It Worked for Me

Welcome to Chapter #1: “My Thirteen Rules.”

Here’s the super quick look:

1. IT AIN’T AS BAD AS YOU THINK. IT WILL LOOK BETTER IN THE MORNING.

2. GET MAD, THEN GET OVER IT.

3. AVOID HAVING YOUR EGO SO CLOSE TO YOUR POSITION THAT WHEN YOUR POSITION FALLS, YOUR EGO GOES WITH IT.

4. IT CAN BE DONE.

5. BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU CHOOSE. YOU MAY GET IT.

6. DON’T LET ADVERSE FACTS STAND IN THE WAY OF A GOOD DECISION.

7. YOU CAN’T MAKE SOMEONE ELSE’S DECISIONS. YOU SHOULDN’T LET SOMEONE ELSE MAKE YOURS.

8. CHECK SMALL THINGS.

9. SHARE CREDIT.

10. REMAIN CALM. BE KIND.

11. HAVE A VISION. BE DEMANDING.

12. DON’T TAKE COUNSEL OF YOUR FEARS OR NAYSAYERS.

13. PERPETUAL OPTIMISM IS A FORCE MULTIPLIER.

Each of those Rules comes with a great story to bring the point home. Check out the book for more. For now, let’s take a quick look at a couple of my favorites (starting with the one that led me to get the book) and then on to some more wisdom we can apply to our lives TODAY!

Perpetual optimism.

<- Isn’t that a BEAUTIFUL phrase?

We’ll ground that optimism into reality in our next Idea, for now, let’s focus on the fact that a leader’s “perpetual optimism” is a FORCE MULTIPLIER.

Couple things come to mind. First, force multipliers.

Do you know what that phrase means? It’s a military term that can be applied to any (and every) domain of our lives. As PersonalMBA defines it for us: “Force Multipliers are tools that help you amplify your effort to produce more output. A hammer is a force multiplier. Investing in Force Multipliers means that you’ll get more done with the same amount of effort.”

Cap’n Obvious check in: Would you rather get a nail into the wall via your fist or a via a hammer? Same basic effort required in the swinging motion but that handy hammer “multiplies” your force to create a much larger output (without all the pain).

“Perpetual optimism.” That’s a force multiplier. (btw: So is our Energy which is why we spend SO MUCH time talking about it.)

Now for some science on the force multiplying math.

Although there are some finer details to the precise definitions of “hope” vis-a-vis “optimism,” for the sake of our discussion let’s make hope and optimism synonymous as we feast on this data from Making Hope Happen that does the force multiplicative math for us: “When people have a boss who makes them feel hopeful about the future, they are more committed to their jobs. Specifically, when Gallup asked followers whether their leader at work (typically a manager) made them enthusiastic about the future, of those who said yes, 69 percent were engaged in their jobs, scoring high on a measure of involvement in and excitement about their work. These engaged employees are the products of hopeful leadership. They are more innovative and productive than others, and they are more likely to be with the company for the long haul.

Of those followers who said their leader did not make them enthusiastic about the future, a mere 1 percent were committed and energized at work. These disengaged workers are a threat to business, coworkers, and themselves. They not only fail to make meaningful contributions; they undermine the hard work of others, and they are likely to me more physically and mentally unhealthy than their coworkers. And, for good and bad, it is somewhat likely that they won’t be with the company one year later.”

1% vs. 69%?! (That stat always elicits a “Wow.”)

Leaders with perpetual optimism who make their team members feel hopeful have, according to that study, team members who are roughly 69 (!!) times more engaged in their jobs.

Yep. I’d call that a force multiplier.

It can be done. That’s Rule #4.

We want to START with that attitude.

But, alas, we also want to make sure we ground that optimism into reality lest we find ourselves running into brick walls.

Which leads us to this line that made me laugh out loud when I first read it, again when I underlined it and once again as I typed it out: “I try to be an optimist, but I try not to be stupid.”

All of that leads us to some wisdom from Rule #6 where Powell echoes that perspective: “Whenever I’m faced with a difficult choice, my approach has always been to make an estimate of the situation—a familiar military process: What’s the situation? What’s the mission? What are the different courses of action? How do they compare with one another? Which looks most likely to succeed? Now follow your informed instinct, decide, and execute forcefully; throw the mass of your forces and energy behind the choice. Then take a deep breath and hope it works, remembering that ‘hope is a bad supper, but makes a good breakfast.’”

Believe it can be done. Enjoy that hope-filled breakfast.

Then rub that hope up against reality to create grounded optimism.

(Think: WOOP! + The Stockdale Paradox + Buoyancy.)

Then have that type of optimism PERPETUALLY. And multiply your power.

That’s from Rule #10: “Remain Calm. Be Kind.”

Powell tells us that a leader has a healthy spectrum of emotions but I just love that idea of a “calm zone.”

Reminds me of Eknath Easwaran’s great book Strength in the Storm. He tells us: “Few human beings are born with the skill to weather storms and stress with grace. Yet everyone can learn. We can’t control the weather outside, but we can control how we respond. …

For it is in the mind that the storms of life really blow. What matters is not so much the turmoil outside us as the weather within. To a person with an agitated mind, something as minor as a rude driver can cause enough stress to ruin a day. By contrast I think of Mahatma Gandhi, who gave himself away when he confessed, ‘I love storms.’ Gandhi began life as a timid child, but he learned to keep his mind so steady that he could face tremendous crises with courage, compassion, wisdom, and even a sense of humor.

This steadiness of mind is one of the most practical skills. Without it, no one can face the challenges of life without breaking. And life today is challenging to say the least. We live in the midst of conflicts — within ourselves, at home, in the community, even nationally and internationally. This is an age of conflict, which makes it an age of anxiety as well. Nothing is more vital than learning to face this turmoil with confidence and compassion.”

“Confidence and compassion.” “Calm and kind.”

I love it when brilliant thinkers from such different perspectives agree on the fundamentals.

Plans. They’re (obviously) absolutely essential AND we need to “expect a plan to need revision at the moment execution starts.”

Earlier in the book Powell put this wisdom a little differently. He said: “It reminds the young Patton of two military maxims: ‘No plan survives first contact with the enemy’ and ‘Even the most brilliant of strategists must occasionally take into account the presence of the enemy.”

All of which reminds me of some more wisdom from Shane Lopez’s Making Hope Happen.

Here’s how he puts it: “World-famous boxer and armchair philosopher Mike Tyson once observed, ‘Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.’ No matter how good we are at futurecasting, life throws punches. A key skill of high-hope people is the ability to plan for ifs, the ability to anticipate obstacles and create multiple pathways to each and every goal. This skill is rooted in two core beliefs of hopeful people: there are many paths to goals and none of them is free of obstacles.”

I’m also reminded of Jeff Goins and his wisdom on “pivots” inThe Art of Work. He tells us: “Pivoting isn’t plan B; it’s a part of the process. Unexpected things will happen; setbacks do occur. Whether or not you’re prepared to pivot will affect how well you weather those storms and find a way to survive. … We often look at successful people, hearing their stories of failure, and think that they succeeded despite the fact that they failed. But that’s not true. Successful people and organizations don’t succeed in spite of failure. They succeed because of it.”

Which leads us to the next Idea…

That’s from the final section in the book in which we explore a wide range of stories including Colin’s, as he puts it, “rocky education career.”

Although he went on to become the highest-ranking military officer in the country, he didn’t go to an elite military academy like West Point. In fact, he barely graduated from City College of New York (which he calls “Harvard for the poor”) where he was in ROTC.

As he says: “I love telling my story of my rocky education career to youngsters. My point is, it isn’t where you start your life that counts, it is where you end up. So, believe in yourself, work hard, study hard, be your own role model, believe that anything is possible, and always do your best. Remember that your past is not necessarily your future.”

But that’s not the principle point of this Idea.

This is: We ALL (!!!) feel fear. Even the bravest warriors among us.

As Steven Pressfield puts it in The War of Art(every time I read/share this quote it hits me anew): “The amateur believes he must first overcome his fear, then he can do his work. The professional knows that fear can never be overcome. He knows there’s no such thing as a fearless warrior or a dread-free artist.”

One more time: We ALL (!!!) feel fear.

Powell tells us: “Fear is a normal human emotion. It is not in itself a killer. We can learn to be aware when fear grips us, and can train to operate through and in spite of fear. If, on the other hand, we don’t understand that fear is normal and has to be controlled and overcome, it will paralyze us and stop us in our tracks. We will no longer think clearly or analyze rationally. We prepare for it and control it; we never let it control us. If it does, we cannot lead.”

btw: Our last Note was on The 5 Second Rule by Mel Robbins. Her big thing? Quit over thinking it and letting fear run the show. Instead, follow her 5 Second Rule: “The Moment you have an instinct to act on a goal you must 5-4-3-2-1 and physically move or your brain will stop you.”

Here’s to alchemizing our fear as we lead ourselves first and give the world all we’ve got!