It felt like hours – but it was probably only 10 minutes.

I was strapped down and the air was getting stuffy. I could see the world moving about through the tiny circular window beside me. But I was stuck where I was – going nowhere.

Finally the pilot’s announcement put me out of my misery. We started moving and I waited for that familiar push onto the back of the seat. The acceleration mounted and all too quickly, we were airborne.

I know of people who could spend all day near a busy airport and watch the planes do their magic. Personally, I stop and watch every time a A380 floats its way across the Sydney skies and never stop marvelling how such a big vessel can actually fly.

The laws of physics states that if an object moves fast enough and has the right aerodynamics, it will create enough force to lift off. It seems that forward movement is the key to what life is all about. Even that famous equation E=MC² contains a forward velocity element.

From spinning electrons to the orbits of the planets, everything moves forwards. Most of us ride our bikes forward…

I love my sleep but I have a limited love relationship with my mattress. Stay on it too long and I get a sore back. I take it as a sign to get up and start moving. Sleep is only a truck stop on the highway of life. Come to think of it, all my life experiences have been when I have been awake and moving forward.

It is no accident that time only moves forward…and I have never seem a plane fly backwards yet.

So, if you want ‘lift-off’ in your life – keep heading forward. What is behind you is all done (and dusted). You can only meet the future by facing it and diving straight in…