I literally flew the plane on my first go.

Nuts.

Totally nuts.

With an instructor off course, but I actually flew it.

I thought it would be ages before they would trust me with the controls.

I’m still buzzing and…

AND…

There’s a GAMSAT lesson in it for ya.

(I was only going to send this to my Bootcampers but thought you might like it too. So I removed the extra special lessons from the end because they are only for my members)

Yep, that’s right.

Even at 2000 feet in the air and my breakfast almost in my mouth, I sit thought of my BC’ers.

Now before you grab the popcorn and settle in for an epic “Top Gun” style story of Dr Tom in a mid-air dog fight… or a “Snakes on a Plane” adventure…

I can tell ya none of that happened.

It was about as uneventful a flight as I could have wished for.

Thank god for that!

Nothing dramatic happened, and no one got shot down (apparently that’s for flight #2)

But while trying to keep the plane steady, look out for other aircraft, and listen to the instructor…

With what was left of my brain capacity…

I heard him say:

Power + attitude = Performance.

And I thought,

That… sounds like a GAMSAT lesson if I ever did hears one!

I made a mental note to remember that when I wasn’t in a flying tin car.

He had to repeat it a few times but what I think is that the power of the plane, as in the speed and engine power, plus the direction in which you’re pointing the nose (attitude) determines where the plane goes and how it performs.

That’s it.

Everything else is Christmas window dressing.

It’s one of flying’s First Principles.

And I love me some First Principles.

In medicine, we all use them – from the juniors to the seniors.

They’re essentially the most important biggest lessons distilled down into the most basic, easy to understand and remember sayings.

When a patient has a cardiac arrest – first principles say to go to your ABCD’s

When you’re going for an examination, the first principles say to start with inspection (eyeballing the patient).

If you don’t know what’s happening with a patient, first principles say to go back to history.

They’re the most important basics that will keep you out of trouble whether you’re a beginner or an expert.

So how does this apply to GAMSAT?

Power + attitude = performance

Power is the work.

You’ve got to do the work, put in the hours, and at the right intensity for the right length.

Without that, your metaphorical study aeroplane isn’t going to go anywhere, or it will crash very quickly.

Do the bloody work, and you’ll stay in the air.

Attitude is the way you do the work.

It’s about focusing on the right things – on reasoning skills rather than memorizing topics.

Also about mindset – believing in yourself, having the right self-talk, and staying focused.

If you do your head in or spend your time working on the wrong things, again, you’re studying Super-Hornet is going to splash down fast.

On the other hand, if you do the right work and have the right mindset you’ll be headed in the right direction.

Combine the two and you’re the next GAMSAT Captain Marvel (she’s an air force pilot who becomes a superhero – watch the movie).

Do the work + the right work = performance in the GAMSAT.

Power + attitude = performance

With that in mind,

If you want to know how to actually do “the right work”…

And how to make sure you do the work even if you’re working full-time, have uni, are lockdown in a famous Melbourne Super Spreader Hotel, or are fighting COVID single handily with nothing but a toothbrush and some disinfectant…

Then come along to this.

Enjoy the weekend,

Dr “not quite Top Gun, yet” Tom