Ric Elias: 3 things I learned while my plane crashed

3 Things I Learned While My Plane Crashed: Business Lessons On Taking Action

Ric Elias was on US Airways Flight 1549, the plane that famously landed on the Hudson River in New York. In those terrifying minutes as the plane went down, he had three profound realisations that changed how he lives his life. And those realisations are just as relevant to how you run your business.

This is a video about taking action, about how we settle for second best, and about how we don’t do the things we know we should do. It’s one of the most powerful talks I’ve ever watched, and it resonates deeply with the work I do as a business coach across Leeds, Bradford, Sheffield, and the wider Yorkshire region.

Because here’s the truth: you don’t need a near-death experience to start living and working with urgency. You just need to wake up to the fact that your time is limited and you’re choosing how to spend it every single day.

The Three Lessons That Change Everything

Ric Elias’s three realisations during those final moments before impact were deceptively simple but incredibly powerful. And each one has a direct application to how you approach your business and your life.

Lesson One: Everything Can Change In An Instant

In business, we operate as though we have unlimited time. We put off the important decisions, delay the uncomfortable conversations, and procrastinate on the actions that could transform our results. We tell ourselves there’s always tomorrow.

But everything can change in an instant. The market shifts. A competitor emerges. A key client leaves. A global event reshapes the entire landscape. The business owners across Harrogate, York, and Manchester who thrive are the ones who understand this and act with appropriate urgency.

I see this constantly in my coaching work. Business owners who have been talking about launching a new service for two years. Entrepreneurs who know they need to invest in digital marketing but keep putting it off. Professionals who’ve been planning to raise their prices since last January. They’re all operating under the dangerous assumption that the opportunity will still be there when they’re finally ready.

It won’t always be there. Markets change, windows close, and competitors don’t wait for you to catch up. The time to act is now, not when conditions are perfect, because conditions are never perfect.

Lesson Two: Stop Wasting Time On Things That Don’t Matter

When you think your life is about to end, you suddenly get very clear about what matters and what doesn’t. All the petty disagreements, the grudges, the time spent worrying about what other people think, it all falls away instantly.

Apply this lens to your business. How much of your working week is spent on activities that genuinely matter? How many hours go to tasks that feel productive but contribute nothing meaningful to your growth? How much energy do you waste on worry, comparison, and perfectionism?

Most business owners across Leeds and Yorkshire, when they honestly audit their time, discover that a shocking percentage of their working day goes to activities that don’t actually move the needle. They spend hours on social media without a strategy. They attend networking events that never generate business. They tinker with their website instead of picking up the phone and speaking to potential clients.

The lesson here is ruthless prioritisation. Focus your time and energy on the activities that directly generate revenue, build relationships, and create long-term value. Everything else is a distraction, and life is too short for distractions.

Lesson Three: Don’t Postpone The Important Things

This is perhaps the most powerful lesson of all. Ric Elias realised that he’d been postponing things that mattered to him, experiences he wanted to have, words he wanted to say, goals he wanted to pursue, because he assumed he’d have time later.

In business, this translates directly to the dreams and ambitions you keep pushing to next month, next quarter, next year. The business you’ve always wanted to build. The income you know you’re capable of earning. The lifestyle you’ve been working towards but never quite reaching. The lead generation system you know you need to implement.

What are you postponing? And what would happen if you stopped postponing it and started doing it today?

Why Business Owners Settle For Second Best

The connection between Ric Elias’s experience and business is this: most of us settle. Not because we lack ability, ambition, or opportunity, but because settling is comfortable. It’s safe. It doesn’t require the vulnerability and risk that pursuing your full potential demands.

Settling looks different for every business owner. For some, it’s accepting a level of income that’s “good enough” instead of pushing for what they’re truly worth. For others, it’s staying in a market or niche they’ve outgrown because the familiar feels safer than the new. For many business owners across Sheffield, Bradford, and Leeds, it’s running their business the same way they did five years ago because change feels overwhelming.

But settling has a cost. It’s not just the lost revenue or the missed opportunities. It’s the slow, quiet erosion of your passion, your drive, and your sense of possibility. Every time you choose comfort over growth, you reinforce the belief that where you are is where you belong. And that’s simply not true.

How To Stop Settling And Start Acting

Breaking free from the settling mindset requires deliberate action. Here’s what I recommend to my coaching clients across Yorkshire:

Define your non-negotiables. What does your ideal business and life actually look like? Not the compromised version, the real one. Write it down in detail. This becomes your north star, the standard against which you measure every decision.

Identify where you’re settling. Look honestly at every area of your business. Your pricing, your clients, your marketing, your systems, your online presence, your work-life balance. Where have you accepted less than you want or deserve? These are your opportunities for transformation.

Create urgency. Don’t wait for a crisis to motivate you. Calculate the cost of another year of settling. What will it cost you financially, personally, and professionally? Use that number to fuel your action.

Get support. Ric Elias’s realisations were powerful, but they happened in extreme circumstances. A business coach creates a similar kind of clarity without the need for a life-threatening event. At K Frequency, we help business owners see their situation clearly and take the decisive action needed to break through to the next level.

Act before you feel ready. If you wait until you feel completely confident and prepared, you’ll wait forever. The most successful business owners I’ve coached across Leeds, Manchester, and Yorkshire all share one trait: they act before they feel ready and figure it out along the way.

What Are You Going To Do?

That’s the question this all comes down to. Not what could you do. Not what should you do. What are you actually going to do?

If you want to take the next steps, then you can start by getting yourself booked in for a Free 1 Hour Business and Marketing Strategy Session valued at £147. Let’s work out how to take you forward. Whether you’re in Leeds, York, Sheffield, Harrogate, or anywhere across Yorkshire, this session will give you the clarity and direction you need to stop settling and start building the business you actually want.

Life is short. Business is urgent. And the time to act is now.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I stop procrastinating on important business decisions?

Create a deadline, even an artificial one, and share it with someone who will hold you accountable. Break the decision into the smallest possible first step and take that step immediately. Procrastination thrives on ambiguity, so the more specific and immediate you make the action, the less room there is for delay.

Why do business owners settle for less than they want?

Settling is usually driven by fear of change, comfort with the familiar, or a lack of belief that more is possible. It’s rarely a conscious choice. Most business owners don’t realise they’re settling until someone helps them see the gap between where they are and where they could be.

How can I create more urgency in my business?

Calculate the cost of inaction. What is every month of delay costing you in lost revenue, missed opportunities, and unfulfilled potential? When you see the real financial and personal cost of waiting, urgency follows naturally. A business coach can help you quantify this cost clearly.

What is the biggest regret business owners have?

The most common regret Daniel Latto hears from business owners across Leeds and Yorkshire is not taking action sooner. Whether it’s raising prices, investing in marketing, hiring help, or simply starting their business in the first place, the pattern is consistent. People rarely regret the actions they took, only the ones they didn’t.

How does business coaching help with taking action?

Business coaching provides clarity on what actions to take, accountability to ensure you follow through, and support when the inevitable challenges arise. A coach helps you move from thinking to doing, which is where all real business results are generated.