Back in December I spoke to a group of professionals at the law firm of DLA Piper in Washington DC. My Naval Academy classmate Rich Hans invited me to speak about my book.
As all good lawyers do, Rich came prepared with questions – great questions. One stood out. “Can you speak more to your chapter on the importance of not skipping flight school?”
“Of course,” I responded knowing how important it is to build your professional foundation.
I was ready for Navy Flight School before it even started. I had begun working on my private pilot’s license during my last semester at the Naval Academy and had flown small Cessna 150s and 152s in the skies surrounding the Naval Academy and along the Eastern Shore of Maryland. Cessnas were my first real taste of flight. They were like Matchbox cars in comparison to the “Ferrari” Navy aircraft, but they were a start. I finished my private pilot’s license in Pensacola the day before flight school started, but I was already thinking about flying jets.
Aviators go through several iterations of ground school and flight training in three phases: basic, intermediate, and advanced, learning more complex topics and skills each time. I attended flight school multiple times throughout my career because certification in each new aircraft typically requires another round of ground school and flight training.
In life as in aviation, we need knowledge and training before we take flight. I think of learning as the ground school of life. We grow our knowledge through school, reading, life experiences, and personal and professional development. The Naval Academy was the ground school of my life. It is where I began to develop the foundation that would support the rest of my personal and professional life.
Skills training and practice are equally as important as expanding our knowledge. Job experiences, working with a mentor, developing a support system—all of these will help you learn to maneuver through your career and handle whatever challenges might come your way.
During ground school in Pensacola, we learned about the environmental factors that affect weather and how to read the clouds. We learned what produces a thunderstorm and, more importantly, how to avoid one. We learned never to fly into or under a thunderstorm, always around or on top. Our instructors frequently reminded us that flying can be unpredictable, and to be prepared always.
Life too can be unpredictable. Some days the clouds roll in, the weather gets bumpy, and your sightlines become obscured. You may lose track of the horizon and your vision amid challenges. Those are the times to reconnect with your knowledge, training, and support system. If you have built a strong foundation, you will be able to weather life’s storms.
The flight school of life is not a “one and done” experience. Career changes, life changes, unexpected obstacles—these are the situations when you might need to go back to the basics for a while, do another round of learning and training. Revisit your dream and continue to build your foundation. Before you know it, you’ll be flying high in a new direction.
Flight school is foundational to flying… and to life.
Fly High,
Barbara
Want to know more? Need help navigating your current flight school? Drop me a line at captainbarbarabell.com and of course check out my book, Flight Lessons: Navigating Through Life’s Turbulence and Learning to Fly High.
#flightschool, #veterans, #coaching, #mentoring, #leadership
