Roz – Page 14 – Serenity Through Sweat

Reality

Thanks for joining me for another edition of the SerenityThroughSweat blog. As I was laying down some Sunday morning miles on my layover in Appleton Wisconsin, I saw the mural (above) and it reminded me of one of my favorite quotes. “If you see entrapment you will be stuck, If you see redemption you will be saved, reality is largely dependent on what you are willing to see it as”

Attending Catholic school from K-12 I had always found comfort and guidance in religion. (There were some unanswered questions but that is a topic for another time). A teacher, deacon, priest, or coach who could take a biblical idea and reach across generational boundaries to leave an impression on young men is no small task. My high school wrestling coach used to say God, Family, Country, and Wrestling. The majority of my world view was shaped in this manner.

Speedy and El Duderino hanging out on the back porch, and El Duderino in the no cavity club.

There are plenty of bible stories about positive thinking, and I had no shortage of opportunities to learn and grow from shortcomings in my athletic pursuits, but somehow the message never transcended into a global world view until I found that quote. I stumbled upon it very unceremoniously in the horoscope section of my AOL sign on page one day, (back when AOL Instant messenger was still a thing). I’m not a horoscope person, and I don’t know why I chose to read it that day, but I’m glad that I did, since it has stuck with all these years.

I think this is the message that we need as a nation right now. There is undeniably an abundance of suffering and misfortune with everything COVID-19 related and the myriad of social justice issues that we face together. The best path forward is to focus on redemption, not entrapment, and reality is a whole lot brighter through that lens.

Together we will need to find new ways to make the things we need, and to provide the services we have come to value, in a safe, healthy, and efficient manner. Looking at the redemption side of our post Covid reality, it is bursting with opportunity for growth, innovation, and a chance to reprioritize social values we deem important.

I’ve talked in prior posts about reprioritization, the quote is not so much about the details, (which are important) but rather about the overall outlook. Being willing to look forward and see a path to redemption is not an easy task. It requires constant focus and often times we will need to self correct our course.

Reality, much like serenity, is a living and changing entity. The way we view it, define it, and ultimately strive for it, is dependent on what we are willing to see it as.

Thanks for joining me, stay safe and stay sweaty my friends.

Sunday morning vibes, putting in miles on my layover.

Perfect World

Thanks for joining me for another edition of the SerenityThroughSweat blog. I’m finishing up A Column of Fire, the third book in the Kingsbridge series by Ken Follet, and a piece of fatherly advice stood out to me that I wanted to share and discuss.

Follet does a masterful job in all of his books of making historically significant events come to life through the interwoven and tangled lives of his fictitious characters. The Kingsbridge series follows multiple generations of different families across southern England and uses the historical pretext to comment on present problems.

A Column of Fire takes place in the late 16th century discussing the major historical events of western Europe at that time. The overwhelming theme of the book is the back and forth between religious zeal and tolerance.

The book’s central protagonist Ned Willard, is separated from his teenage sweetheart Margery due to religious differences and family politics. Margery is a staunch Catholic and Ned is a tolerant Protestant employed in the service of Queen Elizabeth. He later has a child with Margery and is unable to acknowledge the child because Margery is married to the Earl.

Early morning beach run and sunrise from my last trip to the FL panhandle

It is Ned’s fatherly advice to his biological son, (who regards him only as a family friend) that struck me as especially appropriate to our current societal needs.

Ned’s son Roger is asking him about Queen Elizabeth’s religious tolerance. Why does she hate Catholics? (an issue which he is particularly sensitive too being raised by his staunch Catholic mother). Ned tries explaining the intricacies of international politics to his inquisitive 10 year old who comes back with rebuttals far too advanced for his age. Ned ultimately ends the conversation in defense of Queen Elizabeth, and his own actions, saying “There are no saints in politics, but imperfect people can make the world a better place“

Trying to make the world a better place is all that can be asked of any of us. There are no perfect people and there are no perfect places. Everyone and everywhere has problems, but that imperfection need not be damning. Especially as people, and places, grow and evolve, their past imperfections do not represent the whole of their being or their current intentions.

I hope that I am able to embody that message for my sons. To pass it on not only in words but in actions. I hope to set the example of an imperfect man trying to make the world a better place for them, so that they may go out in the world one day and do the same.

To quote Remember the Titans, “Now, I ain’t saying that I’m perfect, ’cause I’m not. And I ain’t gonna never be. None of us are. But we have won every single game we have played till now. So this team is perfect. We stepped out on that field that way tonight. And, uh, if it’s all the same to you, Coach Boone, that’s how we want to leave it.”

I’m not a perfect father, (or a perfect anything for that matter), but if I can pass that lesson on to my boys, I will be happy to step off the metaphorical field that way.

Thanks for joining me, stay safe and stay sweaty my friends.

Long run with exclusively nasal breathing in Wichita

Knowledge and Worth

Thanks for joining me for another edition of the SerenityThroughSweat blog. I get a lot of time on layovers to catch up on my podcasts, and a quote from a recent JRE episode stood out to me. It seemed extremely relevant to the message of this blog as well as a situation many of us will find ourselves in over the coming months.

I believe it was James Lindsay in JRE episode #1501 (but I could be wrong sometimes episodes blend together in my mind) who said “your knowledge is only worth what you can build with it”

El Duderino playing in the waves with friends

My first instinct was the parallel between the rising cost of college and a large number of liberal arts degrees that are given out at significant cost, while the owners of those degrees struggle to find meaningful employment.

The question becomes what was the cost of those degrees, what was the cost of the knowledge gained, and what is each worth? I have separated those ideas on purpose because there is a distinction.

Bike path stroll with Speedy and El Duderino

The degree cost can be almost entirely accounted for monetarily. How much money was spent between classes, room and board, book, etc… The worth of that degree is difficult to measure but I would say it’s value is what you are able to do with it that you would be unable to do without. Some jobs require a 4 year degree, some offer significant pay raises for a 4 year degree. You can then make your own decision on whether or not the degree was “worth” it.

Knowledge on the other hand doesn’t really cost anything (or at least significantly less in monetary terms. There are countless resources for free classes from top universities, free books, lectures, and presentations on a never ending array of subject matter. The cost is your time, effort, and energy. (And money if you are going the university route)

The worth of that knowledge, as the quote so eloquently put, is worth what you can build with it. This sounds to me like a fancy way of saying you get out what you put in. Just because you have the knowledge doesn’t necessarily mean you have the skill, ability, and determination to apply it. That doesn’t make the knowledge worthless, but it does significantly change its valuation.

As an athlete and a martial artist, it is very easy to get to the truth of this concept. Just because you know a technique doesn’t mean you can successfully use it. That knowledge is is not worthless, but it’s worth is increased by practice and application. Just because I watch the UFC and I can identify techniques and strategies (knowledge), doesn’t mean I can jump in the cage and compete. (Worth)

Changing gears, Covid-19 had already ravaged large portions of the economy and will continue to do so. Certain sectors, anything requiring physical contact or large public gatherings, have been hit particularly hard. People in those sectors (myself included) will likely be forced to pivot at least temporarily to other forms of employment. When we do, what will be able to build with the knowledge we have accrued?

Thanks for joining me, stay safe and stay sweaty my friends.

This week in SerenityThroughSweat, barefoot beach miles in the panhandle, both boys enjoy the bike path and the beach, and catching up with college buddies on a layover.

Master caution/master warning

Thanks for joining me for another edition of the SerenityThroughSweat blog. My wife showed me the meme above before bed the other day, and it got me thinking about how we are trained to respond to problems in the workplace, and how we respond to them when it comes to parenting and our health/well-being.

One of the most basic tools in the cockpit for identifying a problem is the master caution/master warning lights and the EICAS (engine indicating and crew alerting system). These systems, working together with a myriad of sensors, alert the crew through a variety of lights, chimes, bells, and messages, that there is an abnormal situation or problem.

Some of these alerts are rather benign, for example if the seatbelt sign is on or off. Some, understandably demand your attention, like a fire warning, which comes with a bell, a voice, and multiple flashing red lights.

The nature of flying people hundreds of miles in a metal tube requires that decision making, especially for abnormal situations, be preemptively briefed. The most rigorous of these briefings is the takeoff briefing.

The takeoff roll is segmented into three phases based on how critical the decision to abort is. The low speed regime, (below 80 knots) the high speed regime, (above 80kts to V1, which is the decision speed) and anything above V1. Without getting into the weeds too far, V1 is the speed at which it is safer to fly than it is to try and stop the aircraft on the ground. V1 changes for every flight based on a number of factors, (weight, weather, runway, etc..)

The list of reasons we might abort a takeoff below 80kts is pretty lengthy. The energy state of the aircraft is not in a precarious position and it is better to solve a problem on the ground rather than in the air. However, as we approach V1, the list becomes rather small, because the consequences of a high speed abort must outweigh the consequences of fixing the problem airborne.

Shifting gears back to parenting, what are your “abort criteria” and how do they change with the situation? What behaviors from your children draw a pause and an explanation versus some form of natural consequence? Does your response change based on what you are engaged in at the time of the behavior?

I’m much more likely to let things slide with my son when I am working in the kitchen. Since my style of cooking often resembles a self inflicted version of Chopped, I tend to get very task saturated, and thus more lax on El Duderino’s behavior. Regardless of where my kitchen V1 may be, if he starts having an accident, I’m dropping my utensils and running over to get him on the potty before the mess reaches it’s apex.

If El Duderino is misbehaving while his brother Speedy is napping, he gets a little bit of a longer leash. Whereas if both of them are awake and needing attention, the criteria of acceptable behavior shrinks like entering the high speed regime.

The same mentally applies to my internal dialogue and physiological cues while training. If I have had a long week of productive training, the list of things I’m willing to tone it down for grows. If I have been slacking or falling behind in my training load due to work or family responsibilities, it is a pretty short list that will keep me from a good sweat session.

Out aircraft master caution/matter warning systems are designed to be inhibited during certain criteria (high-speed vs low-speed), and we are taught this and we brief this. The same ideas apply to the way we talk to our children and the way we talk to ourselves. Sometimes you need to heed the master caution, and sometime you need to inhibit it.

The decision on how to react to a master caution/ master warning is a delicate balance and one that requires attention and precision, much like the path to serenity.

Thanks for joining me, stay safe and stay sweaty my friends.

Redefine Resilience

Thanks for joining me for another edition of the SerenityThroughSweat blog. With all of the upheaval in the economy and especially the aviation industry I’m constantly looking for information to help chart the best course forward. I found this quote from Delta CEO Ed Bastian on a CNN business interview lined up well with the overall message of the blog and wanted to discuss it.

“This will be the crisis that will define Delta. We have a real opportunity to get through this crisis as a more resilient airline, I think resiliency is going to be something that is redefined across corporate America and our society – resiliency, both financially and with our health, as well as stability of our business practices and business models.”

There is a lot going on in that quote to unpack; resilience, opportunity, financials, health. I’m less concerned with business practices and models, and more concerned with how each of those apply to us as individuals and families.

I’ve talked before about one silver lining to Covid-19, is the ability to reset the system and redefine daily routines. (Routine). So what is resilience, and what should we be redefining it to be going forward.

El Duderino getting his mobility work in

Resilience is the capacity to recover quickly from difficulties. Again, that seems like a lot to chew on because recover is different in so many scenarios. Maybe you got Covid, your overall level of health prior, would partially dictate your resilience and ability to recover. But does recover mean the virus is gone, or all the complications from the virus are gone, or maybe you have it but can still function day to day?

The same sort of mental puzzle can be applied to financial resilience. Maybe you had a good job and even a rainy day fund prior to Covid-19. That would be a starting point of financial strength and resilience. What if that job was in an industry that is totally shut down (cruise ships, bars, live events, travel) and your rainy day fund is now dry? What does your capacity for recovery look like now?

El Duderino, giving me some suitcase packing tips

This is something I have grappled with over the past few weeks as a pilot with uncertain future employment. I’m in good health and working on it every day, I live within my means and make good financial decisions, but my capacity to recover quickly from this difficulty will be tested.

As is often the case taxonomy and diction are important. Everything I focused on above was a tangible asset. Health (measured in metrics like heart rate, blood pressure, H1ac) a job, a bank account. And while those things definitely add to my capacity to recover, they are all in some sense finite. Capacity, capability, ability to recover, will be largely determined by intangible, and less finite personal resources, especially the longer this pandemic troubles us.

Perseverance, discipline, creativity, ingenuity, and some good old fashioned SerenityThroughSweat, these are all intangible, inexhaustible, and will help foster resilience through this crisis.

So, if we are going to redefine resilience, let’s include those tangible and finite assets that affect our mental, physical, and financial well being. But let’s not forget the less tangible and trending towards infinite ones as well.

24kg kettlebell snatch and overhead squat

There has never been a better time to take up practices that support overall well-being. There has never been a better time to set up or reevaluate a budget. There has also never been a better time to pivot, thinking about the world that will emerge from this crisis, and learn a new skill that will serve you regardless of what comes next.

Thanks for joining me, stay safe and stay sweaty my friends.

Briefings

Thanks for joining me for another edition of the SerenityThroughSweat blog. Today I want to talk about briefings, what they are, why they are useful, and some pitfalls I commonly find myself in with my own briefings.

As is often the case in life and in the blog, taxonomy is important to understanding. Briefing as a noun is a meeting for giving information or instructions, and as a verb, it is the act of informing or instructing.

Laugh sessions with Speedy

As mundane as those definitions sound, briefings affect the way we manage our families, our businesses, and our country. Good briefings can set us up for success just as much as bad briefings can leave us exposed to unmitigated risk.

I am constantly briefing. Pilots brief everything. Takeoff, departure, weather, maintenance, passengers, arrival, landing, expected threats, you get the idea. We do a lot of briefing. Those briefings (especially my own) have a tendency to get repetitive and monotonous, and like most things that are repetitive and monotonous, they tend to slip into a state of complacency.

As pilots, we know this, (and are constantly reminded of it by, oddly enough, by union, company and third party briefings) yet we all too often slip into a laissez faire attitude to our fellow aviators’ briefings. I recently had a captain brief me saying “we’re gonna do that stuff”. Does that sound like a professional giving information or instructions?

Briefings should of course be brief. As someone who likes to talk (and write), I know the tendency is to expound and leave no stone unturned. But, these aren’t thesis defenses, and no one wants to be lectured past the bullet points.

Shapes, colors, and numbers with El Duderino

Remembering that briefings are a form of instruction or a passing of information, it helps to know what you are talking about on more than just a surface level. Instruction requires a familiarity with the intricacies of the material in order to effectively brief.

As we said early taxonomy is important and so is diction. Understanding the material and keeping your message short, means that your word choices are critical. How many times have you listened to a politician who speaks a lot of words without saying anything?

These are relatively simple rules, but it is not hard to find examples (including in this blog) of briefings running afoul. In a time where information is so readily available we still struggle mightily with the effective transfer of it.

Transferring ideas means more than just slingshotting 280 characters into the void. It demands careful contemplation of your communiqué and curation of you channel of delivery. All alliteration aside, transferring ideas equals effective briefings. Like most things discussed in this blog, it is a difficult and valuable skill that can be practiced, and improved, and one we could all benefit from.

Thanks for joining me, stay safe and stay sweaty my friends.

Exposure

Thanks for joining me for another edition of the SerenityThroughSweat blog. Today I want to talk about exposure. Not in the sense of contact with a disease, but rather contact with each other and with our ideas.

Regardless of your risk aversion and where you fall on the stay at home spectrum, all of us have been seeing a lot less of each other recently. Technology has made this the best time ever to have to be quarantined, but there are still considerable side effects from our lack of exposure to one another.

Just like or immune system grows stronger by exposure to various microbes, our minds grow stronger by exposure to ideas. Obviously books, the internet, and most forms of media are still up and running, but humans are social creatures who are meant to interact. A large portion of those interactions has been removed, and thus a large portion of the ideas we share with each other.

I didn’t realize how much I was missing this exposure until I got back to work. I was far from solitary confinement, in fact as a pilot, this was probably the most consecutive nights I’ve spent with my wife ever. But all of the other human interaction and exchanges had been removed.

Most of the captains I fly with are at very different points in their life. Most have grown kids out of the house, some have grand kids. Most differ politically, religiously, and seldom enjoy the same hobbies as I do. But spending time with them, being exposed to their ideas, their story, and their experience, is helpful if I am willing let it be.

Sometimes it is seeing a situation and thinking, I hope I don’t handle it that way when I’m a captain. Sometimes it is an attitude or character attribute to be admired or one to be avoided. Sometimes it is a political or scientific idea so crazy you just have to laugh. The only way to test your own ideas and grow a more robust perspective, is to be exposed to those things in others listening openly and earnestly.

I’m grateful to be getting back to flying, and while my wife and I are both anxious about the additional social interactions, (especially with speedy still only three months old), I’m very grateful for the exposure.

Thanks for joining me, stay safe and stay sweaty my friends.

TLAR

Thanks for joining me for another edition of the SerenityThroughSweat blog. As I get back to flying after a long layoff for paternity, I find myself falling back into a work routine and relying on my years of training. One of the cornerstone lessons all the way back from my private pilot’s license is TLAR.

TLAR is an acronym for “That Looks About Right”. The idea is with any situation in aviation we have target metrics but we also have a sight picture of what we should be seeing. So you might have a target airspeed +/- 10 knots, a target altitude +/- 100 feet, and a target heading +/- 5 degrees. To go along with those metrics you have an idea in your head of what the situation should look like, again with a +/-.

Tuesday morning causeway miles before work

TLAR gives you the ability to say even with the metrics within limits, if it doesn’t look about right, let’s reset and try it again because something might be off. Let’s get to a safe altitude and configuration, and assess what happened and even if there isn’t a problem that can be identified, safety was prioritized, and the only cost was a few minutes and some jet fuel.

In fact most of the procedures written in to our policy manual include verbiage something along the lines of “pitch or power settings not consistent with situation” as a criteria to discontinue the maneuver. Basically, if it doesn’t look right stop, and then, assess and re-establish.

What makes TLAR work is repetition and training. If you see the same picture over and over again, and you know what adjustments to make to change the picture, you can make decisions about when something looks right and when it doesn’t.

TLAR is a fantastic tool with low cost, and quick utilization time, for all sorts of social, work project, and family scenarios, if you can have the presence of mind to employ it.

I grew up telling everyone I would have a wrestling mat in my living room, and that glorious day has arrived

From a fitness standpoint, I can look at pace, heart rate, and percieved effort level, and adjust for variables such as sleep, nutrition, prior workload and weather, in order to get a picture of my workout. If say my pace or heart rate is way off normal, and one of the variables can’t explain it, (I ate well, slept well, not over worked, and weather is normal) maybe there is something wrong, and I can use that picture to adjust my training accordingly.

I can use the same sort of assessments looking at El Duderino’s behavior. Not that it is perfect or always within our expectations as parents, but rather is it about right given he is a toddler, stuck at home during Covid-19, who just became a big brother and is now sharing attention. Adjusting for variables and conditions, you can look at the vast majority of his behavior and say that looks about right, and quickly point out when behaviors no longer line up with the expected picture.

When a behavior doesn’t pass the TLAR test, I start out giving him the benefit of the doubt, examining variables and conditions first, and then asking him about. More often than not, he knows the established rules and when he has violated them. He knows when is behavior looks about right and when it doesn’t, but being 2 ½ years old, he doesn’t yet have to presence of mind to stop and correct in the moment.

Having the training and knowledge to understand what “looks about right” for a given situation, and the presence of mind to stop the operation and reset as necessary is what TLAR is all about. TLAR is a skill, and like most valuable skills, it requires repetition and dedication. It is also another valuable tool in the tool belt of Serenity.

Thanks for joining me, stay safe and stay sweaty my friends.

Idle Hands

Thanks for joining me for another edition of the SerenityThroughSweat blog. We all know the saying “idle hands are the devil’s playthings” and I think that takes on a new meaning under the lense of what we are dealing with now as a nation.

I’ve always been someone who struggles to find calm in stillness. My serenity, as it were, has always come through sweat. Whether it is physical exercise, a complex problem that needs to be worked out, or just projects around the house, my mood is always improved when I am in motion and feel like I have accomplished something that day.

For the last three months prior to my return to work, I was very fortunate to spend quality time home with my wife and two sons. That said, I think every parent can empathize with the feeling of being busy all day with basic family needs, but not “getting anything done”. I think this is especially true for people who tend to be very task/mission oriented. (Read pilots)

So, on my last overnight visiting my Father on his farm in PA, I was delighted to feel like I could do a normal days work, and complete some of those tasks in order to satiate that mission oriented personal drive.

Humans are designed to move, designed to solve problems, and build and create. When we these don’t occur naturally as part of our existence, we artificially manufacturer them. How many problems has stay-at-home created over the past few months that are really just manufactured problems of circumstance, rather than true issues.

I should be clear this is not a post about political protest. Protest in general is a noble and important mission and as a mission oriented person, that is a path I respect. I’m referring to the astounding numbers of people who went from moving from task to task with some general purpose (normally providing for themselves and/or their family and contributing to society) to being forced to stay at home, idle.

It may take a while before we start seeing the full effects of all those idle hands, but that will be a significant factor as we continue to analyze the effects of both Covid-19, as well as the unintended consequences of the combative measures taken against it.

Thanks for joining me, stay safe and stay sweaty my friends.

This week’s SerenityThroughSweat, working on the farm with my dad, finding fitness in hotel rooms with gyms closed, and some sweaty miles over the causeway in midday Sarasota.

Quality Adjusted Life Year

Thanks for joining me for another edition of the SerenityThroughSweat blog. With COVID-19 numbers flaring up in many places around the country, a return to “normal” still seems a ways off. As we all adjust to a new “normal” I wanted to dig in to Quality of life or QOL and Quality Adjusted Life Years or QALY.

Quality of life is a term that gets kicked around they pilot group a lot. It is an extremely broad reaching term with very individualized metrics. I’m it’s most simplistic terms, QOL is the standard of health, comfort, and happiness experienced by an individual or group.

Up close and personal with “scoopy” the excavator on our morning run.

Qualify adjusted life year is an economic term. It is used to quantify disease and treatment in terms of both quantity and quality of life saved. QALY gives us a metric by which we can evaluate decisions about our health and well being for the future.

The two terms have some common ground, but the differences are important. For example QALY is measured on a scale from 0-1. 0 being dead, and 1 being a single year of perfect health. Quality of life on the other hand, encompasses not only health, but happiness and comfort. In other words, you could have a perfect quality adjusted life year (healthy) with lack luster quality of life (stressed, grieving, generally unhappy, etc…)

Covid-19, brings with it some pretty drastic negative consequences, but it also gives us a unique opportunity that otherwise wouldn’t have ever materialized for most of us. The opportunity to completely rewrite our daily routines from scratch while reevaluating our priorities in order to maximize our QOL and our QALYs.

It is easier said than done, and change is never easy especially in times of great uncertainty. The first step is to identify priorities, and realign around them. Ideal QOL is going to look different for everyone because there is no one size fits all for things like happiness and comfort, but health and general well-being is pretty universal. (And a favorite taking point of this particular blog)

Speedy starting to interact more

Personally, uncertainty around my job status as Covid-19 continues to ravage the travel sector, has thrown my stress levels out of whack. But sleep, diet and exercise (with the exception of a new baby) are largely within my control.

My pre Covid routine included a lot of Jiu Jitsu, but that isn’t an option for me and my family right now. Instead I’ve leaned in to what I do have available, kettlebells, sandbags, running shoes and a jogging stroller. Since I do most of the cooking in the house I can prioritize fresh produce and balanced home cooked meals (most of which are even toddler approved). On the sleep side, Speedy has started to put together reliable seven hour stretches giving me wife and I a chance to recharge.

A hot Monday afternoon run during the kid’s naptime. FL summer is here.

How much of our pre Covid routine was helping us live a better QOL and have more QALYs? How much of it was adding stress, reducing sleep, limiting options for healthy habits in diet and exercise? I would wager the average American routine pre Covid was way out of balance in those four key factors (stress, sleep, diet, and exercise).

This is a complex issue, and everyone’s situation is different. If you find yourself working multiple jobs to put a roof over your head and food on the table, there are natural challenges to prioritizing well-being. However, a lot of us have significant down time around a 40 hour work week, and even more if we find ourselves working from home when we used to commute, or are working reduced hours.

As a fitness enthusiast I want to always be in shape for whatever challenge may come. As a father of two young boys I want to have as many QALYs as I can, where I can not only be there with them, but push them mentally and physically. As a pilot who has to leave his family behind on a regular basis I’m constantly adjusting to family needs to balance work with QOL.

First layover run in a long time and I couldn’t have agreed for a better day

Your priorities, your ideas on wellness, happiness, and comfort, can be realigned at any time, and there is no time like the present. There is always room for better choices, better QOL, more QALYs, and some SerenityThroughSweat.

Thanks for joining me, stay safe and stay sweaty my friends.