That was my mission when I started doing comedy. I wanted to
go from frown to clown or in other words change my attitude to a positive one. I
also wanted to get my audience to do the same.
It was tough going but eventually the laughs came along. With
it my self-esteem also improved to the point where if people didn’t laugh on
some days, I just went home and worked to improve my material and returned
again.
You don’t usually think of self-esteem and comedy in the
same breath but self-esteem can come from believing in yourself and doing what
you love doing with a passion.
My passion is to bring more laughter into this world. That’s
why I do comedy. That’s why I’m part of a laughter group and a qualified
laughter leader.
What is your passion? Find out. Maybe you have a hidden passion that
is just waiting to come out. Go
ahead. Take the next action as
bestselling author David Allen says in his book ‘Getting things done.’ By the
way, this is one of the best books that I’ve read in a while and I highly
recommend it if you want to straighten out your life and take that first step
in building up your self-esteem.
Begin today and find your passion. To inspire you, I’d like
to bring you a special motivational story from our Guest Writer and World
Champion of Public Speaking Darren LaCroix.
STAGE TIME: “The Pilot’s Mentor: Heights Others May
Never Reach”
By Darren
LaCroix
You can contact Darren at darrenlacroix.com
Do you ever wonder why some people “make it” and others do not? Why some
in your industry with less experience surpass those who have been around for
years? It is no mistake. It is not “luck,” but what is it?
My brother David has an inspiring story. When he was 18 years old he
took a one-hour “fly a plane” lesson. He came home and told our mom that
he was going to be a pilot. To truly understand the value of this story
you have to know… in high school though he was a talented athlete, my brother
was not known for his grades or study habits. He was challenged by dyslexia
before they tested people for that. My parents were shocked and wondered
how in the world he would be able to study to earn such a lofty goal.
How did David approach such and enormous challenge? Though I saw the
amazing transformation of my brother when he found his passion, I was too young
to understand the why behind it. As the little brother I just noticed he
was locked in our room studying like never before, but it was much more than
that.
David explained to me that most “pilots” start out as flight instructors
after getting their commercial pilot’s license and instrument ratings, which
can be accomplished with as little as 250 hour flight time…total!). With
very few exceptions, no one WANTS to be a flight instructor, but with only a
few hundred hours of flight time, no one will hire them for a “real”
flying job with such little or no experience. Even most co-pilot
jobs with a commuter airline require a minimum of 1,500 hours total flight
time. So the best way to “build flight time” experience is by being a
flight instructor at your local flight school.
The problem with that scenario is that most flight instructors learned how
to fly from a guy with 300 hours, who learned from a guy with 300 hours, who
learned from a guy with 300 hours. If you add them all together, they
really still know nothing or at best, very little. (Can you see this
pattern in your industry? I see it in the speaking world for sure.
I was a caught in that loop myself.)
David was fortunate in that his initial primary flight instructor from whom
he acquired his private pilot’s license told him that if he was going to
go on and make a career out of flying, that he should learn from the guy who
taught him… Herbie Longnecker.
Herbie was a retired American Airlines pilot with over 30,000 flight
hours. Herbie had flown everything American had had from DC-3′s through
DC-10′s when he had retired. Herbie was in Vero Beach, Florida at the
time and if he wanted to learn from him, David was going to have to go to him
(from Massachusetts) He charged more than what he would have had to pay if he
stayed and learned from a local flight school instructor. (I’ve always
traveled to learn from the right mentors. It shocks me when people want to go
to my Champ Camps, but
only if I do it in
their home town. His willingness to travel just proved my brother’s commitment
to his career.)
Herbie was tough on David…very tough. David told me that Herbie taught him
to fly “properly,” smoothly, the way he should… and with the benefit
of all of those years of experience and insight infused in every flight they
took together.
Herbie always took along a full cup of coffee with him when they flew
together and God help David if he spilled any. This could easily happen
if David was rough on the controls or by “missing” anything he was
supposed to be on top of. At the time, David thought it was “cruel and
unusual punishment”. However it soon became apparent that he and his
mentoring was the best thing that happened to him. (Whether it was Alan Weiss,
Ph.D. being tough on me about my business, Ford Saeks ripping apart my
marketing, or Patricia Fripp slapping me for bad grammar, they make me
better. I never had a great mentor “nice” me into growth.)
When David got his first flight instructor job, yes… with about 250 hours of
flight time, there were several instructors already working there whom had
already been there for years. Many were desperately trying to get ahead.
After being there for just a couple months, David had their students wanting to
transfer and fly with him instead.
Within a few months, one of those long time instructors had left and took a
job as an auto mechanic because he had no students left. Within 4 months
of being there, David was the assistant chief flight instructor and had more
students than all the other instructors combined. By the six month mark,
not only was he promoted to chief flight instructor, but he was also doing 2
hours of traffic reporting in the early mornings. In addition to that he was
flying a short run on a contract for the company.
Eight or nine months after initially taking the flight instructing job,
David was offered a first officer (co-pilot) position with a Learjet
charter company in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. He didn’t even go looking
for it. They came to him. (People who are the best in any industry
stand out and they are the most in-demand).
Within a year, David was a Learjet Captain. Why? Because he
invested that little bit extra. Herbie was a bit more expensive
than the local, newer guys. David was taught by an experienced “pro”
rather than going the cheap and easy convenient route.
Being taught by a man with 30,000 hours he was not learning from the canned
approach in school that didn’t work in real-life. David become a captain
of Learjet when he was 20 years of age and was rated in Hansa Jet and Cessna
Citation as well. All of his co-pilots were ten or twenty years older
that he was. He met every requirement he needed for his ATP License, but
they could not give it to him until he met the requirement of being
twenty-three. Like in most industries, most pilots surmise you can’t
climb the ladder that fast. My brother told me he was naive to the fact,
“I didn’t know that you couldn’t do it.”
There are definite reasons why people climb to the top of their
industry. There are definite reasons why some flounder and never achieve
greatness in their field. David stopped logging his time at 12,000 flight
hours. He said to me, “I always wondered what happened to those guys whom had
been floundering around there for years, getting nowhere.”
Have you seen people in your field who are floundering around and trying to
figure it out themselves, or worse learning from someone else with only 300
hours? Who could be your Herbie? Are you willing to go to your Herbie instead
of learning from a local instructor? Are you willing to invest a little
more too?
It’s not just what he learned from Herbie, it’s what he did with it and how
he applied it. What lesson will you take from my brother’s story?
