Page 49 - Never Fly Solo

22 | NEVER FLY SOLO
One of my favorite quotes is “Beware of distractions dis-
guised as opportunities.” People who are all thrust are often
easily distracted by what appear to be opportunities. They’re
cruising along just fine until the phone rings, their e-mail indi-
cator chimes, or a friend drops by the office. Something small
throws them off course, and all that productive momentum
flies off on a tangent. Getting such people airborne and on
target again requires a ton of thrust. They take off at full
speed in any old direction and end up taking twice the time
to complete their tasks, if they complete them at all. They
make horrible wingmen. Real wingmen are “on time, on tar-
get” and stay focused on the task at hand.
You may be wondering about multitasking. Is it OK to
multitask when the heat is on? Well, it used to be considered
a badge of honor to call oneself a multitasker. The impression
was that this jack-of-all-trades was indispensable and infi-
nitely resourceful. But recent studies have concluded that mul-
titasking is really a model of inefficiency. It diverts focus from
mission-critical areas and can leave many tasks ineptly or
incompletely done.
For a fighter pilot, multitasking is unavoidable and quite
important, but it can get you killed if not applied correctly.
There is a time to blow off all non-mission-critical items and
focus solely on the task at hand. If you try to do too much,
you’ll crash and burn. This is why it’s so important to fly with
wingmen—they can accomplish various supporting tasks as
you tackle the high-priority target. In your professional life,
excessive multitasking can cripple your performance and even
shoot down your career. Focus is crucial to success, whether
you’re in a cockpit, a cubicle, or a boardroom.
A regular dose of intensive, real-world chair flying will
help you practice focusing. By rehearsing your responses to