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5 Bad Attitudes

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Good attitudes produces good results, and bad attitudes produces bad results

Attitude is Everything! This is not a new concept, preached from motivational seminars, but one of many bits of wisdom found in the Bible. Proverbs 17:22 says, “A merry heart does good like a medicine, but a broken spirit dries the bones.” The interesting thing is, this principle applies across the board, but many have never grasped the concept. It seems that some people just refuse to be content, grateful or happy about anything. What they don’t know is that their bad attitudes actually contribute to more of the same of what made them sour in the first place.

Bad Attitudes in Aviation

Result of a Hazardous Attitude

Flight Instructors are taught to be aware of 5 Hazardous Attitudes that could affect their student’s decision making process. Any one of these bad attitudes can produce bad results. What is note worthy is that these are also attitudes that all humans share to one degree or another, and they can definitely influence our path of life.

Aviation Instructor Handbook

Life Coaching from Aviation Coaching

No Bad Attitude

Each one of these 5 Hazardous Attitudes has its own effect in our lives. Anti-authority types eventually hit a brick wall in their marriage or job or a relationship. We have all seen what can happen if we resist arrest. Being impulsive can cause bad decisions, and resignation is the same as saying “I can’t.” (see my article on Can’t is a Four Letter Word)

Life Coaching and From Woodstock to Eternity

The book “From Woodstock To Eternity” is full of life coaching lessons related to attitudes. Eating beans and rice from the Hog Farm commune at Woodstock, Dustin Morgan pondered the essence of the welfare state vs. what it would take to get a hamburger. Even in the hippie culture of the time, he could plainly see the difference between the commune side and the capitalist dope dealer side. When presented with bizarre choices, he was willing to take risks to see what was on the other side. His own sister dared him to dream of what he could accomplish in flying if he made his opportunities and pursued them.

What’s Next

In the next five articles, I will dissect each Hazardous Attitude defined for flight instructors and apply them to everyday life experiences. This should be interesting, and hopefully, encouraging. Life is so much easier when we know what is causing us problems, and what we can do to change all that. Please stay tuned and share the posts that touch a chord.

Can’t is a Four Letter Word!!

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Of all the four letter words we’re taught not to say, I added one that I consider the worst offender… Can’t. Nothing can frustrate success more than a bad attitude, and believing you can’t do something virtually guarantees that you won’t. That’s why I say “Can’t is a Four Letter Word.” In “From Woodstock to Eternity,” Dustin Morgan’s sister forces him to confront the notion that he can do more with his life than he thinks he can. In fact, he can do things he never thought of before, and why? Because he never thought he could. Can’t is the enemy of did, and the ally of didn’t… or never tried in the first place.

Dream It – Do It!

Dustin pictured himself in the cockpit of a 727 airliner and thought, “I have never allowed myself to think this far, to consider it a possibility, to dare to dream.” His sister assured him that he could do anything he set his mind to do. She also assured him that Jesus was not just a baby in a manger or a body on a cross. He is alive and active in our daily decisions and helps to bring them to pass. Dustin wondered, “Will God do that for me?”

Having a dream motivates you to achieve it, and without a dream, there is no will to carry on. As Proverbs says, “Where there is no vision, the people perish.” This is not a unique concept. In the aviation instruction realm, it is called motivation. Every lesson must have an introduction, and that includes attention, motivation and an overview. If you want to learn what is in the lesson, it must gain your attention. The motivation, or your “vision” inspires you to do the work required to learn the lesson.

So, here are some key points in reaching your full potential

Listen to wise counselors

Sometimes we need to hear from another perspective. We get trapped in

our own little bubble and can’t see a bigger picture.

Allow yourself to dream

It’s OK to have grandiose ideas or to believe you can do great things. Some may call it ego or pride, but if you put it in Jesus’ hands, you will approach the endeavor humbly and earnestly. The tragedy for any of us is to fall into complacency and never use the gifts God has given us.

Don’t say “Can’t!”

Once you envision a goal, never tell yourself you can’t do it! Allow your dream to give you the motivation to work. study, be patient, and persevere.

In my ground school class, I had students from their 40’s and 50’s on their second and third careers to become an airline pilot.

Never sell yourself short. Remember,

Can’t is a Four Letter Word!!

Memories from Blacksburg

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Interview with Virginia Tech student Ally Larrick

I got an interesting call the other day from a Virginia Tech student who was writing a story on the life of Psychology Professor Joe Germana. Dr. Germana was a professor of mine from 1970-1972, and was an integral part of our little band of hippies. The amazing thing is, he is still teaching in the same department, and is soon to celebrate his 52nd year!

The interview with Ally was a real trip down memory lane for me, and an eye opener for her. Since many young adults her age do not even know what a Woodstock is, I had to ask her if she had heard about it. Of course, she said she had, but she really wanted stories that related to Professor Germana. Well, you just can’t get the essence of Joe Germana without understanding the aura of the time, so I did my best to re-create the vibes of 1960’s – 70’s Blacksburg. Of course, it is ethereal and intangible… you had to be there.

I told her about the early hippies in Blacksburg and how they were considered a strange minority. I told her about the fights we had with the rednecks and how the Blacksburg mountain hippie culture was born. Peace and love with leather and knives. I told her about our own hippie Fonzie with his long black hair flowing over his shoulders, his bare feet and studded jacket… and how he beat up rednecks at the drop of a hat.

I told her about eating LSD like it was candy, and how our growing need for more weed sparked an innovative capitalistic pot distribution empire with fingers stretching all along the East Coast. I told her about Andromeda and the hard rock heartbeat of the hip community. I did forget to tell her about the outdoor concert in the country where the whole band was tripping, and the lead singer (yours truly) was slamming the ground with a big club like the apes in 2001 A Space Odyssey. I think that’s the one where I threatened to beat Germana over the head with my club for no apparent reason.

I told her about our semi-conservative values, that even though we believed in free love, homosexuality was not a part of the equation. We still considered it strange… and traditional marriage was a given.

There were some problems, however. Even though our success at pot capitalism generated a wealthy class of dealers, our propensity for pleasure, and cocaine in particular, provided a drain for all that money to go through. Like Robin Williams said, “Cocaine is God’s way of saying, ‘you’re making too much money.'”

How does all this relate to Professor Joe Germana? Well, to be fair, he had nothing to do with the pot dealing network, the acid or the cocaine. But, since the movement began in the college community, and many of the students took his classes, he was a beloved part of something that blossomed into what would later be called the Woodstock Nation.

I don’t know how this interview affected Ally, but she did say that it opened up a whole new part of history that she knew nothing about. Sadly, as I wrote in From Woodstock To Eternity, the magic of peace and love and flower power was over in a few short years, replaced by booze and downers and acquiescence to the lower, baser elements. Such is the progression of man without the redeeming power of Jesus Christ.

Ally, thank you for the opportunity to relive a special time in the lives of all of us who were there. I hope your bio of the good Doctor Germana is successful. And to all my friends in Blacksburg and elsewhere from that magical era, I say this,

“for a little while, for a sweet moment in history, we were stardust, and we were golden.”

Woodstock Chapter – From Woodstock To Eternity

 

D-Day!! The Day of Days

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June 6, 1944 – The Allies Invade Europe at Normandy

I love D-Day because it gives me  such a sense of overwhelming power resulting in victory.  Every time I see videos or movies of the invasion with the thousands of ships, planes, armament and troops, it boggles my mind.D-daybigmap

The courage it took to storm the cliffs at Omaha humbles me as well.  I am so grateful to this generation of heroes who saved the world for freedom.

If our president at the time, FDR, did not have the resolve, the will and the toughness to lead the country in that war, we could not have won it.  We need that kind of leadership today.

Today, the nation salutes all those who remain of the Greatest Generation.