Alan Shepard is not a name I knew well prior to this year.
Usually I turn on Disney+ so my toddler daughter can watch some shows. But recently I found a new show on the streaming platform called, The Right Stuff. It turns out it’s based on a book that came out in the late ’70s that was later made into a movie in the early ’80s.
The 8-episode series captivated my attention. It’s the story of the original US space program that began in the late ’50s and started gaining momentum when Alan Shepard became the first American in space.
You can go down those paths if you like, but after becoming interested in Shepard I decided to find a copy of his biography, Light This Candle, and read through it over a week or so.
Shepard, like many successful people, has a specific outlook on life. He believes that he can achieve what he wants to by focusing on what he controls.
Case in point, Shepard wanted to become a pilot. He went to the Naval Academy and worked his way toward pilot training. However, in the early days of his training he was struggling and actually in danger of flunking out of the program.
In many ways, being a pilot didn’t come naturally for this future test pilot and astronaut.
Shepard, though, didn’t wait around for things to change. He didn’t wait for the Navy to help him within their own program. Shepard decided to take private lessons and rent private time in planes outside of the Navy program.
This was a gray area and may even have been technically against the rules of the Navy. Shepard made sure not to discuss it and made sure to keep it under wraps as best as he could.
He took the lessons for months and steadily began to improve in the Navy program.
Opportunities are available to us all the time. But for many things you have to find the extra ways to take things into your own hands.
1. Assess Your Situation
When we find ourselves in a frustrating situation we often get lost in the details and emotions. It’s critical to take a step back and assess the situation for what it is. Alan Shepard was in such a situation when he was learning to become a Navy pilot. I’m sure he was lost in the details of his struggle. He was probably frustrated by the way his superiors and trainers were handling him. He could have placed blame on others.
But he instead took a step back and looked at the situation. This allowed him to see a way to a possible solution without getting bogged down in the daily details.
2. Determine What You Want
Alan Shepard had to figure out what he wanted. He actually seemed to have this realization a few times in his life. He struggled early on in his Naval academy years. But he hit a point midway through where he refocused on his desire to become a pilot and started to perform better at the academy.
He did the same when he began struggling in his pilot training. It seems easy, but he had to take a step back and tell himself that he wanted to become a pilot and since that was the case he would need to change the way he was going about his daily routines.
If you’re struggling it’s important to step back and realign your focus on what you want. What you’re working toward. What you would like your future to be.
Once you know the end goal you can work backwards to figure out the routines to make it happen.
3. Determine What You Control
When you’re living in frustration one of the biggest challenges is being able to determine what you do and do not control. For example, Alan Shepard couldn’t control a lot of what was going on in the Navy pilot training program. The program was not going to change. The instructors were not going to change. Alan may have needed different types of instruction and more time up in the air. But the Navy wasn’t going to change what it was doing for one pilot. And even if what they were doing was wrong it would take years to make even small changes.
So Alan didn’t focus on those things. Instead he found a way he could improve. It was a gray area, but he wasn’t going to wait around for permission to try and improve. He already knew that he was going to flunk out of the program. So why not take private lessons as a possible way to learn the skills he needed to succeed?
Successful people almost always look at how they can change in frustrating situations. They know that they can’t bend others to their will.
4. Find The Time
One aspect that sometimes gets overlooked in these life changing moments is time. Alan Shepard needed the time to take private lessons. This means that he had to give up on other things in his life. He still had commitments to the Navy and to the program he was taking part in. He was young and married and possibly had a small child at home. He and his wife needed to decide if there was time for private lessons and where that time would come from.
Taking on more of anything requires that you cut something else from your life. You can get away with adding and adding when you’re young, but as you get older you need to start cutting. It’s a fact of life that many struggle with.
5. Get Serious About The Process
Once Alan Shepard saw an opportunity with private lessons he didn’t look for quick changes. He dove into the process of the private lessons and took it one day at a time. He did the studying in the books at home and during his lessons. He continued with the process at the Naval training program.
Once you take a step back and identify the new path you have to step back into the new day-to-day routine. This requires trust that you’re making the right decision. It may or may not be right, but you have to trust it.
Conclusion
Alan Shepard was not a perfect human. If you search for information about him you’ll find a lot of good and some negative. But there are some things to be admired about this man. One of those things is that he was not a perfectly gifted pilot or astronaut. But he was willing to take things into his own hands and figure out a way to improve and become the best at his craft. That is something I admire.