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Don't give up or beat yourself up when you have a bad day in training. Deal with failure by learning from it and applying what you learn. (Line from "Top Gun" that is quite good.) Pilots who say they don't make mistakes are liars and probably will get you killed. Humility will keep you alive as a pilot. Ask questions of your instructors and the pilots you know. Many pilots are blabbermouths and braggarts but you can learn from them too--learn how not to behave in and around airplanes. A Cessna 172 can kill you and so can an F-22. That is, if you fly it poorly and don't respect its capabilities you can die in it.

In USAF pilot training we had what was called the "Six Ts." When you hit a navigation fix you did Time (hack the clock), Turn (into holding or on the procedure turn of an approach), Throttles, (adjust speed as required), Twist (a new course or nav freq), Track (the instrument procedure you're following), Talk (report your position to air traffic control). We also had the "Six Ps." Piss Poor Planning Promotes Poor Performance. (That occurs in all phases of our lives, not just airplanes!) Plan ahead, stay ahead of the airplane, learn to stay as far out in front of the airplane as possible. Anticipate and avoid problems. Most of all listen. Listen to more experienced pilots and ask plenty of questions of them. (Learn who the idiots are and don't ask them anything.) Last of all, for now, you will never know it all. After 15,000 hours in jet transports I still learn stuff from the guys I fly with and from the things we encounter. Write it down, make note for the next time, tell your buddies about it.

Ed Rasimus, who was a young F-105 pilot early in the Vietnam war, wrote about the proper application of aggressiveness in the cockpit. He said that it didn't matter whether you were in an F-105, a B-52 or a C-130 you could be properly aggressive in getting your mission, your flight, accomplished in a highly effective manner. An aggressive pilot plans ahead. He (she) gathers as much information (and weeds out the chaff) as is available, goes over it with the crew, and has a sound mental image of the day's mission. Aggressive doesn't mean yanking the controls around and making everyone airsick, it means know what the hell you're doing today and do it as precisely and as effectively as possible. In a KC-135 tanker it means get the fuel where the receivers need it and when they need it. In an airliner it means find smooth air, don't blab on the PA, try to get there early and make a smooth landing. It's easy to be a lazy pilot, believe it or not. Approach it with a healthy level of focus and aggressiveness/proactive planning and once you have a good amount of flight time in your logbook it starts to become an extension of your mind and body.

Read Ernest K. Gann, especially "Old Number One' from his book "Ernest K. Gann's Flying Circus." Gann disdained the lazy, arrogant pilot. "Runways of the world are dented with his landings."