I joined the 1K Club this year.  The 1K Club are people who have flown 100,000 miles in a year.

This year I have been to Tokyo 8 times, plus Paris, Turks and Caicos, New Orleans, and Dublin, Ireland.  That is a total of 126,720 flight miles.

This is the point where I should note that I don’t really enjoy flying.  Planes are more crowded and noisier than they’ve ever been.  Groucho Marx once said “I don’t want to be a member of any organization that would have me as one of its members”.  That’s how I feel about being part of the 1K Club.

—–

As a result of doing all of this flying, I have learned how to sleep anyplace.  If I can block out all of the light and sound, I can go to sleep.  So I invested in a really good pair of noise-cancelling headphones, and a really good eyemask.  When I put both of those on, I block out everything, and I can go to sleep.

I also have earplugs, and an app on my phone that makes “white noise”.  In really noisy situations, I can put the earplugs in, then the headphones go on top, and I play white noise, and I can’t hear a thing, no matter how loud it is outside.

—–

One of the things I’ve learned this year is how much noise there is, and how much I enjoy reducing it.

I’m not talking about the noise you hear.  I’m talking about the noise of distractions.  Distractions are those interruptions that are not important.

When I fly, I have the opportunity to really focus on what is in front of me.  I can take a life situation, or a problem, or a work project,  and focus on it for 2-3 hours without interruption.  I have been more productive this year than I’ve ever been before.

I’ve written 80 essays this year.  I completed every work deliverable.

And I also have the opportunity to think, and be creative when I fly.  I focus on what’s really important.

What’s really important is my family, my friends, my health and my spirit.

So while I didn’t love all of the flying that I did, I am really focused on what’s important.

It’s not the noise.

Hal