What I have to say has nothing to do with trying to influence you to get into the aviation industry. I'm writing this special note because you are in the position of making important decisions about what you want to do with your life. Too often you may not realize the power you possess to open your mind to the endless possibilities available to you. Once your subconscious believes in your abilities ( the part of your brain that won't rest until your beliefs are satisfied) you stand a 99% chance of getting what you want. Where do you want to be in five years? How about ten or twenty years? It all begins with the direction you choose from this moment on. Tell me if this sounds familiar: When I graduate from high school, I'm going to take some time off and maybe go to college later. I don't have to have a college degree to be successful.
I'm sure that's true. If I had gone to VO Tech school, I would have taken auto mechanics. As you can see I'm not a normal person! I would have been the best girl auto mechanic in town. My dad did all the maintenance on our family cars and he would have been a big help to me. Once I graduated from high school, I would have gone to college and majored in business and taken a few science courses in hydraulics and fluids. Then I would have interviewed for a position with any number of companies, completely blocking out any hope for my high school classmates (the ones that think they're soo... smart) to compete. There is one drawback, of course. I would still have my college loan to pay back and my counterparts would not have that expense. I guess I would just have to be comforted in the fact that I was earning three times more than they were. Sure, take time off from learning to find yourself. Play catch-up and do that minimum wage thing!
If you are focused, I just happen to know what steps you need to take to reach that dream you are dreaming right now. You are very smart people. I already know a little something about you. You are wise beyond your years. You have to put up with stress like nothing I ever had to deal with at your age. You have to know how to protect yourself and look out for your own best interest. You have to look out for your little brothers and sisters and best friends who are not making the right decisions in their lives. You have to be a child and follow all sorts of rules and regulations and yet be responsible adults carrying whatever burdens society dumps on you. So it's important that you don't let daily events cloud your ambition to do great things.
I wrote a book called "Success is an Attitude™, Goal Achievement for a Lifetime." It's very short. It might take forty minutes to read but it could quite easily change your life. I talk about getting rid of negative influences in your life; from people who mean well to so called friends that don't. I talk about shy people because since I've been shy all of my life, it doesn't mean I will take any crap from anyone... Am I allowed to say that??? Anyway, Goal Achievement starts with a plan. Then that plan is expanded upon. Then the details are divided into dates and times called deadlines. I talk about finding successful people and asking them the simple, most important question...HOW??? How did they get to that point.
Expect to work hard. Do you consider yourself a whiner? How about excuses? Do you have an excuse for every occasion? People with excuses are the easiest people to pick out. Too bad you will never hear a public service announcement telling you that excuses, and especially whiny excuses are dangerous to your health or make you a loser, or are risky behavior. You should. If I could pick one trait in a human being that can ruin our future, it is the inability to function without blaming circumstances for our shortcomings. The reason is you believe what you are saying. It eats away at your subconscious and you become the kind of person no one wants to help or support or recommend to a position of greater responsibility. While you're sitting around believing the whole world is against you, the world has just chosen to go on without you. Excuses kill the very thing you need to succeed: motivation, determination, ambition, common sense, and your character. I put excuses in the same category as drugs and guns. If you irresponsibly use any one of them, you can forget everything I have said here about making a future for yourself. You will go nowhere in life and no one will feel sorry for you.
Next, in order for a plan to work you must take the first step and do something! I had known for a long time that I wanted to put a book together that would help benefit anyone who ever said, "There's nothing I can do to change my life," but I was busy and tired and on the road all the time. Well, I had to stop talking about doing this. I had to just do it because the person reading this is the one person who wants to become a lawyer or astronaut but would not have realized it had I not said, "Quit your whining!" I say that with love because I, too, have plenty to whine about.
Anyway, two more short points and I'll let you go. There's no such thing as failure. If a plan does not work, so what! Life is not fair. You now have a new starting point and you must add determination and motivation to it. If life is not fair, it's not about accepting the inevitable, it's not about defeatist attitudes: That's the way it's always been. If life is not fair, your job is to make this world and your own life better. Don't just accept it. Don't just fight it, but fix it. The same question I asked earlier (where will you be in five years?) also works with problems. Will today's setback be of any significance five years from now? The answer? You probably won't even remember the incident. However, don't sit on your butt after a setback. Reevaluate the situation and find some other way to tackle it. Keep yourself motivated by imagining yourself celebrating your achievement. That's you giving that acceptance speech. "I'd like to thank my mom and my favorite teacher and Evette Robinson..." I know it sounds corny, so only practice the speech at home in your bathroom when no one's around!!!
Once you've reached your goal, take pride in it. Continue to strive to improve, and never get sloppy or unprofessional.
If you would like a copy of my book Success Is An Attitude™, send me the name and address of your school and principal, or favorite teacher, and I will send a free copy to be held in your school library. (As long as my funds hold out, that is.) See the "Free Download Order Form" below. That way, others just like you will have a chance to take steps toward a successful, independent life.
Thank you.
designSF@concentric.net