Flight Training - March 2015 - 57

INSTRUCTOR REPORT

Fend off training zombies
Combating ego depletion
» By Rod Machado

HAVE YOU EVER had a student
whose in-flight performance
deteriorated so quickly that you
wondered if a nearby starship
beamed up his brain? I've seen this
happen quite a few times over the
years, and it's an interesting phenomenon to witness.
One instrument student, whom
we'll call Sarah, was only available
to train at night after working hard
all day. During an evening training flight, she was given a vector
to intercept the localizer, then
cleared for the approach. Everything seemed fine until she became
zombie-like and flew through the
localizer. She just sat there with an
expressionless look on her face and
stared straight ahead.
"Sarah? Rod calling Sarah, come
in, over." No response.
I finally lifted up the Foggles to
find fog in her eyes (so to speak).
During that night flight, Sarah was
unable to keep up with the mental
processing necessary to intercept
the localizer. She had, however,
flown ILS approaches successfully
on several prior lessons.
It turns out that Sarah had not
had dinner that evening. Without
the necessary brain energy, she
was unable to sustain the necessary self-control or willpower to
concentrate on flying. As a result,
Sarah experienced the psychological phenomenon known as ego
depletion.
Ego depletion results when the
mental energy we use to exercise
willpower and self-control are
diminished or used up. A decrease
in mental energy might result from
an insufficient supply of chemical energy to the brain (i.e., low
blood glucose levels), or intense
concentration-or even a negative

experience that affects our motivation and even our self-image. The
concept often explains a student's
sudden decrease in performance.
Sarah's condition resulted from
low blood sugar. By keeping dinner
out of her tummy, she kept her
head out of the game. As a result,
my flight bag now carries a supply
of brain food (for the student and
for me, too) in the form of candy
or protein bars. When the zombie
cometh, out cometh the energy bar.
I've also had students experience ego depletion as a result of

EGO DEPLETION
RESULTS WHEN THE
MENTAL ENERGY
WE USE TO EXERCISE
WILLPOWER AND
SELF-CONTROL ARE
DIMINISHED OR
USED UP.
intense concentration or increasing frustration during training.
One commercial student, Billy,
became Gandhi-like, turning passive and slumping in his seat during
steep-turn practice. Billy's intense
concentration on holding altitude during the turn resulted in a
complete loss of self-control. As the
altimeter needles spun wildly, he
mumbled, "I'm simply incompetent
at doing steep turns. I quit."
Granted, Billy had trouble holding altitude during steep turns. Had
the altimeter's 10,000-foot needle
spun off from its axis, one of us
might have been fatally stabbed.
Intense mental focus and a cascade
of negative self-thought led to
Billy's ego depletion. He temporarily lost the ability to control his
emotions.

So how should an instructor handle ego depletion when it results
from intense concentration or
negative self-thought? If we assume
that Billy's situation didn't result
from low blood-glucose levels (and
it certainly could have), then you'll
want to apply another strategy.
Since ego depletion results in the
diminishment of mental resources,
it's clear that these resources can be
replenished. One way to do this is
to change the student's mood. You
might try a little distraction (sightseeing), or relaxation (demonstrate
the maneuver again), or practice
something that doesn't require
intense concentration. There is,
however, another strategy I've used
over the years that works quite well:
Try uplifting your student's mood
by helping him or her experience
success. In Billy's situation (and
despite his being a rated private
pilot), I elected to break down
the steep turn into smaller, more
easily achieved behavioral components. Each mini-step was quickly
mastered by Billy. He was back to
his non-Gandhi-like self-as if that
starship beamed a newly refurbished brain back into his noggin.
So what should you do if you suspect ego depletion as the root cause
of your student's sudden decrease
in performance? Try handing out a
candy bar or creating an opportunity for your student to experience
some form of immediate success.
While the candy bar strategy is sure
to make some dentist happy, both
strategies are likely to make your
student happy.
Rod Machado is a flight instructor,
author, educator, and speaker.
Visit his blog (www.rodmachado.
com).

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