A fighter pilot is a military aviator trained to engage combat while in the cockpit of a fighter aircraft. Fighter pilots undergo specialized training in aerial warfare and dogfighting. A fighter pilot with at least five air-to-air kills becomes known as an ace. So people don’t become fighter pilots by chance. You spend years honing your skills till you know every pulse, every twitch. Here are the things that need to be made a habit if you are to show a fighter pilot like mind set in your life. It is going to make you stronger and successful.
1. Calm Under Pressure
The natural quality of many pilots (fighter or not) is that they simply don’t get ruffled or freak out when things go bad. This is a direct product of training. Although the selection process would make sure that this is present in the candidates before hand but it is gradually engraved into their mentality through daily activities and pushing to create high priority in dealing with it. This can be achieved by learning how to put things into perspective, breathing properly (normal or deep and not shallow), avoiding negative people and looking after yourself.
2. Always have a Plan B
Design a plan B by always assuming your plan A will not work. Remember that there are so many other people who might be going for the same Plan A as you are. The more options you have in life, the less stuck and miserable you will feel. Imagine being a fighter pilot in the sky being in combat with enemy planes. His every next move is a Plan B or C or Z.
3. Willingness to Take Control
A person who is naturally confident and on top of things already has one of the most useful traits of a good pilot. Someone who is always late, never prepared and unorganized does not. Flying is about planning and being properly prepared for the task at hand; you can’t easily pull over to check directions, or call in at a service station for gas, refreshment or conveniences when you’re in the air. It involves letting go of whatever is keeping you back and embracing what will push you forward. And identifying your purpose in life and what role you play in every situation you go through.
4. Don’t let the ego get out of hand
As a pilot it’s good to have a healthy ego. This business of flying airplanes isn’t for the meek. But there are all kinds of problems associated with an over-inflated one. It’s a balance that isn’t always easy to manage for some of us, but the best aviators have this dialed in. And fighter pilots are the absolute top of the crop. They are entrusted with so much responsibility that emotions are the last thing they want to be battling while at work.
5. A playful desire to learn and thrill
There seems to be a habit of most fighter pilots that causes them to seek the extraordinary experiences in life. Call it thrill seeking or restlessness, the kind of person who becomes a pilot is the kind of person who doesn’t just make do with the ordinary life. With all of the easily accessible sources of information there’s little excuse, beyond laziness, for not going for that killer maneuver. So keep sharpening your tools and discovering new ones.