The Importance of Consistency in Aviation

Implementing small consistent steps is a powerful way to accomplish great things. If you want to run a marathon, sprinting isn’t going to work. You’ll use up all your energy and give up. However, if you keep a reasonably consistent pace, you’ll make it to the finish line.

It’s similar with just about anything. When I was writing a book. It wasn’t a huge burst of writing that allowed me to finish it. I just wrote a manageable amount every day and eventually it was finished. If I tried to write it all at once, I probably would have quit. Making those consistent efforts gave me time to process and come in with a fresh mind every time I sat down to write. It also gave me time to build expertise as well.

Think about learning an instrument. If you play for 8 hours straight 3 days in a row, but then you don’t play for 3 months, a lot of what you learned is going to disappear. However, if you play for 20 minutes every day, you are going to build on your previous experience without losing anything.

Learning to fly is a skill that requires a lot. There is all the knowledge you have to learn, the communication, how the airplane works, the skills to actually fly it. This can’t be done overnight. It’s a process. Implementing consistent effort is extremely important.

Study your ground knowledge every day. You don’t have to study for 8 hours straight, but if you can get in even 20 minutes daily, that knowledge will start to stick. Try to get up in a plane as frequently as possible as well. Don’t let weeks go by without flying, or you’ll lose some of the skills you were beginning to learn. The FAA even has requirements for currency because they know that pilot skills fade when you aren’t using them. 

Small consistent efforts over time are going to get you to your goal of becoming a pilot, and they are going to make you into a good pilot. It doesn’t stop after your checkride either. Keeping up these habits is a continuous thing. Make flying a habit.