What You Can Do When You Want To Fly But You’re Grounded
By: Tammy Guest
Tags: Growth Mindset, Adventure, Helicopter, Fundraising, Donations

What You Can Do When You Want To Fly But You’re Grounded Tammy Guest Jun 17·3 min read

What do you do when you’re all keyed up to start a new adventure, but then … you get grounded? Whether we’re talking about a metaphor for business or an actual adventure, the answer is the same: focus on what you CAN do, not what you can’t.

You may or may not know that I’m a trained helicopter pilot, and recently, I’ve just started training as a fixed-wing pilot as well.

I was so excited to finally have my trial fixed-wing flight. That morning, I had my coffee nice and quick. Took my dog for a walk. Went to get in my car to drive out to the airfield and… Oh, no. Turbulence! Can’t fly today.

Womp, womp, womp…

Of course, I was disappointed. But that didn’t mean I couldn’t do something else amazing instead.

See, when I am told that I “can’t” do something, my fave go-to move is to find something I CAN do!

Focus On What You Can Do

So, there I was. Raring to go but no destination. So, what could I do?

Maybe…

… Eat choc mint ice cream?

… Do that workout I was putting off?

… Study for the theory exam?

… Sign up for another adventure???

Actually, I did all of the above!

Look, if you have been following me for a while, you know I am passionate about freedom and the freedom that helicopters bring. They can fly anywhere, land mostly anywhere, and help out anywhere.

The Westpac Rescue Helicopter does exactly that:

arriving in places that regular vehicles can’t go

to help out in medical emergencies that regular medics can’t

and transfer from hospital to hospital that slower vehicles can’t

They CAN.

The Westpac Rescue Helicopter Service is a flying intensive care unit. The AW139 Helicopter has a Pilot with a minimum of 15 years of flying experience, a Crewman, a SCAT trained Paramedic, and a Doctor on base and on-call 24 hours a day.

Surgeries can be performed from the helicopter as well as blood transfusions. It has the capacity to carry 2 patients or 2 Neonatal Cots. Not only does the Rescue Helicopter attend accidents it also transfers critical patients to larger hospitals for specialist treatment plus conducts Search and Rescue missions.

The AW139s cost $1,000 per hour in fuel, $1,000 per hour to run the engine, $1,500 for the airframe, and $500 for avionics, which is a total of $4,000 per hour.

That means it costs about $40 million a year to keep the helicopters and crews ready to respond when needed.

And there I was, all revved up to do something with nothing to do.

So I decided to go on an ADVENTURE to raise money for this vital service ( follow along on Instagram here).

I hope you’ll consider giving generously and share my fundraising page with your friends, family and colleagues. https://events.rescuehelicopter.com.au/fundraisers/tammyguest

Thank you for your considering support of the Westpac Rescue Helicopter Service.

What CAN You Do Today?

So what does this have to do with business?

As usual, it’s all about mindset.

I know many practitioners and business owners have felt this kind of disappointment over and over again this past year. All set, ready to get back into the flow and then… boom… change of plans with a lockdown.

It’s easy to let setbacks like that stop us in our tracks, but today I’m challenging you to change that mindset.

Instead of focusing on what you CAN’T do, focus on asking yourself what amazing thing CAN you do today?

Think outside the box and find something to move you forward whether it’s personally or professionally. And then do it.

Because when we focus on what we can do instead of what we can’t — the sky is the limit!