Don't think, just do
When I first went to flight school I couldn’t land a plane for shit.
I was pretty good at the rest of it, but when it came to making the rubber meet the tarmac again, I couldn’t get it.
I was either too high and we’d float past the end of the runway, or I’d hit the deck so hard that we'd need a dental check whilst the engineers straightened out the landing gear.
I’d read all the theory, bought books on “How to make better landings” and listened to 100 different opinions in the flying room. But when the time came to land, I’d be trying so hard to remember everything I totally stuffed it up again.
“You’re overthinking it” said my instructor. He was right.
So I took a break and went on holiday where I met a girl named Connie. She was a flying instructor at the local club, and over a couple of beers I told her my dilemma.
“Nae bother” she was Scottish, “I’ll have you sorted out in no time” - challenge accepted, more beer ordered.
The next day I turned up at the club expecting to be straight in the air, but Connie had other ideas.
She took me round the back of the club (no, not like that) where a Cessna 150 was sitting with its nose wheel up on a beer crate.
“Sit in the pilot seat for 20 minutes and focus on what the picture looks like out the windshield relevant to the horizon” and off she went.
Connie was smart. The beer create put the aircraft in the perfect pitch I needed to make a good landing.
An hour later we were in the air and flying our first approach to the runway.
Connie said, “Don’t think about anything else but the perspective you have from sitting in the plane on the ground.”
Sure as Whisky flows in Scotland, I absolutely nailed the landing, we didn’t even feel the wheels touch down.
6 greasy landings later, Connie announced me ‘Cured’ and off we went to get drunk, again.
I learned 2 very important lessons that day;
1) Overthinking leads to paralysis by analysis
The more I’d try to process the problem, the worse it got. The minute I cleared my mind and just flew, I cracked it. Instead of bombarding ourselves with more data to try and solve a problem, we should trust out instinct, have a go and get the job done.
2) Take action
We lose our confidence by not doing the thing we’re worried about. We shy away from it until eventually we talk ourselves out of it completely. If we have a go and prove that we are capable, our confidence will soar and we’ll try it again.
If you’re stuck with a problem you can’t get past, take a break, speak to someone you trust or get a coach who can take a look from the outside-in and give you the guidance you need to take action.
As Maverick says; Don’t think, just do.
PS: If you're stuck on a problem in your life that you can't move past, why not book an hour’s coaching with me and together we’ll get you flying again (beer crates not necessary).
