Life lessons from an Ant 🐜 and a Fox 🦊
Hi Friends,
With SAS who dares wins, back on the telly I thought this week would be a good week to talk all things SAS.
The program has become my go-to, easy watch these days. I got into watch it when a good friend of mine decided to go for selection for a place on the program. After getting hooked I decided to pick up some of the presenter’s books and I must admit I was really impressed with the content.
Before I start, I would like to say maybe not all the leadership techniques used during the program would be transferable to the office. Telling someone after they had completed a work task that they made it look like a ‘bag of shit’ and to go stand over there and think about making it not look like a bag of shit, may not go down well, but I do think there are some great nuggets of advice we can all take from the team.
SAS: Leadership Secrets from the Special Forces
by Middleton (Author), Anthony (Author), Fox (Author), Jason (Author), Ollerton (Author), Matthew (Author), & 2 more
Buy it here and with notes here
🌟 Key points
Use the mission success cycle for team projects
Plan: outline, find resources, outline step-by-step process
Brief: Make it clear.
Deliver: Follow the step-by-step plan but be flexible.
Debrief: What went well, and what lessons were learnt?
Speak up and ask questions - face the fear
Anger should be like any other resource. You should have control to be able to turn it on and off when needed.
Prayers meeting: an open forum. An opportunity to update and share.
Our thoughts are the gatekeepers to our emotions and stripping away emotions allows us to perform more effectively
Recognise when to back away. Review the situation. Does success outweigh the negatives? Live to fight another day.
If you chase after the successful completion of the mission then you risk greed and exhaustion.
Visualise the reward- not just the finish line
Fear bubble - Ant Middleton
This book has been one of my go-to books over the past couple of years. I think his principle of visualising the challenge within a bubble. Don’t stress until you are in the bubble with the challenge and once you are in either step back out if you’re not ready or pop it.
Buy it here and with notes here
🌟 Key points
Three main fears; suffering, failure and conflict.
Fear and negativity are contagious. Don’t feed off of someone else.
When in the bubble there are two choices, one is to step back out. If you do this, step out, get yourself in a better headspace and head back in when ready. The second choice is to smash it!
The best way to inoculate against criticism is to identify your weaknesses and work on them. It can’t hurt you if they state a point that you are already aware of. They are just telling you something that you already know.
💪 Actions
Visualize life with fear bubbles.
Stop overthinking the worst situation. It hasn't happened. You aren’t even in the bubble yet.
Reflect on your abilities and what needs to be improved
Don’t miss opening doors of opportunity because you may not succeed
Don't take things personally. It's not you, it's their situation and their emotions.
Don’t dwell on the 'could have' or near misses... it didn’t happen so don't worry about it.
See a task you don't want to do… put a bubble around it and smash it open.
One final point…
