Prefer to choose for yourself?
Not everyone wants to leave it to chance. You can also browse all six sections below, choose the one that feels most relevant today, or read through the whole blog at your own pace.
Each section includes one suggestion for when the day is going well and another for when it has been one of those days.
1. 🛠️ The Operation
How’s your day going?
Flying days somehow seem to sit at the extreme ends of the spectrum — from “flying on rails” to “what’s going wrong next?” Summer operations can amplify both.
☀️ Today’s going well…
If you’ve got a serviceable aircraft and you’re running to time, make a point of noticing it.
These are the days we tend to take for granted, yet they’re the days when hundreds of things have quietly gone right.
🌥️ Today’s been one of those days…
Whether it’s delays, technical defects or disruption, make sure everyone gets a few minutes to do one thing they need.
Call home. Check on the dog. Make a drink. Use the toilet.
Small acts of looking after each other can make a surprisingly big difference.
2. 👨✈️ New Starter or Challenging Colleague
Who are you flying with today?
Summer often brings a mix of familiar faces, new colleagues and people working together for the first time.
Sometimes those combinations are effortless. Sometimes they take a little more patience.
☀️ Today’s going well…
Be the colleague you’d have wanted in that situation.
🌥️ Today’s been one of those days…
If someone is getting under your skin today, step away for a couple of minutes if you can.
Challenge your first impression by thinking of two or three other explanations for their behaviour. Then ask yourself:
Does this actually need addressing?
If the answer is yes, consider the best time and way to give feedback. If the answer is no, let it go.
Use those few minutes for yourself instead — a coffee, a Diet Coke, a proper comfort break or simply a chance to reset.
Tomorrow, you’ll almost certainly be flying with someone else.
3. 🛬 The Approach
Where are you flying today?
Summer schedules often mean different destinations, unfamiliar airports and approaches that demand a little more thought than the routine of winter operations.
Every approach gives us an opportunity to learn something.
☀️ Today’s going well…
Take a moment to notice why.
Aim to take one thing from this sector into your next flight. It might be a speed or configuration gate, a phrase that helped crew coordination, or a small technique that made the approach feel smoother.
If you’re continuing together, ask your colleague what made it work well from their perspective. You may come away with a different lesson.
🌥️ Today’s been one of those days…
If you’re flying another sector together, agree one thing you’ll each do differently next time.
If you’re heading home, decide what you’ll carry forward into tomorrow.
Then, when the time is right, bring yourself back to the present. Notice:
five things you can see;
four things you can hear;
three things you can feel;
two things you can smell;
one thing you can taste.
Learn from the approach — but don’t keep flying it in your head for the rest of the day.
4. 👨👩👧👦 The Passengers
Who are you flying today?
For you, it may be another sector in a busy roster.
For the people behind the flight deck door, today may be the start of a long-awaited adventure, the relief of finally getting home, or the end of a holiday they’ll remember for years.
☀️ Today’s going well…
If time allows, look out for the most excited passenger on board.
Invite them into the flight deck while you’re on the ground, or spend a minute chatting to them at the door. Ask where they’re heading or what they’re most looking forward to.
Borrow a little of their excitement — it can be surprisingly contagious.
🌥️ Today’s been one of those days…
If today has felt like a stream of complaints and demands, look for one positive interaction before the doors open at the end of the flight.
A smile, a thank you or a brief conversation can be enough to stop one difficult passenger defining the whole sector.
If the whole crew are feeling it, don’t underestimate the value of appropriate humour.
A shared smile, a discreet raised eyebrow or a moment of gentle laughter — well out of passengers’ sight — can help everyone reset before carrying on.
5. 🌡️ The Summer Day
How is summer affecting you today?
Heat, longer days, busier airports, fuller aircraft and disrupted routines all place small additional demands on us.
None is dramatic in isolation, but together they can subtly change how we think, feel and perform.
☀️ Today’s going well…
Take a moment to notice what’s helping today go well.
Perhaps you slept well, ate properly, found a new shortcut to the crew room or brought an iced coffee from home.
Whatever is making today easier, keep doing it — or see whether you can make it even better.
Small habits often underpin good days.
🌥️ Today’s been one of those days…
Pick one thing you’ll do differently tomorrow to make the day easier.
It might be:
preparing your lunch the night before;
making an iced coffee to bring with you, if your airport allows it;
feeding yourself properly before an early report;
getting outside during your time off, if you can;
having a quick vent to a trusted friend before bed.
Don’t try to change everything. Choose one thing and see what difference it makes.
6. 🏠 Going Home
What are you going home to?
Whether it’s family, friends, a dog desperate for a walk or simply a quiet house, finishing duty is also the beginning of the rest of your day.
How we make that transition matters.
☀️ Today’s going well…
When you get home, notice one thing that reminds you why you enjoy this job.
Perhaps it’s the dogs greeting you at the door, hearing about your family’s day, walking into your garden after a long trip away, or simply the satisfaction of having done a skilled job well.
Good days deserve to be noticed too.
🌥️ Today’s been one of those days…
Before you walk through the front door, decide what you’re leaving behind at work.
Once you’re home, deliberately reconnect with something that matters outside aviation.
Take the dogs for a walk, cook a favourite meal, sit in the garden with a drink, phone a friend or spend time with someone you love.
Give yourself permission to notice that you’re more than today’s duty — and that there’s still plenty worth enjoying before tomorrow arrives.
One small action. One small win.
You don’t need to complete every suggestion or change the whole day.
Whether you rolled the die or chose a section for yourself, take the one small action that feels useful and leave the rest for another time.