Aim High: How High Can You Fly?

By Al LÓpez

Book Description
Since the beginning of mankind, there have always been individuals who start life with disadvantages but by sighting their Aim High above mediocrity they have accomplished great things!
I chose the title Aim High for this book as an analogy to impress upon the readers that regardless of their beginnings by sighting their Aim High they can go on to be the best that they can be at whatever they want.
The key to success is first to develop a desire for something. What do you want out of life? Once a desire is instilled within, motivation follows, and then you must write out a well thought out plan of action on how to do what you want to achieve then you must follow through with action. I believe we all have a purpose in life. The hard part is to find out what that something is.

What is your purpose? The soul that has not established aim loses itself.
Montaigne (15331592)
In the book Aim High I have done my best to present in sixteen steps guidance and stimulus for success.
Success does not happen immediately. Achieving success happens by having a series of successes. The first successes are small, but as you move up one step at a time, you will move up to accomplish higher and higher achievements.
Aim High is a self-help book about self- improvement. I have written the sixteen-step aim high path to personal achievementstudy guide in a way that I hope will help all who read it improve the quality of their lives.
We go through life making choices. We have the capacity to direct our destiny by the choices we make
In the Aim High book I have presented sixteen points I call steps: Effort, Example, Enthusiasm, Spiritual, Physical, Personal, Encouragement, Personality, Financial, Career, Looks, Speak, Purpose, Plan, Belief, Action.
These sixteen points provide guidance and serve as a stimulus for success through self-motivation. It is the awaking of the inner self to the potential that can be realized.
In order to reach your highest and fullest potential, you must first have the courage to think, to imagine, to dream.
Dream! What do you want for yourself out of life? What do you desire?

The definition of desire in (thesaurus) is synonyms with hunger, craving, longing, and yearning. Desire will stoke your self-motivation to do!
Your first priority is to decide and establish what you desire as your goal.
Goal setting is the single most important ingredient in self-motivation that leads to achieving success. Your next priority is to write out a specific plan of action about how you are going to achieve your goal, and you should know why you want you desire it. Then go after your goal with passion, a burning desire within you. To do it!
My grandson Ryan invited me to go to the movie, The Empire Strikes Back. I was impressed with what the Jedi teacher teaches his student about engaging the force that is the greatest power in the universe. He tells his student that there is no try, that there is either do or not do.
Another important ingredient necessary to achieve success is self-confidence. Self-confidence is a by- product of preparation, and in order to succeed you must discipline yourself to establish the habit of doing what need to be done. Now, not tomorrow!
Affirm to yourself, I have faith and belief in myself that I will achieve my goal because I expect to achieve it, because I will work hard to do so, and that no matter what the circumstances, I will never give up.
Action is what produces results! Do Power!
The thrust of Aim High is to implant the sixteen steps outlined in this book into your mind as seeds necessary for success.
We are all born with a powerful toolour brain, and
it is up to each and every one of us to learn how to use that powerful tool more efficiently and effectively.

On the cover of Aim High, there is a red dot in the center. That dot represents you, and you are your own bulls-eye! To try to hit right in the center of the bulls-ey

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Feb 28, 2008
• ISBN: 9781465318060

Al LÓpez

AL Lopez was born in Antonito, Colorado, and learned to fly during his last year in high school while being absent from school. Principal George Schilthuis summoned AL to his office to expel him. Upon learning what AL was doing during his absence, Mr. Schilthuis chose to give AL permission to miss school three afternoons a week to work at the airport and fly. Al was a pilot for the Flying Tigers for thirty-five years. Since retirement, AL has been a real estate broker, toastmaster, auctioneer, youth motivational speaker, Literacy and Character Counts! volunteer. AL resides in Leesburg, Florida.

Book preview

Copyright © 2008 by Al López.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This book was printed in the United States of America.

To order additional copies of this book, contact:

Xlibris Corporation

1-888-795-4274

www.Xlibris.com

[e-mail]

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Contents

Acknowledgments

Foreward

Introduction

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Bibliography—books

Dedication

To my wife, Shirley; my son, Guy, my two daughters, Leslie and Deanna; and to my grandchildren, Erika, Heather, Nathan, Sydney, Ryan, Seth, Brooke, and Sara

A man or woman will know when he/she is chosen by the gods for a life of quest,

The restless urge within them is an eagle in their breast.

Let them turn from the seeking, and the eagle will eat their heart. Rest?

There is no rest for the seekers with an eagle in their breast.

Acknowledgments

A special thanks to my wife, Shirley, for all the help she has given me in writing this book.

A special thanks to Dr. Dominic A. Nuciforo Sr. for finding time in his busy schedule to read my manuscript, critique, edit, advise, and for writing the foreword to Aim High.

A special thanks to Dr. Gladys Herrera-Gurule, state director of bilingual education, in the state of New Mexico for her encouragement when I discussed the idea of this book with her.

A special thanks to Ron Kessler (Adobe Press-Monte Vista, Colorado) for the encouragement he gave me after reviewing my manuscript.

A special thanks to Ruben E. Archuleta (author of four books), ex-police chief of Pueblo, Colorado, for sharing his knowledge about publishing books.

A special thanks to Joyce Halvorsen for editing and advising.

A special thanks to many teachers who have shared their ideas with me regarding the high dropout rate and for letting me speak to their students in an attempt to motivate them to desire something and to go after it.

A special thanks to Bill Hartman, early learning coalition of lake County, Florida, for discussing with me all aspects of the coalition’s effort to prepare Lake County’s children for the future

A special thanks to Jean Eva Thumm, LMFT, CPC for giving me permission to include Appendix A of her book, Soft Skills for Tough Issues: It gives a synopsis of personality type in term of workplace behavior. Copyrighted November 2006 at the end of Step Eight Personality

Foreward

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Introduction

Since the beginning of mankind, there have always been individuals who start at the bottom; but by sighting their aim high above mediocrity, they accomplish great things! All accomplishments are in relation to the obstacles conquered. Many with like circumstances fail!

Many start life with superb advantages and utilize them to the best of their ability.

What is the difference between those who succeed and those who fail? (Imagination and hard work)

I chose the title Aim High because I went from almost dropping out of school and almost getting expelled to learning how to fly a small single engine airplane at ground speeds of less than one hundred miles per hour to flying four-engine Boeing 747’s airplanes to many places throughout the world at ground speeds as high as seven hundred miles per hour.

When I realized I was in control of my destiny and ready to learn, I chose to aim high! by learning how to fly.

The significance of moving up from being a pilot able to fly a small Piper J-3 airplane to being a pilot able to fly four engine 747 airplanes is an example that anyone who develops an idea, or an interest, by using their imagination for something will, with persistence and consistent hard work, gradually move from one small success to higher and higher successes.

I did not move up from being qualified to fly a small airplane taking off at a weight less than seven hundred pounds and flying at an altitude less than two thousand feet above the ground to flying a big airplane capable of taking off at a weight of 820,000 pounds and flying as high as forty-two thousand above the ground in one small step. It took many small steps and a lot of hard work to move up from one to the other. I will cite one example of someone who started life with limited advantages, General Chuck Yeager.

Chuck Yeager did not have the resources to attend college. Instead after graduating from high school at the age of eighteen on September 12, 1941, he joined the Army Air Corps as a private and became an airplane mechanic at George Air Force Base, California.

Chuck recognized an opportunity to aim high and move up to be a pilot as a flying sergeant—a noncommissioned officer. (The majority of pilots in the air force are college graduates who are commissioned as officers when they receive their aviator’s wings.) After flight training, he served as a P-51 fighter pilot in World War II in Europe.

Upon returning from war, he entered test pilot school and so impressed his superiors that he was selected to fly the X-1 from over 125 senior pilots. Scientists said it couldn’t be done. But On October 14, 1947, Chuck Yeager took a flight that broke the sound barrier over the town of Victorville, California. The doom and gloom experts, who predicted that both the pilot and aircraft could not endure such speeds without damage, were mystified. Yeager attained an air speed of seven hundred miles per hour in his X-1 plane. Three weeks later, he accelerated to an incredible 1,612 miles per hour.

During the fifties, he flew several experimental aircraft for the air force and investigated various accidents.

In 1960, he was appointed director of the space school at Edwards Air Force Base.

He went to Vietnam as a wing commander in 1966 and flew over 120 combat missions. In 1986, Yeager was appointed to the presidential commission investigating the Challenger accident.

General Yeager’s awards and decorations include Distinguished Service Medal, Silver Star with one oak leaf cluster, Legion of Merit with one oak leaf cluster, Distinguished Flying Cross with two oak leaf clusters, Bronze Star Metal with V device, Purple Heart, Air Medal with ten oak leaf clusters, Air Force Commendation Metal, Distinguished Unit Citation

Emblem with oak leaf cluster, and Air Force Outstanding Unit Award.

General Yeager, flew to the ultimate pinnacle possible during his flying career!

General Yeager had one big advantage during his flying career the unlimited resources of the U.S. Air Force.

A person who started life with fewer advantages than General Yeager was Robert Campbell Reeve whose main advantages in aiming high were self-ingenuity, determination and perseverance.

Robert Reeve was born in Waunakee, Wisconsin, on March 27, 1902; and at the age of fifteen, he enlisted in the U.S. Army.

Discharged from the army in 1919, he hitchhiked to San Francisco where he signed on as an ordinary seaman and made his way to Shanghai, China. There he spent two years with the Chinese Maritime Customs Service on the Yangtze and Taku rivers.

In 1921, he was in Vladivostok, Russia, where he finally heeded his father’s pleading and returned home to complete his high school education and enter the University of Wisconsin.

In the fall of 1922, while in his last year, Robert and three friends began cutting classes to go flying with a local barnstormer. The consequence just six months before graduation was they were called into the dean’s office and were expelled from the university.

By 1928, Robert Reeve had a commercial pilot’s license and had become one of the nation’s first certified airplane mechanics; and in 1928, Robert Reeve pioneered an airmail route between Chile and Peru.

In 1932, he arrived in Alaska with $2 in his pocket but went on to be known as the glacier pilot for making two thousand glacier landings.

In 1941, he surveyed military airfield sites in the Aleutian Islands for the Civil Aeronautics Authority. He surveyed a rail route across Alaska in 1942.

During World War II, he was contracted as the only civilian pilot assigned to the war zone to fly equipment to Alaskan Communications System bases.

After World War II, he founded Reeve Aleutian Airways operating from Anchorage, Alaska, to the Aleutian, and Pribilof Islands.

Robert Reeve died on August 25, 1980.

Unfortunately the airline couldn’t withstand the effects of increased competition, deregulation, and continued difficulties of flying the Aleutians.

Reeve Aleutian Airways stopped scheduled air service on December 5, 2000.

The Alaska Heritage Museum inducted Robert C. Reeve into the Alaska Aviation Pioneer Hall of Fame during ceremonies on February 25, 2005.

The memory of Robert Reeve as a true aviation pioneer and hero lives on in the memories of many aviation enthusiasts.

I will cite one example of someone who started life with superb advantages—John F. Kennedy, but he utilized them to the best of his ability.

John F. Kennedy was president of the United States from January 20, 1961, until November 22, 1963, when he was assassinated in Dallas, Texas.

Fifty years ago, today (October 4, 2007), Sputnik, the first artificial satellite, was launched by the Soviets and circled the globe. The space age was born. And what has followed has changed our way of life by many innovations made possible by communications, global positioning satellites, and a multitude of other things.

John F. Kennedy challenged every American when he said, Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country.

President John F. Kennedy lived the meaning of what he challenged when he sighted his aim high when he pledged the goal (dream) on May 1961 to land a manned spacecraft on the moon before the decade is out.

On July 20, 1969, the Apollo 11 astronauts left their footprints on the moon. Unfortunately, President Kennedy did not see his pledge come true.

National Aeronautics and Space Administration, which began operations forty-nine years ago on October 1, 1958, has come a long way. NASA spinoffs are too numerous to outline. But it has been estimated by U.S space experts that for every dollar the United States spends on research and development in the space program, it receives $7 back in the form of corporate and personal income taxes from increased jobs and economic growth. Besides the obvious jobs created in the aerospace industry, thousands more are created by many other companies applying NASA technology in non space industries.

Regardless of how it came about, President Kennedy was the person responsible for instituting the Apollo Space Program.

President Kennedy’s legacy to the world for thousands of years will be the space program and the benefits for mankind derived from aim high dream of landing on the moon!

1. A dream is an ideal involving a sense of possibilities rather than probabilities, of potential rather than limits. A dream is the wellspring of passion, giving us direction and pointing us to lofty heights. It is an expression of optimism, hope, and values lofty enough to capture the imagination and engage the spirit. Dreams grab us and move us. They are capable of lifting us to new heights and overcoming self-imposed limitations. Robert Kriegel said, The key is to have a dream that inspires us to go beyond our limits.

Set your aim high to rise above mediocrity!

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Piper J-3 Cub

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SLoed J-3

March, 20 1951

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Boeing 747 -200

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Captain AL Lopez

Retirement day

August 1, 1992

Chapter One

Concepts for Life

What do you want for yourself out of life?

The greatest danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it.

—Michelangelo

As you go through life, you will produce what you expect. If your expectations are low, you will produce low results. If your expectations are high, you will produce high results. Higher results are the consequence of hard work!

What you aim for and become is more important than what you are right now. Why? Because the only way life gets better is when you aim high to produce the highest results in whatever you do!

Self-awareness is a very important element on the path to your success. Know where you are going. Eliminate self-imposed limitations. Your learning and growth will be influenced by the consequence of your choices.

Throughout this book, you will be exposed to new information and questions.

Answer all the questions posed in this book. Answering the questions will challenge your thinking. What you think will help you identify yourself and become what you think about. Your success will depend on the height of your aim. Aim high. How high can you fly?

Ask yourself, what do I want for myself out of life? And how high can I fly?

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Luck and opportunity favors those who prepare because preparation places you on the path that will take you to the intersection where luck, opportunity, and preparation meet.

Desire for something comes from within! Motivation to do follows. Make sure what you desire to accomplish is a worthwhile endeavor. Then do it!

My grandson Ryan invited me to go see the movie The Empire Strikes Back. I was impressed with what the Jedi teacher tries to implant into one of his students.

The means of engaging the force that is the greatest power in the universe Jedi tells his student, There is no try; there is either do or not do. Will you choose to be a person who does do or a person who does not do?

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The Sixteen Steps Aim High Path to Your Personal Achievement Study Guide summarizes my basic philosophy of life based on a lifetime of experiences.

I have read hundreds of books. I have attended many seminars and lectures on a variety of topics. I have completed many training courses.

The net result of my efforts is that I have derived an inner feeling of comfort and satisfaction.

As long as you derive inner help and comfort from anything, you should keep it. Only give up a thing when you want some other conditions so much that the thing no longer has any attraction for you, or when it seems to interfere with that which is more greatly desired. (Mohandas K. Gandhi, an Indian statesman)

The difference between what we do and what we are capable of doing would suffice to solve most of the world’s problems. (Gandhi)

I hope this book helps to inspire you to be self-motivated and to know that you can begin without having many advantages, but by having an idea of what you want and by working hard, you can accomplish much more than you think you may be capable of doing.

You must first have faith and belief in your ability if you are to succeed in doing what you are capable of doing.

If you chose to do less than you are capable of doing, you will be evading your own capacities. Aim High! Do what you want to do, be what you want to be.

A boy with a disadvantaged childhood growing up in West Tennessee wanted to do and be someone special. He had a secondhand guitar but had no idea how to tune or play it, but by pursuing his dream in a few short years, Elvis Presley became a music legend.

Who is it you want to be? What is it you want to do? Do you have the courage to aim high?

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This book is intended to help you go for the gold and be the best that you can be or do by developing a yes I can attitude!

I view hope and dream as twins. To realize your dream, you must also have hope.

Do you have a dream? How? Are you going