What What Advanced Military Flying Can Teach Us About Thriving Under Pressure.

If there’s one thing my years of flying have taught me, it’s this: pressure doesn’t break you. Poor preparation does. I'm not talking about the preparation of the sequences required to complete the flight. I'm talking about the failure to prepare your body and mind for the pressure of the moment. Rehearsing a skill in a 1G environment is not an accurate simulation of the skill under the pressure of flight and G-forces.

It's true in the stormy skies of a challenging day in aviation, and it's true under stage lights: wearing feathers instead of a flight suit, commanding an audience rather than a formation.

Two worlds. Same truth: thriving under pressure is a trainable skill, not a personality trait.

Here’s what pilots really know about staying calm, sharp, and effective when the heat is on.

1. Slow Is Smooth, Smooth Is Fast

In the cockpit, speed is deceptive. The faster things move, the slower your mind must become. When you’re flying at 500 knots, the worst thing you can do is rush. Checklists, scans, and procedures exist for a reason: they create rhythm in chaos.

Most people try to battle pressure by increasing speed. Pilots do the opposite. We create clarity, then act with deliberate calm.

In everyday leadership, this means giving yourself margin. A breath, a micro-pause, a moment to zoom out. Pressure wants you to react. Mastery demands intention.

2. Aviate. Navigate. Communicate. (The Ultimate Prioritisation Tool)

Every military pilot knows this hierarchy. When everything hits at once, you return to these three steps.

Aviate: Keep the aircraft safe.

Navigate: Know where you’re going.

Communicate: Tell others what they need to know.

Most people communicate first. They panic-text, panic-talk, or panic-email. But when you reverse the order, you regain control.

This sequence is one of the most powerful pressure tools you can apply to your everyday performance: stabilise yourself, orient your outcome, then act outwardly.

3. Train the Way You Fight

Under pressure, you don’t rise to the occasion. You fall to your level of training. Pilots drill scenarios endlessly – engine failures, emergencies, complex missions – because the body and mind must know what to do before the fear can speak.

This principle applies to presentations, difficult conversations, key decisions, and any moment that matters.

Reps build readiness. Preparation builds confidence. Rituals build consistency.

High performers aren’t born; they’re rehearsed.

4. Reset Fast – Don’t Carry Your Last Mistake Forward

In formation flying, if one pilot clings to a mistake for even three seconds, the whole team feels it. Resetting quickly is non-negotiable.

This skill changed the way I lead in business and on stage. Humans over-index on self-judgement. Military pilots can’t afford to. We debrief, extract the lesson, and move forward to the next mission. Releasing any emotion is the individual's work - it has no place in the mission.

Pressure amplifies whatever you bring into the moment. When you can reset fast, pressure becomes fuel, not friction.

5. Energy Management Is Everything

In both aviation and performance, your energy state determines your execution. Fatigue, overwhelm, adrenaline spikes, or emotional load can compromise clarity faster than any external pressure.

That’s why The Everyday Edge is built around one idea: You can’t influence at a high level if your energy is leaking everywhere.

Pressure becomes easier when your nervous system is trained, your rituals are consistent, and your body knows how to shift gears on command.

The Everyday Edge: A Repeatable Formula for Thriving Under Pressure

Pilots don’t hope for high performance – we engineer it. We build systems, rituals, and mental frameworks that allow us to execute under intensity without burning out.

And the truth is: you don’t need to be in a cockpit to use these tools.

You just need the willingness to train your ability to show up at your best when it matters most.

If you want to deepen your capacity to execute, energise, and influence under pressure, The Everyday Edge is your launch pad.