In this episode, I talk about how you need to understand what the Academy is going to do to you while you are there.

The Academy is going to stretch you, kick you, lift you up on amazing highs, and send you to unbelievable lows. And that is all before you even get close to your evals.

One of the keys to succeeding at the Academy is knowing, and preparing for, what is coming. You need to know what to expect. you need to know the goals that the FAA haas for each and every one of you. If you know and understand their goals and the processes they will use to reach those goals, then you can deal with the INEVITABLE ups and downs that are going to happen while you are at the Academy. Those ups and downs are part of the process because they are the same ups and downs you will face for the rest of your career as a controller.

So, start preparing yourself when you first get your date to go to OKC. Prepare yourself, mentally, emotionally, and physically for the Academy. If you do this ahead of your arrival to OKC, the probability that you will pass skyrockets!

Once you get to the Academy, use your knowledge of the process to get you past the bad days that 100% of you WILL have. Understand that the bad days ARE part of the process. You will have to go through them to get to your goals!!

Thank you all for listening!!

If you have questions or comments, you can text me at 817-233-8199

or email me at [email protected] .

You can also get information about my coaching programs at sidebysideatc.com .

Have a great week!!

In this episode, I talk about what you can do to virtually ensure that you pass the Academy!

Strong words, I know.

It all starts before you get to OKC:

• Know your MAP
• Know the phonetic alphabet

During Basics:

• Study more than anyone else in your class
• Be the person your classmates come to with questions
• Be willing to do what it takes to help

During EnRoute/Tower/Terminal:

• Know the phraseology and strip marking best than anyone else
• Be the leader of the study groups
• Make sure no classmate is EVER left out of the study groups
• If someone is struggling, be the first to offer to help, and keep helping until they get better

If you will commit to doing these things, YOU WILL PASS THE ACADEMY!! And so will your classmates!!

Thank you all for listening!

If you have any questions or comments, you can text me at: 817-233-8199 .

You can also email me at: [email protected] , or go to the website at :

sidebysideatc.com .

Have a wonderful week!

In this episode, I talk about one of the most important things you have to have to be successful as an air traffic controller. CONSISTENCY !

Motivation gets you going, but discipline keeps you growing!

You have to practice consistently. You have to train consistently. You have to study SOP's, LOA's and every other document you can get your hands on in order to grow and succeed as an air traffic controller. These are not options: they are things you MUST do!

Practice with intention. Practice with others. Only practice using the right phraseology, the right steps, the right strip marking. Make permanent the right way of doing these things!

Each day matters! TODAY MATTERS! MAKE IT COUNT!

Thank you all for listening. It means so much that you are there. I hope and pray that I am helping you as you go along this journey.

If you have a question, or comment, you can text me at : 817-233-8199

or email me at : [email protected] .

You can also find information about my coaching programs and video program at :

sidebysideatc.com .

Have a wonderful week!

In this episode, I take John Maxwell's teaching on successful personal change and see how it relates to those of you who are trying to become, or already are, air traffic controllers.

The 6 steps are:

• Change your thinking, and you change your beliefs.
• Change your beliefs, and you change your expectations.
• Change your expectations, and you change your attitude.
• Change your attitude, and you change your behavior.

Here's where it gets REALLY good!

• Change your behavior, and you change your performance!

• Change your performance, and YOU CHANGE YOUR LIFE!

You can change your life, but it all starts with changing your thinking and your thoughts.

Remember: You can't change someone else, but you CAN change yourself.

Thank you for listening!

If you have a question or comment, you can text me at: 817-233-8199.

You can also email me at: [email protected] .

You can go to the website at: sidebysideatc.com .

Hope you all have a great week!

In this episode, I look back at my first day at the Academy, November 8, 1988. I also look ahead to what it might be like to be an air traffic controller in your future.

I talk about some of the things you will have to endure while being an air traffic controller. Things like:

• Weird schedules and days off.
• Being a government employee during shutdowns and threats of shutdowns.
• Lack of sleep.
• etc. , etc. , etc.

Yet with all of this negative stuff, I still think that this career is amazing and SO worth trying to be a part of.

A lot will change over the next decades in ATC. I believe that the need for controllers will continue to grow and the technology should be fascinating to see.

If your dream is to be an air traffic controller, then I would wholeheartedly suggest you pursue that dream. The pursuit of it will change you in ways you can't even consider until you get there!

Thank you all for listening!

If you have a question, or comment, you can text me at : 817-233-8199.

You can email me at: [email protected] .

You can visit the website at : sidebysideatc.com . ( The Radar videos are almost finished with the Non-Radar videos to come in a few weeks.)

In this episode, I talk about how you can be prepared for the evals at the Academy.

Last week, I talked about NERVES and what you can do to mitigate them as much as possible. This week, I talk about what that looks like.

It requires you to commit to becoming better every single day you are in OKC. That commitment is essential to becoming the best you can be while you are at the Academy.

If you need help making that commitment, or need help keeping that commitment, let me know. We will set up a time when we can talk and see what you may need to do to make those commitments come true.

You can text me at : 817-233-8199

You can email me at: [email protected]

You can go to the website and sign up to have me contact you at: sidebysideatc.com

Thank you all for listening!! Have a great week!!

In this episode, I go back to a couple of my first episodes and talk about one of the hardest things about the Academy: NERVES.

I talk about what you can do to limit the effect of the nerves you are going to have. I also talk about the fact that being nervous before an eval is NOT necessarily a bad thing- it means you care!

Prepare as much as you can, and don't let yourself lose sight of why you are there and what you want to accomplish!

If you have a comment or question, you can TEXT me at 817-233-8199 or email me at [email protected] . I would love to hear from you!

You can also go to the website: sidebysideatc.com , to see information on the coaching programs that I offer.

thank you all for listening! Have a great week!

In this episode, I talk about multi-tasking as an air traffic controller.

Multi-tasking is doing more than one thing at the same time. If you use that definition, air traffic controllers DO NOT multi-task. We do ONE thing at a time. We just do them so quickly that it appears that we are multi-tasking.

The problem with multi-tasking is that when we try to do more than one thing at a time, we don't do anything as well as we could have!! Period!

Instead of trying to multi-task, get better at doing one thing at a time correctly and going to the next task quickly. Then do the next task correctly, and so on.

Speed kills! Speed is not your goal at the academy. Accuracy is your goal! As you practice and practice and practice, you will get faster naturally. But, always pursue accuracy over speed.

If you have any questions or comments, you can text me at : 817-233-8199 or email me at [email protected] . You can also go to the website at: sidebysideatc.com for information about my coaching programs.

Thank you for listening!! Have a great week!

In this episode, I talk about the mindset that you need to have to do well at the Academy.

The Academy is not college, and it is definitely not high school. The Academy is unlike anything you have experienced and if you don't have the right mindset going into it, you are likely to get behind and not be able to catch up.

You have to treat the Academy as your job, which is exactly what it is. If you have the mindset that you are an employee of the FAA, that your employer has certain expectations from you, and that you are going to do whatever it takes to meet those expectations, then you have a great chance of succeeding. If you don't have that mindset, your chances of succeeding go down drastically.

Treat your time at the Academy, or at CTI school, as a job, with the highest expectations on their employees, and you can succeed. Get as many people around you to help you on this journey and help those who are trying to help you. Do these things and you can be on the road to one of the greatest careers there is.

If you have a question or comment, you can email me at: [email protected] .

You can also text me at : 817-233-8199 .

The website with coaching programs is: sidebysideatc.com .

Thank you all for listening!! Have a great week!!

In this episode, I talk about government shutdowns that I have been through and talk about how the shutdowns can affect you as an air traffic controller at the Academy and at your facility.

The shutdowns are going to happen. The best thing you can do is be prepared for them so that your family is not impacted.

If you have any questions about this episode or have an idea for an episode, just send me an email or text.

My email is : [email protected] .

You can text me at : 817-233-8199 .

The website is : sidebysideatc.com .

I hope you have a great week! Thank you all for listening!!!