Motivation is the critical engine that drives human resilience and success. When a new eager learner walks into a flight school, they are curious and motivated; they are ready to go and supercharged. The goal of the educator from the first intro flight through their final checkride is to keep that fire burning. But how do we do that? The answer is “Small Wins.”
“Small Wins” means identifying and celebrating any incremental progress toward an identifiable and meaningful goal. We maintain motivation by steadily overcoming obstacles and continually progressing. When a learner plateaus (or worse yet regresses due to weather, mechanicals, or time off) it takes an understanding and compassionate coach to keep them on the track toward success. Transferring PIC authority and continuously celebrating the learner’s mastery is the best way to accomplish this in flight training; “great work on XXXX, today!” Even on the discovery flight: “You have already learned how to taxi with your feet, great work!”
calls this leveraging of small wins “The Progress Principle” (one of the many books she’s authored). Small wins, carefully identified and celebrated by a savvy CFI, make a learner feel good. This fires up their motivation and powers their resilience. Though flying is fun, it is easy to forget that flight training can be a tough climb, both physically and psychologically. The common belief that flight training is intrinsically motivating is one of the six fallacies in flight training identified by the US Naval Research Lab. We need to commiserate with our learners: “I was there too once!”
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Track progress for a mental boost in a journal, spreadsheet, or app. Crossing items off the list is often a reward unto itself!
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Treat yourself with a small reward, even if it is just a 5 minute break to get some fresh air.
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Share your win with friends, family, or colleagues.
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Have both a short- and long-term plan toward larger goals, such as setting smaller milestones along the way.
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With the absence of a coach or mentor, creating your own identifiable “small wins” is a great tool to build motivation and mental toughness. Either as an initial learner or CFI (lifetime learner), constantly moving ahead and gaining new skills and knowledge is what keeps flying fun. Fly safely out there (and often)!
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Good points David. This is also part of Maria Montessori’s approach to learning. Each lesson or “Job” is small enough that the teacher only has to instruct for a few minutes and the student masters the job in short order. Nothing is overwhelming and therefore the student experiences many small successes in a relatively short period. Nearly every aspect of flying can be broken down further into small “jobs” that are understood and mastered quickly. The student ends up automatically with their own internal reward system, which motivates them on to the next job.