This is not a knock on public school. I went to public school. I liked public school. There is a system of life training built into the social fabric of school where we learn a lot about ourselves and the lives we are about to live. But the truth is we don’t learn a lot about life from the actual curriculum in the classroom. We learn that Paul Revere rode through the streets to alarm everyone that the British were coming. We learned that A squared plus B squared equals C squared. We even learned what an electron is. But there are precious little practical life lessons you can take with you. For me, I picked a lot of those through movies (a lot of parents are shaking their heads right now, but don’t knock it completely; there is a lot you can learn from movie perspectives) and my time in the United States Army.
The military teaches you a ton of practical life skills that will elevate your life when applied to your day-to-day. Here are five of them with a couple bonuses at the end.
Never give in–never, never, never, never, in nothing great or small, large or petty, never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense. Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy. – Winston Churchill
Two is one; One is none
Being prepared is lesson one in the military. Nothing is worse than having a plan, having a direction, and then not having the tools you need to execute it. When I went on my first ruck march, the drill sergeants banged gear redundancy into our heads. You have a flashlight? great. You have batteries? Awesome. Backups? No? Push the Earth until they tell you to stop, until you understand that sh*t goes wrong and you always need a backup. In life, the same things happen all the time. When you know it is going to rain, having your rain jacket makes sense. An umbrella makes sense. But a poncho in the car is the security most don’t have.
We don’t rise to the level of our expectations, we fall to the level of our training.” — Attributed to Archilochus
Bottom Line Up Front
Speaking up is a dangerous proposition in basic training. You want to be seen as a leader. You want to rise in the ranks because nobody wants to remain a lowly private. You get all the dirty work nobody else wants. There is always a deluge of ideas when problems arise in the field. So, when I was in training, I decided to speak up and give my thoughts. The problem was the way I decided to start adding context before I delivered my point. Then I got some advice that has stuck with me ever since from one of my favorite mentors.
If you have to sell it before you say it, it isn’t a good idea. Speak up or shut up – Drill Sergeant Burke
That is when I learned to BLUF – Bottom Line Up Front. Clear and concise. Simple to understand. Confidence and firm resolve. Helped me when I was in sales as well.
Early is on time; On time is late
Maybe the most frustrating thought process of the military is the “hurry up and wait.” When people think about training for the military, they mostly think about intense physical training and high-intensity processes. That couldn’t be further from the truth. It is a lot of hustle to get to the area you are meant to report to simply so you can wait half of the day away. I can’t tell you how often I would report at 4 am for training and then sit and wait until right before chow time. The problem is you never know when you are going to go first, so you had to be ready the moment you were supposed to be there. So, if you got there on time, you were late.
In the city, you can never bet on traffic or the trains to get you somewhere on time. The “Fifteen-Minute” rule is the basic form of this philosophy. You’re supposed to be meeting someone for dinner at 7 pm? Put it in your calendar at 6:45 pm. Early is on time, on time is late, late is unacceptable.
Box Breathing
This one has changed my life more recently. When I was in Thailand this summer, I had a hard time settling my mind. I had a guy who helped me figure out how to breathe. I know how that sounds, but there is a trick to clearing your mind and controlling your breathing. When this guy gave me a tip, it felt familiar. He told me to circle the door. What he was doing was reframing a trick my drill sergeants gave me twenty-five years ago.
Breathe in up the side, hold it across the top, breathe out down the opposite side, hold it across the bottom. It is called box breathing. And it slows everything down. The world stops while your heart rate slows.
Sleep everywhere you can
I remember when I was eleven years old, I was told that I needed 8 hours of sleep a night to be healthy. Then I realized that eight hours was a third of twenty-four and that, if I lived to be a hundred, I would have slept away thirty-three years of my life. I panicked as a neurotic pre-teen and slept four hours a night until the Army forced me into a better sleep schedule.
It is amazing what you can forget or lose in habits when you leave the military. When you are in the field, there is no schedule. Sometimes you can bed down for the night, sometimes you have to be on guard duty, and sometimes you are engaged the moment you would usually be settling in, and you lose the opportunity to sleep at all. That is why you have to catch your Z’s where and when you can. The Navy SEALs learn to relax their face, drop their shoulders and arms, exhale to relax the chest, calm their legs, and clear their mind with a peaceful visualization (or repeating “don’t think” for a few seconds).
Comfort is optional; Sleep is not – Old military adage
Two bonuses
Ranger roll
You have to pack a lot into a rucksack. But the gear takes up a lot of space, and the clothing takes up more. Most people fold everything and struggle with space. Roll everything, from the socks and underwear to the tees and the pants; it saves a ton of space and might even make you feel like a Ranger. Probably not, but you never know.
Lay out your kit tonight
Lastly, why rush in the morning? You should be taking everything slow and steady. Coffee, journaling, and maybe even a little box breathing in the morning. Can’t do that if you have to rush to get everything together. So lay everything out the night before and wake up early, worry-free. In the Army, you never know when the siren will sound, and you need to be ready at the drop of a hat.
