Are you overwhelmed?

Do you feel overwhelmed?

Do you notice how common it is to feel overwhelmed these days? Family, job, health, the news, bills, children, romance, chores, security, paperwork, your boss, your friends, your employees, yourself… so many priorities feeding into a collective feeling that the hard rhythm will never stop. I feel inundated more often than I’d like to admit. Do I have a solution? Unfortunately not… I’m not a doctor or drug dealer, nor a mind reader, not to mention I have my own competing priorities to deal with which is by itself quite overwhelming.
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One Lesson Learned a Day

or Seven Skills I Honed in the Air Force

Monday – Patience and Humility

Tout vient à point à qui sait attendre

After years of training and drilling, most pilots aim to be part of the action and to “finally” do the ultimate job we chose in the first place. It’s the type of career choice that you dedicate yourself to over a lifetime, knowing you want to play a part in keeping the world safe. We all train for that, but ultimately not all of us end up having the opportunity to put our training into action.

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People have forgotten how to be nice

Being nice doesn’t mean that you always have to say yes.
Being nice means that sometimes you have to say no… in a nice way.
Being nice doesn’t mean that you only have to be kind when people agree with you or give you what you’re asking for.
Being nice is also to accept in a kind way that people may disagree with you and can’t always provide what you’re looking for.
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Things that matter…

I wanted to share with you one of my professional experiences as a helicopter pilot.

It was about twelve years ago in French Guiana. We used to regularly perform medevac flights during night hours since military personnel were the only ones allowed to perform such flights. Civilian helicopters were not authorized to do night flights back in this time.

My memory probably has some gaps now. I might be mixing together some elements of many different missions from that period of time. But that is not what matters… it’s the memorable elements and feelings that are true.

fennec_11

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I Don’t Trust You…

no, I really don’t…

But I can still learn from you.

Films, Books, TV, Art, Social Media, Press, Blogs just like this one, Studies have never been so numerous and so accessible. This is Great! This is so exciting! This is physically exciting in fact. This post of Hugh McGuire on hbr.orgHow Making Time for Books Made Me Feel Less Busy – actually reminds us how every feed in our lives has a physical impact on us when the release of dopamine in our brains increases the need for a reward when we learn something new. And frankly – it can be exhausting.

More than ever, we need to meticulously cross-check every single piece of information we’re able to access with our information-greedy minds. Continue reading “I Don’t Trust You…”

Human Interface…

As a user of different technologies, products and tools I am continuously interacting with interfaces which allow me to take control of them. I sometimes also have to struggle with them!

My eyes cross checking the parameters of the control panel of my single seat aircraft making sure that they’re all green; my hands exerting light pressure on the cyclic and collective pitch to maintain the steady hovering of my military transport helicopter despite the wind; visualizing the complexities of a comprehensive financial situation through a simple graphic; browsing and setting up my operating system to make it mine; the softness of my fingers on the keys of the piano to evoke the sound I desire.

Designing the right interface for your tools is the key of their success.

Ménestrel HN433 F-PCTY

What would have become of the wheel if we hadn’t invented the steering wheel?

I love interfaces. They make you feel in control and allow you to use tools as extensions of yourself.

Simplicité et ergonomie pour faire corps avec la machine.

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