My Current Mile

I picked up this book from the Indianapolis Public Library (Southport branch). I zoomed in on the title immediately as it sat on the rack in the self help section. With book in hand, I was anticipating a Tony Robbins like treatise to juice me up and light a fire under my ass to get me out of this slump I’m in.

But, within the first few pages, I found author Tim Tyler distancing himself from most, if not all, other motivational books. He says that the downfall with other motivational books is they require you to make a “list”. He says most lists are the same and thus most motivational books are the same. Some books condense the list into 3 steps, others give 6 steps, some offer 12 steps. Tyler claims most people don’t succeed at their dreams because they are bogged down in the ‘list’ and never move toward the ‘edge’.

Although, Tyler does offer his own 7 step success list later in the book (he never itemizes a ‘specific’ list, however), he has a valid point. And his book is certainly different. The book is an engaging narrative of his motorcycle trip from Anchorage to Washington State and back again sandwiched between a few pages of motivational how-to.

In the book, Tyler repeatedly states that success is in the ‘motion’ and ‘action’ of fulfilling your dream, whatever your dream may be. He also states that it is your ‘passion’ for your dream that ignites motion and enables you to maintain that motion. Looking into my own person, I can see that passion, or my enthusiasm, is what I have been lacking a generous portion of lately. Even if I can’t find my passion at this moment, I certainly couldn’t miss the two wheeled driving force behind Tyler’s passion.

Enter the Valkyrie.

Tyler spotted the Valkyrie in a Honda dealership in Anchorage, Alaska. It stimulated his lost passion for motorcycles and a rekindled a desire for a multi week trip along the back roads of Alaska, the Yukon, British Columbia, Washington and Idaho . He relates the purchase of the motorcycle and his relearning how to ride. We follow as he plans and overcomes obstacles. We pick up on the details of how to make our own dream a reality by watching Tyler make his dream a reality.

During his trip I found myself living vicariously through Tyler’s narrative. I could see myself doing much of the same. Although I wound have to choose my Honda Civic and I would drive west, along I-70 to Colorado and Utah and swing through North Dakota on my way home, or maybe New Mexico to visit the Alien Cafe in Roswell.

Through out the narrative, Tyler associates small details of his trip with how I can be successful and  ’live on the edge’. His detailed description of how to take a curve on a motorcycle was foreign to me, since I don’t own a motorcycle and never plan to. But, I found myself imagining the sequence, taking the curve at the right speed and leaning at just the right angle, subduing the fear of falling and getting hurt, in my effort to live on his edge.

I tried to reconcile what Tyler meant when he says ‘live on the edge’ because he claims that his riding style is conservative. To live on the edge, I would expect to read about high speed, throwing caution to the wind, chasing grizzly bears in the Canadian outback and jumping off cliffs into pools of cool mountain water. Instead, you read of careful navigation over crumbled roads, viewing wild life at a close (but safe) distance, hanging out with family and friends, detailed descriptions of dinner service and the strangers he met. By the end of his journey, the I discovered the ‘edge’ is fluid and fueled by your passion, ever growing and expanding. Staying sharp by consistently moving toward your dream is another way to look at it.

By the end of the book, we learn that the trip became the catalyst for larger changes in Tyler’s life. Tyler reports that he retired from his first career and is now expending time and energy only on his dream quests. With a small amount of Google research I found that he is president of Edenscape Publishing, which published the book. Since his motorcycle adventure happened in 1998, I wondered what he has been doing in the decade since. I wonder if he still has the Valkyrie.

I found myself changing the title from “A Passion For the Edge, Living Your Dreams Now” to “My Passion For the Edge, Living My Dreams Now”.  I returned the book to the library wondering if the next reader will find the motivational how-to as solid, straight, concise and lacking the normal fluff  typical in other motivational books as I did. Would the next reader find the motorcycle memoir as captivating as I did?

I don’t believe a motorcycle is in my future but maybe that 17 inch Macbook Pro is!

For more information: Edenscape Publishing.