This is not a direct lesson on copywriting or marketing, but more my thoughts on looking for solutions.
Recently, I had to have an injection in my right eye. (I will spare you the gory and medical details, suffice it to say it was a necessity and not an elective procedure.)
Drops were put into my eye by the lab assistant, and a small green dot – like a post-it-note – placed above my right eyebrow.
The doctor came in, dropped a bit more medication in my eye, gave me the shot, and removed the green dot. I asked what the significance of the dot was.
“That way, I make sure I give you the shot in the correct eye. No time for mistakes now,” he replied.
So, with all the high-tech equipment in the clinic, the role of a simple green post-it dot confirmed the injection went into the right eye.
(In case you were wondering, the injection worked perfectly and I felt no pain at all.)
But it made me think about all the times in history when people turned to a very low-tech solution in a very high-tech environment.
Here are three quick examples I found:
Chuck Yeager and the broom handle
Two days before he was scheduled to fly the X-1, and break the sound barrier for the first time, Test Pilot Chuck Yeager fell off a horse and broke his ribs. Fearing the flight surgeon would ground him, he convinced a local veterinarian to tape him up.
Because of his injury, it was too painful for him to reach up to shut the X-1's hatch after he climbed into the craft from the B-29 mothership that carried the X-1 to the appropriate altitude for launch. So his friend and fellow test pilot Jack Ridley rigged him a broom handle that he used to get it done.
That was 14 October, 1947 when Chuck Yeager flew the experimental Bell X-1 at Mach 1 at an altitude of 45,000 feet (13,700 m)… using the most modern flight materials available --- and a broom handle!
Buzz Aldrin and the tip of his pen
Buzz Aldrin saved the “Eagle” moon-lander. But there was a serious problem.
As recounted in his book “Magnificent Desolation”, Aldrin and his moon-walking companion Neil Armstrong were gathering themselves into the landing module to start the return home when he noticed something lying on the floor. It was a circuit breaker switch. It got bumped during the landing and broke off.
As luck would have it, this wasn't just any old switch: it was the switch to the circuit breaker that activated the ascent engine that would lift them off the moon to rendezvous with Mike Collins, who was orbiting overhead in the Columbia. If they couldn't get that breaker pushed back in, they'd have to figure something else out, or there'd be no ascent.
Aldrin relates the solution in his book:
"Since it was electrical, I decided not to put my finger in, or use anything that had metal on the end. I had a felt-tipped pen in the shoulder pocket of my suit that might do the job. After moving the countdown procedure up by a couple of hours in case it didn't work, I inserted the pen into the small opening where the circuit breaker switch should have been, and pushed it in; sure enough, the circuit breaker held. We were going to get off the moon, after all."
Aldrin keeps the felt pen and the broken breaker switch with him to this day.
Jack Swigert and the NO sign
April 1970 – Apollo 13 – Jim Lovell, Fred Haise and Jack Swigert – explosion forced crew to shut down all electrical power. Just before return to earth, Swigert had to follow a 512-step procedure to power-up the command module. (Lovell and Haise were still working in the Lunar Landing module at the time.)
Swigert was tired from three days of little sleep or food. He was concerned he would accidently separate the command module from the LEM, killing everyone instantly.
Over the switch that controlled the separation, Swigert taped a small handwritten note. All it said was one word: NO.
As quoted in the movie Apollo 13, Lovell asked Swigert about the sign. Swigert answered, “I was getting a little punchy and I didn’t want to cut the LEM loose with you guys still in it.” Lovell responded, “That’s good thinking.”
Here’s the point of this blog: no matter how high-tech an environment you find yourself working in, when you face a challenge, do not ignore the simplest solution.
Stay calm… Focus on the challenge… And think outside the box for that broom handle or felt pen.
Thank you for reading. I encourage you to add your comment below, or if you wish to connect directly with me, feel free to send your email to
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