“Do everything with a mind that lets go. Do not expect praise or reward.” Ajahn Chah The picture is AI generated, because I don’t have a Pilot of the Month coffee cup! And what awards I have received over the years, I’ve (mostly) thrown away. Flying well is the reward. There might be a lesson here for high-flying super-cool insta-pilot …
Tag: mindset
Why Bother?
”You cannot stay on the summit forever; you have to come down again. So why bother in the first place? Just this: What is above knows what is below, but what is below does not know what is above. One climbs, one sees. One descends, one sees no longer, but one has seen. There is an art of conducting oneself …
Mastery is the Best Goal Because . . .
“Mastery is the best goal because the rich can’t buy it, the impatient can’t rush it, the privileged can’t inherit it, and nobody can steal it. You can only earn it through hard work. Mastery is the ultimate status.” Derek Sivers, How to Live, 2021.
Armstrong’s Last Presentation
“Like that of Ulysses, each of our lives is a miniature Odyssey, going to new places, seeing new things, understanding new ideas, and each day penetrating the biggest unkown of all: tomorrow. For each of us it should be, and can be, an exciting voyage. Buen Viaje!” Neil Armstrong, 2011. The quote is from his submission to the 2014 book …
Not up on a Shelf
“I want to live everyday all days as hard as I can. We party hard, we love hard, we jump hard because we’re reminded way too often that it can end like that. We’re very aware of how precious life is. What a gift it is. So we use it. It’s not up on a shelf still in its bubble …
Sooner or Later
“If you’re going to go to the Moon, sooner or later you’ve got to go to the Moon.” Flight Director Glynn Linney, summing up the rationale for the Apollo 8 ‘go’ decision, NASA meetings, 1968. Quoted in the 2019 book Shoot for the Moon. This was a huge decision, a quantum step from Earth orbit flights. Apollo 8 was the …
Die Doing What I Love
“I definitely don’t want to die doing what I love. But I want to live doing what I love.” Eric Tucker, in the amazing video short 26,000 Days. Watch it here: https://vimeo.com/925195981
Control of Fear
“The control of fear is a necessary part of the inner work of flight.” William Langewiesche Breathe. Relax. Do the ‘what-if’ work ahead of time. All these are part of the Inner Work of Flight. Quote is from Langewiesche’s 2010 book Aloft: Thoughts on the Experience of Flight. And yes, his Dad wrote the book Stick and Rudder.
Mountains Are
“Mountains are not fair or unfair, they are just dangerous.” Reinhold Messner, All Fourteen 8,000ers, 1999. Wikipedia says this about Messner: He made the first solo ascent of Mount Everest and, along with Peter Habeler, the first ascent of Everest without supplemental oxygen. He was the first person to climb all 14 eight-thousanders, doing so without supplementary oxygen. Messner was …
Your New Job is to Say …
“Your new job is to say ‘no,’ when everyone else says ‘go’.” Happy New Year! Here’s to resolutions of flying more, flying better. This quote is from new Delta captain Jeremy King, his first trip as pilot-in-command of an airliner: https://wordsaloft.substack.com/p/managing-delays-gaining-time-without