Keeping November Under Control

We are mid-November, caught between finishing what we need to accomplish and account for this year, and preparing for the new year coming.

As time available seems to shorten, and calendars fill up with impossible amounts of residual tasks, our heads can start to feel full and pressurised. Attention spans and tolerance levels shorten. Board meetings, end of term and end of year commitments, reports, and reassessments pepper the remaining weeks. We’re not done with this year yet, but we can see the next one coming and are starting to look up towards it.

Today’s reminder will be a simple one based on an axiom that is hammered into our heads in the aviation industry: “Aviate, Navigate, Communicate”

It remains one of my favourite self-management tools and a reminder always to focus on the task at hand, especially when your plate feels very full.

In the cockpit, “Aviate, Navigate, Communicate” is hammered into our heads so that it’s forefront in our mind when the proverbial wheels start to fall off mid-flight. When we’re new to flying, the number of tasks we need to accomplish in any given moment can become overwhelming very easily. As our experience grows, handling multiple requirements in quick succession becomes second nature, but there is always room for potential confusion if an unexpected event were to occur.

In moments when clarity is needed, “Aviate, Navigate, Communicate” reinforces the order required…