Do you know who set the standard for fine watch making for most of the 20th Century? If you answered, "The Swiss," you are correct. Swiss wristwatches dominated world markets for at least 60 years and Swiss companies were committed to constant refinement of their craft. It was the Swiss who came forward with the minute hand and the second hand. They led the world in discovering better ways to manufacture the gears, bearings, and mainsprings of watches. They even led the way in waterproofing techniques and self-winding models. By 1968, the Swiss made 65 percent of all watches sold in the world and laid claim to as much as 90 percent of the profits. 

Now...which country sold the most wrist watches in the 1980s? The answer is Japan. By 1980, Swiss companies had laid off thousands of watchmakers and controlled less than 10 percent of the world market. Their profit domination dropped to less than 20 percent. Between 1979 and 1981, eighty percent of Swiss watchmakers lost their jobs. 

Why? The Swiss had refused to change the way they traditionally designed watches and utilize the less expensive and more accurate Quartz crystal. (Quartz movement, ironically, was invented by a Swiss.) They did not seriously experiment with a radical new way of designing timepieces. 

Our lives are not so different. Without constant experimentation -- daily growth and change to become the best we can be -- our old attitudes, behaviors and skills will no longer work for us. The old ways of thinking and doing will be about as relevant as a grandfather clock on a space shuttle. We need to experiment and improve. We need to turn our lives into an active science. 

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do," wrote Mark Twain. "So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover."