Focus Your Energy: Don't Chase Squirrels
We're continuing my series based on John Maxwell's "Success Is a Choice," and this week's chapter might be one of the most practically useful ones we've covered so far — at least when it comes to what actually happens inside the lab at the Academy.
We've talked about believing in yourself, firing up your passion, and initiating action.
Today we're talking about focus.
Specifically, what it means to focus your energy — and what happens when you don't.
Maxwell opens this chapter with a line that stopped me cold the first time I read it: "Having talent without focus is like an octopus on roller skates."
I had to put the book down and laugh at the mental image.
But the more I thought about it, the more it hit home — because I have seen exactly that in the lab.
Talented people, genuinely gifted people, who couldn't harness what they had because their energy was scattered in eight different directions at once.
Talent matters in this career.
I've watched talented people not make it through the Academy.
I've watched them struggle at facilities.
When I try to identify what the common thread was, it almost always comes back to the same thing: they had the ability, but they couldn't focus it. And Maxwell's follow-up to that octopus image says it perfectly — talent with focus directs you and has the potential to take you far.
That's what we're after.
Focus Doesn't Come Naturally — But It's Everything
Here's the first thing Maxwell says about focus, and it's important to hear: focus does not come naturally to most people.
It's not a trait you either have or don't have.
It's something you develop.
And you have to work at it consistently, intentionally, over time.
For controllers, this isn't optional.
The moment you plug into a position — in a tower, at a sector, in a TRACON — you have to be completely present.
Not 80 percent there while the other 20 percent is worrying about something that happened this morning or something you need to handle tonight.
Completely there.
That's one of the reasons I keep hammering on preparation before the Academy.
When your life outside the lab is a mess — finances, relationships, logistics, whatever it might be — part of your brain is always running in the background trying to solve those problems. And that background processing has a direct cost when you sit down in front of a scope or a strip board.
Something wonderful happens when you get the rest of your life as buttoned up as possible before you get to Oklahoma City, because then when you walk into that lab, you can actually be there.
Fully there.
Not managing two things at once.
Because managing two things at once, as a controller, is exactly what gets you in trouble.
Set the Target High — Then Narrow Your Focus
Maxwell makes the point that focus increases your energy, but first you have to know what your target actually is.
At the Academy, I want to be clear about this: your target is not 70.
Seventy is the minimum passing score.
If you aim for 70 and miss by five points, you've just failed.
If you aim for 90 or 95 and miss by five points, you've still passed — comfortably.
Set the target high.
Aim for 90, 95.
Aim for a hundred.
Give yourself room.
Once you have that target, focus narrows everything else.
Instead of feeling overwhelmed by the entire 10 or 12 weeks stretching out in front of you, you narrow down to what you're doing this week.
Then this day.
Then this scenario.
Then this task.
That's where your energy goes — not on day 29, not on the radar evals that are weeks away, not on everything that could go wrong between now and the end.
Just on today.
When you focus on today, something genuinely wonderful happens.
I've watched it occur in student after student.
The days start adding up, and before long you look up and realize how far you've come.
The Academy is absolutely doable if you stay current with it.
What makes it hard isn't the material itself — it's when students fall behind trying to chase things they shouldn't be worrying about yet.
Don't worry about day 58 when you're on day 7.
Stay where you are.
Five Facts About Focus
Maxwell lays out several key truths about focus, and I want to walk through them because every single one has a direct application to what you're going to face at the Academy and beyond.
Focus increases your energy.
When your attention is spread thin, you're constantly switching contexts — bouncing from one thing to the next without ever fully engaging with any of them.
That's exhausting in a way that doesn't produce results.
But when you lock in on one thing and stay there, the energy follows. You become more efficient, more sharp, more capable. As a student at the Academy, that locked-in state is exactly what you're trying to sustain.
Focus lifts you.
Here's something I observed over and over in Oklahoma City, and it still moves me when I think about it.
The students who committed fully to the process — who brought their best energy to every day, even the hard ones — grew. Not just as controllers, but as people.
I saw students who walked in not knowing what separation even meant walk out as air traffic controllers. I even watched students who didn't pass go through something incredibly difficult, give everything they had, and come out on the other side more capable and more resilient than when they arrived.
Focus — truly committing to each day and each task — will do that to you. And keep that going when you leave the Academy, because it doesn't stop working just because you're done with the program.
What you focus on expands.
Maxwell quotes Mike Kendrick here: "narrowing your view widens your perspective."
That sounds contradictory, but sit with it for a second.
As controllers, we have to keep expanding what we're capable of — working more traffic, more complex situations, higher-intensity environments. And the way you expand that capacity is not by trying to tackle everything at once.
It's by focusing deeply on the thing in front of you, doing it well, and building from there.
Narrow down to do one thing completely, and your overall capability grows.
Focus must be intentionally sustained.
You can't focus well for a day and then coast.
It takes consistent effort.
The good news is that the payoff is real and significant — focus compounds.
The more you practice it, the more natural it becomes.
But you have to keep doing it.
You can't check it off the list.
Success is not an event — it's a process.
This might be the most important thing Maxwell says in this chapter, and it applies to every level of an ATC career.
Passing the Academy is not the finish line.
Getting your CPC rating is not the finish line.
There's no single moment when you've made it.
It's a lifetime process, and the controllers who thrive are the ones who accept that and stay engaged in the process every single day.
Eight Ways to Increase Your Focus
Maxwell gives eight practical ways to sharpen your focus, and I want to run through them with you in an ATC context.
One: Be intentional — make every action count.
For controllers, this is non-negotiable.
Every transmission, every strip mark, every vector — it matters.
Even when you make a wrong move, that mistake is only useful if you're intentional about learning from it.
Part of becoming a skilled controller is learning how to get yourself out of the mess you just created.
I've created plenty of messes in my career.
The difference is that over time, I got better at recognizing them early and resolving them.
That comes from being intentional about every action.
Two: Challenge your excuses.
Here's one that should hit home for students specifically.
At the Academy, there is no room for "I know it's a rule, but I decided I didn't have to follow it." An evaluator is going to look you straight in the eye and ask who told you that was acceptable.
The rules are the rules.
Know them, apply them, every time.
CPCs take shortcuts — that's a reality of working live traffic for years.
But you're not a CPC yet.
Get through the Academy first.
Three: Don't let yesterday hijack your attention.
I can't say this enough, and I've told this story before.
I had a student who came out of her first radar eval in the 60s — not a great score, but not a fatal one either.
She was devastated. I sat down with her and told her: you didn't hurt your chances. You still have everything you need to pass. Now go learn from it and do better.
She did.
She passed.
But if she had carried that first eval into the second one, it could have gone a very different direction.
Learn from the past and then let it go. Maxwell uses the image of driving a car while looking in the rearview mirror. If you're going forward, that's a guaranteed way to crash.
The past can inform you, but it cannot drive you.
Don't let it.
Four: Focus on the present.
The only area where you have any control is today.
Not yesterday — that's done.
Not tomorrow — that's not guaranteed.
Today.
Focus your mental, physical, and emotional energy on what you can actually affect right now. If you do that consistently, you end up with a better tomorrow as a natural consequence.
Goals are useful to have, but you don't reach your five-year goals by staring at them.
You reach them by taking the steps available to you today.
Five: Stay focused on results.
Your score matters.
Your performance matters.
When you stay anchored to results, you're less likely to get knocked off balance — whether that's by an instructor who's being hard on you, or by early success that makes you think you've arrived.
Stay grounded in the numbers.
What did I score?
What do I need to improve?
Staying focused on results keeps you honest.
Six: Develop and follow your priorities.
Maxwell has a quote I love for this one: "If you chase two rabbits, both will escape."
If you've ever actually tried to chase a rabbit, you know you can barely catch one, let alone two.
You can only do one thing at a time — we've talked about this before in the picture driver series.
The best controllers aren't the ones who do multiple things simultaneously. They're the ones who identify the highest priority and execute it completely before moving to the next one.
Develop your priorities and follow them.
One thing.
Done.
Next.
Seven: Focus on your strengths.
Maxwell tells a story about a man who had both gold coins and copper coins and spent all his time trying to polish the copper ones. The problem is no matter how much you shine a copper coin, it's never going to be worth what a gold coin is worth.
Know what your strengths are and lean into them.
I'm not saying ignore your weaknesses — as a controller you absolutely need to address them.
But don't spend all your energy on your copper at the expense of your gold.
Eight: Delay the reward until the job is done.
At the Academy, the job is done when you pass.
That's the reward.
That said — celebrate the milestones.
When your entire class makes it through non-radar together, that's worth recognizing. It's a real achievement.
When you complete the radar portion and you've passed, that's worth celebrating. J
ust don't mistake a checkpoint for the finish line.
Keep the focus until the job is truly done.
Don't Chase the Squirrel
I want to close with something we used to do at the Academy.
One of the leads kept a little stuffed squirrel in the lab.
Whenever he caught a student letting their focus get pulled away — trying to do two things at once, getting distracted by something on the other side of the room, losing the thread of what they were working on — he'd toss them the squirrel. "You just went after the squirrel."
I have a dog. And I can tell you from experience: the moment he spots a squirrel, it doesn't matter what else was happening. He's gone. Everything else ceases to exist. And if I don't have a good hold on the leash, he's gone.
Don't be the dog.
Don't chase the squirrel.
In the radar lab especially, this matters enormously. You'll be mid-task — coordinating something, working a conflict, giving a clearance — and the other side will call with something new.
The temptation is to split your attention.
Don't.
Finish what you're doing.
Note what you need to come back to.
Complete the task in front of you, then address the next one.
One thing at a time, every time.
Talent plus focus equals the controller you can become.
Maxwell says that about people in general — I'm saying it specifically about you as a controller.
You have the talent.
Every one of you who's made it to this point has demonstrated that.
Now pair it with focus — real, intentional, sustained focus — and you will be amazed at what you can accomplish.
Don't settle for 70.
Don't settle for average.
Set your target high, narrow your focus to today, do each task completely, and keep going.
That's the choice in front of you.
Make it.
If you want help working through any of this, reach out at sidebysideatc.com.
Set up a free consultation call and let's talk about where you are and what needs to happen next.
You don't have to navigate this journey alone — let's do it side by side.
FOR HELP:
To set up a FREE call: sidebysideatc.com/scheduler/free-consult
Pre-Academy
If you are heading to the Academy in the next few months, I put together a structured 90-day preparation blueprint that walks you through exactly what to focus on each month before you go. It's designed to help reduce shock and build confidence before day one. You can download it at: sidebysideatc.com/page/blueprint .
I also have a video where I explain the different things that are on the enroute Non-Radar Map. You can get that video at: sidebysideatc.com/page/map-video .
Already at the Academy
If you are already in the enroute radar portion of the Academy and feeling a little behind or lost, I have a 72-Hour Radar Recovery Plan that will help you get past those feelings and start building confidence. You can download that at : sidebysideatc.com/page/72-hourplan .
If you are interested in my Coaching Programs, you can get information at :
or
sidebysideatc.com/page/radar-recovery if you are needing help with the beginning of enroute radar.
Mentorship Program
For information about my mentorship program : https://sidebysideatc.com/page/mentorship
Questions
You can email me questions, or comments, at: tomhanes@sidebysideatc.com .
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