Mike Jones Now Blog

I remember not so long ago, I could not wait to jump back in the cockpit of an airplane after a day or two on the ground I would be ready to get back up and go fly.  Not so much now a days, there is no other place that I would rather be than hanging out on the lake or by the pool with my family!

I use to fly a four day trip, come home and fly with the Guard for a day or two, spend only one day on the lake, then back out again. It was a lot of fun at the time and I would not do anything differently. I lived in a condo on Lake Norman and had the best neighbors anyone could ask for.

We were all around the same age and enjoyed living at the lake. It was very rare for me to come home and not have someone greeting me at my back door with a cocktail within minutes. Now, since 9/11 and twenty-two years of flying all I want to do is just spend time playing and having a good time on the water with my wife and little boy.

We make the best of the time off that I have, usually only three days and hardly ever on a week-end or holiday. I work my side businesses pretty hard and encourage others to do so as well. I still enjoy flying, but I hate the time I have to be away from my family.  I know that the time will come sooner than later when I can walk away from this crazy airline business and just do my own thing and enjoy my family.

Life is short, make the best of it while you can. I remember my conversation with coaching legend and nascar team owner Joe Gibbs, he ask me what I did for a living and I told him I was an airline pilot, he responded by saying what a good job that was. My reply was, not really, without missing a beat he said I bet you are gone alot. He then told me how he had missed out on watching  his two sons  grow up and how he regreted that very much.

Fortunately, Coach Gibbs is getting a second chance with his beautiful grandchildren. He spends as much time as possible spoiling them rotten, which is what grandparents do. Time passes quickly, make the best of it while your here!

I have read this in many books and suscribe to the philosophy of positive thinking. It takes the same amount of energy to be positive as it does to be negative, so I have a hard time dealing with people that are always negative about everything.

I saw this on one of my passengers shirts yesterday. He was a big guy and was wearing a baseball jersey with his number on it as well as Believe it & Achieve it.

My flight attendant had gotten the story from him and his teammates inflight. They recently won a national softball championship, with the same team that they had only a year prior when they almost finish in last place in their division.

When we landed in Miami, we had to take a bus into the main terminal, so I got a chance to speak with this guy for a few minutes. Not only did he and his teammates improve their game once they began to change their thoughts and believe in themselves, but their businesses and their personal lives improved as well.

It was so nice to speak to one on my passengers that was so positive and did not have anything to complain about. I wish more people, especially those that fly, could have a more positive attitude and a Believe it & Achieve it mentally!

Summer Time Fun!

It is a hot in North Carolina today! This is my son’s first boat, pretty cool, but he has his eye on a Sea Doo that he really likes. In due time, he is growing up so fast! I cherish every moment that we have together, my days off go by so fast!

That is why I work so hard at my business to create an additional income that will allow me to be home more with my family and provide some additional financial security as well.
Life is short, enjoy it while you can! I am headed back to the pool, we just took a little lunch break. It is time to play play play as my son says.

I like Zig Ziglar, I listen to him and several other motivational and inspirational speakers almost daily to help me to stay focused and motivated. One day he was told by someone that money was not the most important thing and he replied by saying “you are correct, it is not the most important thing, but it ranks right up there with oxygen.” You all have herd people say that money is the root of all evil or that money can’t buy happiness, most of the time these types of statements are being made by people that have not achieved the level of success in their own lives and they are just making excuses and trying to discourage you from reaching your goals.

I do agree that money is not the most important thing and it is not what drives or motivates me. I will say that it has the most impact on your life and how you live it. You could be the richest person in the world, but without your health, the love of your friends and family and a strong belief in God, there is no amount of money that can take their place or fill that void.

I get to work with successful people everyday and I love picking their brain about business and life in general. The one thing that I here repeatedly, is be careful who you associate with, choose your friends wisely. Your friends and family don’t always mean to hold you back and discourage you, but they often do. I guess they may see it as trying to protect you, what is life without risk?  You will never experience success without having experienced failure. I love the quote “Its not the years in your life, but the life in your years.” Take some chances, start that business, roll the dice, if you cruise through your entire life playing it safe, I can guarantee that you will have many regrets.

I learn to sky dive and scuba dive in the same year and my mother thought I had a death wish, she also thought that when I started flying and joined the military. Anyway, I do not have a death wish, I do believe in living your life to its fullest and trying to make every moment count. I have had many failures in my life and I have tried to learn from each one of them. I am not where I want to be yet, but I will be there sooner than later. No matter what it is that drives you or motivates you, do not let anyone stand in your way.

Life goes by so fast, I am 41 years old and I can remember the day I turned sixteen and drove down Cannon Blvd for the first time by myself like it was yesterday. The clock does not slow down, it seems like Christmas and my birthday come every three months now instead of every twelve. Don’t just get by in life and do the bear minimum, live a life of abundance, make your mark while you still can.

This is what it is all about, this is the way life should be every day! I woke up this morning around 8:00 with my beautiful little boy starring at me, just waiting for me to wake up and when he saw my eyes open, he smiled really big and said, “it’s wake up time daddy.” We went downstairs and made our morning drinks together, he helps me with my coffee and I help him with his strawberry baba, good times.

While getting caught up on our morning cartoons, my wife makes us an incredible breakfast. After we eat, we lather up with sunscreen and hit the pool. My son is learning to swim this year and is really starting to take to the water. A couple hours of sun & fun, then it is time for lunch and a little indoor racing and a nap for the little one. Some days we get lucky and he does nap for a brief period.

In the afternoon, we take the boat out for a little fishing, meet up with a friend that is out on the lake with his kids and the jet skis. After playing around on those things for an hour, we are all about out of gas. We head back to the house, fire up the grill, light the tiki torches and have some dinner.

Later, we light the fire pit and cook up some smores, my son loves the new fire pit that we built a few weeks ago. After the fire dies out, it is bath time for the little guy and nite nite time shortly there after. Not before we watch a little bit of Ricky Bobby in Talladega Nights, I don’t know why but my son loves that movie, it is pretty funny!

Eventually, he crashes around 10:00. Then the wife and I get to share a couple glasses of wine and some time catching up with each other on what has been going on during the five days I was gone. I really envy those that get this quality time every day with their family. We all work too hard and sometimes it seems that the harder you work the more things tend to stay the same or get worse. I have a good life, but I work everyday to make it better.

Life is short, enjoy the time you have with your kids, enjoy your family. Don’t look back years from now and say I wished I would have done more, we only get one shot, make the best of it! I would love to hear stories of people that are making the most out of their life, leave me a comment below or contact me through twitter at mikejonesnow.

I know that many of you have herd the phase, sick and tired of being sick and tired. Well, I can’t remember a week where that phase has rang so true for me! As many of you know, I’m an airline pilot and I typically do four day trips every week. This week I did pick up some additional flying to generate more money for an add campaign that I am ramping up for one of my businesses, so this week was a five day trip.

Everything that I dislike about my flying job I have experienced during this five day trip, starting out with a very difficult commute into work, bad weather everyday, massive delays, cancellations, a lot of long sits in the airport, grumpy passengers, grumpy co-workers, in late out early every morning, max time on duty almost everyday, seven to eight hours of flying daily, missing my family and to top it all off, the only thing that went right during this trip, was that we did finish the trip on time and did not have to wait for a gate, but my Chief Pilots secretary was waiting for me at the gate for a drug test.

A drug test! After the week that I just had, I honestly could not believe it. I had a flight home in 30 minutes that I was hoping to catch, not today! Two hours later, after my drug test, I was able to hop a flight back to Charlotte. If there ever was a week that motivated me to work harder on my business, it was this one! I am sure we all have days and weeks just like this one, don’t endure the pain, take action to be able to someday change your situation.

I am 41 years old and I can legally fly for another 24 years, I have been flying for 22 years already, so the thought of having to fly professionally for another 24 years is one that would scare the hell out of me! I thank God that I was motivated enough to take a chance and get something else going for myself, I know that I will not have to fly for another 24 years if I choose not to. Are you sick and tired of not making enough money, not having more time at home or just not knowing if or when you will ever be able to retire? Are you sick and tired of being sick and tired?

If so, I would love to hear your story.