Golden State Today

Roger Billings described the optimism curve he learned from his mentor, Bill Lear, an investor and businessman who was the founder of the Learjet company, during his interview program.

"Science is a tool to be able to accomplish things that without the tools of science we wouldn't be able to do," Billings said during Science Live with Roger Billings. 

Billings said using the scientific method is one way to decide on a project.

"Ever since I finished my...mentorship with Bill Lear, I've been on a series of projects," Billings said. "Projects of my own choosing. Projects that I wanted to do, was able to do. And it was a lot of fun." 

He said he has been fortunate enough to have more than his share of projects throughout his lifetime. 

He said Lear taught him about the optimism curve, saying while you are deciding on a project, your optimism increases but once you run into problems, it comes crashing down.

"And one of the things I learned from Bill Lear is this is a natural cycle and you better be prepared to get through that point of discouragement and go on," Billings said.

The program host said this is when most people decide to quit, but if you can push through it and figure out how to fix those issues, your optimism increases again.

"And, your optimism from there seems to go something like this," he said, gesturing in an upward motion. 

Billings said optimism increases slowly the second time, but it still increases.

"As you start to solve the problems one by one your optimism rebuilds very slowly," Billings said. 

Billings said Thomas Edison was Lear's mentor, and that he taught Lear to do experiments in his head before spending time doing it physically. He suggested trying mental experiments first.

Billings said when doing mental experiments, you need to switch from thinking in words to thinking in images.

"One of the things that Bill Lear told me that I want to leave with you as a parting thought," he said. "Because at the time it was very upsetting to me that he would think this, but now I see he was absolutely right. He said this adage that you have to have money to make money isn't true. He says what you have to do is you have to get all your ducks in a row. You got to figure out what your dream is. You got to dream your dream." 

Billings said most people's dreams don't come true because they never figure out what their dream is.

Lear invented a battery eliminator for the B battery and developed the 8-track cartridge. He had more than 120 patents over his 46-year career. Billings and Lear had a brief mentorship, the LA Times reports.