Its The Pursuit Of Our Goals That Shapes Our Lives

A couple days ago, I mentioned that I had tried out for the Blue Angels three years in a row - each time to come up short. I told the story to highlight a point, but in the past couple days since that blog, I've gotten some feedback asking for more on the story.

So now, I will share my Blue Angel experience for a couple reasons. First, it was series of events that shaped who I have become, and how I look at failure. Second, by sharing the story, I hope to help others look at failure and commitment a bit differently.

As we all know from watching their amazing feats for years, the Blue Angels are a very elite flying team. But, just like everyone else, they are ordinary men and women with extraordinary focus and commitment to a shared vision. And in my opinion, they are the one of the best examples of pure Teamwork that exists. Which is why I wanted so badly to be on the team.

This might come as a surprise to you, but "Flying Skills" are not used as prerequisites to becoming a member of the team (although there is minimum flight times). In fact, the team prides itself in the fact that everything they do is actually just "basic" maneuvers that all Naval Aviators perform regularly (although not quite as close to each other - or the ground for that matter).

The Blue Angels truly live by the mantra that I try to teach to all my clients about hiring - "Hire for motivation and attitude, you can teach everything else."

As it turns out, my first real memory of Airplanes is my Granddad taking me to the Willow Grove Air Show. And no surprise here, the Blue Angels were the highlight of the day. It was nice to watch the other planes fly and to walk around the static display aircraft, but all I really wanted was to watch the Blue Angels. And to say that I was left in awe - is an understatement.

That was over 35 years ago. And I can still see the image in the mind like it was yesterday. It was a gift that I have cherished from my Grandfather to this day - and love that I was able to do the same with my children as well a few years back.

To boot, my other Grandfather, my Pop-pop, was given a "souvenir" Blue Angels Polo Shirt from NAS Pensacola when I first graduated from Aviation Officer Candidate School (AOCS). Although just the first step in a two year long training pipeline to wings, it was moment he was very proud of. My Mom-mom used to joke about how he wouldn't let that silly shirt sit in the dresser. As soon as she washed it, folded it and put it away, he would take it out and wear it again (sometimes even two to three days in a row). And as if just knowing that he loved that shirt that much wasn't enough, when my Pop-pop passed away in 1995, he was buried in the Blue Angel Polo Shirt that he was so proud to wear.

I give you this background, because I want you to know, that not only was I trying to become a Blue Angel, in some ways, I felt it was my destiny.

So, in 1995, I tried out for the Blue Angels for the first time. The process is both fun and very stressful. It revolves around attending Air Shows and meeting the team - both as a group and on a one-on-one basis. You get to sit in on their pre-flight briefs. And mingle with them at post-flight parties. But as fun as the parties are, when you want it as bad as I did, it was more work than anything else.

Well, I didn't make the team that first year. And needless to say, I was devastated. In many respects, it was my first real taste of "failure" in my life. The first thing that I really wanted - and didn't get. And it was a very hard pill to swallow. But one of the toughest parts is that they give you NO feedback on what you did right or wrong - it's up to you to "guess" at it.

In my heart, I knew what the problem was - what was missing. But I didn't want to believe it,- so I did nothing about it and tried again one year later.

The second year was a bit tougher for me. I had just gotten married and wasn't as committed to being on the team as I was the year before - and I'm sure it showed. It's a tough process when you are completely committed, but an agonizing one if you have any doubts at all. And again, for the second year in a row, I didn't get the call.

In the months that followed, I was able to do a lot of soul searching and in 1997, I committed myself completely to being on the team - or so I thought. And this year, I thought I even had an ace in the hole - my new boss, CDR "Hounddog" McClain (now RADM McClain), was an Ex-Blue Angel. He not only gave me great advice, but he also gave me a glowing endorsement. I thought for sure, I would get "the call" this time. But for the third and final year, the phone didn't ring.

So, in spite of all my desires, I would have to face the fact that I would never be a Blue Angel.

That was nearly 12 years ago.

For most of those years, I blamed the system and the members of the team for not giving me a chance. And it has just been in just the past 3-4 years, that I've really faced the truth, and accepted my responsibility for not making the team.

You see, the one thing I didn't tell you above is that while going through this process, I didn't yet have my Bachloer's Degree finished. Now, it's important to note that there is no "written" requirement for a Blue Angel to have a Bachelor's Degree, 99.9% of all pilots in the Navy did. And since I happened to have been part of that .1% not in the mainstream, I was not ever really considered in the running to be a member of the team. If they can choose from "anyone", why would they choose someone who doesn't represent the whole.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that if I had the degree, I would have made the team. But since I didn't have it, I know in my heart there was never any real chance. For years, I blamed others for not telling me and I thought it was unfair since there wasn't a "rule". But I knew. I didn't need for anyone to tell me. I had to accept responsibility that my inaction caused my current circumstance.

After accepting responsibility for my inaction, I then had to look back and come to grips with the fact that I didn't do my best. I didn't do "everything" I could have done to reach my dream. That's a hard realization for anyone to face. And I knew that if I didn't learn from it, it would all be in vane. So I had a choice to make - Was I going to dwell on the negative and live with regret, or was I going to make it a lesson that would shape the rest of my life.

I chose the later. I chose to take the lesson of "real commitment" and sink my teeth into creating the life that I want for myself and my family.

I still struggle with reaching the goals I set - just like everyone else. But I can promise you this - when it comes to creating a dream, I will do everything I can to make sure that I leave nothing undone. That doesn't mean they are going to happen - but it won't be without me giving 100%

So, I ask YOU, are you giving everything you have to your goals? Take a couple minutes today and think about it. And recommit yourself to the dreams you have. And share with me your Blue Angels story, I would love to hear it.

Make Sure Tomorrow is Better Than Today

Yesterday, I talked about Briefing and the power it has to shape your day. But Briefs are only half the story. Briefs make what ever you are getting ready to do better. However, if you want to make everything you do even better tomorrow than it was today, then you must first reflect on what happened. And you must, as much as possible, do it as objectively as you can. In the world of Aviation, we gave that reflection a name - the Debrief.

If the Blue Angels are the masters (in my mind) of the Brief, then Top Gun is the gurus of the Debrief.

In Naval Aviation, our budgets are cut more each and every year - forcing us to figure out how to do more with less - something I wish more people in the Government should be trying to do. As flight hours and training time gets the biggest slash every year, our entire community has focused on making sure that we get every bit of training we can from every flight. To do this, Naval Aviation, led by Top Gun, has perfected the Debrief.

What is a Debrief? It's little more than systematically reviewing an event (or an entire day) and finding "Goods" and "Others" that you can take away as lessons learned.

What's a "Good" and what's an "Other"?

A "Good" should be obvious - it's something that you did well that day - something that worked for you in the course of doing what you briefed you were going to do. While an "Other" (in the true politically correct sense) is those things that didn't go quite as well as you had planned they would go - literally things that didn't work for you in the course of the event or day.

Now, in any given event (or day), you could probably find 100 things that were good, and 100 that didn't go so well. But, since most of us (especially Pilots) have short attention spans, let's keep the list of each to 3. Yep, I don't care how well your day went or how poorly it went, the key to a Debrief is finding 3 of each - every time.

So, after your event / day is done, sit down and take 10-15 minutes to reflect on your "Goods" and "Others". Write them down and if you are really bold, review them as part of you next Brief. This will help you keep your "Goods" happening and increase the likelihood that the "Others" won't happen again. Or you will at least make an effort to correct them.

If you have any questions or comments on Briefing and Debriefing, please leave a comment. I look forward to what everyone thinks.

Apply the Success of the Blue Angels to Your Life

As a pilot, before every flight, we "Brief". Sometimes those briefs were "brief", but more often than not they were anything but. However, whether they were quick or drawn-out, we prided ourselves in our professionalism and our ability to prepare ourselves for the flight.

Our briefs would prepare us for the flight. They covered everything we expected to do from take-off to landing. They also covered everything that we didn't expect to do - like emergencies and contingencies. I won't lie to you, some were better than others at briefing and preparing - and the truth be told, it almost always was reflected in their airborne success.

But nNo pilots, that I've ever met, Brief better and more thoroughly than the Blue Angels. If you think their flying is amazing, then you should witness one of their briefs. For about 45 minutes, the entire team flies the show in their mind - in unison, to the calls of the "Boss" (Blue Angel #1). Their hands move together - as if they were almost tied together with invisible pieces of string. Each team member responding as if they were actually in the air - flying their machines at 500 mph, just 36 inches from each through full acrobatics. Truly a lesson we can all learn from.

The lesson that is truly empowering to everyone that applies briefing to their repertoiret is mental preparation. In fact, this form of preparation before an event does two beneficial things for any who use it:

1. Briefing grounds us in the proper attitude - getting us focused on the job at hand and helping us clear our mind of distractions.
2. Briefing forces us to think through each event - before we live it - actively engaging the subconscious mind in our goals before we call upon it to assist us in our endeavor.

I've heard many people say that things are created twice - first in the mind, and then in reality. What briefing does is make the first part, the mental preparation, a planned event that you can count on.

So how can you apply this to your business - to your life?

It's simple really - every time you get ready to do something, brief yourself and your team first. You see this in many instances in successful businesses, but not often enough. Great restaurants get all of the Wait Staff together before a big mean and make sure everyone knows what's going on and who is responsible for what. Good Surgeons brief their operating staff what is going to happen, how it is going to go, and who is responsible for what, if something happens out of the ordinary. And in sports, coaches at all levels try to get their players to visualize a play before it happens, so that their mind is prepared for it and it becomes second nature.

Implementing this concept into your business or life isn't hard - but it does take time, creativity, and fore thought. Start simple and start big. Not that I want you to brief a monstrous undertaking - making the project even bigger than it already is. No, actually, I would like you to start by Briefing yourself every morning on what your day is going to be. Don't get down into details, just run through your day in your mind - what you want to happen, what possible emergencies could come up and what you could either do to avoid them or handle them. Think about where you are going to be, when you are going to be there, and who your are going to meet. Also think about thinks like when you are going to eat, sleep, and take care of other necessities of life - make them it all a conscious plan.

Do this every day for a week and see for yourself, how much more effective you will become. I think you will surprise yourself. You will get more done and be more effective in your life and your business than you've ever been in the past.