As a former military aviator, I will say that there might be something here. A skill that's praised in that community is "compartmentalization," or being able

As a former military aviator, I will say that there might be something here. A skill that's praised in that community is "compartmentalization," or being able to put away distractions such as the argument you had with your spouse, the kid being sick, or the late paperwork sitting on your desk that's irritating your boss, and focus solely on flying the mission while you're in the cockpit. That said, at least in my time, they did a crap job of actually teaching students HOW to compartmentalize. That said, one of the steps in being qualified to fly any given aircraft is having to occasionally get in the simulator and fly a "Kobiyashi Maru" type sequence of multiple compounding emergencies over and over again. You're being graded not just on being able to follow the checklists, but knowing enough about the aircraft to know what to do when multiple systems fail and the checklists contradict each other, or you're in a corner case where following a checklist blindly is a dumb idea. In cases like these, being able to be calmly present in the moment is a very valuable skill.