We’re in for a rainy weekend.
As Jocko Willink would say: “GOOD.”
Jocko spoke at our annual Summit event last year. He brought a message I hadn’t heard from him before:
“GOOD OPERATING CONDITIONS.”
Jocko told the story of commanding Task Force Bruiser in Iraq, and performing missions in horrible conditions. Sometimes, it would snow; sometimes the heat was over 115F.
Neither Jocko nor his elite Navy SEAL teams wanted to operate in those conditions. But, he explained, neither did the enemy.
We don’t have to face down the Taliban in Northern Ontario. But our enemy still shoots back with deadly accuracy. Because our greatest enemy lives in our head, that enemy knows every mistake we’ve ever made; every embarrassment; every single weakness we possess. Our enemy traps us in rumination and freezes us with self-doubt.
Our opportunity, in tough conditions, is to move when the enemy thinks we won’t.
Go out in the rain.
Go out in the wind.
Ride when things are hard.
Exercise when you don’t really feel like it.
Prove to yourself–and the enemy in your head–that you can do hard things.
That you’re willing to overcome obstacles in the pursuit of self-mastery.
Pick up the phone and call that angry client.
Take your neighbor for coffee.
Ask your competitor how you can collaborate.
The only way to get better at hard things is to do hard things.
See you out there!
