You Get Out What You Put In.

It was January in Sydney and I was sweltering in my suit with a tie that was doing its best to choke me. I was just one lad in rows of grey uniforms sitting in the Centenary Hall and waiting to be addressed by the Headmaster. I wasn’t just physically uncomfortable. I was an outsider. A Western Suburbs kid at a prestige school by virtue of an academic scholarship. I knew nobody!

The hall was silent but the boy beside me leaned over and whispered, “You can take your coat off.” His great-grandfather was one of the founders of the school and we would become lifelong friends until his untimely passing forty years later. I still miss him.

I don’t remember much of what the Headmaster said that day, other than one single phrase, “You get out what you put in.” Seven words that have ultimately steered me through my life, as every time that I have applied this philosophy, that sentence has been proven to be true.

At the time, Mr Rae was emphasising that participating in the school community reaped benefits. For a youngster like me, that translated into badges on a blazer or a prized cricket cap that was worn by the First XI. However, it was not long until I began to appreciate the deeper message. It was the satisfaction of being a part of something bigger than the individual and how one contribution can lead to something greater.

For a lad who had constantly been criticised for being “reticent in class” and “not participating in class discussions”, I began to put Mr. Rae’s words into action. I was always going to play in sports teams and sign up for the cadets but it was when I put in extra effort beyond this or volunteered for extra duties that I began to grow. Opportunities emerged that I had never imagined and with that my own confidence grew in turn. I won’t list my schoolboy CV but it is suffice to say that I went from being the sweaty kid in the corner to one of the leadership team.

I have carried this philosophy into adult life and it has served me well. Importantly, what you “get out” is not the financial or material benefit that some might seek. It is far more satisfying than that. When I have coached sports, instructed student pilots or given a briefing to cadets, it is seeing them learn and grow that inspires me. When I put hours into putting words on a page, it is not the royalties that I chase from those books. It is the experience of meeting veterans or sharing the tales from my own journey. For a fighter pilot from the past to tell me, “That’s just what it was like”, or that they cried when they read the final chapter means so much more to me. And that is what inspires me to continue writing.

These days, that simple phrase remains with me in everything I do, From instructing in a 787 simulator  to coaching sports or creating a manuscript. The more effort, interest and passion that you invest into this life, the greater the degree of satisfaction that will flow back to you. If I should be so bold as to modify what Mr. Rae said in 1977, I’d say that, “You get out what you put in…..and so much more”.