[Music] Hey welcome back everyone to the cancel for maintenance podcast. If this is your first time joining us, we're a show that takes a behind-the-scenes look into the gritty, non-glamorous life of aircraft maintenance. We share some laughs in parts of wisdom, all in hopes of giving you that split seconds relief in your day that will hopefully prevent and miss it. I am your co-host, Six, I'm MVP, and our third host shoreline is here silently in the back monitoring our audio and making sure our faces stay fit for radio. So we were having a pretty in-depth conversation before the recording started, and it ties in with today's topic about just how, especially in the summertime, where this summer season, we're just getting slammed with all sorts of work, summer slam, funny enough. It's one of those seasons, especially for aviation, like summer is just rough. People go in vacation, a lot of people want to try to front load their projects or their tasks or whatever the case may be. So it's one of those times of the season where things are just suddenly in a rush. I don't know what it is, but they just want to get things done fast for whatever reason. And it's to the point where some of these time constraints are unreachable, but we try anyway. I don't know what it is, but we try anyway. Having all this pile up and all this come about, it really just drains the life out of you. It really just sucks away your motivation to do stuff. So carrying over our conversation earlier to today's episode is like finding that energy to do stuff, both at work and outside, and more especially outside of work, because it's rough and motivation, will, whatever you want to call it. The will to live, or the better words, the will to live. We've talked about stuff like this way back. I don't know, probably the first 30 episodes of our show, but we felt like it's been so relevant, especially now that, you know, hey, we need to rehash this, re-innorate and just kind of put back into place, like, hey, man, it sucks. This is definitely something you're going to feel more as the seasons ebb and flow, but what I mean by that is your work seasons, not so much the actual seasons, or maybe it does play into a factor too. Like, is there a sad season for summer? You know, everyone's having fun and being happy and not going to school and stuff, and you're just like, I'm melting. That's probably especially the case for our airlines, you know, companions, because they're on a blazing hot ramp, walking people getting ready to go off on their vacations, and they're just looking at them from the ground going, I wonder what that's like. Okay, please take me with you. Just take me speaking of that, man, like going on the hot ramp, like the other day I was doing an engine run for like six hours nonstop, man. And if we were in a shaded area, you know, like all, it had water and all kinds of stuff, you know, to kind of prevent heat injuries, but that was one of the few times in my life where I feel like I'm getting sunburned in the shade. Yeah, and especially with the engine exhaust blowing at your face, I'm like, oh my God, it feels like Afghanistan and Iraq all over again. It didn't even know. It was so funny. It was so funny. It was last weekend. I was outside painting my shit. And about hour seven of painting, you know, I started smelling like smoke in the air, right? Something's burning. I just assumed somebody was, you know, had a smoker go on some place, but it didn't smell like something was smoking meat. I don't know. I, but I was like, oh, it's just, it's what it, you know, smell of smoke. And then it got this real deep orange glow that came over everything. And I was like, Oh my gosh, this is, this is super strange. I feel like, I feel like Afghanistan right now, as I smoke, and it's got this deep orange A's to everything in the late afternoon. And I look up and it was smoking the smoke clouds from a fire that was out to the west of us. So I was like, you know, that summer here in, in, in SoCal set that time of year where the fire started kicking off all the time. But it was, you know, you said it reminded you of Afghanistan. And that was, that was my recent smells and looks like Afghanistan out here in the, in the mid summer, uh, sun evening, a little bit over again. Oh my God. And for those of you who've never been into those types of desert environments, like picture, like someone having a hair dryer blown at your face on the heat setting. And then someone's throwing sand at you at the same time. That's more or less what it felt like a good chunk of the time there. And it gets insanely hot in those areas here. Here's bad. Here's bad too. And I imagine places like Arizona and some other states with high humidity, it'll feel like 110 plus. But in those places, especially around this time of the year, it's probably touching close to 120, 130 ish. It's bad. It's, you know, it's bad when you can feel the difference between 125 and 123. It's terrible. Or you can't stay in one spot on the ramp for too long. Cause then when you start walking away, uh, a piece of your shoes stuck there on the ground. Yes. It's a little gummy. Yes. Or like you get like first degree burns from like making skin contact with the, with parts of the aircraft, you know, right? Or, or you burn your fingers from grabbing a tool that's been in a toolbox in a sunshade. Yes. But it's like a convection oven. It's just encroaching inside the box. Yes. You know, people, people, people laugh when I say like, we've, we've had to put toolboxes and coolers with ice and everything just to be able to touch them. I'm like, I've never been through any of those. Like good for you, man. Like I'm happy. I'm extremely happy that you've never had to experience this because it's like touching the stove while it's all, you know, like touching a hot stove on purpose. That's more or less what it felt like gloves and all. Like it doesn't matter. Like unless I'm wearing like a welders glove, which is like next to never, that's like the only time you'll not feel that heat. And even then, you know, like, uh, for welders out there or, or a, um, blacksmiths, I was going to say forges, but blacksmiths, if you've ever seen their gloves, it's meant to come off. Like if they absolutely have to, like, as soon as like they feel that heat, they got to shut, they got to like whisk it off really fast because if they don't, your, your hand inside that glove is basically an oven at that point because it's so hot. So food for thought for some of y'all. Anyways, going back to our previous, uh, tangent before we went off on this trail or this side quest is when things get so rough at work and you just like really have to struggle to find that energy to do stuff. And it's, it, we might be honest something where that has that summer sad because most times when you hear the word sad or as a disorder or a mental health issue, it's usually around the holidays, like, uh, Thanksgiving, Christmas time frame, which is true. And then I think that from, from that standpoint, it could be based on the, the season itself, like the sun exposure, whereas here in the summer, I had the song called summertime sadness, maybe, maybe, maybe she's on to something. Yeah, right? Oh my God, it all makes sense now, but it's true, but it's true. I'm dealing with my, I'm dealing with, I'm dealing with my headaches via, via stupid jokes. That's how we do it. And I think that's, and I think that's partly why aircraft mechanics have such a crass sense of humor is because like, that's the only way we can deal with it. We have to like, uh, make some kind of stupid dad joke or just off the wall craziness just to kind of deal with it, to find that energy again, to be motivated to do work. Cause, uh, we, we've, we've joked about it a bunch of times, but when you, when the work just pounds you down and just adds on to the stress, it gets hard to want to wake up and climb out of bed and go to work. I mean, we've said it a whole bunch of times where like you be sitting in the parking lot and just like staring each other down to see who's going to be the one to walk through the door first. It's, it's, it's a true story. We've done that. We've, we've literally sat on opposite side or parked on opposite sides of the parking stall and just stared at each other just to kind of see who's going to be the one to walk in first. Cause we just going to take, who's going to take the bullets first today. Yeah, we just, cause we were just that drain. We did not want to go in to work. And yes, you know, like we have a passion for aviation. Yes, we have a passion for doing the things we do. And I do have a passion for wanting to get paid to kick, like to paycheck. But there are times when you just kind of look at yourself and like, or looking at reflection in, in your review mirror, like, do I absolutely need this? Can I, like, how long can I survive without this? And the answer was, uh, from Friday at close of business till Sunday afternoon. Yes. That's it. I saw one to somebody who's like, I can live comfortably for the next 30 minutes. It is true. It's true. But you know, motivation, right? So, yeah, work's beating you down this net. But now, uh, your, your lack of motivation or willingness to put forth more effort. It might not be that you're actually not motivated. It might be from the responses you're getting to the initiatives you're trying to undertake. So there's no shortage of work and you have the will and wants and the grit and determination to get it done. But we all have bosses, so you have to get there by often approval. And so you go and do that. And then everything you put forth or need their support on or whatever is shot down. The ideas are deemed, uh, you know, a waste of time or stupid and some instances or, uh, you know, you're just met with disdain from leadership. And, and so enough of those interactions and, and then your motivation starts to dwindle that that candle, uh, that flame on the candle starts to flicker and die out. Um, so again, it might not be that you're not just motivated as a person. You're motivated, but you're not getting the same level of support or, uh, the same energy that you're putting forth. You're not getting, uh, from, from your superiors. And so over time, you just stop. You stop undertaking initiatives. You have to stop undertaking, uh, you know, trying to fix things. And you adopt, um, you adopt what, uh, kind of the, uh, axemial, uh, millennial Gen X saying of it is what it is. It is what it is, you know, what it is. Yeah. Or, um, uh, like what's those other ones where like it's like that help me, I'm dying inside kind of when it's like, Oh, just, uh, live in the dream. Yeah, live in the dream. That's a number one saying for, uh, help. Yes. And you know, and this actually sparked a core memory of mine when we received an email from one of our listeners and it went something similar to what MVP was saying. Like, you know, they're trying their best, you know, but they're brand new and they have good support, a good amount of support, but they also have a lot of people who just nitpick shit. Right. Uh, managers are, they're not the technical experts that you expect them to be. And they want to implement all these things. And it doesn't marry up to what, what's actually happening on the floor or on the ramp, but you try, you try to make it happen. You try to accommodate, you try to do the things you do, but you're also new. So like, I'm, you're trying to absorb all this stuff. And it's, you know, it's not clicking at the time you need it to happen. Right. And then after so long, you get, you get told that you're not being efficient. You're not being effective or whatever the case may be, it starts to sink in. And then after so long of getting all the dog, you're going to start barking like one. And then eventually you're just like, you know what? I'm not going to try so hard. I'm just going to do enough to not get put on the spot and move on with life. Right. And I feel like a lot of us fall into that hole where we're just like, you try to be the energetic person, you try to like do good things and show that you got got potential to do more. And then, you know, like, either the situation doesn't marry up to your, your energy or the policies don't marry up to what you're trying to accomplish. Or you just get told by like, you're being too zealous, you're being too much of this, you're being not enough of that, or whatever the case may be, like all these negative point outs. And then so like the only way for you to just like not do that or not have that told to you is stop doing what you want to do, what you feel is right. And then just do enough to not have them talk to you, you know, or you get discredited. And you say, well, you know, hey, that idea is not going to work. And then it's just left at that. And you go, well, can you explain to me why it won't work? And then can you provide me a better solution? So I can kind of understand, you know, I can get a game plan, I can understand the mentality behind why my plan was incorrect, your plan was correct. So the next time we run into another issue, I kind of know how to approach it. And they say, well, that just comes with experience. Yes. Sure. Sure. But part of experiences is what we're currently going through right now. And that is, that is, I said something, you said, it wasn't correct. And because it was my lack of experience, but I failed to educate me on what's a better route, which would be part of that experience. Experiences making mistakes, learning from them and learning from those who have gone before you. But it's like, it's like those jobs. It's an entry level position that requires 10 years of experience. Wow. You know, yep. This actually reminds me of this one joke, this one comedian or YouTube comedian said, and it's, it's funny, but it's also kind of true where he goes like, I forget to hit that comedian's name. I just know he keeps saying the word Stephen a lot. I forget his name. Anyway, if you guys here, remember, just kind of sparked my memory on this. Anyways, he would say something like your cousin has 15 years of experience, and he's only nine. And like, how the hell does he have 15 years of experience? And he's only nine years old, because he works two jobs. It works fine. I'm done here talking about now. Yeah, Stephen, Stephen Lee or something like that. He's a like a Chinese American dude. Yeah, yeah. I think he's the one who does the failure or emotional damage once. Yeah, that's him. Yeah, that's him. Say, he worked. He's nine years old, and he works five jobs. Like, that's how you, that's how you become successful. I'm like, Oh my God, that is so true. As sad as that is, I know it meant as a joke, but that's kind of how it feels sometimes like, you gotta have to work like five entry level jobs at the same time just to get that air quotes 10 plus years of experience. Is that really going to happen? Absolutely not. But again, you know, that's kind of like how it feels. And it's and so ergo your motivation tanks when you run into this. Yes. So like, uh, what's the, like, what's the challenge? How do you find this energy to just want to be able to life either both at work and outside? And to me, I think like outside energy matters more than at work because work is going to get done. Period. Like there's no ends and ifs or buts about it, it has to get done. So you get, you got to dig below rock bottom or something to strike oil or some shit, right? It's, it's one of those. And it also helps that you lean to with your friend with your coworkers, right? Like you have some kind of professional working relationship. So you guys can half tank pull up, pull the weight or run on fumes together and pull weight. Like all of you collectively with next to no gas can somehow lift. I don't know. But, uh, but what I mean by why why it matters more to me after work is because when the work is finished, whatever you can change jobs, you can do all that stuff. But once you come home, you're, you're, you have all these other things that you have to deal with that kind of sets you up for work the following day, you know, like times with your family, times for yourself, times to get things all together and whatever have you, if those are trashing, your day is going to be garbage. Period. And I've fell into this hole myself where like there are times when work would just drain me to the point where as soon as I come home, I take a shower and I go right to sleep. Or, uh, I'll say I'm going to do X, Y, and Z after I shower and then I sit down just sitting down will put me on my ass for the rest of the day. And then I'll just doom scroll, right? Or watch videos. Right. And what does it for me is, uh, I'll say all the things I'll say during the day, I'll think about all the things I want to accomplish outside of work, you know, at the end of the day. And that, and now mind you, I currently live 12 miles from where I work. And in that 12 mile commute home, it is absolutely gone. Anything that I wanted to do, the, uh, it doesn't, doesn't exist anymore. Um, yeah, like six, eight, I come inside. I'm, you know, I might not take a shower or whatever right away, but it's one of those like, all right, let me just change into some basketball shorts and, you know, t-shirt and, uh, yeah, I'm just going to hang out for five minutes and unwind and I'll go do these things. And, uh, three hours passes by, like, it's nothing. Uh, and you've been nothing but, uh, looking through reels and sending your friends funny memes. I do appreciate those memes, by the way. Yeah, same for me, but I mean, it's one of those you're like, huh, I, and then next thing you know, it's dark outside and you're going, oh my gosh, uh, well, what a wasted effort, you know? Yeah. And, and then the, when it gets dark, it kind of demotivates you even more, right? Like, well, it's dark. I can't do anything now, right? I don't know if it demotivates. I think it, it more justifies my, my, uh, reasoning for not doing something. I don't know, well, it's dark outside and it's almost bedtime. Oh, but it's only eight o'clock. Can you go to bed till 10 30? Yeah, but you know, all the preparation work and everything to do that, uh, you know, first I got to get up to go get some water and then I got to take a shower and then I got a mosey back to my bed. So that, that, that's, uh, boy, my schedule's packed. Uh, what, uh, like, uh, the Grinch, you know, like, uh, five o'clock jazzercise, uh, wallow and self-loathing, like dinner, dinner, dinner with myself. I can't skip that again. Cancel that again. Yeah. That's exactly what it's like. That's exactly what it's like. Like wallow and self-loathing. So. Stairsight. Stairsight. Stairsight. I forgot how great that scene was. Oh my gosh. It was, man. Oh my gosh. Uh, I don't know if anybody, if any of you have seen the new inside out, uh, movie, the second one, but there's a line in there. It says, maybe part of growing up is learning to live with less joy. And, you know, I took my kids to see it because it's a kids movie and they said that line about halfway through the movie. And that's all I could think about for the entirety of the movie and, uh, every, every waking moment since. Maybe that's just what it says. We just learned to live with this joy. So you might be saying, boy, you guys are doing some real incoherent ramblings today. Um, but let me give you a situation that I've been going through very recently. And it will kind of explain where I said you, you have motivation, but it gets sucked away from you. So. Recently. And now what I'm about to explain has happened several times over the last four years. But very recently, uh, you know, uh, one of my, uh, upper leadership, you know, several levels above me sends out a request. To their management team, of which I'm a part of. I'm, I'm the lowest level in that management chain. But they send out the request asking for suggestions, uh, of how to accomplish this initiative. They want to, they want to get done. And I, you know, I, I actually waited several hours without replying in hopes that somebody else would reply first because history history has taught me that, uh, haven't had great success in being the first, but nobody does. It's getting close to the close of business. And I don't want this individual to think that we're all just ignoring him. So I respond and I put forth my suggestions. And there's some back and forth between me and, uh, this individual. And it ultimately ends with my superior saying, Hey, I like that idea. Let's roll with it. Get with who, you know, get with your direct manager and, and see what we can do to get this going forward. Now every manager between myself and the individual I was communicating with, uh, all of a sudden had time to respond and basically got to shreds my suggestions. Uh, and, and all the excuses in the world as to why it couldn't be done. And my suggestion seemed like I was singling out one of the other managers on a different program and XYZ. And mind you, there's a lot of, uh, crash language, uh, curse words being used in this email. So if you don't know whether you're, uh, the lowest level or the highest level, regardless of how you feel about the situation, you should never, ever, ever use that kind of language in a company email. Uh, it is, it is something that will land you in hot water quickly. Well, if you're me, it would land you in hot water quickly, but for the individuals that I'm dealing with, I don't know how they get away with it. Anyways, moving forward. So they cut my plan to shreds, all the reasons why it wouldn't work. But then they're like, well, whatever, if the boss likes it, go ahead and put a presentation together and we'll put you in front of the, uh, staff. So executive leadership and you can present to them. And mind you, they just explain how they don't like it and how they're very certain that the staff won't like this idea. And I'm like, well, that's very interesting. So you don't like it. You're saying staff, staff won't like it. Your boss likes it. So you're going to have me develop a presentation and then present to the staff, a meeting of which I have been excluded from for several years. I'm nobody's clown. You know what I mean? You're not going to set me up for failure. So I come back and say, okay, seems like this is not a well thought idea. Does anybody have any other suggestions? My next suggestion then would be to approach it from this other angle. And again, met with disdain, all this kind of stuff and singling out and basically responding and going, okay, appears there's been a bad communication somewhere happened in here. I'm not singling out this other manager. I said, yes, I did use their program as the basis for my suggestion because it is the largest contract with what I would consider to be, you know, where this plan would be implemented because it is the largest and we could flow it out to the other smaller entities. Mind you, some of the other contracts are only supported by one person each. Whereas the largest contract has about 20-ish people on it for the department, right? Anyways, so responded to this that and the other. Nobody has said anything since, but I did receive text messages from after I got that really nasty response. I leave work later that day and I have a text when I leave work on my phone that says, you know, call me if you want to discuss. I don't want to discuss, so I just replied, all good, I sent an email response, got nothing back. The next day, I have another, you know, end of week update with my local leadership group and the original superior of mind who sent the initial request. Nothing was said about the emails, nothing was brought up, this, that, and the other. Still, nobody had provided better solutions to what I had, so I went silent and I put my head down and at the end of the meeting, I was still assigned two different taskers to go complete. With that, you know, no other direction or whatever in there. Didn't give any other suggestions. I didn't provide any other suggestions. And my testing was an email and a PowerPoint presentation, an email to our team reminding everybody the importance of these principles of which we abide by and then a presentation that would go to our director of operations. And it took me, oh, roughly seven hours to do those, because I just, I would type a little bit and then I would just walk away, and I would tell them, because I didn't believe in what I was doing. I had no motivation because I knew I didn't have any backing and it was one of those, no matter what I put in here, even though I was assigned this and given no guidance on how to do it, and my original suggestions being shot down, so I put together what I thought would want to be received, but knowing full well that it could be way late at any moment. So it took me so long to do those things. And since then, you know, I sent it out and said, here's a rough draft, add or subtract to it from whatever need, push it up. No responses, but I get text messages that say, you know, hey, you know, you've been awful quiet, what's the issue? Like, no, no issue. Well, I'd like to talk about this. Oh, well, there's not, you know, all I can respond is, I don't think there's anything to talk about. So, you know, I think, you know, we can just move on to the next page. But if you're adamant about talking, come find me in the next week, you know. So, so those are the kind of situations where you struggle to find motivation. You don't go looking for things to improve because what's the point? If anything that I'm going to do is going to be met with a little bit in chastising. Well, I'll just go, I'll forgo that embarrassment. And I just won't contribute, you know. And then that'll come back to bite me and they'll say, well, you know, what happened? You're so quiet and I used to do all these things. And at that point, maybe I'll, maybe I'll, I'll man up and say what really needs to be said. But it's one of those where it's like, okay, hey, what project, you know, and mind you, we have a new executive management for my department. And they want to know every month what special projects will work and road, you know, roadblocks isn't that. And it's going to be real awkward when I submit my report that has no projects, successes or roadblocks in it. Like, what are you doing over there? I don't know, I don't know existing doing doing my, my basic duties and hoping that to stay out of the crosshairs of anybody else. That's what I'm saying. So when six and I are talking about losing motivation, I kind of gave a brief synopsis early in the episode. This is really what I was coming from was this specific situation. And so, you know, I'm already thinking now towards Monday and, and honestly, I, I do have a couple of projects that are going to be really beneficial to our teams in the field. And I was making great strides with them. And now I, I kind of just, it's going to take me a lot longer to get through them. Because it's like, what, why? Okay, whatever, you know what I mean? So go ahead. No, I was going to say like, you know, and this is exactly why, like from your level on any, any leveled up and down the, the ladder, it's going to go, when you don't feel valued for the work you're putting in, it's got it's exactly that like, what's the point? Why should I even? Well, because if the only value you see for me is zero, then any effort I do, it's just going to be multiplied by zero in, in your eyes. So why even? Right. I made a reference before the episode when six and I were talking about being a servitor. Now, anybody who's a Warhammer fan out there will know what a servitor is, but essentially it's a mix of a, what would be a human and a biomechanical parts. And you're, you're just a, all you do is basic tasking and duties all day long. You're aware of what's going on around you and it can do nothing to change it or to, or to sway it in any, in any way that may benefit you. So I feel like a servitor. I feel like that way as well. And I built, and I believe there's a lot of aircraft mechanics out there who feel that way too. Like they're, they feel like their voices are not being heard. They feel like they're gripes and complaints and issues. Just go on notice like that no one just cares. So like whatever band servitor it up, I'm just going to be the, this mindless automaton that's aware of my surroundings, but in no way and shape or form, can I affect that change? And that's a terrible spot to be in for any position really, right? And it makes it even harder to find the energy to want to even show up or do anything in case in point is MVP's example. And that's from a management standpoint. Can you imagine from the guys on the ground who have to be directly affected by leadership decisions or influence based decisions? Like here's the other side of that, right? So the people on your team, even from a management standpoint, okay, they watch, you know, you get beat down and it affects you, right? You try to hide it as best you can, but, but you wear it on your face. I don't care how good you are. You wear it on your face. Yes. You know, when you're, something's really troubling you. And your team, your team notices it. So everybody, you know, that would be below management. I say below management, not, not as like you're lesser, but just title wise. But you're way more valuable than the managers. I, I promise you that. So, but they see it on your face and they're going, man, what's, what's eating him, especially if you have a good relationship with your team. Oh, man, let's see what's eating him. You know, hey, what's going on, boss? No, don't worry about it guys. It's nothing. Okay. Well, all right. Well, hey, we'd like to do this. Oh, okay. I mean, if you want to, whatever, what do you think it's a good idea? I don't know. And you don't realize you're doing it, but you go, I don't know, what is a good idea around here? You know, yes, right? And so, and you don't mean to infect the minds that way, but it happens. It happens. So next thing you know, your team, and you see it on your team and you're like, shit, I messed up. I didn't mean to do that. And so now you're trying to devote your time to your people and build them back up, of which I enjoy doing. I enjoy having a solid team that's happy to come to work every day. And they know that I have their back and stuff. So I feel really bad when when I see that what's, what's affecting me has subsequently affected them. It's almost like a hive, like a hive mind, right? Another for Warhammer reference. You know, it's like we all share where we all can feel what's affecting the other. And we get taken with it, you know? Absolutely. And this kind of brings up a point that I've been mentioned to, or I've been taught to do this by a mentor of mine. It goes even the one it's nearly impossible to do. You got to be that beacon of positivity. And not not so much like going back to the inside out reference, not so much like joy, where she just ignores everything and just just happy. Like never mind that the house is crumbling. Just be happy about it. Like, okay, you know, that's like impossible. But what he meant by being the beacon of positivity is like, you got to, if there's anyone who has to believe that anything's going to work, it has to be you, you know what I mean? And as the leader, right? Like, hey, this plan that I haven't have set for you, it's going to work, right? Or I have high hopes, right? Or like, hey, when your teammates have a real thought through plan of how to do things that, hey, it's going to work. I trust and you do it, right? What that does is like, it kind of, it makes them less worried about what to go wrong and more, I'm more concerned about how to do it right, you know? It's weird. I can't really explain perfectly how that went. But when he said it to me, it like, it really clicked in my head, like, okay, you know, like, this is kind of why we always had those types of individuals that always smiled, like, like some joker-esque smile. Like, this is like a terrible time, dude. Like, why are you smiling? You know, it just has like that weird awkward robot smile. Like, what is wrong with this dude? But like, what's that, what's that meme out there with a really creepy clown? Yeah, yeah. Yeah. I know what you're talking about is not clicking, but it's crazy enough, but it works. It's, it's weird, but it works, especially when you know, like, the leader has confidence in you or at least confidence in the plan that he or she set forth, like, it's going to work. Just do it, it's going to work. Now, not straight up, like, deny that there's risks. I mean, they acknowledge the risks they, you guys have all talked it through or figured out ways to mitigate. But, you know, like, there's certain things that you just absolutely cannot eliminate, avoid, or, or whatever. But, but, you know, like, if you, if you already have it sewed in your head, like, those Debbie Downers in the shop, like, and usually it's like, the individuals who are just so abrasive to change, they're just like, it's never going to work. It's not going to happen. They've done stuff like this all the time. It's never going to work. And you, and it's one of those, like, it defeats the, it defeats it before it even got off the ground kind of thing. And so that's where I kind of saw that, where that really played or paid in value was, you got to kind of believe it to happen in order for it to be worth your time, right? And that kind of assists with the motivation piece, especially when, like, everything else around you is like this storm cloud of an atmosphere. You'd be like that, the eye of the hurricane in that scenario, right? Yeah, I think you have to find something else, you know, yes, outside of work to occupy your time and to at least feel motivated to do those things because you know those are benefiting you. But at work, I think you have to, for me, I think you have to devote your efforts into, if you're management, those below you on your team, and if you're, and around you, and if, you know, in the same for the lower levels, right? Try to imbue motivation into, into those people, be that like, like six of that beacon of light for others around you. Okay, I'm, I'm struggling on this and I'll keep hitting the wall. Let me go over here and devote my time to somebody else. What, hey, what do you got going on? Maybe I can help you by helping you win. I have won. And you feel like you've, you've done something good for the day. I was talking this past week with a friend and former co-worker of six and I, and he was explaining to me this study that was done with water and how water you can essentially, it's affected by emotion, right? You can, you can interject emotion into water. And it was kind of going how water is, it was really more than we think it is. It was kind of one of these spiritual things, but it was a very interesting study. And anyways, they had three glasses of water, each filled with halfway with rice and then the rest of the way full with water. One of the glasses was told it was, it was great. It was fantastic. It was, it was, it was awesome. One was told it was stupid. And the other one, nothing was said to it. The one that was told it was stupid, the, the rice turned black and the water, a very dingy, almost black color. The one that was told nothing, the rice turned in like this gray gelatinous sludge at the bottom of the glass. And the one that was told it was great, the rice fermented and sprouted roots and started growing new life. So very interesting. So I tell you that to show you how you can do that, you know, if you're struggling to get motivation to do your own things, try to help somebody else who's motivated to do their things. And so, and so don't ignore them and don't tell them they're stupid. Tell them they're, what they're doing is worthwhile and help them along the way. Achieve their goal, which will ultimately help you achieve your goal. And in, in turn, they might come back around and say, what do you got going on? And they might have a different approach to how your goal that you were shot down on can be achieved. I think that is one great way from a career and, and work side of finding motivation is to, okay, I've hit a wall on this and I've been told I'm stupid. I'm turning into the black rice with black water. Let me go and tell somebody else they're great. Let me, let me make sure that they sprout roots and grow new life to better the team themselves and you, you'll feel good about doing it. And I think that's a great way. You know, you're going to feel some sense of self worth. Okay, my leadership told me I'm stupid, but I know I'm not. And now those around me know that I'm not either. They're going to support me as well. That's a very good one. And I, and I, it's already sparking core memories of the times when you, when MVP and I were in the office and people will come seek, seek us out for help. And we didn't directly affect anything to them. We just listened. The crazy part was we just listened. And just in those little things that we did, it affected them greatly. And so like, to MVP's point with hit with a story that our friend shared is you don't have to do something big to really affect somebody. It could just be something like making them laugh or asking them or what they're going to do later, share, give them like money for a vending machine, something, right? Something small, but that can move mountains for some people, right? Especially when they themselves already having a shit time. And they see someone else is out of nowhere. Like, you know, I mean, hey, let me pay for that. Or just randomly like distract them from, from what's going on presently that's negative in their, in their, in their situation. And that little bit, bit of time can just, can just add up and may actually be better for him, right? Kind of going back to that, the rice thing or the rice in a story. Little things matter. And that's one way, definitely one way to really motivate yourself, get you some energy. And there's all kinds of people out there, especially as aircraft mechanics, we're just struggling with something. Someone's having trouble with safety wires, someone doesn't remember where the, where the support equipment is. Someone's having a hard time lifting something or sticking their fingers into, into tiny places, whatever the case may be, you know, imagine, you know, here, let me help you with that. Or let me show you a way that helped me do that or something like that, or something to that effect. It moves mountains. It really does affect. And again, we're pounding the pancake flat with this one, like helping somebody is definitely a way to find yourself some motivation. And another example of how to really help motivate yourself is this is, I couldn't remember exactly how it was said, but it's kind of like, we're, we're in a job, especially aviation, where we're supposed to find issues, like spot the problem. But the way this person told me was, you got to spot the right. You know what I mean? Like spot the good stuff, not just little how to spot the issues, but find the good things, little shit too. Like you turned your tools in on time, or you, you were able to take lunch sooner than before, something small, like you find all the little right things, not just the little wrong things. And you, you were excellent in, you know, preparing to do the work on the jet today. You went and signed out the toolboxes. You got everything rags and oil and funnels. And, and you've got, you know, spark plugs gapped and ANAC is already. So they're just ready to install, you know, things like that, like just in just in preparation. Yes. And also say like, you don't necessarily have to be management for this. You could be just a fellow teammate or a co-worker. Just telling someone like, Hey, man, you did a good job today. Maybe not a great mate. Maybe they didn't, or they didn't do it as great. But if you just say, Hey, man, you did a good job today. That moves people amazingly. I'm not saying it's a white liar or some shit, but you know, maybe like, they just needed to hear something positive, right? And I'll use a recent example from that as well. So I told you it took me seven hours to get through one, creating one email in a PowerPoint, a five slide PowerPoint, mind you, nothing, nothing substantial. And I sent out that email and I received a response from one of our, one of my, my teammates, who was at a different location. And he just replied to me and said, Hey, I don't know if anybody's ever told you this. But I really appreciate you sending out all the information that you do. He goes, I don't really hear a lot because I'm out at this location by myself. So I'm kind of on my own here. But the information you send makes me feel like I'm part of a team. So I just wanted you to know that kind of kind of changed my whole day a little bit, you know, was one of those like, Oh man, that's cool. Like somebody is reading and somebody is appreciative. And okay, and you know, making me feel good. And so now it's one of those like, I respond back to that. Hey, thanks for the kind words. I said it may not seem like I'm here, but I'm always around to help if needed, if and when needed. Let me know. And, and, and so that's the case. I get, you know, you get people randomly, Hey, can you, can you give me a hand for sure? And that's, that's kind of how at least I try to, I try to recoup motivation when it gets abruptly taken away. Yep. Another one that I personally have been trying my best to practice is changing the inner dialogue with yourself. You know what I mean? Yeah, that's a good one. You know what I mean? Like, there's many a times too when you, where you kind of talk yourself down before the action actually happens, right? Like, I don't think this is going to work. It's not going to turn out to anything. I, it's a long shot out of a thousand to one odd something, you know, like something like real like pessimistic, right? Because you've already seen the history has already shown you that it's negative. So, so you kind of like add to that narrative, right? But, but what I'm trying to practice for myself and I think Cora from the aviation therapist, who actually appreciate this one is trying to switch that up, right? Focus on like, I try to say something good about yourself for something that you did do. Like, you showed up. As sad as that is, you know what I mean? That's, that's a, that's a feat of nature right now. You showed up, you, you were able to knock out two things today. Maybe, maybe out of a thousand, but whatever, right? You were able to knock out two things today. You talked to this person, you followed up with this. You helped someone do that. You found your car keys or some shit, you know what I mean? Like something small, but easy wins, right? Those small, easy wins are like, can really just reset yourself. And this is actually a thing for a lot of like, C-suite level leaders is they, they like to talk themselves up as far as the positives go, right? Because you can't clever everything. So you got to, if you just focus on all the negatives, you'll rabbit hole and freaking be stuck in Wonderland forever, especially from that level, because everything's freaking negative and it's all of us, everything's your fault. So they would try to focus on the small things like you followed up a email, you responded to this person, you, you, you scheduled time for X, Y, and Z, you know what I mean? Like simple, stupid, run-of-the-mill stuff, but it adds up and it eventually switches your mindset to like, I'm only gonna, if I focus on positive, if I talk to myself positively, then I'll do positive things, if that makes any sort of sense. And it's so far helping, at least from my front, and at the very least, when people talk to me, I'm not just like, not today, go away, or, or it shows in my face that like, don't talk to me, I am like, I'm spiraling right now. Right, or I don't openly say, I openly don't say, yeah, when they say hi, you know what I mean? They're like, hi, God, I'm still, God, I'm still here. But it definitely helps. So it might be something that we can all try, or at least like, say it to your, at least be, don't be mean to yourself, like everyone else's mean to you, don't add to it kind of thing. Yeah. Yeah, anyway, definitely try to change up that, that inner dialogue with yourself, because if you hate yourself, then everyone else is straight up going to hate you even more, right? At least hate me more than me. No one can hate me more than me. Challenge accepted. Go yell it, go yell at yourself in the mirror. Here it works. God, you suck. Terrible, terrible. Don't do that. Don't do that. And then so going into like the auto work stuff, MVP and I have mentioned this time again, is try to have like a fun labor, right? Or how do you know, or how do you normally say MVP? It's not fun labor, what? I don't remember what I said, to be honest with you. Yeah, it's like like a labor of happiness kind of thing, right? Like you're doing work, but it's fun, right? Or it's something that like, actually makes you feel like you did stuff, like building things, or painting models, or collecting comics, something, you know, like it's it's enough to keep you focused, but it's short goal enough to make you feel rewarded at every step of the way. Case in point is like, say, with carpeting, you make a box. Once you cut it, you know, okay, now I have all the pieces, right? Your step by step is like easy to see, easy to see, easy to attain the reward, so to speak, or collecting comics, reading comics, reading books, listening to books, whatever, right? You finished a chapter too, like, oh, that's two chapters more than when I started, or anything but the doom scroll, because the doom scroll eventually just like kind of it just repeats itself, and it never ends. One thing I'm trying to do with that is at least if I'm doom scrolling, let me try to doom scroll through something that is educational at least, and it could be anything from, you know, animal planet type learning about how a crocodile, you know, can regrow its teeth to taxes, you know what I mean? You know, I'm trying to like, okay, if I'm going to be a slug, at least let me try to be a semi-educated slug, right? Or like, you listen to like those videos of people who are doing very laborious work, like mowing lawns or something, but they have like some motivation reads in between it, you know? There's a bunch of them out there, like they're cutting grass or making some heavy metal, like carpentry stuff, like real in-depth, and then as the thing's going around, it's like reading like some excerpts from a book or whatever, like, wow, like this is this subliminally just made me feel better. I don't know why, it just did, or like what my latest one is like I'll watch people paint things, and they'll just complain about their day. It sounds stupid, but at the end of it all, it's almost like journaling, like you talk about, you let it all out somehow somewhere where they be paint or writing, and then at the end of it, I was like, huh, well that wasn't terrible, I actually feel better about it, because you put it down, you know, you put all that negative energy onto something, and so you got it out of your head, I think, which is one of the aspects of it, you know, by speaking it out loud, you're not bottling it up and trying to ball up your rage and push it down, because a lot of times it was, especially aircraft mechanics, us included, is we tend to like suppress it, like just push it all the way down as far as it can go, and just like not think about it, like it is what it is mentality, or live in the dream mentality, and then over time, you know, you can only keep a peach ball underwater for so long, and then by the time any of you just let it go for like a split second, it's going to come springing back up, and then it goes to shit, everything goes to shit, right, so having some kind of vent, even if it, no matter what it is, just get it out of your head as MVP was pointed out, it helps a lot, or it can even be something like indirect, like doing a little bit more for yourself for the next day, like meal preppy, or making your bed, or something, right, like it's already made, it's something like extra that you have to do, but coming home, it could be like, like I consider it a win, like oh, I had enough time to, because I don't have a carrier or nothing like that, I just have a regular, regular old Mr. Coffee coffee pot at the house, you know, so, but I consider it a win if I get moving with enough time that I can actually make some coffee in the morning, and then take that with me versus trying to drink the relatively burnt stuff at the cafeteria, you know what I mean, but that's like one of those wins, like oh, I actually actually kind of had life together a little bit this morning, you know, I was able to do this one thing, and that's legit make a pot of coffee, or another one is this actually come from this one admiral during one of his speeches, like make your bed, right, like, oh, I'm craving, yeah, yeah, it's, it's crazy, man, that, that similarly like just blew me up, because I've actually done that nowadays, like I'll make my bed and stuff, and I'll line up stuff for the next day, even though I'm gonna be like, just barely make it on time for work, but then once I come home, I see a made bed, and I see clothes already lined up for the next day, like, oh, shit, man, that's one less, it's almost like room service, I just room serviced myself, you know, oh, I knew that too, I started laying out clothes the night before, it's just one less thing to have to think about in the morning, yeah, but it really just perks you up, man, like, oh, room service came, you know, even though you know it was you, like, oh, cool, that's one less thing, awesome, man, you know, or even his have like folded towels and shit by the bathroom or whatever, it's, it's small, and it sounds of the borers, and but it really, it really just, it, one, one more positive thing, you know, like, oh, good, one less thing, I gotta worry about it. Yeah, you're starting your day on the, on the right foot. Yeah, like, I've all the, I hold on stress, that's one less thing, like, okay, cool, we're good, right? Or, yeah, man, and I think the other one, as we mentioned before, is you just go out there and touch grass. You know, it's, you know, it's funny about that, as I've been, I've been trying to pretty much, if I'm at home, I'm in, I'm in bare feet, no matter where I go, inside, outside, wherever, just to try to, whatever they call it, you're kind of the energy, the earth type thing, you know, just go out, like you said, touch grass, walk around the grass, play with the dogs. Just one of those things, it's, it's funny you mentioned that, I've been trying to do that, like, to the point where even, even Cooley commented on it, she's like, uh, you're outside in bare feet, because I, I, I've always either had shoes on or flip flops, you know what I mean, like, I've never, never ever been barefoot. And I said, yeah, I'm trying to do this, she goes, okay, all right, she's like, I, I agree with you, but what's going on here? You know, I'm like, I'm just trying something new, you know, trying to anything that can help. Yeah, and that's another big one too, is just being open to trying something new, that's huge. You'd be amazed, like, just how much like, you're never going to know what works until you try it. And then as we said in previous episodes, the only way to really separate science from fooling around and finding out is writing it down. Yeah, that's exactly it. And, uh, you know, there's other things you can try to, like, being part of running groups or, uh, all these different virtual challenges or whatever the case may be. You just made my knees hurt, saying the word running. My fat ass. I mean, same here, man, I got, there's no running no more. Double time doesn't mean run in this person's vocabulary anymore. But yeah, you know, like, there's different things that, that are out there that you can try and really the only thing stopping you from just trying. And you never know, like, what impacts you can have positive or negative if you just don't give it a shot. And, uh, touching grass is definitely one going out in the sun is that is another, you know, just, or go, go for a walk, whatever, right? It's, uh, changing up the routine because if you're already in this routine and you know it's negative, then staying in it is just the definition of insanity. Like, like just go doing the exact same thing over and over and over and expect it to just eventually get better. It's just not, you know, like scientific method. It's not going to work. No matter how much positivity you pour into it. So the, the natural thing to do is just switch it up, try something different. And you never know. And it could be the journaling thing, it could be walking, it could be touching grass, literally touching grass or picking up some kind of hobby that's well apart from what you're used to, listening to another podcast that's well out of your comfort zone, listening to, uh, audiobook, something, something. And you never know that might just be the one to just res, uh, I think the curiosity bit like sparking the curiosity is like the first step, right? And refinding your motivation into things. Because it changes your perspective. It lets you view things from a different standpoint. And then sometimes that different point of view can actually like help you solve all these other problems. Like, Oh my God, I never thought of that, right? Or, or you never thought to illustrate things a certain way. Example was the rice. I never heard of it that way, but it makes so much sense now. Like I'm going to use that now. And that's, or just helping someone out, period, you know, whatever the case may be just sending them a text or showing memes, videos. I'm just getting them how they're doing or offering to do something for them. That helps big. And that can actually motivate you to do other things because you felt good about the outcome. So you want to do something else, maybe something similar, maybe something different, maybe something more on the high side of the scale. Who knows? But those are definitely ways. And I think another one for immediate action is just take a cold shower. It definitely gets some energy out of that one. Good idea. I mean, I've tried it. It's terrible. But man, that wakes me up good. Especially when I have a lot of stuff to do. I'll just take a cold shower. Whoa, I'm up. At least for five minutes at least. But unless you got kids, then it doesn't matter what you do. I'm kidding on that one. Kid, they're cold. They somehow, some way, when they're happy, that's infectious. And it makes you want to do stuff. At least mine does anyway. But having at least a group of people or at least people to socialize with can definitely help with at least helping you find value the things you do. And being valued in what you do motivates you to do more stuff that makes any sort of sense. I think we've added that pancake pretty flat. What do you think? I don't know. I guess I'm curious to see what using my example that I did earlier. Did I handle it right? How would you all handle that situation? What should I have done? Could I have done nothing? Is there more I could have done? I'm just curious to see your all thoughts on that situation for me. And I'd be curious to know how I can... I want to know those things because I want to know how I can get better. And we all do too because we all share these ideas of each other. Right. And if we get some decent responses, I mean, we can always come back to this and do an episode and talk about those responses from different listeners and we can all get better together. Absolutely. And that's the name of the game is to help each other get better. Because especially in the fields of work that we have, if you stay, it'll let you stay negative and unvalued and demotivated and in the dirt as long as you let it. So we help each other pick each other up, help each other improve. It's all collectively for the best. But again, let us know what you guys think. What sort of examples that we could have used, what sort of approaches that we could improve upon. Let us know in our comments, our social media, emails, our website. The absolute best way to get hold of us and share these kind of conversations with us is via our Discord channel on Patreon. Our patrons have been very keen on helping us stay motivated and at least not feel like we're shouting into the void with a bunch of things. And also help give us different approaches to try things. Right. So definitely, if you're into that kind of stuff, join us on Discord. On that note, hey, we appreciate you all again for listening. And we'll see you on the next one. Bye, everybody. Bye, everyone. We would like to take this time to thank our patrons for supporting our show and allowing us to make episodes, maintain our gear, and create merch for all of our listeners. With special thanks to Erica Lamont, Chris Hawkins, Eric Shaw, Dan Schubert, Ryan Frushour, Kyle Keir, Mike Sherwood, Caleb Stockhill, and Jennifer Brofer. Thank you all so much for your support and patronage. If you like our show, please support us on Patreon. 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