I want to talk about something that almost nobody discusses when it comes to getting through the FAA Academy. 

Not phraseology. Not radar. Not the map. I'm talking about purpose — your why — and it might be the single most important thing that determines whether you make it through or not.

This is the first of "The Six Drivers of ATC Success." These are the six areas that, in my experience as a controller and as a classroom instructor at the Academy, make the biggest difference in whether a student struggles or succeeds — not just at the Academy, but at your first facility and beyond. 

The six drivers are:

Each one matters. But we're starting with purpose, because without it, the other five are a lot harder to hold onto.

I want to borrow a quote here from Nick Saban — and before you think I'm some huge Alabama fan, I'm not. But the man says things worth repeating. He said, "You have to know what you want to accomplish and have the determination to follow through."

That's what purpose is. 

It's not just knowing you want to be an air traffic controller. 

It's knowing why you want to be one.

Everyone shows up to Oklahoma City excited. The first few weeks have energy. People are motivated, they're studying, they're getting into it. But not everyone finishes. And one of the biggest differences between the students who push through and the ones who don't isn't raw intelligence or prior aviation experience. It's having a strong foundation of why they're there in the first place.

I'll be honest — this doesn't get talked about much. I didn't see it discussed a lot on Discord. We didn't even spend much time on it in the classroom when I was an instructor. And that's a mistake, because it matters more than almost anything else.

Here's what I saw over and over again in students who struggled. 

They came in thinking the Academy would be like college. And I'll tell you — Basics actually is a bit like college. But once you get past Basics, that comparison falls apart completely.

After Basics, you start getting bombarded with information. 

Especially in the en route option, where they throw the map at you, give you an enormous amount of material, and you're expected to absorb all of it — even when you don't yet understand how it all fits together. 

The first few weeks of non-radar are genuinely disorienting. You're getting information you know you need, but you can't yet see why you need it or where it's going.

And that's when it starts. 

The discouragement. The self-doubt. The question creeping in: Is this really for me? Am I the kind of person who can actually do this job?

Once that voice starts talking, everything gets harder. You start focusing on the mistakes instead of the learning. You stop recovering quickly. And without something solid to come back to — a real reason, a genuine foundation — it's very easy to start slipping and very hard to get back on track.

I've watched it happen in students' eyes in real time. We'd finish a lesson, open it up for questions, and sometimes the questions wouldn't come for a day or two because it takes time to process. And as you're waiting for it to click, you can feel the weight of everything piling up. 

That's the moment purpose either holds you up or lets you fall.

Here's what I've seen in students who do make it through — including some who struggled significantly along the way. They have something to hold onto. 

A real reason. 

Not a vague idea of a good job, but a genuine, personal answer to the question of why they drove or flew to Oklahoma City and put themselves through this process.

That purpose doesn't make the Academy easier. I want to be clear about that. It won't make the scenarios less demanding or the information less overwhelming. But it makes you stronger. It keeps you coming back to the table even on the days when your brain hurts and you're not sure you understood anything that happened in class. 

It helps you understand that mistakes are part of the process — that they're how you learn — instead of treating every mistake as evidence that you don't belong there.

Something like 90% of students who go through the en route portion of the Academy feel overwhelmed at some point. Ninety percent. So if you're feeling that way, you are not alone and you are not failing. But the ones who get through it are usually the ones who have something pulling them forward when the motivation runs dry. And motivation always runs dry at some point. 

It's not a question of if — it's when. 

Purpose is what's still there after the motivation is gone.

I want to talk about something connected to this, and that's the role of your classmates. 

Because purpose doesn't just affect how you show up individually — it affects how your entire class functions together.

No one — and I mean no one — has ever passed the Academy on their own. Not one student who made it through did it in isolation. The classes that succeed are always the ones that work together. And when an entire class has a strong sense of why they're there, something remarkable happens: a steadiness sets in. A confidence. An ability to absorb the hard days without falling apart, because when one person is struggling, someone else is holding steady, and that steadiness is contagious.

If you're one of the students who comes in with more experience — whether that's military, aviation, or anything else — understand that your classmates are watching you. They're learning from how you carry yourself. 

That's not pressure; it's opportunity. You have a chance to raise the level of the entire class just by staying engaged and being part of the team.

And here's the humbling truth: there will be a moment, guaranteed, when you're stuck on something and the classmate you thought was behind you knows the answer. It happens all the time. The Academy has a way of equalizing people in unexpected ways. 

Now let's get practical, because this isn't just a concept — it's something you can and should do deliberately.

There is something that happens when you commit your reason to paper that doesn't happen when you just think about it. 

Take a few minutes — before you get to Oklahoma City if you can, or right now if you're already there — and write down honestly why you started this journey.

And I want to be direct here: don't write down the money. I know that's part of it for a lot of people, and there's nothing wrong with wanting financial stability. But at the Academy level, and as a new graduate, the money isn't there yet. It will come. But it is not a purpose that will carry you through the days when the Academy kicks you in the face — and it will kick you in the face.  That's just the reality.

Write something real. Write something personal. Write the thing that, if someone asked you at your lowest point why you were still there, would actually be the honest answer.

Then keep it somewhere visible. Put it on your bathroom mirror. Tape it to your backpack. Put it somewhere you'll see it every day — including weekends, because the mental work doesn't stop on Saturdays or Sundays. The more you're reminded of your why, the more it becomes part of how you think. And when you hit a rough scenario or a day when your brain just won't cooperate, seeing that reason gives you something to come back to.

I want to leave you with this. The Academy is where your purpose gets tested for the first time. But it won't be the last time.

When you get to your first facility — and you will get there — you're going to need that foundation again. 

The challenges are different, but the pressure is real, and the days when you wonder if you're cut out for it don't disappear once you have your certification. Having built that strong sense of purpose at the Academy means you arrive at your facility with something already in place. A framework for handling difficulty. A habit of coming back from mistakes instead of being defined by them.

So before we get into the other five drivers — plan, phraseology, practice, picture, and poise — I want you to sit with this one. 

Ask yourself the honest version of the question.

Not the polished answer you'd give in an interview. 

The real one. 

The one that gets you out of bed on the morning after a hard day.

That's your purpose. 

Write it down. 

Hold onto it. 

It might be the most important thing you bring with you to Oklahoma City.