By Frank Scandura

On a recent business trip to San Diego to help with the Fly with the Eagles II course put on by Elite, I grabbed a couple of my AOPA Flight Training magazines hoping for an opportunity to catch up on my reading.

In the October 2013 issue, Jeff Mitchell wrote an article called “One Pilot, Many Tools.” The article starts out with:

“Appalachian Trail hikers, marathon runners, and athletes in solo sports find the biggest enemy or obstacle is the self – one’s own person. These people are constantly negotiating with and reevaluating themselves, their goals, performance risk, attitudes, and lessons learned.”

He discusses the importance of having your “tools” ready at all times and goes on to say:

“You can create a personal pilot statement that addresses how you’ll deal with external pressures, risk and your attitude toward flying. If you don’t predefine how you’ll address these facets of flying, you easily could be pressured or influenced to ‘go with the flow’ and end up in a place you don’t want to be.”

Now, we can all agree that there is no room for error in aviation, but when I read this article I saw the business and life applications right away.

We must be constantly negotiating with and reevaluating ourselves, our goals, our performance risk, attitudes and lessons learned. If we don’t have predetermined plans for how we will deal with the facets of our businesses and our lives, we will end up in a place we don’t want to be.

As we start a new year I see no better time to do just that. Take some time and have a plan ready. Check your goals, reset them if needed. Be prepared for the unexpected, know where you want to be, and you’ll get there!

This article was contributed by Frank Scandura, the owner of two of the most successful, state-of-the art, green shops in North America, and one of the coaches who offers shop owners 1-on-1 guidance through the Elite Coaching Program.