Fighter Pilot Reveals the Truth About Fear, Pressure & His Secret Phobia

What if the person standing between life and death… is you?

Waldo Waldman flew 65 combat missions as a decorated fighter pilot — all while secretly battling claustrophobia. But what kept him mission-ready wasn’t just elite training. It was mindset. Or as he calls it, “heartset.”

In this episode, Waldo and Paddy unpack what it takes to operate under extreme pressure — not just in the cockpit, but in the boardroom and beyond. 

From how to “distract yourself from yourself” to the counterintuitive power of ego and the neuroscience of elite focus, this is performance wisdom for those who can’t afford to break when it matters most.

Connect with Waldo:
🌐 Website: https://yourwingman.com/
💼LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/waldowaldman/
✖️X (Twitter): https://x.com/waldowaldman/
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/waldowaldman/
📚 Book: https://yourwingman.com/never-fly-solo/

Follow me for more:
🌐 Website: www.toughness.com
📸 Instagram: @paddysgram
💼 LinkedIn: Paddy Steinfort
✖️ X (Twitter): @paddysx

 

Transcript:

[00:00:00] Waldo Waldman: The most important wingman is yourself. The more you sweat in peace, the less you bleed in battle. You've got to have the skill, the passion to drive the resilience, the mental toughness, to be able to execute on your own first, know your job, do your job, and everything follows from that.

[00:00:27] Paddy Steinfort: Welcome to the Toughness Podcast. I'm your host, Paddyy Steinford, and on today's episode, we are really gonna be flying, and that's my first and hopefully last pun for the show. But our guest today is someone from the top flight of his own field and also has gone on to do great things passed beyond that, a decorated fighter pilot and retired Air Force Lieutenant Colonel.

He's flown. 65 combat missions, and it's not like he was just the best of the best, as they say in Top Gun. He overcame a debilitating phobia in order to do that. And since then, he's gone on to become a New York Times bestselling author, an in-demand speaker, and a consultant to business, helping to translate the lessons of being a fighter pilot to everyday business and life.

Welcome to the show, Waldo Waldman. Great to be here. Paddy, great to have you here. I love talking to people like you partly because there's a few reasons. One, your name is just super cool Waldo Waldman. It's just, it just rolls off the tongue. Two, obviously that background is an amazing history, amazing experience, amazing life story that we're gonna dig into, but three, just already in the pre-show interaction.

You've got a great energy. I'm really looking forward to diving in here. It reminds me a little bit and a little bit of when you're like. You get on a plane. So I fly a lot for my job. You get on a plane and the flight attendant who does the pre-flight announcement, they give you like, they can just do their check the box, like, here, do all these things for safety, and we welcome you on board.

Or they have this energy, there's something about, we've all been on a plane when the, the energy comes from the front and you're like, oh, this is just better already. And I already feel that with you. This episode's gonna be great. Without playing too much on that playing theme. It's probably a good place to start from is that you grew up around planes, right?

So I've talked a lot about your journey there, but you started your life in and around planes. Is, is that what led you to do what you did in the Air Force? 

[00:02:16] Waldo Waldman: It definitely was an impetus. My dad was a mechanic, not a pilot on the big jumbo jets for Kennedy app when he used to take us to. Work and I'd smell the jet fuel, hear the rumble of the jet engines, and one day he strapped me in the cockpit.

I started to play with the switches and I'm like, dad, what's this place for? He said, it's the cockpit. It's where the pilot flies the plane. And so I knew I. At that moment that I didn't want to fix the planes like my dad, that I wanted to fly him. So it, it really brought out this fascination for aviation and the air.

And I would be playing soccer and baseball and I was always looking at the planes, calling them out, and everybody made fun of me and sure enough, that's 

[00:02:53] Paddy Steinfort: where I wound up spending a significant portion of my career. Yeah. And the pathway to that significant portion of your career is probably something that is worth digging into because there's probably a few listeners.

More than a few listeners, definitely myself had an interesting plane, so I'm using air quotes there for people who, who can't see the screen that my grandfather was in the Air Force in Australia. He flew some planes. He used to always talk about the Tiger Moth and all these other different like special types of planes.

Sure. And I was, I had models and stuff, but I, it never led me to being an air in the Air Force and a fighter pilot. And so. You pursued it with a depth and an intensity above and beyond most people who had an interest in planes. What was the separating factor for you of like, okay, I kind of like this, versus I'm gonna make this my life.

[00:03:38] Waldo Waldman: So I want you to draw a parallel between flying jets, my passion, my dream, and to basically that common word known as passion. I had a passion, a dream, a goal, a compelling goal, a high but achievable goal that I felt compelled to attain. And when I realized that was my true north, that's where I wanted to be.

I knew that there would be steps necessary to achieve that, and they would be difficult steps. I. But somebody who is passionate about something is willing to sacrifice, put in the hard work, has a compelling goal, and then will do what's necessary to achieve it. They're willing to do what it takes, and o obviously build up that mental muscle, that mental toughness that you're an expert in.

And so for the folks that are listening or watching this, you may have a goal to start your company, to be center field for the Boston Red Sox or the Yankees, to be a fighter pilot, to start your license, to become a father or a mother. To become a CEO. Whatever that is, you have got to have that compelling goal that drives you every day.

And for me it was aviation and flying. And then I fell in love with the military and the discipline and ultimately to me, what I share with my clients who I coach, I. It's about excellence. It's about a passion for excellence. The conduit for me was flying jets. Now being a professional speaker and author, but for others it's different things.

You've got to be willing to go through the crucible. Uh. The pain and pleasure, the sacrifice is necessary to achieve that treatment, and I was just willing to do it. Didn't mean I was necessarily any smarter or more skilled than others, although I worked on that. It meant that I had this passion and drive that I was gonna willing to break through whatever it took to make it happen.

[00:05:29] Paddy Steinfort: Yeah. You said there you were willing to do it. It's a word that comes up often in these conversations. It's not really commonly associated with being tough, but that willingness to do, as you said, for pleasure and the pain along the path of whatever it is you're chasing, is that what I do, that what toughness means to you in your experience?

Let's just say purely as a firefighter pilot. I love the fact that you're able to extrapolate to all these other areas, but let's just dig in on that part of your right. So far toughness in the cockpit. When you are heading into a combat zone, you're obviously not going alone. You've got your wing menu, you're with your squadron, right?

But what does toughness mean? You look to your left and your right and you see other pilots and you know them. You've flown with them before or maybe you haven't, but what do you wanna see in them that indicates, like, that gives you security? These, these are gonna be a tough crew.

[00:06:16] Waldo Waldman: So there's a lot of different points that you brought up there, because the fact that you can look out on your wing, you're flying this plane, right?

But you have your Wingmen, those men and women who are flying with you or for you, who you're leading, who are leading you. And so that ability to know that you have folks who are gonna have your back, who are gonna fill in the gaps that you may be weak in, who will build the picture. This is, you know, if you look at it as as teamwork, ultimately they have your back, you have theirs, they are your trusted partners.

But let me make no doubt about this fact that the most important wing man or wing Nam is yourself. The person staring back at you in the mirror when you zip up your flight suit every morning and stare at that person, salute smart me and say I believe in him or her. I'm confident in myself 'cause I put in the work, I have the integrity and core values and necessary, you know, what I call heart set to, to, to drive through trains, to prepare to, to be a good human being.

And ultimately I've done what's necessary to be confident in myself. So when I cross the forward edge of the battle area, we call it the Feba. When we go master arm hot and people will be trying to kill us, and if I hit that pickle button, something's gonna come off that aircraft. I am competent in myself.

And so no greater teamwork attribute. There's nothing greater than just having the skill and competence to know you're gonna do your job. 'cause we've all worked with people either on a sports team or in business or in life who, hey, you may have liked them, but they didn't have the skill or the discipline or the character to go through those tough times to be in battle.

Because when you're under pressure, when the fear is real. When if you don't do something, you're dead. You're darn toot and right. You better be prepared. You better have that confidence and ability, and you want your teammates, your wingmen, to have that confidence in you. So it's mutual support, it's symbiotic.

We're all dependent on each other, but make no bones about it. You've got to have the skill, the passion to drive the resilience, the mental toughness, to be able to execute on your own first, know your job, do your job, and everything follows from that. 

[00:08:33] Paddy Steinfort: Absolutely love that. Oh my God. I've got like three moments there where I got goosebumps.

I didn't want to interrupt 'cause you were flowing, but there is like, there's so much to dig into reflecting the know your job, do your job, and then everything flows from that. It's a lot of work that I'll do with performers in a different area and lives aren't on the line with the guys that I work with day to day.

But their careers are on the line. Their livelihoods are on the lines. Yes, their egos are on the line in some cases. And that creates a similar emotion set within the individual, within the operator. And a lot of the time when they're talking about being leaders or being elite players, it's like, yeah, cool.

But there's levels of that. There's levels of leadership. First is you gotta be able to lead yourself. You gotta be able to do your job. Know your job, do your job, and then it all flows from there. Then you can influence the person in the next locker. Then you can influence the person across from you in the locker room, and then it can go from there.

So I love what you said about that. Go ahead. 

[00:09:26] Waldo Waldman: And just getting used to performing under pressure resilience. To me, being, having a champion mindset isn't just. Playing Well when the stakes are down and you're ahead, or there's no threats in the air and the weather's perfect. It's how do you operate when there's turbulence, when there's headwinds, when you're low on fuel, when the enemy's coming at you, when some of your wingmen fall out, when before you took off that day, you got a phone call and you had some bad news.

I remember getting ready to fly many missions or training sorties for that matter where. I may have had an argument with somebody in my family or something was going on. My twin brother was playing in Yankee Stadium, actually in an amateur baseball game, and he. Had a baseball smashed in his face. He needed surgery.

A metal plate. Remember flying later on that week with him on my mind. How do you respond when things aren't going well? And the more you put yourself into those precarious, stress filled situations and you're able to drive through them, fly through them, play through them, now you're building that resilience that is far and beyond.

Being able to listen to a beautiful song or smell a flower or meditate or go for a walk, which kind of eases your mind of the burden of pressure. But it's saying, Paddy, teammates, myself, I'm confident today I've got mental toughness because I've been there before. I'm used to it and I can make it happen.

And so I challenge the folks who are listening to put yourself in those precarious situations, even if you fail. And get used to that, that builds up the competence as well, and, and many people are not willing to put themselves in those precious situations. Those are the wingmen that I wanna fly with.

Those are the ones who I want in my formation, coaching me, mentoring me, pushing me, and most important. I want it in myself. And then we do that in the silent, quiet, personal decisions that we make every day that build that courage, accountability, and, uh, mental toughness. 

[00:11:26] Paddy Steinfort: Yeah. Yeah. I mean, you, you, there's two things there that I definitely wanna dig into.

One is the idea of facing your fears, which you mentioned there. And you have a perfect case in point of doing that in order to just be able to do your job. And secondly, wanna dig into the how you do that. I think some of the stuff that I've read of yours and I've heard you speak is like. It's probably gonna bring that out.

But before we go to those, you did mention a word that I, my ears pricked up 'cause I love creative terminology for things that aren't that well defined. You everyone hears about mindset. We know of growth mindset, we know of having the killer mindset, all these sort of things. But you used the word heart set.

Which is different, right? Obviously a different word, just firstly, but I assume it means something different than mindset to you. Can you explain that to us? 

[00:12:10] Waldo Waldman: Yeah. Yeah. So if you look at your mindset, that's your positive attitude, your confidence that you may have, it may be involves knowing that you have other people on your team.

You're looking at the benefits of what you're gonna do, you're driven, and then their skillset, your ability to. Know your processes and know your tools and technologies. Even if you look at what we're doing today, we talked about our microphone. I got some nice lighting. You're in this new virtual environment.

If you're in sports, how much have you practiced and know the game? But heartset is more about that passion that we talk about in the beginning. That commitment that's married to your passion, it's about being willing to do whatever it takes to accomplish your dream and what inspires you. Not what keeps you up at night, which is fear-based, like a lot of people are saying, what keeps you up at night?

No, that's a fear-based question. I want to know what gets you out of bed. I wanna know what drives you to say I'm ready to take on the day. Love that master, make things happen, right? Love that. And so that's aligned with heart. So it's not what keeps you up at night, that's as important as what gets you out of bed.

So we need to start focusing on. More courage based thinking and passion-based thinking, which subjugates or sublimate the negativity that's inherent and fear-based thinking. Love that. So if you're going up to bat or flying a jet saying, oh, I'm gonna get my butt shot down today. If you're going up to that, you've been, you know, you're oh for four, and you've gotta start thinking, what do I need to do?

I gotta start focusing on that win, envisioning it, and the passion and drive and the exhilaration that you feel when you kick ass, when you accomplish the goal, when you fly the mission, take out the target. Hit the home run. 

[00:13:49] Paddy Steinfort: That's what gets you out of bed. Love it. And that really ties back to that idea of willingness that you mentioned at the Star, because I, this is an exercise that I use semi-regularly and I, you know, with an NFL Pro Bowl cornerback with a college baseball player, I will sometimes share something that I call a willingness contract, where it's like, Hey, on my path towards becoming an all pro, or on my path towards getting drafted.

Here's what I'm willing to put up with. I'm willing to be embarrassed. I am willing to feel like shit. Yes, I'm willing to be super scared. All of these things are are gonna happen because, and this exercise was born outta a conversation with a football player who talked about when I make a mistake within one or two thoughts, I'm thinking about Twitter and I shouldn't have to think about Twitter and all these people trolling me.

I'm like, well, that's cool. We can make that go away if you quit football. But if you wanna play football professionally, you are gonna have people on Twitter talk about you. They aren't inseparable. And so do you wanna play football bad enough that you will, where you'll be willing to take the bad shit from Twitter?

And when you reframe it like that, it's about what do you wanna move towards more rather than get away from more, you could have in much better words. The heartset is not what keeps you up at night, but what gets you up in the morning. I absolutely love that and I'm I I will tell you right now, I'm gonna steal it.

I'm gonna use it. I will quote you on that though. You got it. And, and this next story, this question probably digs into exactly where that came from for you. Often I'll ask people that, how do you define toughness? What does it look like in your area? But in particular, I. Then it becomes, well, how did you learn about that?

And I think this is gonna be a more pointed question for you than others, because part of your backstory is you dealt with a crippling phobia that should have stopped you from doing your job. If anyone has been, I'm mean, hell, I just traveled, you know, jet Airline across the country the other day, and I always feel claustrophobic just sitting in my seat.

And this is commercial. I'm not allowed to be in the Air Force 'cause I'm too big to get into one of those cockpits that you used to fly in. And so those are closed spaces. But you had an incident during your career involving, you can explain a little more, but it gave you claustrophobia. And in order to continue doing what you love, you had to face your fear or almost use it as a co-pilot.

Like it wasn't going away, you had to do something about it. Can you share that story with the listeners? 

[00:16:08] Waldo Waldman: Yes, yes. And uh, you know, you're dealing with how to adapt to stress, adapt to change. So long story short, I was an instructor pilot in the Air Force first, and then I evolved into the F16. I evolved, I got better and grew and then competed to get into the F16.

But three years into my 11 year active duty flying career, everything was going great for me. And I went scuba diving in the Caribbean with some buddies of mine. Never been before. Thought, you know, how hard could it be? Just gimme a mask, put on a tank, and just fly, you know, swim through the water. But needless to say, five minutes into the water, I was wishing I paid more attention to the mission briefing, right?

Because I'm flailing like an idiot. Improper technique, not using my legs, and then the lactic acids building up. Suddenly I can't move, start freaking out. My body aches from head to toe. My mask inadvertently separates. I inhale a whole lung full of burning salt water. Felt like my lungs were gonna explode, and then had something called a panic attack, right?

And, uh, I'm like, I thought I was gonna die. No combat mission could even come close to that day. And I got out of the water and said, I'm never doing that again. A few days later, I'm back in the cockpit flying a training mission. The weather was terrible, couldn't see the sun, the ground. We were sock into the clouds.

And then I basically had the same panic attack that I had a few days prior. And you never had that before? Never had it before. I'm like, where the heck is this coming from? I'm, I freaked out. I thought there was something wrong with the oxygen as I became hypoxic and dizzy. But there was everything wrong with me.

And so I became claustrophobic. Probably not the best thing for a pilot to have, and so it was basically post-traumatic stress disorder. That didn't happen as a result of flying in conduct. It happened as a result of almost dying. A few days prior and it reared its ugly head in the cockpit. And so for the next eight years of my 11 year active duty flying career, almost 3000 hours of flight time, every single time I strapped into this plane, had to deal with this fear, this phobia, this stress that tested my mental toughness in doing what I wanted to do more than anything else, which was to fly.

And so my passion had to be greater than my fear. My focus on the outcome that, or on being present on flying, that jet on taking care of my team, had to outweigh the focus on the fear. And so there's a lot that we can chat about here, but for those that are listening, things may be going great in your life.

Business is great. Sports are going great. I'm doing well. And now I'm in a, in a debt, I'm bad streak. I'm having some failures, some test results are gonna pop up in my life. I'm gonna have a divorce, a failure issues with my kids or whatever. And you're going to be tested. And that testing you're ability to deal with the stress and fly through it will determine the resilience.

Your courage, your growth, and how you're able to handle that fear, deal with your stress, and come out the other side stronger and better and more prepared. And so part of my secret weapon was focusing on not the outcome. IE if somebody's gonna make a tweet about me or embarrass myself in front of my fans or my teammates, but just stay present.

Stay in the moment, and by doing what I'm gonna share with you, by distracting yourself from yourself, you can stay in the moment and here's how we could do that. And that'll let you take over. What? Help me with sure. My passion, my dream, my goal was important, but when the fear became intense. And the panic ensued.

I'd look out to my teammates, those folks who I was flying with and got focused on them. I got focused on my teammates. I got focused on the fact that they needed me. And if you're a parent listening to this, if you have someone in your life that you love, if you are willing to totally distract yourself from yourself, by loving them, by sacrificing for them, you're no longer worried about your fear, I.

You are worried about taking care of them and doing your job, and you're like, man, responsibility that. And then that honor, that's incumbent with the responsibility, the fact that others need you to perform, man, you'll go through the rigors of life and the trials and tribulations and the hell that I went through because you realize that others need you more and that that'll help me through this big time.

[00:20:40] Paddy Steinfort: And I assume that's an element of, I mean, amazing story. Again, a bunch of goosebumps as we went through that. I assume that the thing that you learned there to look at other people when you are getting overwhelmed by fear, to think about who else you are in this with and for that really led to your, I think the title of your book Never Fly Solo.

I assume that's really a core element of it, right? Roger that? Yeah. Yeah. 

[00:21:02] Waldo Waldman: Just knowing that you have people that you can call out Mayday to. Knowing that you have others there to take care of yourself. Number one, yourself that I mentioned before. But hey, if the proverbial shit hits the fan, who's gonna be there for me?

Have I nurtured those relationships? Do they trust me? Do I trust them? Now, I could be more confident and present doing the job, knowing if a potential mistake happens or a threat. Comes my way. Hey, now I got teammates to back me up. And even more above this, just where leadership comes in. The sense of responsibility.

Yeah. That you have, knowing that I've gotta take care of my teammates 'cause somebody may need me. Yeah. And that's what separates a follower and a leader. The leader says, I want to be the one responsible. I wanna be the one that others are dependent on. I wanna be. Put it in that environment because I'm telling you Paddy, and for the folks listening, when I was a wingman flying on the flight, on the wing of my flight leading combat, I was much more scared than when I was flying as the lead I.

Because why do you, why do you think that is? Because I was focused on that fear, wondering if I'd mess up if I'd stay in position. When I was leading, the fear wasn't as important as my responsibility to take care of my teammates. I was distracted by the fear, I was distracted by helping them getting out of my head.

And so sure, I was like, shit. When I came back, I'm like, if I messed up, it would be me and my wingman's lives on the line. But in the moment of flying, I. I was not focused on my fear 'cause I was focused on my teammate. Thus I was less fearful. Yeah, it's all psychological as you well know, Paddy, this is what you're an expert in.

And so you gotta do what you need to do to distract yourself from this devil in your head. The mind, which is our best friend and our biggest enemy, by outsourcing some of your accountability to your teammates and focusing on them. And then I think I call it thinking outside the cockpit. Get out of your head, focus on the team, focus on the target, focus on the enemy.

Taking it out. Don't focus on the devil in your head and the fake fear, which is often the case. 

[00:23:13] Paddy Steinfort: 'cause sometimes that fears aren't even real. So you said something earlier, like when the fear is real, right? That for people who are in situations where it could be life or death, or it could be millions of dollars or a job or whatever, the theory is real.

And even when it isn't real, sometimes it just feels real. And that's, that's all it takes to distract you. Right? Absolutely. But you mentioned the concept of focusing on, I've seen this in the emails that you've signed off on and other communications from you, is that, that it ends with focus on win.

What's important now, and there is a lot of neuroscience to support the fact that you can only have, and depending on the study you read, but there's been thousands of them anywhere between. Four to seven things in your conscious awareness at any given time. And so while we're filled up with fear and we're worried about screwing up or what people will say or what this is gonna cost us, it shrinks the amount of attention we can pay to things that are actually useful to us in that moment.

Whether it be flying the plane, whether it be talking to our teammates, whether it be just being present for a conversation with your partner. But when we switch our focus, when we pay more attention to the task that's in front of me, what I'm paying, what I'm doing, or the other cues that I'm paying attention to, there's no room left for that. 

Well, what, whatever you called it before the, some people call it the dictator in their head that there's no room left to focus on how I feel or on what might happen. It's full absorption in the task at hand, which is really what leads to flow. Yeah, absolutely.

[00:24:42] Waldo Waldman: Well said, Paddy. Well said. And you just took the words right outta my mouth. That's how we. When we become fully present, where when we're in flow, we're totally focused. That's why I have an acronym for fear, which either forget everything and run, and I think somebody else created that, although I thought I did. Sometimes we recreate content, but then I made up focus energy, accept responsibility, focus, energy.

Then accept responsibility that you made the decision to fly that day, that you're Mr. Top Gun, you got these wings on your chest, that you're a fighter pilot, and accept that responsibility and drive through that. But focusing your energy. You see, we all have responsibilities as parents, as teammates, as leaders of our companies, as spouses.

We have to take on that role. And I think what happens a lot today, Paddy, is that we outsource our responsibility to others. Right? And I. We just quit too early and we have too many outs 'cause we haven't instilled in us this sense of duty and moral responsibility that should elevate our ability to quit.

Ego in this case is a great thing. Ego for me is a fighter pilot. Coming back from some of my stressful missions. I'm like, man, I don't wanna do this shit again. This suck. I had this panic attack, whatever. And then I'm like, there's no way I'm quitting on my team. There's no way I am gonna embarrass myself.

I'm doing my damn job. And sometimes he will push you to choose to fly. Your passion will help you to choose to fly. Your acceptance of your responsibility to help others, will help you to choose to fly and match. I love that how you make the decision to work out, sacrifice on your diet, to study the whatever needs to be done, to be that top gun. And it's, I love that it's a very mental game.

[00:26:22] Paddy Steinfort: and, and I love the way you flipped the common and very popular pop psychology phrase of, there's even a book about it called Ego is the Enemy. There are useful elements within that book and for anyone who's read it and loved it, great stuff, but ego is not always the enemy, just like any other emotion.

It can be flipped, it can be used, it can be channeled, and in order to push through some things that aren't comfortable that we would normally opt out of, you can actually leverage the ego to say, I've committed to this. I am a top gun. I'm going to go through this and, and I, I heard you say a couple times already.

Rather than other people might talk about, I had a NASCAR driver on the other day talk about driving through some of his feelings. Right. And other people talk about pushing through and you've used the word flying through. And as I pictured it in my mind, there are many times when I might be running a mindfulness session or a mental training where we talk about sitting there and watching clouds in the sky.

Even one of the most popular mindfulness, this apps talks about that as treating your thoughts and feelings like clouds. They're gonna come, they're gonna go, you can't. They're just gonna happen. Right? And it's Abu, I'm gonna even upgrade this metaphor because imagine flying as a fighter pilot and getting up there and you realize there's clouds.

That doesn't mean you go down and land a plane, like you have to accept the clouds and you fly through them. This is just part of being a pilot. You will run into clouds. But it's your commitment to the mission, to the destination, to the people who are on your wings, or if you're a passenger pilot, commercial pilot, the people who you're actually carrying with you, right, is, well, there's clouds there, but that doesn't mean we change the plan where we pay more attention to things, but we're gonna fly through them as opposed to around them.

[00:27:59] Waldo Waldman: And we have that skill back to the skillset. I think many people are afraid to fly through their fears because they don't have the skills, the tools, the assets. The discipline's necessary to do it. So it goes back to when the military, we call it being mission ready. A fighter pilot is mission ready, Mr.

You're passionate, you've got a great team, but you're also mission ready. I'm prepared. I contingency plan. I went through the training. I've sacrificed. I've asked for help. I've been embarrassed in front of my team before, the actual mission, before the game. And so challenging yourself and building that confidence and capabilities.

We'll then create the courage and willingness to keep pushing forward. And the last thing, you talk about willingness, which is important, but it's that will, that passion and drive that, I have a saying, an acronym for win. And you mentioned win before. Work it. Now we work it now. We don't put off tomorrow the work that needs to be done today and work.

Uh, I, I have another little quote we say in the Air Force or in the military, the more you sweat in peace, the less. In battle. And so the winners, the best fighter, pilots, business leaders, sports professionals, they sweat on the fields of training. So that they're more confident and they'll avoid the challenges in combat.

So you've got to be willing to put in the time I'm teaching my 10-year-old son right now in soccer. You know, I'm like, he's solid, but he gives up too early and he gets down on himself and he's not putting the time in. Fall in love with that ball and doing the work. I'm like, you've gotta be outside training and inconveniencing yourself.

The best final pilot I plu with, and I know this for a fact 'cause I did it myself. Put in the time we trained, we practiced, we sacrificed so that by the time we were in the air, we were competent. Don't forget it. Your training and the assets and tools that will help you in the air.

[00:29:55] Paddy Steinfort: Yeah. It's a reinforcement again, of something that's commonly mentioned by guests on the show of even the NASCAR driver that I just mentioned a second ago mentioned it himself, that he also spent some time in the Navy and he said, I've always learned and always applied, no matter what arena it is to prepare for the battles that you don't even know are coming.

I talk about it with players who might be on the bench or waiting to get drafted is everything comes to him who hustles while her, who hustles while they wait. And it's a key element of practice and preparation and diligence that allows people to master things so they can get into flow easier. They don't have to think as much, but a lot of people love that.

When I've asked people who listen to the show, what's your favorite bit? They, they say it's the bits where people talk about when they're in the moment and it's too late to stop it. Well, they would call in the mission critical community an immersion event, or I sometimes refer to as a sweaty palms moment that once you are here, it's worse to go back.

You can't stop it. You're in, you're doing this thing that might go sour, but you have to do it now, and so you can't even think about landing the plane. You're up there and has to happen. Do you have an example of that where you're like, what, what, well, actually, let me rephrase that question. What's your best example of that sort of a moment where it's too late to turn back now and it may be a specific mission where you're like, wow, shit hit the fan and now we've just gotta go do X.

Or it might just be every time we take off, like by the time I by buckle in and we've done our checks, this is like we're going and there's nothing to do. 

[00:31:29] Waldo Waldman: Yeah, you, yeah, you hit it right on the head. You know, for me, this is why I talk about commitment. Big time. And when I coach folks and when I do my keynotes, this commitment to excellence.

The passion, there's commitment to the mission, which is preparation and commitment to the team, which is our wingman, men and women we fly with. But imagine having claustrophobia I. Knowing that you're gonna take off on a seven hour night combat mission over Iraq or Kosovo, right. The biggest fear for me was the preparation phase, the day before, the night before getting up, walking into the jet.

You know, that anxiety, right? That we all feel in sports or business at a important meeting or a cold call or, uh, when we're stepping up the plate and the, and the, uh. Bottom of the ninth and two out, and you're down by a run. Once you're in the plane, once you take off, release the brakes and get airborne, there is no turning back, bro.

And for me, if I knew I was flying into the weather on that seven hour Michelin, I'm like, oh boy, here we go. Fully committed. It's like also when my wife got pregnant, I'm gonna be a dad. Fully committed. You see some people fail in their responsibilities and they look at divorce too easily. I don't want to get into a relationship aspect here, but so many people change everything when they're like, now they have a child coming into the world of that.

You see that child born, no turning back fully committed. Others are depending on me. You see this life in front of you. So for me. Releasing the brakes here in the clear for takeoff call and going down that runway, it was, IM important, but I wanna share a particular story. 'cause even when I was flying a solo flight in a T37, which is a twin engine subsonic jet, this is before I flew the F16.

Long story short, I had an engine failure in one of my engines. T37 had two engines. You could still fly with one engine, but the F 16 had only one. Forcelight didn't have to have that situation in the F 16, but. I had to take this plane with one engine and come back and fly through the weather, through the clouds, and do an instrument approach down to minimums to that runway.

Now I'm flying in the clouds. I've got one engine minimum thrust. I have fear wondering if my other engine's gonna quit, wondering if I'm gonna do the skill necessary to fly this instrument approach. My heart's pounding. I'm dealing with this Claus as well, and it was like, holy crap, I've gotta stand the moment.

I've gotta land this plane. And I remember consciously thinking how my heart was beating, but I'm like, come on, I can do this. Let's go. I've done these 1,001 times. Follow my instruments, listen to the instructor or the radar controller, give me the vectors in to get on approach, and just flew it down and had to stay in that moment in the flow because guess what?

If I became spatially disoriented and went upside down in the weather. If I wasn't able to fly that mission, if I had to go around multiple times, I would run outta fuel. I then have to dial out of that plane as well. And so that pressure filled moment I. In addition to, by the way, the times I was shot at in combat, which is another thing, but this was the most pressure I ever felt.

As a matter of fact, Paddy, I don't even talk about this in my speeches. You brought it up for me. Okay. I, it's not even in my book, oil system, malfunctioned. Probably was 1993 or 94 or something. Stayed in the zone faced. My fear was in the zone, although I was panicking a bit. But I landed that jet safely came back and said, man, shit hot.

I did it, man. I faced my fear. Landed the jet. Here's the bottom line, Paddy. We're gonna be flying through our fear. We're going to exhibit the passion, the sweaty palms, all that anxiety. But if we can fly through it and still do the job, despite it, should I? You are a champion. You're a top gun. All these players, all the fighter pilots, were dealing with fear.

We're all dealing with it. Resilience. Mental toughness is saying, I'm going to subjugate that. I'm gonna elevate my mindset, my passion, stay so present, even though the heart's pounding and I'm gonna get up to bat, take the swing, I'm gonna fly through that engine failure and make it happen. That to me is mental toughness.

It's not being cool hand Luke, or just chilling and hanging out. Hey, if you could do that, great. Yeah, but most of those folks are still panicked behind that facade. 

[00:35:58] Paddy Steinfort: 100%. It's the great lie, right? It's the great con is that we're all supposed to have confidence. It's not there all the time. When you've got your A game, when both engines are working and the the skies are clear, you feel great.

Or maybe you don't, if you're claustrophobic, but you feel as good as you're gonna feel, right? But when one engine's down and the weather's shitty, and your comms are a little shaky, and you've got your sea game. Then it becomes more about, it's not about feeling good anymore. That's not important for you to land the plane.

It doesn't matter how you feel. 

[00:36:27] Waldo Waldman: The plane doesn't get, you always call back on that training again too. You, it falls back on that training. How did I, was I through those pressure moments before and that, that helped as well. 

[00:36:36] Paddy Steinfort: Um, what, when you talk about there being shot at, right? So you've been shot at. Prior to this event that you're talking about where your engine went out, there's this No, no. I, I, I flew the F16 after that, so I was shot at on two years after that event. And so being engaged in the air, so that, that's definitely a, I can't go back now like someone else has, has decided that this is gonna be a thing.

I don't, I might wanna run away. That's probably gonna make it worse. And so at that moment when it's not even a mishap, it's actually over aggression from an opponent, from someone else who's in the same space as you. Does that create more fear or is it like, can you talk us through that? Because that's an experience that not, not many people have experienced and thankfully won't have to during their lives.

But as that happens to you, can you recall what the sensations are in your body and what goes through your mind?

[00:37:24] Waldo Waldman:  It's kind of weird thinking about it. 'cause when I put myself there, I can get those sweaty palms knowing. Like when your life is on the line and you know when you're taking off and you cross a certain area, people are gonna try to kill you.

And you see missiles coming at you. I've had four surface to air missiles, you know, 55 foot telephone poles with bounds on the end trying to shoot me down, watching them track of my aircraft. Your life changes pretty quickly, right? You, you're like, man, I, I better do what I need to do. The fear is there.

The first time it happened, I, I didn't do the p procedure very well. You gotta. Lower the nose and gain air speed and kind of kinematically defeat the missile. I'll be as unclassified as I can, but I did it like probably 50% of what I could, even though I trained for it a ton of times. You don't know how you're gonna handle when the proverbial shit hits the fan, right?

But one mission, I had two missiles shot at me, did the funky chicken, tried to do my maneuver. I'm like, God, it was embarrassing. The missiles blew up away from me, thank God. But then 10 minutes afterwards, the missiles, two other missiles were shot on me. And this time I'm like, okay, dealt with this before I know what to do.

I was a lot more confident because I had that experience, the scars of character and training. I already built that up and then I'm like, okay, cool. And I was able to go through that and didn't mean, once again, that I wasn't afraid, didn't mean that. Afterwards, I'm like, okay, I'm not freaking out, but the show must go on.

The mission must continue. Other Wingmen needed me to do my job, to stay in my lane to monitor the threats, and we were part of a major package most of the time, not just F 16 pilots, but stealth bombers and other aircraft taking out strategic targets. My job was to do A, B, and C to support others doing who doing X, Y, and Z.

So goes back once again to our responsibility. My son made a shot this weekend on, on Saturday during his game. Great shot on goal, hit the crossbar, bounced off. He didn't know it bounced off or, or was out in front of the goal because as soon as he saw it hit the crossbar, he turned around, was like, was getting all pissed off and angry and were like, turn around the ball's, rebound and get back in the game.

Stop focusing on your failure. You have another. Opportunity to score and you've got a game going on with teammates who are depending on you, get your crap together. Great lesson for him. Great lesson for everyone once again, right leader's gotta stay in the game. Follow off, follow through, get outta your head.

You can worry about it in the debrief. Figure out what you did right or wrong. But don't give up. When the failure comes, the mission must continue. So we're really, really important in a life to remember that we still have missions to perform. It's not just that one situation. It ain't over. And not even until you land, it's till you're taxi back in the hangar, engine's down and you're at the bar or having breakfast.

Sometimes the safety incidents happen. Taxi and back. Right, right, right. Messing around and not and losing that focus. And an F16 man 24/7. As long as you're in that jet and that engine's running and you're in the cockpit. 

[00:40:32] Paddy Steinfort: You gotta be game on. I was gonna jump on the example of your son there and your own, uh, like ridiculous story.

It's so cool to be able to be brought into that moment. Appreciate you sharing it as best you can of when things are bad. And like you said, you might lose your life. Our emotions cause our attention to be dragged into the future. Am I gonna see my wife again to be dragged into the past? Did I listen enough in that last lesson for your son?

It's like, oh my God, people are gonna tell me I'm stupid for missing that. Or, oh, I, I'm thinking about how he, hi, it, it's not in the moment, not focusing on what it could do next. And then you presented a great example of this doesn't just apply. To those clutch moments where a missile is coming for your ass or where you've just missed your shot on goal, that it actually applies to the moments in between.

Sometimes, perhaps just as importantly, 'cause you can still have, you never know how important it is the moment after you've taken the shot, right? You never know how important It's the moment after you've landed the plane until you're actually finished. And like you said, you're at the bar. I thought you were gonna say you were having a drink, but you're having breakfast.

But either way, it's applicable to all the moments where our attention can be dragged somewhere else. In reality, the most important place it can be, unless we're doing a planning exercise or a reflection exercise, is really like what's happening right now. That's why I love you, you're saying of what's important now.

It's a really good way to win, is to bring your attention to what's important in this moment, not in what's what I'm gonna eat for breakfast and not in what the funky chicken move that I did a second ago, but what do I need to do to make sure I get out of this aircraft alive now that I'm at least landed, I'm still not out. Roger that. And 

[00:42:10] Waldo Waldman: Then that’s preparation and coaching and somebody that they'll kick your butt, right? Like let's say somebody didn't, wasn't there to kind of correct them and give that, use that as a teaching moment. Oh, we had a teaching moment afterwards. The dad got wing nuts.

Right? And so your ability to be approachable and coachable and saying, oh, I didn't real, some people just forget about it. And this is, we are training and. mentorship and coaching and humility and openness to be embarrassed and openness to say, you're right, I need to start working on this. Still key for leaders, players, fighter pilots, and business people to always be  approachable and coachable every single day. And this is how we get better. 'cause many of us just haven't been through those moments and we're innocently ignorant. Right, right. And what's beautiful about business and these podcasts where people are investing their time, listening and watching, saying there's some nugget in here, a blind spot that I had flying my plane.

This is important. We are gonna have blind spots. We may not have the situational awareness 'cause if we're flying in this plane, we can't see what's going on behind us. There's threats and things going on that we can't see. So a wingman, a coach, a mentor, a teammate, can help you see what you can see, build your awareness, build your training, and help you to anticipate some of those ongoing moments or those missile launches to say, Hey you know what? [00:43:30] I don't need to experience this on my own. I've watched other people do it. Other people have trained me for those contingencies, those what ifs, those what things that you don't think are gonna happen that do. So I. There's no better training tool than real experience, but let's learn from other people's experience as well and learn from our teammates.

And this is another reason why I tell my son and why every player should be paying attention from the bench. Watch what's going on. Don't just slack off and BS with your buddies and talk about girls or sushi. You gotta get, stay in that game and pay attention and learn from the mistakes. And also be a cheerleader for your teammates.

And that's something that I'm teaching my son as well. 

[00:44:09] Paddy Steinfort: Things have changed since I used to sit on the bench as a kid. 'cause we never talked about sushi, we might've talked about girls, but sushi was never a topic of conversation. 

[00:44:16] Waldo Waldman: My son's a fanatic about sushi and uh oh good. He is got tax. With sushi after that game.

So anyway, uh, I wish I discovered it when I was your son's age. Yeah. You'd save. I'm, I'm, I didn't know about it as a kid. He and I, I probably saved my parents a ton of money. My son eats a fortune of it. 

Now. I, I love the tangible, physical analogy of having blind spots, which you actually do. It's not a metaphor for fighter pilots and the fact that you need people around you or instruments even to help you be more aware of that. And for those who are watching who can see the video, there's a great, firstly you showed a model airplane, but now you're actually showing a, a slide on the screen. And even more human is the picture behind you of a fully masked up.

So fire pilot in the cockpit where you can. Literally see like the helmet that the person's wearing is, it barely gives you three to six in terms of, and also the mobility within the cockpit, let alone the fact that there are two planes right behind. And it's a perfect metaphor of the fact that we need others to help fill in the gaps of what we can and can't see.

And here's a great another. Yep. Image that, check six, that's the blind spot. Yeah. 12 o'clock is out front, six is behind you. And, and your wingman. Check that blind spot. Your six o'clock position. Which is so important. 

[00:45:32] Paddy Steinfort: So anyway, I I, I have stolen this exercise from John Gordon, who's, uh, another great public speaker, and he's a friend of mine too.

He's a great, great guy, amazing speaker talking of the energy that I mentioned at the start of the show you to remind me of each other a lot. He has an exercise where he, I think he calls it the three or the four Hs. And I often will run this with, uh, guests where we'll ask to share a hardship, which you've given plenty of a highlight.

And then the one that I wanna dig in on here is hero. Someone who has helped you with protect with checking your six. How did you discover that coaching was so important? Because it's often something as we grow up, particularly in young adolescents or as we're becoming experts, as in our twenties, we think we're experts anyway, that we're like, oh, I don't need that coaching.

I'm good. I got this. What was that for you? Who was that for you, who helped open up your eyes to things that you didn't know? 

[00:46:21] Waldo Waldman: I think it happened in the military. I, you know, there's so many individual people who've trained me, who've coached me, who had the courage to put me in my place to. Tell me what I needed to hear and not what I wanted to hear.

But in the military, hey, let's face it, you've gotta be used to feedback. You've gotta be used to having people tell you you're wrong. And so I learned that in the military at a very early age to be open to that feedback. That feedback is fuel for growth. In my book, never Fly Solo. I share some stories about some times when I've messed up.

About my commanders who've disciplined me and who've punished me because I needed to be punished to learn, right? But also the ones who instead of reprimanding me, if I messed up, asked, Hey Walter, what's going on at home? I showed up late one day permission, which is a big deal, and he's like, instead of reprimanding me, he said, Hey, is everything okay at home?

Do you need a day off? How can I help you? He realized that maybe there was something that was more important in my life that was going on. That may have taken precedence for whatever reason it was overlying that day. And so those type of examples of mentors and coaches who disciplined, trained, punished me, so to speak, but also were empathetic and caring and compassionate.

Ccause hey, you're gonna have some days where you're gonna have an engine failure. Your gear aren't down and locked before you land. Your kids are gonna be found outta school. Your divorce paperwork's gonna be signed, you. Got COVID, 19, God forbid, something's going to happen. And when we acknowledge the humanity in each other, show each other that we care.

Not accepting mediocrity, not accepting diminishing of standards, but just saying before I assume that you messed up and you very well may have. Maybe there's something going on and how can I lead you to overcoming that challenge and how can I serve you as a leader? And that's, I think, a sign of a great leader, a great teammate, a great wingman.

And I hope everybody takes that to heart because at the end of the day, we're human beings. Mental toughness is a great attribute to add, but there's always gonna be something that could potentially, literally shoot us down, and we can't fly every mission. There's gonna be days we're gonna need to quit because something else is gonna be taken a priority.

And that's called being human

[00:48:30] Paddy Steinfort: Yeah. I, I think that's such an important point. That is a nuance we pick up as we get further into our careers, but I'm immediately struck by the picture. I'm a big Star Wars fan, so apologies to people who aren't, and I don't mean to downplay the reality of what you were talking about with a lot of your stories here, Waldo.

But there's a classic scene in, in the first Star Wars where. Luke's trying to bomb the death star. And the person who's on his comms, I can't even remember who it is, they're saying, stay on target. Stay on target. And it's basically a coach doing exactly what she said, like he's holding him to you, made this commitment, you're gonna be okay.

You gotta keep flying. 'cause every part of the human who was doing the flying wanted to get out of there, wanted to bug out, wanted to turn around and deal with bogies that were only six, instead of being like, okay, here, I can do this. And having someone hold him to that standard and recognizing that the human in him wanted to do something else.

But holding him to the stand and then his commitment, and it may not be the best analogy, but it was definitely the one that popped in my head. 

[00:49:29] Waldo Waldman: Yeah, I know exactly the point. I think he's going, he's in that, on that thing and he's going down and he's in the tunnel. Yeah, man, that's what it's like flying in combat.

That is extremely realistic. And Vietnam World War II going down. Down the pike doing a, a strafing run. It's intense, but it's also encouragement. So there's a video. I could play it now, but I won't just for time's sake, but a lot of times we'll be flying or we'll be up at that. Or we'll be flying and, and you say you could do this.

You're looking good. I got your back. Don't make it happen. I believe in you. Right. Yeah. Yeah. And sometimes that encouragement, that lifting, that coaching, showing folks the, the right way and lifting them up. Now I've been saying leaders lift, we encourage, we see somebody with broken wings or discouraged or full of fear and doubt, and we lift them.

We encourage them, we enlighten them. We encourage and courage. We give courage. Yeah. So remember the power in that. When your negativity and self-talk is putting you down, maybe a wingman, that trusted partner who knows you, loves you, cares about you, can be just what you need to make that decision to fly and fly through the fear.

[00:50:40] Paddy Steinfort: Yeah, and I think that like I, I like to, I'm gonna grab that there because it's a. Perfect illustration of, I talk about with coaching, when I'm working with coaches, 'cause I do work with the coaches as well as the performers, almost just as much, is that their number one job is to direct the attention of the performer.

And so when you are encouraging, often it's directing attention away from the fears or the, the doubts. Making them feel okay about it. And they can put their attention back on what's important now? What's my task? What am I doing? And that is a perfect example that, let me start to tie the episode up with this.

I'm gonna pivot from that and say, Gudo, if you are a coach, which you are technically these days. You were gonna give advice to the generic audience who listens to this, which is mostly people who are trying to do cool shit in their life, and they're also doing it under duress. There's pressure, stress.

They may not be flying a fighter jet, but they're still doing things that are tough and challenging and trying to stay in the moment. What would you say the simplest takeaway you can give to the listeners so they can apply this sort of mindset or heart set in their own battles? So I'm getting back to.

[00:51:50] Waldo Waldman: Some of that are daily rituals and regimens we're born with, or we grow up with certain tools and attributes and assets that we can use to help us become peak performers, to deal with change, to build our resilience, and we don't wanna limit those tools. And so by showing up and listening to this podcast, by doing something different, by reading the book, attending the workshop, doing the workout, changing your diet, seeking new forms of knowledge, and then practicing that will help you with not just eight tools, maybe 16 or 55 or a hundred.

And so keep seeking ways to do things and then put it into practice. Don't just philosophize about it. Sweat, get in the gym of your life and start working out and training in that. Also, that may mean building more relationships in my life. The reason why I talk about not flying soul and the importance of wing men, men and women in your life is that there's never a problem in my life, and I've been dealing a lot of 'em with elderly parents and personal stuff that's going on.

Just like everyone, Hey, this phone, that email, the relationships that I built, Mayday, Mayday, I need help. Is a great way to build mental toughness. Don't be afraid to ask for help. Get out there and seek others in your life by giving to them, being a valued part of them. By being a resource, a confidence builder, a referrer, a trainer, a coach, give you wings away, build up that formation of others in your life as much as possible.

So God forbid you need help and the proverbial crap hits the fan. You're gonna have a host of other people in your life to hope to help you, to coach you, to mentor you, and to lift you up. 

[00:53:42] Paddy Steinfort: So that's, I think, uh, two important wing tips to, yeah. I love the way you put the, obviously seeking more knowledge and, and applying it is really important.

But I love the way you said actually reaching out for help is a way to build mental toughness. It's almost counterintuitive, right? It makes sense to me, but can you just riff on that a little bit? Yeah. Why is that tough? Yeah. '

[00:54:04] Waldo Waldman: cause some people, once again, it goes back to ego, right? They don't wanna show weakness by asking for help.

They don't want to make others think that they may not have the confidence, the skillset, et cetera. But it's worse when you don't ask for help and fail at the challenge that you're dealing with. It's worse, especially when your failure to do your job is gonna impact other players or other people or other wingmen in your formation.

And so just be willing to take off your mask and show your humanity. We will give you other tools and resources and ideas on how to improve, but it'll also humanize you in front of your teammates. They'll have more respect for you as a person, especially now when there's so much chaos in the world. And I think it'll also allow them to bring you their problems or reveal them to you.

If you are working with a teammate or a wingman in your formation and they're hiding their problems from you because you are afraid or they're afraid that you're gonna judge them. Demean them, then they won't bring you their problems or share them with you. Remember, in life, especially in team sports and the collaborative world that we live in, we need others to share their problems and challenges with us and give us the opportunity to coach them up, to find them resources to seek out.

Like if somebody's having an issue in my life that I can't solve, hey, I'm seeking out others. Part of my day every day is connecting others to people who need help. Right. I don't get any benefit out of it. It's part of building that culture of collaboration and trust and giving your wings away in life that I think is so important, that service mindset.

And so you wanna find out other people's challenges and problems that are on your, in your formation so you can help them. And the way you do that is by saying, Hey, he's human. Paddy's human, Sabrina. At least they're human. They share their mistakes. Maybe I need to reveal it to them. And now we come together, solve problems.

We don't allow, once again, diminishing of standards. We don't allow breaches in morality. Right. Those are things that need to be, they're non-negotiable severely, right? Those are non-negotiable, but as long as they're putting their heart into it, if they can get the training and the encouragement needed to win, that's an important attribute and success in life.

[00:56:10] Paddy Steinfort: Super, super important. And I want to use Sabrina and Lisa. I think were the names that you, you mentioned there. And Paddy, like for those who are listening and you may need that sort of help or, or love. What Waldo has put out there. If you are Sabrina or Lisa, I know I myself will be doing this as well.

What's the best place for people to find you? 

[00:56:30] Waldo Waldman: So I put, I put something on the screen there. I'm as a gift to your listeners, I'm gonna allow you to get download to my New York Times bestseller Never Fly Solo. It's $26 hardcover. This is free for all of you if you go to your wing man.com/nfs, like never fly solo.

Put your name and email address in. I'll send you a link. And there's also a link to my LinkedIn profile, Waldo Walman. You can use your QR code that, but if you Google Waldo Walman or go on LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, that's the best way to find me and just let me know that you heard about me in Paddy's podcast and love it.

There's all my information as well. That's awesome. 

[00:57:03] Paddy Steinfort: To track me down. Well, well, I appreciate you, Matt, for giving that to, to the listeners. That was an unexpected bonus and a good way for people to find you, so really appreciate that. Final thing, what's your hope, the work that you do now? You've obviously done some amazing stuff with your career, just as a fighter pilot and as a leader in the armed forces.

You also now. Provide direction, inspiration, support to a lot of people. What, why? Like, what are you hoping to achieve with the rest of your career from here on out? 

[00:57:31] Waldo Waldman: Goodness. Uh, I, I mentioned before, I'm a father, a 10-year-old little boy. I want to give him courage and competence to go out there and face his fears.

But ultimately it's the world. You know, when people are shrouded in fear and I call, you know, in the hangar of doubt, paralyzed by their fear, I wanna get people. Airborne flying, possibly getting shot at, possibly risking some things. But that's where growth is. That's where life is. It's not hiding in the hangar.

It's not being MIA, missing an action. It's MIA, making it happen. And when people are airborne, step it out of their comfort zones. Executing, risking, challenging and growing the world improves. People become more humble and compassionate, empathetic and confident. New inventions are created, people are helped, problems are solved.

We need people to be activated, to take action, not live paralyzed by fear letting others do the work. We need more collaboration and connection more than ever, and that's my goal. I call myself an activational speaker. I want to activate you to act right. The World War War's performers, not philosophers.

We reward action, not attitude. So get out there, take some risks. Step outta your comfort zone, build that mental toughness and do it by being that trusted partner, the wing man. A wing man to 

[00:58:54] Paddy Steinfort: others in your life. Yeah. Well, wow, what a mission, another episode of Goosebumps right there, and I will sign up to be your wing man on that mission any day.

I appreciate your time. Thank you for sharing everything with your listeners. We'll put that link underneath the show as well for the free download of Wado stuff and good luck with that mission. It sounds amazing. Look forward to following up further down the track. Thank you, Paddy. God bless your brother.

Thank you.