In Life, It pays to think like a Pilot.
Every single day, millions of airplane pilots successfully reach the destination they were aiming for. From the time pilots begin their day to the time they finish the day provides a valuable life lesson that we can all benefit from. Why? Because a pilot’s day is never perfect and never exactly like any previous day in their life. The same is true for all of us non-pilots as we pursue our intended, or “hoped-for” destination when we begin each day.
In discussing the success that pilots experience millions of times each day, it’s worthy to acknowledge that there exists a “system” in place that all pilots embrace. To simplify what the system looks like, it consists of a pre-check, execution of a plan, and post-check analysis. Pre-check is utilized to make sure everything needed for success is in place and working correctly. Execution of a plan has a beginning, followed by a whole lot of on-the-spot decision making until the pre-determined destination is reached. This is where a pilot’s training and experience is most importantly utilized. Post-check analysis offers a learning opportunity as a pilot considers abnormalities and unique circumstances that popped up during a flight that can be utilized as useful information for future flights. Isn’t that a near perfect example of how we should live our life?
Typically, it’s the on-the-spot decision making that most of us fail at due to a lack of anticipation of potential new challenges which, in turn, most likely stems from a lack of any pre-check preparation for our day (or week, or month) ahead. I italicized new in the previous sentence because throughout the majority of our life, we rely on the experience we’ve gained from similar circumstances that occurred in our past. We’re subconsciously performing a post-check analysis constantly throughout our life. For everything that occurs each day, we commit to memory what worked, the degree to how well it worked, what didn’t work, and what we would do differently the next time we encounter a similar occurrence for future use.
Might help if I give you an example. A plane taking off from San Francisco heading to Hawaii is off course over 95% of the time, yet still successfully and safely lands at its goal every time. It’s never a straight-line path that achieves success even though the pre-check preparation suggested straight line execution. It’s impossible to accurately predict the velocity and direction of the wind along the journey, so every time the wind pushes the plane off the straight-line path, the pilot has to make a direction correction to compensate and move the plane back to intended path. If the pilot overcompensates, then another correction needs to follow. This goes on and on with the goal being a minimization of distance from the straight-line path, utilizing small corrections which maximizes fuel efficiency and wisely embraces time management.
The corrections a pilot makes during the execution of the plan are so simple and small that none of the passengers notice that the corrections are even occurring. Isn’t that how we’d all like our life to play out every day? Simple and small corrections the minute we start to stray from the intended path. We may even over-correct, however, a simple adjustment has us headed back to the straight line of success. That way we minimize interruptions in our day that otherwise would force us to move all our attention into the repair room where we have to begin all over again. What a waste of time. The concept here is consistent preventive maintenance (small repeatable minor corrections and adjustments) which prevents major repairs. Think of how much preventive maintenance is performed on a plane to ensure safe flight all the way to the destination. That’s how our life can work utilizing a similar system and strategy.
For years I’ve studied what makes the most successful businesses work so well. One thing they all share in common is that they’ve systemized everything. Systems run the business and people run the systems. The art of systemization can work well in anyone’s personal life. It has in mine and is one of the thought processes that I’ve instilled in our kids. Making the systemization thought process simple benefits developing a routine of pre-check, execution, and post-check analysis work. When it becomes routine, you’ve hit the sweet spot in life.
The routines that work for the largest percentage of people utilizing the pilot mentality or systems approach are often viewed from daily, weekly, and monthly perspectives. Monthly pre-check helps keep our intended destination in focus and monthly post-check analysis adds to our life’s toolbox the things that worked last month and the things that didn’t (all filed in our brain for future reference). Weekly pre-check and post-check helps us make minor adjustments to our daily routines keeping us as close to the straight-line path of our destination (where we want our life to go). What about the daily routine?
For the daily routine to work it needs to be really simple. Otherwise, it gets dropped quicker than you can say “at least I tried.” Success starts towards the end of the previous day when you briefly glance at your day tomorrow. The following morning is just a short pre-check inspection making sure you’re prepared to take on the day. Thus begins trusting and believing in yourself to be able to quickly adapt and to instantly respond relying on your experience and wisdom of previous journeys in your life. Post-check analysis is simply recognizing the green flags (things that went right) and the red flags (things that required a correction to get back on course) that occurred that day.
Developing these routines ensures that you arrive at your intended destination each day even though you may have been “off course” over 95 percent of the time. Train yourself to think like a pilot so you can sit back, relax, and enjoy the flight of your lifetime. Hey…I Believe In YOU! GiddyUp!