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.
