Start of a new week

Good morning and a happy and beautiful Sunday to all! What an interesting week for us all as we are definitely in unprecedented times. If you haven’t taken a step back yet to realize what is going on right now, please do because we are truly living a future case study right now. We can all learn from everything going on around us.

So yesterday I was heading to work through RDU airport and it was crazy to see how empty everything was. By the way, my career has been cleared by the CDC and WHO to proceed to work as much as possible. I’ve never seen an airport so empty, even when I got up to JFK. It’s great to see people following the guidelines overall though. As I pulled into the parking lot though and my journey to the gate, I got to thinking. Where is everyone, what are they doing, and who are you spending time with?

No doubt social media has been a buzz lately since everyone has more time. People are falling into groups in social media if you watch there as well. The “doom and gloomers”, I’m personally starting to mute for 30 days. That’s not me and that just doesn’t bring any joy to the world and surely doesn’t help anyone. The “politicians” or people who think their way is the right way. First of all, this is NEW for the whole world. No one has seen anything like this despite what anyone says. You can Monday morning quarterback the moves made by the government all you want, but at the end of the day they are shifting through what they perceive as facts as much as they can and are making the best decisions possible given what limited knowledge they have. This goes for all governments, local all the way to other countries as well. Also realize they see a bigger picture then we do in our bubbles. They see interconnected systems where one decision effects another. We have the ability to pass judgement on one decision, while they don’t have that same luxury. I offer up that we support the principle of what the government is trying to do to help us get through this together, put your political views aside, and in the mean time take responsibility for yourself and your own house and do what you can. At the end of the day the responsibility falls on YOU and US. Those who share negativism in the political realm are only showing your own fears but more importantly in my opinion, maybe just delaying the solution by resisting everything and fighting all the time about. The now “econo

mist” same goes for you.

Now the positive people! I’m loving the posts by my friends who are bringing the joys and are rolling with this! “Stay at home parents” especially! Y’all continue to amaze me with the joy you are bringing as your kids stay at home and you are anchoring new ideas and time with your young ones! Keep it up! The “Entrepreneurs!” Well done most of you. I love people of any business they are building and learning to adapt in these times. The at home business model is great, but also realize if people are smart, they need the value of the business to be greater than what they spend on it in times when they should be tightening their wallets. Help them, care about them, don’t just try to sell your product. Other businesses, hope this is highlighting some systems or more cash you can put away even. If you can survive in times of chaos then you will be able to flourish through speedbumps later on. I wish you the best of luck making some of those tough decisions. Remember if you do have to shut the doors, and I know that would be tough, YOU have already built it once, YOU can do it again and even stronger with the knowledge you have now. Don’t risk yours or your family’s survival or health now, because pride got in the way. You will rebuild!!

The “Leaders” YES! My kinda people! Bring the joy, Share the Love, help others where you can, and keep positive and get ready for the bounce, because this will end! It’s only a matter of time. And when it does, those that are preparing for the recovery from now, will be able to help those that are scratching their head because they wasted their time with the rest of most of the above categories or even thinking they are leaders but really fall into the above.

Times are real folks and everyone’s true light is starting to shine. Who we all are is being revealed. Look around, love or hate. The amazing thing is, NOW is a chance to change, NOW is an opportunity to be who you think you can be, NOW IS THE CHANCE to step into your true calling in life! NOW IS THE TIME! Stop wasting time with things that won’t really change the world. Sure it may make you feel better but don’t be selfish, your family and friends need us all to be better versions of ourselves.

So personally for me, I can think of three things I am currently bringing to the table. My ability to work not only in my career as a pilot, but also building what I feel is a calling for me, is keeping my mind sharp, and not getting caught up in the day to day of what is going on. Is the virus spreading, yes, is it knocking on my door, probably, will I get sick, sure maybe. Will life move on? ABSOLUTELY! The rest is a time waster. I’m hoping my job and career are intact but as a pilot, that could have been taken away anyway with a simple car accident months before this. My job is based on my health and my ability to stay well. When flying we always plan for contingencies and this is just another contingency to work through but I refuse to let my mind and thoughts wander off. My family needs me to stay sharp and focused and so does yours. When it comes to flying no one needs a distracted pilot. Right now is more important than ever to keep our focus when and where it needs to be. Are you in the same position? Maybe that focus is to simply spend time and find creative things to do with the family even!

The next thing I have learned to do well over the years is crisis management. I Defeat doubt, learn my way through a problem, transform where necessary and add fuel to the fire to move forward in another course of action. This is what crisis management is all about. If you hit a wall you find a way around it, over it, or through it. This virus is our wall, if you need help reach up for the guy standing on top and give him your hand. Don’t worry, I’m anchored in pretty good on my beliefs and have spent a life time learning this that I won’t fall off. I also realize you are strong enough but sometimes we all just need someone to bounce ideas off or organize our thoughts. I can help with that as well. So are you ready to get over the wall and turn a new path?

The last thing is just a positive attitude! Bring the JOY everyone! This is an amazing life and opportunity to live! Do you realize you had a one in trillion chance of even being here today? You are here for a reason, and I don’t believe your reason was to give bulk to some of the content above. You are here to change a life, a community, a world! Step into your purpose, and do what’s important to YOU! Your life is what you make it, so make it EPIC.

So one thing I have learned is when handling a crisis you may not know how long it will last so you have to prepare for the long haul. You may have to lead a new life even. Are you prepared to adapt and overcome. Personally, like what is going on in companies and in nations, preserve cash for the necessities! Do I have an emergency fund, absolutely of 6 months of living expenses, but if I can make that extend to 10-12 minimum, wouldn’t that bet better. Here are just a few thoughts.

-interest rates are dropping, have you made sure anything that could affect, is dropping as well. Credit cards, school loans, mortgages, car loans, and literally anything else that has an interest rate attached to it. Call or email the companies and ask them if this is happening and if not how can we make it happen. If not then move on to the next. But remember the companies that help you in these times when you are up for renewals.

-if mortgages are being suspended is yours, call and ask. If you are renting, like I am, ask your landlord or agency, that if their costs are being suspended can that be passed down to you? If not how about being cut in half or whatever percentage you deem for the time being. If you own properties and have renters, are you able to help them out as well if you are being helped out? Just some thoughts there.

-Eating out at times. Now this is a tough one. On one hand you need to support your community so those businesses don’t fold, on the other hand you are trying to preserve cash, but look at it like this. If we all go into a 14 day lock down, which has been thrown around, do you have enough food at home to live for 14-21 days minimum? If not keep that supply at home to that amount at the least of things that don’t spoil. Then go out and get some food from a local business that is trying to survive. They need you right now bc in 14 days they may or not make it through but if you can help your neighbor out they will be there for you when this does go away.

—Also don’t forget with more people at home during more hours during the day there is naturally more dust around and things need to be cleaned more often. Use the time to teach kids and get them to help you out. Same goes with food, in that your normal supply while someone is away at work may not suffice with another mouth to feed for an extra meal or 2 a day.

Those are just a few things I have been able to come up with so far but there are many more. If you are living with a budget, time to revisit it with yourself or significant other. Also a good idea to set up any systems you can automate or delegate any tasks that you may need to do especially in the business sense. If you would like help brainstorming some of that let’s discuss it.

As a Safety Investigator for the Air Force for quite a few years we would constantly analyze accidents and where in the chain of events things went wrong, and where that error chain could have been stopped, by just taking out a single link. Every accident or event has the chain that leads up to it. Once you found the chain you could analyze the whole chain and figure out which links to focus on and either change and improve the training or throw out an old technique altogether, or heck make a new rule to prevent future occurrences. We are living in a time that is as highly dynamic as flying can be. On the other side of it can be a successful landing or it could be something a lot worse. The decisions we make everyday can prevent that chain from ever linking, right now more than ever. Analyze what you and your family are doing daily from social media, to your daily habits, and see if its contributing to landing the plane successfully. If you need a copilot or back seater then as Viper says in Top Gun, “Give me a call, I’ll fly with ya.”

Have an AMAZING SUNDAY and Week everyone and BRING THE JOY to the world!!