The McGrath Minute

As I have said before, I recently retired from the military. I have been doing a lot of soul searching recently and I have certainly have had a lot more time on my hands. One outlet that has helped me with my transition out of military service and back into a normal quiet life is writing. The biggest thing I will miss about the military is the ability to mentor people from all walks of life. The most common trend that I have experienced is people’s ability to put off some important task or goal because it challenges their comfort level.

Before you can accomplish anything in life you must have a clearly defined vision which I’ll call the end-state. The end-state is the end of the road or whatever it is that you want to accomplish in life, for example, I want to be a doctor, operator, etc. You must align your short term goals in order to achieve the end-state. Look at it as a trail with a whole bunch of bread crumbles and you must eat the little pieces along the way to keep yourself motivated in order so that you can continue along the path and finish to the end.

People (me included) start making excuses as to why they do not want to push themselves out of their comfort zones to some attainable goal. Another possibility that people just don’t make attainable short term goals and lose focus because their desired end-state is just too impossible to achieve, so they quit. I will use an example from the military. The United States Army has a leadership course that teaches you tactical leadership in a simulated combat environment called United States Army Ranger School. The school is renowned for its austere and stressful conditions. Students are forced to move long distances with little sleep and even less food. These students are given a mission and a timeline and they are graduated on their ability to think critically while they are experiencing fatigue, hunger, and stress. Once students graduated they have earned the right to wear the Ranger Tab. There is a lot of controversy around having the Ranger tab, service members will argue that having the tab gives you the free pass to do whatever you want and the ability to continue get unlimited promotions without doing the work. While others will argue that having the tab is a constant burden to live up to the Ranger Creed. There is a lot of value placed on having the Ranger tab as leaders continue advance within the ranks. There is an expectation that most if not all officers within a combat arms specialty have their tab. This has lead to others that do not have their tab to take extreme measures to get promoted without having to attend the Ranger course. It becomes something put off till the summer, or next year, or when I am in better shape. Then that time rolls around and they continue to make excuses as to why they do not go to Ranger school or they get promoted to a position that requires so much of their attention that they never accomplish one of their most important goals that they made while in the military. I have met exceptional leaders that did not have Ranger tabs, also, I have also met some of the worst leaders in the military that had a tab.

You can substitute the Ranger course with anything inside or out of the military; some sort of selection; airborne; Jumpmaster school; etc. Being in the military isn’t all inclusive to having goals. I am just speaking from my most recent experience. This same thing can be applied to any situation that you find yourself in. Just like Newton’s first law of motion, a body that is at rest will remain at rest unless something changes that trajectory. People live in their own comfort zones and begin to make excuses for everything to remain in their comfortable homeostasis; they will keep putting off goals until tomorrow. They say to themselves that they will get back into shape on Monday or they will go on a diet at the beginning of the year. I always say that the best time to do something is to do it immediately. Most of the time if you wait to do something, you lose focus, time passes by and it is too late to accomplish your goals.

Another thing that factors into this equation is external stimulation. People just don’t want to look bad in front of their peers and they make goals that are too easy and they do not challenge themselves. Some people are afraid of failure and how that will affect their reputation or they want to be a big fish in a small pond. They take the easy way out and do not push themselves to their fullest potential. Seize the moment and make steps in order to further your goals and or aspirations. Initiative will go a long way and when you look back over the course of your life, you can truly say that you have done everything you set out to do. You cannot let other people’s opinions affect you and you cannot be afraid of failure. Failure is actually a good thing and it will develop your character. The time is now to accomplish your goals, do not waste time because life is just too short.