Checklist for Takeoff: All Systems Go!

Posted on August 29, 2011 by Jay Lambert, One of Thousands of Performance Coaches on Noomii.

Checklist for Takeoff: All Systems Go!

I have been fascinated with airplanes for as long as I can remember, when the movies, Iron Eagle and Top Gun came out I became single mindedly focused on becoming an air-force pilot. My dreams of flying were dashed when, going through the final physical exams, it turned out that my eyesight was just bad enough to be excluded from ever being able to fly with the military, not even the much less sexy cargo planes. Being a navigator wasn’t going to cut it for me so I walked away from the potential to retire with a degree, pension (at 45!) and lifetime medical benefits for an uncertain future

(Imagine Kenny Loggins song “Highway to the Danger Zone” — Highway to the Danger Zone)

Over the past 20 years, I’ve been hit by a lot of turbulence and learned a lot of lessons, my hope is that by sharing my experiences and lessons learned that I may help you to catapult your life and have fun doing it!

I can only imagine how scary and exhilarating it would be to launch off of a carrier deck, but I can’t seem to help but parallel this with taking concrete actions to catapult our own lives off the deck.

Have you have defined your mission?
This is the critical first question that needs to be addressed and from which everything else will flow. If you don’t know, it’s okay, try answering the following questions and see what you come up with.

1. Do you know your purpose? You need to have a pretty clear idea of what a successful mission will look like.

2. What are your values? Is the mission going to align with who you are and who you want to be? If not, abort the mission and find a new mission.

3. What are your interests? What would you do for free? You need to have a passion or you will quickly lose interest. (Interest = altitude.)

4. What are your skills? Do they align with your mission? Are some skills missing?

5. Which ones will be needed for a successful mission?

5. What resources are required? Just enough to hit a clear target that brings you closer to your bigger targets.

Have you assessed the weather?
(a.k.a assessing your strategic position)

1. Which way are the winds blowing? What are the risks you can anticipate facing? Anticipating risks allows you to plan for them, what are your contingency plans?

2. What are your strengths? (Knowledge, skills, resources, etc)

3. What are the opportunities? (New/expanding markets, etc.)

4. What are your weaknesses? (Knowledge, skills, resources, etc)

5. What are the threats? (Knowledge, skills, resources, etc.)

Plan the attack!

1. Know and make use of your competitive advantages (allies/partnerships, unique skills, etc)

2. Long-term objectives (3years) change the balance of power!

3. Short-term objectives (1 year) early wins.

4. Be specific, what needs to happen for a successfull launch?

• Have you identified the necessary tasks?
• Do you have the right resources? Do you have enough?
• Do you need a team? Are they in place? Do they need extra training?

Preflight checklist
 Flight plan
 Internal Systems go
 External Systems go
 Resources go
 Instruments reading normal
 Clearance from tower

Launch!

1. Take off with a bang, (it’s okay to be a bit shaky at first)

2. Regularly and systematically scan your instruments, adjust as necessary.

3. Hit the targets!

4. Come back and do it all over again!

Connect with me at Jay Lambert Consulting.