Lessons from the Cockpit

Summer School - Part 2

2009-12-14T19:05:30Z

Second in the summer school lessons series. For part 1, click here.

In July of 1990, I had a bad day. The plan called for heels dug into the hot sands of Athens, Greece accompanied by great friends while I gazed at crystal blue water as far as the eye could see. The reality? I had the water part. I had the friends part. The problem? They were as cranky as I was because crystal blue surrounded us as far as we could see on all sides.

Instead of the port call to Athens, among other popular locales, my buddies and I bobbed in the open ocean, captive on a naval destroyer off the coast of Africa. Civil war had erupted in Liberia and our ship, the fastest in the battle group, diverted in a frantic rush to lend assistance. Goodbye France, goodbye Spain, goodbye Greece.

After two months of continuous steaming in a square mile pattern far enough over the horizon so the only glimpse of the coast entailed the occasional mirage, stir crazy didn’t begin to describe us. There were bright spots.

Summer School

2009-11-09T14:35:37Z

I miss summer already. Perhaps it’s a holdback from childhood when the last school bell rang and the doors flung wide to spill kids and teens into a June they finally claimed for themselves. School worked for many people, but I wasn’t one of them. For me, real learning began after those school doors slammed shut behind me.

During summers my mind sparked, ignited because I controlled my education, unfettered by what someone else believed I should learn. Transported by books, bicycles, and blue skies—willing screens I projected a vivid imagination onto—my mind expanded as I chased whatever drew my interest until September closed in. Since those summer days of self-directed exploration, I’ve always considered any learning I’ve accomplished on my own as “summer school,” an educational program driven by someone who had my best interests in mind.

Perhaps you’re like me and felt you didn’t learn the things you really wanted to when you were in school, whether it was high school where classes were chosen for you or college where you acquiesced to parents or bought into society’s urging that the world needed more marketing people. Maybe you feel it’s too late to do anything about it now.

I’m here to tell you it’s never too late, no matter how old you are. You just need to take charge of your own education and enroll yourself into “summer school.”

Follow the Glow - My Guest Post on Bestselling Author Rick Smith's Website

2009-10-10T16:18:07Z

I'm pleased to announce my article Follow the Glow is featured on Rick Smith's website. Rick is the bestselling author of The Leap: How 3 Simple Changes Can Propel Your Career from Good to Great. Rick has made great leaps himself, including founding World 50, one of the world’s most influential senior executive networking companies that includes members and contributors such as Bono, Francis Ford Coppola and Jon Stewart. What I found fascinating during my read of The Leap was Rick's honesty and accessibility as an author. Given Rick's credentials, he could have touted genius as the foundation for his success. Instead, Rick describes how many people who have accomplished great things, including himself, were not much different from the rest of us. They simply made small changes that made big differences. One of those small changes is simply finding work that fits with who you are as a person. Always great advice, but sometimes hard to know how to execute. Rick's book The Leap can show you how.

So check out Rick's new book The Leap and click here to read Follow the Glow on his website.

The School of Life

2009-09-20T18:31:58Z

There’s no substitute for the school of life. Each of us is enrolled, like it or not. But we should like it. It’s the finest education money can’t buy. Heck, it’s the finest education available even when compared to the ones money can buy.

Everyday we receive lessons. Whether we choose to learn something from them is a different story. I always try to learn something, although I need a remedial course or two on occasion to mine the precious gem of wisdom from the dirt and debris of the situation. But once I discover that gem, I stick it in my pocket as a reminder to make different choices in the future.

There are numerous lessons to share from fumbling through my own school of life, but I thought I’d relay one in particular as it gets a bit of airplay around our house from time to time.

Here’s what happened:

Life is Rich

2009-08-30T23:46:14Z

We’ve all heard the maxim, “The best things in life are free.” It’s true. But what about those great things in life that do cost something? I’ve been thinking about, and making a list of, things that don’t cost much, relatively speaking, but give rich experiences. The twist, however, is I wanted to identify that which a billionaire couldn’t necessarily buy a better experience than me. So here goes:

1) Great Books - I can feel the pages now: textured paper brimming with stone-wedged swords, grinning cats, time wrinkles, and precious rings. We dive into black ink, immersed in imagination and hours that flow like minutes, until the real world beckons. Ah, such an irreplaceable experience. True, this could fall into the “free” category if you utilize the public library, but supply doesn’t always meet demand, not to mention how many times I’ve tried to reserve a book only to learn the sole copy is 5 years overdue. Our taxes pay for the library anyway, so not exactly free. And yes, the billionaire may be able to buy that first edition of Oliver Twist, signed by Charles Dickens himself, but do you think he sits in a cozy chair by the fire at night to read it? Absolutely not. If he wants to recapture the magic of the story, he’d probably eyeball the same umpteenth edition we do. Dive into a book.

The Passion for Planes, Paintings, and Pets

2009-08-19T19:56:34Z

Passion. It sparks in radiant arcs when you discover it—or it discovers you. When you possess it, you couldn’t hide its warm glow if you tried. Passion spills beyond the edges of your physical form to illuminate your true path in life. But to recognize that path you must wake up and pry your eyes away from the crowded route society suggests you travel, that road thick with business suit zombies—the working dead—who move wherever they’re told. To find your true path, you must study your surroundings, must discover where passion’s glow throws a vibrant light onto hidden doorways and seldom used short cuts. Trust and follow that beam. It will lead you to the person you were meant to be.

But passion is not only luminescent; it’s magnetic as well. Passion draws kindred souls to you, even as it tugs you toward them. And when the individual light of passions mix and swirl in their infinite colors, magic emerges.

Over the past few weeks, I’ve watched passion energized gatherings and witnessed how they connect us in the most unlikely places. For you pilots that read this blog, please read to the end to learn how your passions can help others with theirs.

The Space Between Life's Lessons

2009-07-25T01:21:30Z

Some of you may have noticed a lag between posts recently, which may imply I’m not writing as much. Au contraire. Last week I wrote at least six hours a day, sometimes seven and eight. What am I spending so much time writing if not Lessons from the Cockpit? Read on.

Readers sensed something brewing when I posted “Make the Leap” parts 1 and 2, and although I knew my end goal and held the destination foremost in mind, I was unsure when I'd make the leap and start the journey toward it. But sometimes the destination moves toward us. Recently, I felt a palpable shift in my life, a swirling energy mass gathering beyond the horizon. The clear skies circling me gave no indication anything differed from my normal routine, yet I knew the swirl approached, could feel it in my being. I kept angling my body in its direction with anticipation. I liken it to a summer storm where we can’t see the thunderheads building—they’re too far away or the tree line obscures them from view—but we know it’s coming. A breeze kicks up. The temperature drops five degrees. The leaves on the trees flash their pale green underbellies in rippling waves.

Before you think this energy mass was something ominous, let me say this. Some people don’t like storms, but not me. I get excited. Why?

Into the Great Wide Now

2009-07-08T18:47:26Z

Flaps, one notch. Mixture, rich. Sky, clear. Throttle, full. Brakes, released. The plane clings to the ground for an instant, Newton and one of his pesky laws stunts your movement, but soon, another law trumps inertia and you inch forward, creeping at first, then picking up speed, faster and faster, the landscape a green blur down both sides of the peripheral vision. Feet work the rudder pedals, a slight sway from left to right then back again. The stick vibrates your palm as a narrow, white needle springs to life on the airspeed indicator, its silent warning screaming that 30 more knots are critical before you can even think of lifting off. Meanwhile you’ve eaten up half the runway, the trees at the opposite end, the ones that appeared so gentle and kind and docile before, now furious, their faces gnarled in determination as they yank themselves from the ground, shake the red clay from their twisted roots and begin to charge toward you. Against your instinct,

Wisdom a la Carte

2009-06-25T11:42:52Z

I'm pleased to announce my post "Don't Look Back" is featured on Wisdom a la Carte's blog and newsletter. Wisdom a la Carte is a wonderful resource for thought provoking articles by various writers. In the newsletter, "Don't Look Back," is accompanied by Tama J. Kieves' article "A Vow of Love For Yourself." Kieves is the best-selling author of THIS TIME I DANCE! Creating the Work You Love/How One Harvard Lawyer Left It All to Have It All!

If you missed "Don't Look Back" on Lessons from the Cockpit, click here for the article on Wisdom a la Carte's website, or here for the newsletter. Enjoy.

You Can't Soar from a Prison Cell

2009-06-18T02:29:22Z

Imagine for a moment you're confined to a prison cell. It’s not the dark, dank room we’ve grown accustomed to expect from the movies, but is instead comfortable. You’ve decorated it with several items from home, but you’re confined nonetheless. There’s an impenetrable 12 x 18 inch plexiglass window in your cell that allows you to view the outside world. In fact, your family and friends can amble up anytime you have your face close to the window and talk to you if they’d like.

These welcome visitors bring colorful photos of other friends and family, and gorgeous locales, many places you once visited, and they press those snapshots directly to the window so you can soak in their beauty: vivid flowers of every hue; brown trees with pale green leaves the color of spring, stretching toward Monet skies; a serene lake, a second set of snow capped mountain peaks etched within its reflection.