May 19th, 1pm: Alive Decisions Discussion

The very first Fly With Amelia Foundation event is now on the calendar and I am excited to have you join us. On May 19th, 2013 at 1pm, I will lead an interactive discussion for adults, kids, teens… anyone who makes daily choices and wants to lead an engaged, focused life. The discussion will be based around flight metaphors and will be an open interaction between all who want to participate. The day includes FREE admission, a short film in the Harrison Ford Theatre, and a museum tour with me, after the live talk.

The Fly With Amelia Foundation will also give away a flight lesson during the event. All who arrive will be entered to win. If you have any questions or would like to volunteer, please send me an email at ameliaroseearhart@gmail.com.

Thank you!

Amelia

Subtle weenie or bolt of lightning? Both are within your reach.

It is not light that we need, but fire; it is not the gentle shower, but thunder. We need the storm, the whirlwind, and the earthquake.
-Frederick Douglass

In a matter of 24 hours, our moods and emotions can fly all across the spectrum… from pure and unadulterated love and affection, to deep sadness and loss of hope, to apathy and aloof nonchalance. We are logical, smart human beings… so where does this fluctuation come from? There aren’t usually that many changes taking place in the real world. Most of these changes come from our reaction and feelings that we place on external factors. We all know that, but how do we conquer these sometimes dampening emotions and keep on our inspired track where progress, happiness and encouraging others is the rule rather than the exception? Don’t get me wrong, I am a feel your emotions deeply kind of girl… but it is the tricky little, inspiration crushing moments that can mean the difference between rockin’ a goal and rockin’ your sweat pants.

Time for some transparency… I am afraid of losing my ability to find inspiration. So what do you do when you can’t find the thing you need? You make it yourself.

My biggest, scariest, most smile killing, couch and cupcake inducing emotion, used to be the feeling that inspiration was rare and hard to come by and that it simply flew in and out of our minds and hearts on a whim. For a long time I convinced myself that inspiration was like lightning. I knew that, in order to find it, I needed to locate a thunderstorm… but even when I found the source of this awesome power, seeing the lightning was random and out of my control. Sitting on a hillside, hoping to see a bolt, much like waiting for someone, something, some place or idea to inspire me, left me feeling like my life’s accomplishments were based on some spark of outside influence. It became a wandering, seeking feeling that I needed to be perpetually staring at the sky, paranoid I would miss the view. In the mean time, I found myself missing out on exciting, creative, real-life opportunities because I was waiting for a flash of lightning-like inspiration to spur me on to do all the things that I knew, deep down, I could be capable of.

When I realized that I was the thunderstorm, I began to understand that I had the option to create my own lightning. 

Winston Churchill said, “You create your universe as you go along.” This type of mindset can sound a little narcissistic. Stay with me here… you can’t be of any use to anyone else, unless you are living and breathing the highest form of who you believe you are capable of becoming. Create, seek, love and nurture all the moments that make you feel alive. Seal them up and store them in your freezer for future use.

When I was driving out to Centennial Airport, heading to one of my last IFR flight lessons before my check ride  (I passed my IFR written exam!!) I was filled with lightning. Bright and bold, ready to strike and light up the sky, I easily learned and sought more understanding during my lesson.

This is in contrast to a few days back when I was a big ole lame mess. Tired and apathetic, I procrastinated and gave in to the negative feedback and pessimistic outlook of others. One of those influences was a negative note here on the blog. I was a little sullen and lacking that lustrous glow of potential and I was waiting on someone else to light me up. Anyone who has the time and need to send negative feedback should get the whole story first, rather than toss out random and hurtful words… Like Taylor Swift said, “why ya gotta be so mean?”  When I realized how silly this was, I had to pull up my boot straps and motivate myself.

Kind of vague, right? Vague sucks. Let’s get specific.

Here’s what I did to get out of my funk:

1) Went to the gym. Physical activity will almost instantly get you out of a bad mood.

2) Worked on the Fly With Amelia Foundation board of directors plan and created an outline for the May 19th event at Wings Over the Rockies.

3) Read a few pages from my oral prep book and realized how much I enjoy precision flight

4) Called a friend to talk about what was new in her life. Turns out she is really happy and that was instant smiles on my part.

5) Took a hot bath and went to bed on time… which meant 9pm. I get up at 3am so it takes an effort to be done with everything that early!

The point is this…when it comes to inspiration, no one is going to inspire you on a consistent basis except for yourself. You’ve got to have a plan for being that charge of energy that ignites the storm, that lifts clouds, crackles and pops with excitement and *change*.

I got an amazing facebook message from my friend Jessie yesterday…

• Jessie Louise

  “Miss Amelia. I don’t know when you’ll get this message– but my goodness. I have so few chic friends who have any idea how amazing what we do is. I spent the morning/afternoon flying around Eagle/Leadville/Rifle/Vail– landing on pinnacles, inside bowls, on shoulders and all above 10,000 (highest was 11,400). We landed and had lunch in Leadville– then flew some more– no rushing, just practice, practice– got to fly to several crash sites, the old Camp Hale (10th Mtn division did extreme cold wx training there during WWII), abandoned mines/ghosttowns– an A-10 crash site (on a pinnacle)– Amelia it was just the most brilliant day of my career so far. (I’m at the High Altitude School the CO national guard has in Eagle btw– its a train up for deployment, but I got lucky to come here to learn– otherwise I’d be doing all this training in a combat zone in August! We are so frikkin blessed girl!!!!!”

Here’s a link to her photos from that day: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.947501243203.1073741825.45200821&type=1

Moments like Jessie had yesterday don’t just fall into her lap. They happen because she creates her own storm, day after day. This girl is a ball of fire and feisty amazement and she is a role model to me. She is lightning and thunder and she isn’t waiting around for someone else to hand her inspiration on a silver platter. She’s in the kitchen, making a big ole batch of it right now.

If you want inspiration, don’t sit around and wait for it to pop up on your newsfeed, a pretty sunset view, or a bolt of lightning in a storm, go out and seek it like a thirsty dude looking for gatorade in the desert. Think of how incredibly turned on your life becomes when you know what you want… life comes alive and decisions can then be made to get yourself closer to where you want to be.

Being subtle is for weenies. Go get what you want and encourage others to engage in what they love.

Thunder is good, thunder is impressive; but it is lightning that does the work. -Mark Twain

Shuffling your deck

Did you know that EVERY single time you shuffle a deck of cards, the outcome will be completely UNIQUE? That goes for every shuffled deck that has ever, will ever, be shuffled by anyone. Ever. Think on that. The permutation of a standard deck of 52 cards has the following number of possible arrangements:

52 isn’t a huge number, but the combinations of options from the 52 cards is a pretty healthy batch of changes. Jacks, Kings, the 2 of hearts, they are all in there, ready to be shuffled and rearranged, ready to create a combination that has never existed in history and will never, ever, exist again. I am a firm believer that the hand we are dealt is made wholly of the cards we allow ourselves to play with.

When I heard this big ole number, my head started spinning. If 52 cards can be arranged in that many ways, what does that say for choices, decisions, outcomes and opportunities in our own lives? We all have way more than 52 things we could rearrange in order to create a new scenario, a fresh outlook, a new angle, a feeling of starting over.

My top 52 for today (the best part is, they change all the time!): attitude, goals, family, work, diet, hours of sleep, focused time on studies, time spent writing, alone time, work relationships, health, intention, time spent flying, building new relationships, asking for help, friends, social media interaction, breaking bad habits, building new positive habits, organization, time spent worrying, care for others, my budget, prioritizing tasks, my importance of the opinions of others, wasted time, being uncomfortable, planning, daily tasks, charity, unconventional ideas, time spent online, being kind, saying yes, saying no, saying not today but maybe soon, down time, relaxation, speaking up, acting like a child, acting like an adult, decision making, being aware of the big picture, meditation, focus to detail, dreaming, outside input, inspiration, research, safety, conservation, feeling.

You may relate to some of my 52 or maybe none at all, the point is, when you focus on the same top 5 out of 52 day in and day out, you are leaving out a lot of very important other options that all have a place in your deck. You don’t have to eliminate cards, but you also don’t have to be afraid to give the deck a shuffle every now and again to feel that fresh newness of a renewed, excited plan.

If I dig deep into my deck, and tomorrow, I focus on things like saying yes, research, organization, breaking bad habits and dreaming, I would probably have a totally different day than if I went by the usual plan of focusing on attitude, family, work, diet etc. as the same way I focus each day. I am by no means saying to ignore your typical top 5, we already know we’ve got those covered, but a shuffle can allow you to feel alive, fresh, renewed and inspired to see through a slightly different set of eyes. You will naturally pay mind to the things you focus on during a typical day… but… with a new hand that you deal yourself, you’ll be playing the game confidently and with a strong hand full of intentional choices.

When you start of each day by looking at all your options, rather than going with what makes you feel comfortable and at home, you will inevitably start to do some rearranging along the way, fixing and plotting, getting priorities aligned in a smart way that can build your strategy for success… heck, maybe your deck will go flying into the air and you’ll have to pick up all the cards one by one, once again, creating an arrangement that is all yours.

The best part about all of this is that the new arrangement that you are priviledged enough to hold in your hot little hands has never existed before and will never exist again.

So go ahead, shake things up, shuffle your deck. Just remember, you decide what goes into that stack of cards.. every single day.\

Here’a link to the video I mentioned in my video blog above: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cKZStlBECHo

The two days of the year when nothing can be done…

Click for a larger view, share for larger inspiration:

I hope your day was filled with delicious, ambitious, heartfelt action!

I wanted to share a podcast interview with SimpleFlight Radio that I did last week… flying, goal setting, and focused inspiration were the topics we covered.

We also decided to rock the Twitter Hashtag: #gulpingbeauty

Here’s a link: http://www.simpleflight.net/aviation-radio-show-archive.html

Thanks to the crew at Simple Flight for believing in general aviation and my plans for an around the world flight!

-Amelia

Obvious? You betcha. Incredibly powerful? Ohhh yeah.

I am a creature of the night, waking at the deeply dark, wee hours of the morning to head to the tv station where I prognosticate about all things traffic, weather and news. The alarm sounds at 3:30am these days, which is a nice break from the previous 2:30 honking that woke me from my delicious flying dreams at previous times. Eyes flutter open, muscles come alive and more often than not, a smile slips across my lips, knowing today is the best day in history.

Hair and makeup, dresses and heels, espresso (raspberry and vanilla these days) and I am out the door with a quick kiss blown to my faithful little pup, Nubbin. When I get in the car, I have approximately 14 minutes to set my mood just right.

The freeway is a runway leading straight toward whatever day I want to have.

What I noticed today, as I drove in for a Sunday morning weather shift at 9News, was how clear and deep the night sky seemed as I pressed the gas pedal and roared onto I-25. Through the windshield, the stars gleamed, constellations crisp and obvious to the North, inviting my stare to linger longer than usual. I was alone, baring the rare opposite direction freeway companion. It was the color of the sky that really got to me this morning. It was a bluish black, with no end in sight. There was no promise of impending light, no hint of a day ahead. Pure, calm, silky black eternity.

What would it be like to fly in this night sky? On a Sunday morning at 4am? Sure, I’ve had night flight time, as pilot, as passenger, as sleepy shoulder sleeper, but this, this would be different. My mind immediately went to the pinnacle of my flight goals, an eventual flight around the world. There will be hours upon hours spent flying at night and inevitably, there will be a 4am adventure across the night sky. I get chills thinking of what it will be like to look back on even just the writing of this blog post, wondering what and where and how and oh my goodness it is all so possible!

The first Amelia saw what I am imagining, craving, working toward, first hand, and summed it up in such a succinct way… “The stars seemed near enough to touch and never before have I seen so many. I always believed the lure of flying is the lure of beauty, but I was sure of it that night.”

There is a reason that I am so focused and amped up toward diving into that night sky, especially as of late. A personal recommitment has been made, a show of respect toward the big goals and what they stand for and it has all come from a new sense of understanding exactly what we are all individually capable of. It comes down to deciding what you want to be and committing 100%.

Obvious? Completely.

Here’s where I realized I have failed in the past: Previously, a 99% commitment felt like a path toward success. If I was 99% there, 1% couldn’t, wouldn’t, shouldn’t matter, right?

Wrong.

That 1% is a powerful little beast. Take for example, a thought on exceptions to the “rule”. If you commit to working toward a goal 99% of the time, you will constantly use the excuse that today is the day to slack off, procrastinate, put it off, and let the work pile up. Is today the 1% exception? Sure, why not? I am 99% committed to my cause, my goal, my idea. This one time wont hurt. Two times is a fluke, everyone get’s a few free passes, three times starts to look like a pattern and then, before you know it, a 99% commitment looks like a 50% maybe I’ll get it done when I have the energy, when I lose ten pounds, when the kids graduate, when work slows down. Familiar? I’ve been there and I don’t want to go back. No way, José. 

That one little time turns to habit and you are back where you were when your goal was just a lofty idea without legs. When a 100% commitment is made, there are no exceptions, either you are or you aren’t. Do or do not. Be or don’t be. Progress can be slow, but commitment with intention and defined terms of success and hard work is sexy. Just make the first step, invite yourself to take the next, the third will feel good and then you are on a roll.

I’ll take it one step further… If you accomplished 99% of your goal, would you be happy? If out of 100 job candidates you were one away from the top, would you be stoked? In my case, if I flew 99% of the way around the world, I would certainly disappointed. You get out what you put in. Lately, my input has been learning, growing, soak up the amazing details of how awesome flight can be. When I talk about the goal, I show 100% on my face. You’ve got one life to give it all while you’re here. I don’t want to die with a bunch of unfulfilled ideas.

Am I sounding like some sort of crazy tyrant? I am not saying you’ve gotta be all work and no play… that would be a terrible way to live. What I am saying, is decide what you want and pour your whole heart into it. You are completely capable of doing whatever it is you can imagine. It feels damn amazing to accomplish goals, right? Do it more often. I can’t believe I am quoting John Mayer, but here goes: “If you had started doing anything two weeks ago, by today you would have been two weeks better at it.”

Back to night flight… lately, when I have a hard time studying, or going to a lesson after waking up at 3:30am, or taking the time to understand my craft, I go back to what it will feel like to slip into the sky and fly East towards the horizon. It kicks me in the ass, it lifts my heart, it rumbles my soul. It is like the aircraft engine starting… it feels like the beginning of something big.

Almost there is ok, but hitting your mark feels realllllllly good.

Love,

Amelia

What *can* you be, what are you *willing* to be?

Watch the video before you read!

These are 4 minutes and 19 seconds you’ll be glad you devoted your time to! Brian Johnson, creator of en*theos (www.entheos.com) and Philosopher’s Notes (www.entheos.com/philosophersnotes.com) struck a chord with me during his latest YouTube video on Optimal Living… he talked about that tricky little zone we all tend to visit more than we’d like: “The Integrity Gap”

He describes this place as, the distance between what you are *capable* of doing and what you are *actually* doing.

I watched this video while on the treadmill at the hotel here in Minneapolis, I am here for a meteorology conference that 9News sent me to. But first, rewind a bit… we got in a few hours early and it is nearly as cold as Denver here! Right around 7 degrees today. As I walked into my pretty little hotel room, I thought, ugh, there are so many things I need to get done! My room looks out over the Mall of America and I gotta tell ya, it was less than inspiring. Buy, buy, buy, eat, eat, eat, spend, spend, spend. It instantly put me in a bad mood!

I sat there on my perfectly pressed bed, thinking about how cold it was, how much I needed to get done, how lazy I felt, and how I would be here all week! We have all been there, right?

The afternoon could have gone one of two ways, turn on daytime (ugh) tv, surf Facebook and listen to everyone complain about the cold, and generally replicate the view I was looking at through my window, or…

I could *close my integrity gap* and cancel out the distance between what I was actually doing and what I was capable of doing. So I laced up my Pegasus sneaks and got my butt down to the gym.

New view, new body temperature (hot hot hot) and a new feeling that I was now doing what I was capable of. I came back upstairs, wrote some exciting follow up emails about the round the world flight, made a few calls that included a big ask *with a yes response!* and popped up the lap top to jot this note.

((((I am not trying to brag by writing this blog, yadda yadda, I got so much done. Not that at all. I just want to make sure that the people who care enough to read the post get the same opportunity to feel as incredible as I do. ))))

As Brian says, the gap is filled with regret (I should have gotten more accomplished), anxiety (I am falling behind and my goals will not get accomplished), and disillusionment (blah, blah, life ain’t so fun).

Back to the point of the video- how can you close the gap?

It is truly as simple as being the highest version of yourself moment to moment. That even feels good to write… what would the best version of you do right now, literally right in this very moment?

For me, it is writing this down and having the courage to push the publish button.

To closing the gap…

Here goes.

Back to basics

Hey friends,

No election talk here, just a note for those who have this sort of thing stamped on their souls… and for those who could use a reminder.

I’ll run my hand gently over the wing of a small airplane and say to him, “This plane can teach you more things and give you more gifts than I ever could. It won’t get you a better job, a faster car, or a bigger house. But if you treat it with respect and keep your eyes open, it may remind you of some things you used to know — that life is in the moment, joy matters more than money, the world is a beautiful place, and that dreams really, truly are possible.” And then, because airplanes speak in a language beyond words, I’ll take him up in the evening summer sky and let the airplane show him what I mean.

— Lane Wallace, ‘Eyes of a Child,’ Flying magazine, February 200

 

Doubt is the Devil’s Pheromone

Florence and the Machine accurately sing: “It’s hard to dance with the devil on your back, so shake him off”

Listen here if you love good music http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WbN0nX61rIs

I want you to try and picture the devil literally on your back. Stop reading and try to picture it. Gross, yeah?

In my mind, that devil is a gargoyle shaped little fu*ker. He has scaly skin and weights a disproportionally large amount for his size. He is as dense as a bowling ball and he has claws that can grip through leather. He has excellent balance and loves to laugh a gritty giggle when you fail at the things that you try to accomplish. His face is in a constant maniacal grimace and his shoulders are high and hunched over his painfully crooked spine. He feeds on rotten fish carcasses and vegemite and only wants you to eat his week-old leftovers.

Another thing about this schmuck of a creature is that he loves company. He wants you in his clique and he wants you on his team… but be clear on this:

The devil is always team captain. Always.

Am I talking about heaven and hell and angels and demons? No. I am talking about the little stuff that sets you off track when you have all the potential and all the awesome in the world to make things happen.

I am talking about the devil that is keeping you from dancing.

As potential filled, limitless, amazing minds, we dream all sorts of beautiful things when the devil is off bugging some other poor soul. We are learners, we are lovers, we are excelling at work, we are being kind friends, we are on time, ever-eager, I can do anything types, we wake up in time to make the bed, eat a well balanced breakfast and have a well intentioned good hair day. We are readers and writers, we are organized and energetic, we don’t complain and we treat ourselves really well. We think two levels deeper than we did yesterday and we are out to be our most amazing version of ourselves. We throw the shades open and take in the view, realizing that this life isn’t going to revolve around a moping, pathetic complainer. Problems are analyzed and solved, opportunities are scooped up like sand being gathered for a castle.

Even when we are the aforementioned versions of ourselves, we all know that the devil is always creeping nearby. He will never die and he will never move to Sioux Falls to take a job with the government. He is at home, at work, in your head and at least for now, a little bit in your heart.

See, part of the problem with this Devil is that he has better hearing than a father with a teenaged daughter with a propensity to sneak out of the house at night. He’s got a nose like a coonhound. He hears your laughter, your joy, your eager questions as you learn and grow and he loves to hate that growth. Smelling your enthusiasm, he slithers in when you start to doubt your way.

Doubt is the Devil’s pheromone.

Picture this… it is a great day- you’ve been given a shot you didn’t expect, your relationships are swelling in healthy growth, you have lost 5 pounds, basically, things are going your way and it feels great… BAM… Right in the middle of posting a happy musing on Facebook, it hits you. A nasty (oooooh jealousy) comment from a co-worker, a cancellation on an important deal at work, your spouse says something that just tans your hide… to a rational, outsider’s perspective, these things are like hey, no biggie… deal with it and get on with your day, but to the person on the receiving end of this funk, the damage is done and momentum can be officially thwarted. These little imbalances in your day, your mood, your flow, are cracks.

A crack in the door lets the cold air in, a crack in the door of the fridge wastes energy (thanks mom), a crack in the mirror skews the view and a crack in the bone weakens the whole body…

These cracks are where the Devil dwells and he can squeeze through some impressively small spaces. One crack in your mood can allow the weight, the smell, the small thinking mindset of the Devil to take over… how does he do this? He crawls up on your back and weighs you down. He jumps, he bites your neck and he smells so bad that people start to avoid you.

Everything suddenly takes three times as much effort. Enter procrastination, enter slothy, grumpy, complaining inaction, enter the blahs. Simple tasks like grocery shopping, giving your honey a smooch upon coming home, calling a friend who needs your help, all become as difficult as pushing a tractor tire across a football field. You start the “blah I’ll just do it later” mindset and it is all over from there.

Basically, when the devil shows his face, life sucks.

So what do we do about this devil? He’s not going anywhere and he is a smart little de… yeah.

We repel him by leaning in to what we love, with what electrically charges us, we do more good.

The best revenge is to be unlike him who performed the injury. 
Marcus Aurelius 

Be as opposite to the lethargic devil as you can be. Be active and encouraging, alert and clear minded. Be light and be excited. Be a learner and be enthusiastic. Have goals and get those goals. Keep on track with what you love.

The cracks that let doubt and fear seep in can be sealed with new effort, a great perspective and seeking the best in everything we do.

Shake him off by sealing him out. When you feel him getting close, when you feel your mood changing, your enthusiasm lacking, those little “I’m not good enough”s seeping in, patch that crack and take pride knowing that you saw it coming and fixed it before you let the devil weigh you down.

REMOVE BEFORE FLIGHT: Why what you leave behind matters as much as what you carry with you

Ahhh, the ole “REMOVE BEFORE FLIGHT” keychain tag… it is the true sign of a dorky pilot. Yes, these are my keys. I snagged mine from Signature Flight Support in Austin, TX during my transcontinental flight. As pilots, we know this tag because it reminds us that there is something to remove before we take flight. For non pilots, think of it as a flag that should catch your attention.
As I continue to plan my round the world flight, more and more tasks seem to pile upon me. I welcome them wholeheartedly and while they bring challenges, headaches and sometimes heartache, they are all worth the cost. Every meeting, every plan, every idea takes a level of commitment I never knew I could have!

Monday, I had a very important meeting about planning for the flight. It was the kind of meeting that leaves you with the “holy S@#* this is actually going to happen” feeling. But first, let’s rewind to 1:30pm Monday afternoon…

As I made my favorite drive down to Centennial Airport, I started thinking more about what I wanted to leave outside the doors of the meeting… even more than thinking about what I wanted to bring *in*. I know the goal, I know the plan, and have painstakenly crafted the big beautiful picture. That’s the easy part. As I reached over to grab my purse, I was overcome with fear. Suddenly, my confidence turned into lumpy, dark feelings of “who do you think you are to plan a trip this big” and “you have no idea what you are doing” and “What if they laugh at me for thinking I could ever pull off an accomplishment like this”.

My posture changed, my eyebrows furrowed and that very human response of “I’m not good enough kicked in”. Five minutes ago I was singing along to the radio, dreaming about crossing the Atlantic and then boom… that seemingly natural instinct kicked in. No one is immune to it. It can paralyze you with fear. It can cause you to cancel, make excuses, opt out, take yourself out of the game. Who wants to be that person? The cancel-er, the excuse-maker, the opt-outer? Not me, and surely, not you.

Timecheck: 1:55pm. Meeting: 2:00pm.

I shook my head and focused my mind back on the big picture.

Get yer airplane flyin’ ass in that building and show em what you got. 

We fumble, we delay, we postpone, we procrastinate, we excuse, we convince, we manipulate, we temper, we suck the air out of great ideas because big ideas come with big risk. If you fail at something little, repair comes fast and you probably don’t see a lot of consequence. If you fail at something that matters, big goals, relationships, lifelong commitments, careers, big juicy ideas, the consequences mean something to us. Especially when we assign meaning. Constructing goals that matter because your heart years for them, will give you deep satisfaction when you rock your situation and follow through in your most incredible way.

“If you hear a voice within you say “you cannot paint“, then by all means paint and that voice will be silenced.”
― Vincent van Gogh

“It’s not who you are that holds you back, it’s who you think you’re not”  -Hanoch McCarty

“Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one’s courage” -Anaïs Nin

If I were pre-flighting an aircraft, I would walk around the sexy beast and remove the little red tags from pitot tubes, the stall warning port, and landing gear pins because they are not needed for flight. They’re protection from cold, from debris, birds, etc. Proetection from the stuff you don’t want to harm your plane when you are not around to care for it.

Consider this… your fears about inadequacy are like your protection from success. They keep you reserved, they keep you on on the ground, far from soaring towards the big stuff you want to accomplish in this one and only life you’ve got.

In your mind, try attaching little “Remove Before Flight” tags to the following self-destructive ideas:

“I’m not good/smart/worthy/attractive/interesting enough to pull this off”- REMOVE BEFORE FLIGHT

“Someone else is going to do it better than I can” – REMOVE BEFORE FLIGHT and chuck it out the window

“They won’t want to talk to me, care what I have to say, I don’t matter” -REMOVE BEFORE FLIGHT and light it on fire

“She/he won’t be interested in me” -REMOVE BEFORE FLIGHT and put it down the garbage disposal

These are nonsense statements that we have said to ourselves time and time again, and if you are being honest with yourself, you know how powerful they can be. I can count lots of times where I should have removed these downer ideas about myself and taken the chance and succeeded.

“When we sit down day after day and keep grinding, something mysterious starts to happen… Unseen forces enlist in our cause; serendipity reinforces our purpose” Steven Pressfield

What I propose is this:

The negative ideas and beliefs you REMOVE from your mind are just as important as the positive thoughts you carry with yourself in confidence.

Let’s get something straight… the fear is never going to go away. It will always return just like the little REMOVE BEFORE FLIGHT tags before each flight that carries you into the sky. Remove the items that hold you back as if you were working through a checklist. Check check check, before you know it, you are ready to rock, free and easy, confidently heading in the direction of your dreams.

The wonderful Steven Pressfield, author of the War of Art says that, “Fear doesn’t go away. The warrior and the artist live by the same code of necessity, which dictates that the battle must be fought anew every day.”

Steven also says that , “The counterfeit innovator is wildly self-confident. The real one is scared to death”

One more for good measure… “Evolution has programmed us to feel rejection in our guts. This is how the tribe inforced obedience, by wielding the threat of expulsion. Fear of rejection isn’t just psychological; it’s biological. It’s in our cells” Steven Pressfield

Get prepared, shed the fear every morning, every minutes, as often as it returns and realize that you are here to do the one thing that calls you more than anything else. For me, it is flying around the world and showing others that anything is possible with the right attitude.

What’s yours? Love, Amelia

Fuel and stones will strengthen our bones…

A rock pile ceases to be a rock pile the moment a single man contemplates it, bearing within him the image of a cathedral. -Antonine de Saint-Exupery

What do you imagine when you stare at your pile of rocks? Do you get overwhelmed imagining the work that goes into a goal once you have defined it? You know you want a cathedral… but how do you get it all done? Do these stones sometimes seem to heavy to bear? The stacking, the design, and the architecture of a dream takes muscle and guts, with a hearty dose of go get ‘em. 

Stacking your stones will take a lifetime of self-service. 

Sometimes, it is tempting to take a short cut, perhaps paying someone to do the heavy lifting. You may opt to take a short cut and  use a rock facade, rather than construct from rocks in their whole, natural state. Lose 30 pounds in 30 days, learn a new language in a month, build a house in a few weeks. These are all quite tempting prospects, but you know, the outcome will be less than stellar. The weight is all water, you grab a few “I’ll have the croissant” phrases, and your house will not stand the test of time.  The bottom line is, if you are into taking full responsibility for your cathedral of a life and you want it to have a rock solid foundation, you’ve gotta put in the work as chief contractor and be willing to pump your own fuel. 

 Burn your fuel of choice like a gas guzzling Hummer on a road trip

Fuel *economy* may be sought after in an airplane or a car, but when it comes to finding your energy for your daily quest, seek out what gets you going and go back to it EVERYDAY. Run it dry, fill it up.

Is it a conversation with a motivating person? A drive past a gorgeous view? A daily, not-gonna-miss-it ritual that reminds you what it’s all about?

Whatever activity, person, thing, *source* you are fueled by, find more of it and drink it like water (or Red Bull, whatever floats your boat)

Whatever you love, love it deep. Dive in and commit. Enthusiasm is so delicious.

Why is it perfectly acceptable to have a ridiculously high per hour burn rate? It means you are running on all cylinders… givin’ it all you’ve got. Don’t get me wrong… I’m not advocating running yourself into the ground… we all have that point in which it is time to slow, sleep, refocus, etc. 

Here’s a thought, and maybe you agree, maybe you don’t…

Your pile of rocks isn’t going to move itself, and neither is mine. One by one, we stack and we stack. The outcome can be shoddy or sturdy, easily blown over or able to withstand a Cat 5 hurricane. It all comes down to not being afraid to get your hands dirty… stacking stones, pumping your self service fuel and running on all cylinders, when it matters the most. In my opinion, that is right now.

Here’s to starting your day with a full tank and going to bed on empty… that sounds like a life well lived to me.

It is in the compelling zest of high adventure and of victory, and in creative action, that man finds his supreme joys. -Antonine de Saint-Exupery