Practice: How to Get Better at Anything

"The trees on the mountain can be used to build and so are cut down. When fat is added to the fire it consumes itself. Cinnamon can be eaten and so is harvested. The lacquer tree can be used and so is slashed. Everyone knows the usefulness of the useful. But no one knows the usefulness of the useless!" - Chuang Tzu

19 Year Old Pilot James - Feeling Pretty Cool - Somewhere Over the US 

A great thought experiment to run your mind through to help you on goals you are currently working towards is to analyze your prior successes, take what has previously worked for you and apply it to your present situation.

For myself, the best example of this is becoming a pilot. The reason I was able to become a great pilot at a very young age is quite simply because: nobody told me it wasn't possible. My mindset was, "I will do this, no matter what."

With that mindset I lived, breathed and dreamt flying. Studied 24/7/365. Flew whenever I could including simulators both at flight schools and at home. I read anything there was to read about flying. I did this until it became who I was. Which led to me becoming very successful. So much so that when I completed my Certified Flight Instructor (CFI) license before I graduated college - which allows you to teach others to fly. The examiner who gave me that test, which spans across two full days, was actively telling all of the flight schools in the area that they should hire me because the knowledge I displayed was very impressive. This resulted in my phone ringing non-stop with flight schools wanting to interview me which led to several job offers before I graduated college and a job lined up for when I did graduate.

This was not the result of me being naturally good at flying, which was most certainly not the case. I simply had the endless ambition to accomplish this goal and pulled out all of the stops to do so. Working hard combined with a can-do attitude and a healthy dose of good luck was the secret sauce.

There were bumps along the road but when I fell down I simply got back up, brushed the dirt off and continued down the path towards my goal. Nothing was able to deter me. I had to declare emergencies, have the firetrucks rolled to meet me on the runway around 10(ish) times during my flying days. It did not phase me in the least, it's all part of it, that's what your training is for.

Electrical fires, landing gear issues, parts flying off the plane, radios failing, near mid-air misses, engine trouble, icing, thunderstorms, hail, controllers not paying attention, complete electrical failures, coyotes running across the runway - it all comes with the territory. Winds calm when you takeoff then come back to a 42 knot crosswind gusting to 57 knots? No problem, lets do this, this is going to be a fun landing. There was no challenge I could not overcome because I knew what I was doing, I knew my own limitations and I knew each airplane I flew like the back of my hand. I also knew when to not go flying. Knowing you can overcome any challenge and also knowing when to not even go is what keeps you alive. The sharper you know that line, the more successful you will be.

How long will it take? How much will it cost? Are the first two questions every new student would ask about getting their private pilots license. To which I answered with a question of my own: How often are you going to fly? If you fly once a month, it's going to take you a few years, if you ever finish, and will probably cost about 5 times as much as it should. If you fly once a week, you might be able to get it done in a year. If you fly three times a week - probably around six months. If you fly every day - about two months. If you do two-a-days - one month and you'll spend the least amount of money.

Everybody wants the end result but few want to endure the journey to get there. It's much easier to talk about the end result without ever taking a single step on the path towards that goal. If you only ever talk about something - it won't ever get done. Everyone knows the path won't be easy, which is why nobody wants to take the path. Take the first courageous step down the path, then put one foot in front of the other and keep walking, one step at a time. Take it a step further and thoroughly enjoy each step you take. Look around and think, "I can't believe I'm here actually doing this, look how beautiful this journey is." Enjoy the journey.

You can learn anything you want in this world. You are only restricted by the limitations that exist in your own mind regardless of if those limitations were imposed by you, someone else or society. If you can completely remove those limitations and get in the mindset of you can do absolutely anything you want then... you can do absolutely anything you want, regardless of what anybody else says.

The best way to learn is to teach others. Pick something you do not know and set out to teach it to somebody else, in the process you will teach yourself. This is the absolute, 100% best way to learn anything, especially if you do not know what you are trying to teach. Counter-intuitive? Yes. Effective? Yes.

All of this applies to anything and everything you set out to do in life.

We are all on our own path, it is up to you to come to your own conclusions, analyze your own prior successes, have your own experiences and find the truth for yourself - as you see and interpret it. Nobody is coming to save you. You have to save yourself. Your future is completely within your own control. So I ask you...

What are you going to do?