I was listening to Dame Ellen MacArthur on Desert Island Discs.
She became the youngest person, ever.
To sail single-handedly.
Nonstop.
Around the world.
The interviewer asked her who were her inspirations.
She said, “My grandmother was very influential.”
The interviewer asked why.
Ellen MacArthur said, “She always wanted to go to university, and in fact she won a scholarship to pay for her to go.
But her father, my great-grandfather, wouldn’t allow her to go.
They were a poor family, and he said she needed to get a job to bring money into the household.
So she did, but later she made sure her three daughters went to university.
And she was so fascinated with learning that every day, when I was young, she used to come to my school and sit in the canteen with me and my friends.
Then, when she was old and retired, and at the end of her life, she went back to university to get a degree.
And she finally graduated three months before she died.”
So there’s a clue to where Ellen MacArthur got the determination that made her sail a ship, that should have been crewed by a dozen men, for 71 days.
Alone.
Thousands of miles from anywhere.
The nearest land 7 miles straight down.
The waves twice as high as the average house.
Sleeping a few minutes at a time, always on deck.
The interviewer asked her about her first boat.
How did she get it?
She said it was a little, tiny dinghy and she saved up for it.
“We didn’t get any pocket money when we were little.
So, anything we wanted, we either had to make it or save up for it.
I used to save the change from my school-dinner money every day.”
The interviewer asked her to elaborate.
She said, “Every day I’d eat beans, mashed-potato, and gravy.
Beans cost four pence, mashed potato cost four pence, gravy was free.
So I’d have the beans and mash swimming in gravy, almost like soup.
Everyone thought I was crazy. But I’d go home and stack the change up next to my savings tin.
When the change reached £1, I’d put it in my savings tin.
Then I’d fill in one of the little squares on a sheet of graph paper I had on the wall.
When I had 100 little squares filled in I’d take the money to the building society.”
The interviewer asked her how much her first boat cost.
She said, “£535″.
And you get another clue to the level of determination she considered normal.
The interviewer then asked what life had been like at home.
She said she’d been very happy at home, if slightly unconventional.
The interviewer asked her for an example.
She said, “Well, I only had a very small bedroom.
There really wasn’t room in it for the bed plus everything else I was making and storing.
So when my parents went out one day, I took the bed apart and put it in the barn.
I figured, if I asked them, they were likely to object.
But if I did it while they were out it would be a fait accompli.
And from then on, I just slept on the floor in a sleeping bag, and had lots more room for everything I wanted to do in my bedroom.”
You get another clue to the sort of determination that could make her climb to the top of a mast six stories high.
On her own in the middle of the ocean.
With the ship speeding along at forty miles an hour in the pitch dark.
And fix a broken block-and-tackle in sub-zero temperature.
You see, none of what she did was reasonable behaviour.
Not saving £500 from her lunch money.
Not throwing her bed out of her bedroom.
Not sailing single-handedly, non-stop, around the world.
Not for a 19 year old.
Not for a woman.
What I loved about listening to her was that she didn’t let other people’s ideas of what was reasonable dictate her behaviour.
She looked at the problem.
Worked out what she thought was the best way of proceeding.
Then, if it made sense to her, she went ahead and did it.
Whatever anyone else said.
She didn’t let other people’s version of what was reasonable stop her.
She came to her own conclusion.
How many of us do that?
How many of us question what we’re told and come to our own conclusions?
Don’t we usually just do what we’re told?
Reasonable people don’t do what she did.
Not the big things, not even the little things.
Because reasonable people just want to fit in.
So they don’t question what other people tell them.
But then reasonable people don’t do much.
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History is not made by reasonable women either. Bravo.
dave, thanks for that. wonderfully written and observed and compulsory reading for the kids. make them grateful, i say! what an amazing girl ellen is and this has given me renewed respect for her. karine torr
Hi Dave, that’s amazing, you only ever hear about what happened with her, never how she got
there. Do you think this can still be true for someone trying to get a job in a creative department? Do you think turning up and making the agency reception your office or anything considered unreasonable is likely to work, is it a case of choosing your target market carefully? Is it a case that most people in the industry aren’t unreasonable? This blog is so good i’ve almost answered my own question by even writing this.
Thanks as always
Hi Liam,
It’s not quite as easy as just being unreasonable.
Whatever you do also has to work.
Which means it has to be a great idea.
The unreasonable part is just the mechanics of carrying it through.
Think of it as a car: the great idea is the car, the unreasonable part is the petrol.
Anyone can have great ideas, but they don’t go anywhere without fuel (energy and determination).
But fuel isn’t any good without a car (great idea).
So first you have to ask yourself if making the agency reception your office is a good idea.
Even if you could do it, would it get you what you want, or would they have the police remove you?
Then could you follow through with an article in Campaign about it?
And if you did would it get you what you want?
How great is the idea, and far are you prepared to go with it?
I’d get bored saving my dinner money after a week.
I’d want to think of a more creative way to raise £500.
What made the difference for her was that she felt right abvout it.
It was what she wanted to do, she knew she could do it, she knew it would work, so she did it.
You have to feel that way about whatever you do before you do it.
I’m reminded, in this context of “reasonable”, of the Situationist slogan which was adopted by many punks: Be Reasonable - Demand the Impossible.
Paul K.
I think Arthur Rimbaud said that.
I’m pretty sure it was in his Season in Hell (or whatever it’s translated in English).
Dave you constantly illustrate your points with extraordinary human stories. Whilst certainly inspirational, I’m also starting to feel paranoid about my lack of exceptional qualities. Anyone else, or are you all out doing amazing things…?
“The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man.” George Bernard Shaw
Thanks Dave
Think it was Ron, Damon’s dad, who was famous for saying, “no good ad was ever created by a reasonable person”
BTW, where do you find the inspiring stuff?
Wow. I always thought she was crazy. Now I know she’s a lot more than that… pretty much a genius! It makes me feel guilty for spending my pocket money on sweets and rubbish, god I could have sailed round the world!
Desert Islands Discs is now available on iplayer after the shows creator and the BBC have come to an amicable arrangement. Well worth a listen every week. Now available all week.
Hi Dave
Beautifully observed and inspirational on many levels. This is an ethos which you would like to see be carried by many brands and their communication, especially to children. Unfortunately it is rarely so in this helter skelter world.
i love that story dave. great post. unreasonable people did this too i’m guessing. http://www.hotelmodern.nl/flash_en/x_cinema/cinema.html choose “film” and then “history of the world part XI”. a million reasons why this shouldn’t work.
Brilliant piece of film Vinny.
Much more thought provoking for being done so crudely, yet so carefully.
It’s a one of those things you have to watch more than once.
Thanks.
http://ex-blank-page.blogspot.com/2009/10/in-reply-to-daves-great-posts-82.html
Dave,
That was beautiful. If you knew how I feel about my daughters, you’d know what a compliment it is that I forwarded your post to them.
George Bernard Shaw once said “The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable man.”
Unreasonably yours,
g
Thanks George,
I feel the same way about my daughter, so I know what you mean.