the entire story. When you make a "Leap of Faith" in life it instantly increases your awareness to a new sense of reality. This is what allows you to grow and constantly improve -- in your personal life, in your business life, heck, in every aspect of your life.

Throughout your entire life you've been making "Leaps of Faith." These "leaps" have come in the face of some of your biggest fears. Some "leaps" are easy and others are really difficult because they force you to face your fears head-on and reassess your values and beliefs.

Take a look at all the advances that have happened in the last 100 years. Imagine going back in time to the 1890's knowing what you know in the late 1990's and trying to explain to people all the advances that will come in the next 100 years. You would probably be sent to an insane asylum!

How's this for an example of a "Leap of Faith"? Every time I go to do a Dental Dynamite! seminar I get onto a six million megaton steel bird that goes miles into the sky at over 200 miles per hour! Consider that 100 years ago the train was the most consistent means of transportation having recently overtaken the horse and carriage, which many people still used. Consider that Wilbur & Orville Wright failed more times than they succeeded and most people thought they were nuts for trying. How would you like to have been the person piloting the airplane that kept crashing? Or the first one that got off the ground -- how the hell did you stop it? There were no training manuals back then! Consider that in 1910 a flight race from London to Paris took 25 hours, 11 minutes. Today the same distance can be covered by supersonic jet in 7 minutes! What other tremendous "Leaps of Faith" can you think of that happened over the last 100 years? How about cars, telephones, radios, televisions? How about Thomas Edison who failed over 1000 times to develop the light bulb? It is said that he believed that he would eventually succeed and looked at every failure as a "new way that wouldn't work."

How about a man who had already been bankrupt yet went out and applied for a loan at over 300 banks with this unbelievable sales pitch: He would have people come from all over the world to see larger than life cartoon characters in an amusement park and that park would have a replica of the Matterhorn -- complete with snow -- in Southern California! Over 300 loan officers laughed at him, yet Walt Disney believed in his vision so strongly that he never gave up. Someone finally agreed to loan him the money and the rest is history. Think about the "Leaps of Faith" that had to occur on both sides of this story. Walt Disney had to overcome his fears of rejection and failure to see to it that his vision would come to fruition, but the biggest "leap" was taken by the loan officer who knew that Disney was rejected by all the other banks yet still agreed to finance the project! Can you imagine life in the 1990's without Disney?

I wrote this article on a computer. Less than 30 years ago there weren't any "personal computers." There were "monster computers" that took up huge buildings and were not even as powerful as your current laptop. What kind of "leap" did Bill Gates have to take? Not only did he drop out of Harvard, but he took a major gamble in his life. He went to IBM to try to get them to allow his company to develop a software program for their computers. They basically told him to get lost. Instead of getting lost he built Microsoft into a "mega" power and developed operating software so popular that IBM had to eventually give in and use it in their systems. Instead of competing with the hardware he is basically in control of the way most of the computer world now thinks. Talk about a major "Leap of Faith."

Why is it that we now look upon these people with awe and amazement? Is it because they are better than us or is it because they appear to be better than us? They are all human beings who were born with the same potential that you or I have. In each of their own ways they learned to overcome their fears and make "Leaps of Faith" that helped them accomplish their visions. And these are just a few examples of "leaps" that have occurred. I didn't even mention any of the advances in medicine and dentistry!

Life is so simple. The hardest part is realizing just how simple it is! Each "Leap of Faith" allows you to realize that whatever you believe will come true. If you believe that you need to participate in insurance programs to succeed, then you do! If you take a "Leap of Faith" and believe that you can succeed without participating in insurance programs and are willing to work through the obstacles that you encounter, then you will! Do you really believe dentistry is different than any other business? What is it that's really holding you back from doing all that you want to do? Is it really outside forces -- your environment, your staff, your spouse, your financial situation, the insurance industry, the government, your location? If you are really honest with yourself you will find out the real reason why you are not doing what you really know you should be doing. The only person who has ever told you that you couldn't do anything in life is you!

Deep down inside of you is the key to your success. All you have to do is "flip the light switch" and discover where it is. Only you know what success means to you! All you have to do is decide what you really want. What is your passion? That's what ultimately determines your success. You have to be passionate about what you do. Are you really passionate about dentistry? If not, why not? You must find out the answer. Otherwise you are just going through the motions and nothing will ever make you happy. Happiness is not a goal. It is the feeling you get when you make a "Leap of Faith" and succeed. It is the feeling you get when you realize that your fears weren't so bad after all.

I don't really like to set goals. Goals only limit you. I believe that you have to have dreams -- dreams so real that you can reach out and grab them; dreams so real that you can see them even when you are awake; dreams so real that they consume the very essence of who you are. Martin Luther King, Jr. didn't say "I have a goal," he said "I have a dream." Dreams are things that you can get passionate about. Dreams give you the courage to make "Leaps of Faith." Think about it . . . how do you feel when you accomplish a goal? It's OK for a little while and then it's actually depressing because now what do you do? What's even worse is how you feel when you know you will never accomplish the goal. What do you do then? Human nature is only satisfied when we are exploring new heights, taking new "leaps," going above and beyond our wildest expectations, hopes and fears, and checking out the scenery from a different vantage point. Along the way we will touch thousands and sometimes millions of other lives . . . you don't even know how many people have been affected from your actions. Hopefully you have helped all those people that you've come in contact with get more out of their lives.

I'm often reminded of the movie "It's A Wonderful Life" where Jimmy Stewart, who plays George Bailey, realizes the meaning of his life. The best part of the entire movie is the end, when he discovers that what he thought was the worst moment of his life actually was the best. In the final scene the entire community -- one that he has given so much to -- enters his home to pitch in money to help him out of a financial crunch. Of course he wouldn't have even gotten to this point if it wasn't for his guardian angel, Clarence. You see, instead of making a "Leap of Faith" George was going to leap to his death. He thought he would be better off dead, or at least he'd be worth more money dead than alive. Happiness is not just money or material objects. It is material, spiritual, physical, a combination of a number of different things, and each person has their own definition of it. Anyway, at the end of the movie, while he is experiencing the true meaning of his life, he opens a book and finds the following inscription:

Dear George,
Remember, no man is a failure who has friends. Thanks for the wings.
-Clarence