| In my younger days, the fighter squadron was like a | | | | inside the lines, I have found an abundance of |
| second home. We spend a lot of time there getting | | | | opportunity in arguably the worst economy since the |
| ready for missions, discussing tactics and the usual | | | | great depression nearly one hundred years ago. I have |
| camaraderie you may find in a no estrogen zone. | | | | discovered businesses that allow you to work from |
| Each squadron had many briefing rooms, a common | | | | home with no start-up cost, earning well over $200,000 |
| area, a vault with all the secrets and most importantly | | | | on a part time basis (less than 20 hours a week). I |
| a bar. I can still remember a poster hung in a cheap | | | | have discovered opportunities that monetize any set |
| frame that stated, "Attitude is not everything, It is the | | | | of skills. Whether you want to wear a suit or shorts, |
| ONLY thing." Next to it was a picture of the F-15 with | | | | pay $20,000 to start a business or start with nothing, |
| a quote from Manfred von Richthofen that stated | | | | work full time or part time, you can get it done if you |
| "The duty of the fighting pilot is to patrol his area of the | | | | choose. |
| sky, and shoot down any enemy fighters in that area. | | | | I'll be the first to admit that money is not everything, but |
| Anything else is rubbish." | | | | it does rank right up there with oxygen. Seriously, the |
| One of the things that establishes the aviator in a | | | | reason I took a stab at the money angle was because |
| category among some of the most skilled and | | | | it frees your mind to think clearly. Once you are not |
| accomplished has to do with a process discipline that | | | | worried about paying the bills, free thinking reduces |
| is sustained by a winning attitude. In fact, many of the | | | | stress and gets the creative juices flowing for even |
| most successful people of all vocations share these | | | | more abundance. Let me illustrate with a simple |
| common traits. Doing the right thing fueled by an | | | | exercise I learned from Keith Cameron Smith, the |
| uncompromised passion is the breeding ground for | | | | author of Top 10 distinctions between Winners and |
| success. What are your passions? Have you | | | | Whiners. I think most would all agree that for a |
| compromised your dreams? I challenge you to play to | | | | balanced life you need to be strong in 5 key areas. 1. |
| win in 2010! Take those dreams and ambitions off the | | | | Faith 2. Family 3. Friends 4. Fitness 5. Finances. Stick |
| shelf, dust them off and get after them. You will grow | | | | out your hand and assign the first four to each of your |
| personally while attracting talent and resources to your | | | | fingers. Assign Finances to your thumb. Notice that |
| cause. | | | | your thumb, Finances, can touch all four of the other |
| What's on your bucket list? Renew your child like faith. | | | | critical areas! |
| Who would admonish a child for claiming they wanted | | | | Do yourself and everyone around you a favor this |
| to be the President, a Police Officer, a Fireman, or | | | | year by performing an attitude tune up. Start dreaming |
| even a fighter pilot? Yet, as we grow older we lose | | | | again and begin living the life you were destined to |
| sight of those ambitions and somehow placate | | | | enjoy. Discover what puts a smile on your face and |
| ourselves living paycheck to paycheck. What's out | | | | live your dream. I hope that your passion somehow |
| there for your taking? A new rating? Start a flying | | | | intersects with the general aviation community. The |
| club? Renew your CFI? Buy a newer airplane with all | | | | business model needs an overhaul. I paid more for the |
| the bells and whistles? Fire your boss? Time | | | | oil change in my Escalade than I do for an oil change in |
| Freedom? More community involvement? If you do not | | | | my airplane. Actually they did rotate the tires and |
| like the cards that you have been dealt, demand a | | | | spend $50 of my money to tell me I had a short in the |
| reshuffle and a new deal. | | | | 12 volt receptacle that I told them was not working. It |
| People are risking their lives every day to become part | | | | was another $115 to actually fix it. The point is that |
| of the American dream. I find it ironic that in the | | | | automobile labor and airplane labor pay scales are |
| amount of time we commiserate with our neighbors | | | | bass-ackwards. The aging flying community is not |
| about how screwed up our government has become, | | | | recruiting more pilots than they are retiring. For the first |
| an immigrant has launched a nail salon on the street | | | | time the Air Force graduated more pilots assigned to a |
| corner and turning a profit. Much like what happens in a | | | | cave flying a joy stick commanding an UAV |
| storm, one can become snow blind. Many of us have | | | | (unmanned aerial vehicle) than flying jets. |
| become opportunity blind in the land of opportunity. | | | | Together we can make a difference in an industry |
| Here's the great news! We all have a choice on how | | | | that has so much to offer. Play to win in 2010 and |
| we handle life circumstances. It's called attitude. Since I | | | | beyond! |
| left the corporate world where I was advised to color | | | | |