The Recruiting Animal

Have Some Backbone

And push back. That's a philosophy everybody needs.

I was around five when I ran to my mother telling her about a bully punching me in the playground. She looked at me quizzically.

"An older kid?" she asked. "Him!" I pointed at the culprit. My mother looked. "You should be ashamed of yourself," she said. "You're as big as he is. Hit him back."

The idea didn't appeal to me. "Lunch first?" I asked.

"George!" she said. "Let me see you do it."

There was nothing for it but going back to the bully. "My mother said for me to hit you," I said apologetically. Not unreasonably, he pushed me away. Scared of my mother, I pushed him back. Hard. He fell on his backside. My moral compass was set for life.

From George Jonas

How To Beat Procrastination

You don't see any reward in action.
You don't see how you can get your task done on time so you do nothing.
It really might be too late to finish the task on time if you start now.
But that's a reason to go into action. Why?

There are two possible rewards:
1. Better late than never.
2. You are building the habit of being in action and that is one of the greatest rewards you can ever receive.

The success of the immediate product is a secondary issue. It is primarily a vehicle to build the action habit, an absolute requirement for a decent life.

One more time:
a. The procrastination habit is a killer.
b. You have to create a counter habit.
c. Use any task, pointless or not, to get into the habit of action.

Reference: Dave Bohl at Dumb Little Guy. His recommendations are quite different but the title meant a lot to me: Beating Procrastination is Easy – Once You Get Moving. Movement is the goal. Not a payoff from the project at hand.

Change is Difficult and Rare

Every therapist knows a bitter truth, and that is that true and fundamental change is both difficult and rare. - neo-neocon

Success Breeds No-Limits Mentality

Source: Shrinkwrapped

We all have inclinations that can harm us if they remain unchecked. Usually, natural limitations protect us as we can't do everything we want to.

Wealth, however, which brings the ability to gratify all of your desires, can be dangerous because when you can have anything you want you can easily overdo it.

The same is true of success. If you are successful and everyone around you tells you how great you are, you can become overconfident and oblivious to the fact that you can still do something wrong.

The Lesson From John McCain

by Recruiting Animal. Hat Tip: Dreams Into Lightning

When Napoleon was asked what quality he most wanted in his generals, he replied "just one--that they be lucky." Presidential candidates are no different.

But the other thing that got McCain this far was hard work. He was out their pressing the flesh in New Hampshire when Rudy and Fred couldn't be bothered. I traveled around with him in New Hampshire for a day--he knew everybody, and he just never stopped plugging away. Like Gary Player, the harder McCain worked, the luckier he got--and there's no doubt, it's better to be lucky than good.

-- Michael Goldfarb, Weekly Standard

Some Things Take A Long Time

The IRA was not invited to join the political mainstream. It itself asked to do so, declaring that the war with Britain was over. That was because the British Army had fought it into a permanent stalemate, forcing it to realize that it could never achieve its aims by violent means. -- Melanie Phillips

I always thought that the British were losing in Northern Ireland because they were not able to put a speedy end to the problems there. But, according to Phillips, the truth is that some victories are not won quickly or easily; that doesn't mean that a solution should not be pursued but only that it will take time, even a lot of time, and will not be clean and neat.

I conclude, therefore, that losers are ready to give up when they can't show an easy win. Winners, however, can tolerate an unpleasant, uncertain, imperfect ride.

The Meaning of Homework

Most of schoolwork is an attempt to teach students that in order to achieve the things they want (college, money, one day having a blog, etc.) they have to do things they actually detest doing. The road to a good career isn't paved by chores that are fun. - Atomic Trousers

Dressing Up For Work

I like to work in basketball shorts and a loose t-shirt but, even so, this posting was irresistible.

Cold Call Courage

Speaking up is key to success.

According to talking head, Arianna Huffington, the only way to succeed big is to stick your neck out. Sure, it's scary but the way to master your fear is by speaking up in spite of it.

Source: Antonia Zerbisias

Be Willing To Suffer To Win

Had the weeks in the hedgerows after D-Day (June to late July 1944) or the Battle of the Bulge (December 1944 to January 1945) been televised each hour on CNN or Fox — with real-time email and cell phone communications with beleaguered soldiers in the field — we would never have won either battle.

Both victories saw horrific casualties as a result of intelligence failures and sheer incompetence, but our culpable generals counted on enough of a window of public ignorance to rectify their mistakes and continue the battle.

-- Victor Davis Hanson

Hanson is saying that you might screw up - and take a beating as a result - but that's no reason to give up if the goal is important. If you persist, you still might succeed. Harry Joiner, The Marketing Headhunter, recently quoted Anthony Kronman to make a similar point:

One cannot live a meaningful life unless there is something one is prepared to give it up for.

The point is, again, that you can't give up easily; to make life worthwhile, you must be willing to take a beating in pursuit of something that holds a significant reward.

But Harry errs when he assumes that this kind of persistence depends on belief in a monotheistic God. Here's his argument.

We are too narrow-minded to see the big picture when times are tough and, so, we are inclined to turn negative and sour. But if you believe that someone is a lot smarter than you and, therefore, respect what he says, then if he supports the good ideas, you might be inclined to trust his opinion and give them a little more credence, yourself. And, for Harry, of course, this someone, is God.

But, please note: the value of rational, positive ideas are not dependent on God. The key idea Harry is promoting is your trust that someone knows better than you, especially when you are feeling down. But if you don't know what's right, how do you know that God is right? And, aren't there other mere people around whom you trust who also believe that the future is not so bleak. For instance, when you break up with your girlfriend, you might think the world has come to an end but everyone around you knows that isn't true because to know that, you don't have to be a God.

And what about those times when things are really bad? What can keep you on the straight and narrow then? Harry has an answer for that, too. Heaven. Pie in the sky when you die. Why does he believe in that? Well, I don't know. Here's an alternate idea: maybe it still makes sense, even when all is lost, to remain a human being.