The good news here is that the airplane has two tricks up its sleeve to help you.

The first is that the three interfaces between you and the primary flight controls actually require different amounts of force to operate and are arranged in a typical ratio of 1:2:4 for roll, pitch, and yaw, respectively. This means rolling the airplane by moving the yoke left or right takes the least amount of force, while pulling or pushing the yoke for pitch takes double that, and, finally, moving the rudder pedals for yaw takes yet again double the force used for pitch.

This arrangement, while it sounds a bit crazy at first, is optimized to your body, matching the relative strengths of the three muscle groups used to make these movements. This helps you quickly learn to coordinate your hands, arms, and feet, all of which may need to be doing different things in unison, as you maneuver the airplane.

It’s engineered symbiosis between human and machine.

So, my first tip for you today is, as you get used to multitasking your hands, arms, and feet, use each of them in the same proportion that you are used to using them in life. You don’t need to use any extraordinary strength for any control movement. The airplane is built around how you are built, so just be yourself.

That said, the force you need to exert changes depending on how much movement you want to command. And that’s where the airplane’s second trick comes into play: It features a variable control force-feedback system. Using a variety of mechanical and aerodynamic devices, the flight controls provide progressively greater resistance to the pilot the further out of trimmed condition the controls are deployed. So, for instance, pitching the airplane progressively higher takes progressively more force, rather than a set amount of force.

So here’s my second tip: Tune into the forces of resistance. Once you get a feel for them, you’ll fly smoothly with little conscious forethought, and you’ll be free to focus on all the other aspects of your flight.