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We know that attitude is the most important aspect to reaching success in life.
We are who we are in life because of our attitude – positive goes up and negative goes down.
This has been said by many people including Zig Ziglar. – “Your attitude, not your aptitude, will determine your altitude!”
My husband is a former Air Force pilot. He was taught aerodynamics and the laws of flight as part of his flying training programme.
He flew throughout the world, in all types of weather and was a safe, competent pilot, with no accidents. He was always prepared and believed in the slogan, that a “superior pilot was one who never had to use his superior abilities.“
He always thought ahead and was ready for any contingency.
He also understood the importance of the airplane’s attitude in flight.
To go up and increase our altitude, he was taught to change the Attitude first, (climb attitude), add Power to maintain the best climb speed, and Trim the aircraft to maintain the desired climbing profile. The acronym was APT.
To go down, he was taught to reduce Power to achieve the descent speed, change the Attitude (descent attitude), and Trim the aircraft to maintain the descent profile. Down PAT was the way he was taught to remember the sequence.
Life is not much different than flying. If you want to go up in life, you have to change your attitude (mindset, belief), add power (take energy, action) and trim the process (remove the noise, distractions, negativity, etc), in order to do it. It can not be more simpler than that.
Changing your mindset/attitude is the number one priority. That is why today there are so many motivational speakers that address this specific issue. Whether it is Bob Proctor, Anthony Robbins, or Brian Tracy, they all talk about attitude and believing in yourself and your business.
If you don’t have that, there is no way you can ever be truly successful. Ever!
Do you know anyone that has been successful? Did they not have a positive attitude, steadfast belief in what they were doing, a clear focus and the energy to do it?
Did they not have APT?
They certainly did not have a negative attitude, lack of belief, no energy and poor focus – they were not down PAT!
Power or energy is so important. The airplane does not take off without power or thrust. And by the way, it uses all the power available and necessary to get airborne, in the runway or space available to it. It does not take off on reduced power settings. This just does not work – You may not have enough runway or space to get airborne if you do that. And that can be catastrophic!
So why should running your own business be any different? Why do many people not apply all the power and energy that is required and still expect to be successful?
They don’t understand that by not taking anything but massive action, it will affect their success. They may not get their life and business off the ground. Ever!
Just like the airplane, it takes power and thrust to get airborne!
So once you have set your attitude or mindset to do something, in business or in flying, you have to add the power or energy to it to get it off the ground.
With your attitude and your power set, you now have to trim the airplane to keep it on the climb profile that you want.
If you have too much power and not the right attitude it won’t climb or it will climb too fast and stall. So trimming the business properly is key to positive growth. We have all seen many businesses that grew too fast and then failed. And we have seen too many grow too slow and fail as well.
This is like trimming the sails on a sailboat to get maximum performance from the wind that is available.
So how do we trim the aircraft for the right climb profile – we remove the drag caused by being out of trim – we remove the pressures that want to move the aircraft into a different climb or descent profile – one that we do not want.
So what are these pressures or noise that impact our trim? Naysayers, negative people, any tasks that are not important to the end objective, daily distractions, emergencies, children, social outings, and so on.
Its life, but life gets in the way, and your business can lose its trim, its efficiency, its focus, and its climb profile.
So keeping your business trimmed is a daily activity. Just as it is for the pilot, as his airplane climbs and burns off fuel. It has to be re-trimmed in the climb and in flight, on a regular basis, to maintain the desired profile.
Attitude really does determine your altitude in life!
If you want to be successful in life and in business, apply the APT acronym every day.
Have the positive attitude and belief in yourself and what you are doing, apply the power that is required, and trim your activity so you are doing the right things necessary to maintain your climb profile!
Hit me up if you’d like to chat more about this idea and how I could help you get there!
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