Life

Lessons from a life well…and not so well-lived.

Be Your Best

I’m not a huge basketball fan…neither college nor professional.  But as I sit here watching the NCAA men’s national championship game, the ‘home town team’ having made a hasty and premature departure from the tournament, I realize that perseverance, dedication, and heart have all played large in determining the final two teams to wage battle for top honors.  It occurs to me, as it did watching the highlight reels of those many underdog-upset victories in the early rounds, it is in those moments that these young men are truly focused on being the best they can be.

As I traveled the state, country, and the world as a senior enlisted military leader talking to soldiers and airmen, a popular question I got was “what can I do/what do I need to do to get to where you are?”  My answer was always this: be the best you can be, wherever you are.  Be the best Soldier or Airman you can be.  Be the best cook or mechanic; the best medic or bomb loader; the best leader or follower.  That’s it.  You may or may not get that promotion you want or think you deserve; or maybe that you are more qualified for.  But when you work hard at being the very best you can be, wherever you are, you will be ready for the next opportunity when it comes along.  In the case of the Cinderella story superstars who broke the hearts and brackets of a whole lot of NCAA basketball fans, they were ready, and their time came.  But what if that opportunity never comes (unlikely as it may be), how bad is it, really, if you are simply YOUR VERY BEST wherever you are?

I believe at least three things are important to being the best you can be.  They are readiness, teamwork, and constant improvement.  For the sake of respecting your time and managing mine, I’ll give you the short version here…

Readiness: I once heard former director of the Air National Guard, Lieutenant General Sid Clarke, say that we consistently plan for things that never happen, and things happen every day that we never planned for.  To minimize those times when faced with things not planned for, maintain a breadth and depth of readiness to be as completely prepared as possible.  Be well read, well-traveled, well educated, and well experienced.  In other words, control what you can control by maintaining “the highest level of personal readiness”, as the United States Air Force Enlisted Force Structure articulates.  That’s the first order of business.

Teamwork: No one is an island.  Real teamwork is easily seen in successful sports programs.  A lack of same is equally as evident.  I heard Doctor Mark Evans of the United States Military Academy jokingly say “I expect you all to be independent, innovative, critical thinkers…who will do exactly as I say.”  It’s not just about you.  Take a moment and think about the last time you did something by yourself.  Check that…think of the last time you ’accomplished’ something meaningful or worthwhile by yourself.  It simply doesn’t happen.   We need each other.  That’s why many coaches and managers will gladly take a roster made up of unselfish athletes of ‘average’ talent who play with heart and put the team above their own ambitions over one with a superstar or two who never quite achieve synergy.

Improvement: Getting a little better in some way, each and every day.  Money master Dave Ramsey calls it baby steps and compound interest; Doctor Gary Smalley describes it as the power of one; radio personality Dr. Randy Carlson calls it the power of one thing; natural strong-man Stuart McRobert refers to it as progressive poundage; and former Vietnam Prisoner of War Ed Hubbard attributes ‘incremental improvements’ to achieving the wonder of human potential during captivity and beyond.  The point is to make constant improvement a habit and a lifelong commitment.  Strive for it…repeatedly. If you can go to bed each night reflecting on your day and identify even just one thing you did better than the day before, consider it a victory.  My goal is to do a little bit better each day, and improve myself and those around me along the way.  To leave the people I know, the things I borrow, and the world in general better than I found them.

I can best do that by always striving to be the best I can be, wherever I am and whatever I’m doing.

Get strong.  Be strong.  Stay strong.

 

Irony or Incongruity?

Incongruity (n): The state or quality of being incongruous.

Incongruous (adj): Not corresponding or conforming; at odds

Leave it to me to waste no time in creating new subjects to write about before I prefer to write about them.  In fact, I would prefer never to write about this.  And leave it to God to waste no time reminding me an important lesson about congruence in my thoughts, my talk, and my walk.  Yeah…well the Bible says in the Book of Acts “…I strive always to keep my conscience clear before God and man” (24:16).  Consider this post clearing my conscience.  Here’s the story…

If you read my previous post, you may have noted near the conclusion that I tied the discussion about giving and receiving compliments to leadership and the importance of being able to temper ‘criticism with positive affirmations or compliments’, and how a leader “should always strive to offset any criticism” by also delivering an “abundance positives.”  Man…that was some good stuff, right?

Unfortunately, despite talking about it (and usually doing a fairly good job of walking it, too), I promptly went to work the very next day and was a complete jack-ass in the way I handled a staff-work/ assignment related issue.  I was harsh, defensive, unkind, and quite frankly a dick in how I responded to one of my people who politely voiced some criticism.  Not that this makes it any better – it may actually be worse – but I knew it was coming.  It was just a matter of time before I blew up, and I should have done more to prevent it.  I was becoming increasingly stressed and under intense pressure from overloaded work and my inability to catch up.  I recognized that I was becoming edgy.  In speaking with people, face-to-face and through email, I was increasingly abrupt.  Where I typically stay cheerful, pleasant, light-hearted and even playful, I had pretty much lost all sense of that.  And I had lost my patience for people and things they did (or didn’t do in a couple of instances).  Regardless, I have always prided myself on being able to remain calm and even-keeled in in those situations.  But through a series of unfortunate events and work related disappointments, one pertaining to a missed long-time career aspiration, that I failed to adequately reconcile, it all added up.  And do you know what the sum was?  Zero.  Because that’s what I felt like.  A zero.

It was creeping in at home, too.  You know…that place and those people who are used to getting that side of you anyway.  Because it’s much easier to be a jerk to those closest to you, right?  Well, think of that.  And multiply it.  By a lot.

The worst part was, the blow up at work happened between me and the one person on my staff I’m probably closest to from a personal standpoint.  Considering the above paragraph, maybe I’m onto something here.  So what happened to the March 26, 2018 Beyond Strength post about “avoiding judgment and treating others with dignity and respect helps ensure that regardless of the situation or subject matter, relating to other humans by saying nice things to each other is a skill worth developing.”?  Well That’s Fabulous (WTF).

Former Vietnam Prisoner of War Lee Ellis writes in his book Leading with Honor that we should “allow people to utilize their strengths, which are different from yours, to complement your struggles, which are different from theirs.  Your respect for others will grow as you focus on their positives and take ownership of your struggles” (2012) (emphasis added).

So has your boss ever come into your office and literally gotten down on his or her knees and said “I’m really sorry”?  Well I did that.  I didn’t know what else to do in the moments following the crap-sandwich I had served up during the meeting.  But I knew how bad I felt about how poorly I handled the situation, and the pain I must have caused by lashing out that way.  I needed to apologize and to take ownership for what I’d done.  There’s no other answer.  In fact, I probably should have just spent the rest of the day crawling around the office on my knees apologizing to everyone, because I’m sure they could all hear me barking and no doubt saw first-hand what a tool I’d been lately.

It was my issue; my fault; my struggle.  I know that, and I take responsibility for it.  And while it’s been a little awkward around the office, it’s slowly getting better.  I hope with time it will be even better than it was before.  And I also hope with time I’ll stop doing stupid things so I can write about non-stupid things; or maybe stupid things other people did.  But I know me…and chances are pretty good we’ll be having a lot more talks like this.

Get strong…Be strong…Stay strong…

Ellis, L. (2012). Leading with honor: leadership lessons from the Hanoi Hilton. FreedomStar Media.

Complimentary Complements

In his book The Purpose Driven Life, Rick Warren writes “The dark side of the desire for approval is the fear of disapproval” (2002).  One of the reasons I am passionate about this Beyond Strength endeavor is to help me deal with some significant self-doubts and insecurities, as well as help others who struggle similarly.  So it seems fitting that one of the first subjects that came to mind as I contemplated early essays pertains to the subject of giving and receiving compliments.  While this might seem like a softball subject to write about in a life, leadership and fitness blog, I believe the ability to give and receive feedback is critical to effective leadership (which includes giving and receiving compliments).

I consider myself fairly adept at giving timely and sincere compliments, and providing meaningful feedback.  However, actually receiving compliments is another story.  In fact, I struggle in this area.  A lot.  It’s not that I don’t enjoy being complimented.  In fact, I’m sure that most people want to be noticed or appreciated, and don’t mind hearing about it when they are.  I think in my case, like many others, it has more to do with a general struggle with self-esteem, self-confidence, and self-worth.

I have been told that I am overly critical of myself; that I beat myself up too much over mistakes I’ve made; that there is such a thing as being humble to a fault; and that I don’t have any reason to be self-conscious or insecure.  Yet those are all things I do and I feel every day.  And while I am working hard to examine my ‘back-story’ so as to better understand why I might feel this way (and find productive ways to fix it), it’s easier said than done to suddenly change into someone who is quietly confident or who openly “owns it” or “embraces it”…whatever “it” is.

I believe the theory that other people’s perspectives may help us understand more about ourselves.  In fact, that’s one reason I make a point to give a lot of compliments and positive affirmation to others – I want them to know how I see them.  But I struggle to accept the same.  It makes little sense, especially because of my personal neediness and strong desire to be affirmed by others.  I can’t speak for others who might wrestle with this, but in my case I believe at least part of my difficulty receiving compliments has to do with poor decisions, mistakes I’ve made in my past, or internal strife because of my thought life making me feel unworthy of any such praise.  I can also remember an instance several years ago where I was accused of being arrogant by someone who knew nothing about me and probably made that accusation out of their own insecurity.  It hurt me a great deal and has had a lasting effect on how I project myself to others – to the point of regular self-deprecation – perhaps in an attempt to be absolutely certain no one would ever think of me that way again.  So I deflect, minimizing or completely rejecting people’s genuine compliments.

But maybe there’s more.  Is it possible that the perspectives of people who resist compliments are undermined by having been hurt, heartbroken, deceived, or taken for granted by people close to them?  I believe when this happens, there is a defensive tendency to erect walls, remain emotionally guarded, or behave in other ways to distance ourselves, presuming it will protect us from future hurt.  Call it social self-sabotage, for lack of a better term.  The snowball grows as it gains momentum, and the problem is further compounded as skepticism, failing to be appropriately vulnerable and transparent in relationships, or not accepting compliments at face-value creep in as we fear being deceived and played for a fool.  The down-side, of course, is that it can lead to an outward projection of neediness; or on the opposite end of the spectrum, lead to relational coldness – when in reality, we are often screaming inside at the top of our lungs for someone to just tell us what we need to hear…that we are appreciated…that we matter…that we’re not worthless.

The giving and receiving of compliments is not only a complex social issue, but as pointed out earlier, it can be a delicate leadership issue as well.  Some leaders are masterful at critical feedback, but not so good at tempering that criticism with positive affirmations or compliments.  Not that I have this all figured out, but I do believe that a leader should always strive to offset any criticism – positive or negative – by also delivering an abundance of positives.  Everyone has positive attributes or things they do well.  It is wise to balance constructive criticism with positive feedback and compliments.  This approach helps both the giver and receiver better deal with the tricky subject of critical feedback and compliments.

In conclusion, the subject of compliments can be awkward enough on its own.  It becomes even more challenging when taking into account one’s ability to give or receive compliments may involve deep emotional complexities not known to the other party.  But like everything else in human relations, avoiding judgment and treating others with dignity and respect helps ensure that regardless of the situation or subject matter, relating to other humans by saying nice things to each other is a skill worth developing.  And so is appreciating when people say nice things about you.

Get strong…Be strong…Stay strong…

Warren, R. (2002). The purpose driven life: what on earth am I here for? Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

So begins this journey…

“We have only to follow the thread of the hero path. Where we had thought to find an abomination, we shall find a god; where we had thought to slay another, we shall slay ourselves; where we had thought to travel outwards, we shall come to the center of our own existence; where we had thought to be alone, we shall be with the world.” -Joseph Campbell, The Hero with a Thousand Faces (as shared by Richard Rohr in Falling Upward).

Beyond Strength is where I begin to find myself again…