The Impediment Advances Action
Or- Avoiding the Mind Killer
A quick recap for those just joining us. In the military, we use Lines of Effort to ‘bin’ logical groupings of tasks and missions that contribute to achieving a specific strategic or operational objective.
In life, I use 6 Lines of Effort, LOE—1 Body, LOE—2 Mind, LOE—3 Spirit, LOE—4 Purpose, LOE—5 Relationships & LOE—6 Responsibilities.
We’re now on LOE—2. We have covered: Brain health, Cognitive function, Mental health, and Mindfulness. Today we wrap up LOE-2 with Mindset.
Think.
Mindset, in a nutshell, is an attitude or disposition that predetermines our responses and interpretations of situations.
Our mindset is heavily influenced by our Worldview which we will get into in LOE-3 next week.
We can define our worldview as:
A collection of beliefs about life and the world held by an individual or a group.
While mindset is best defined as:
A series of self-perceptions or beliefs we hold about ourselves.
The way we view the world is absolutely colored by the way we view our selves and our place in the world.
We view our world through the lenses of our beliefs and limitations. This is why two people can experience the exact same set of circumstances and one can find opportunity and adventure while the other sees disaster and terror.
The idea of growth and fixed mindsets have been most prominently studied by Dr. Carol Dweck.
In Mindset: The New Psychology of Sucess, Carol Dweck discusses the fixed mindset:
If you have only a certain amount of intelligence, a certain personality, and a certain moral character— well, then you’d better prove that you have a healthy dose of them. It simply wouldn’t do to look or feel deficient in these most basic characteristics…I’ve seen so many people with this one consuming goal of proving themselves— in the classroom, in their careers, and in their relationships. Every situation calls for a confirmation of their intelligence, personality, or character. Every situation is evaluated: Will I succeed or fail? Will I look smart or dumb? Will I be accepted or rejected? Will I feel like a winner or a loser?
On the other hand, is the growth mindset which Dr. Dweck describes as:
There’s another mindset in which these traits are not simply a hand you’re dealt and have to live with, always trying to convince yourself and others that you have a royal flush when you’re secretly worried it’s a pair of tens. In this mindset, the hand you’re dealt is just the starting point for development. This growth mindset is based on the belief that your basic qualities are things you can cultivate through your efforts.
The damnable thing is that if you are stuck in a fixed mindset it can be impossible to see a way to change or to even identify that change is an option.
The first step in changing your mindset is recognizing that you need to make a change.
Do you often say…
I’m just not good at that…, or I’ve never been able to … or I’m just not one of those people who can…?
Once identified, the next step is realizing that you have the ability to change and overcome the fear that has held you hostage.
Then you will realize as Marcus Aurelius said,
"The mind adapts and converts to its own purposes the obstacle to our acting. The impediment to action advances action. What stands in the way becomes the way."
And if you can change yourself, you change the world.
Read. Practising Simplicity
bu
Write.
I’ve been using this section to pass on what advanced readers are saying about my forthcoming book, tough Rugged Bastards.
Here’s what a reviewer Geoff W. had to say:
As a former Reconnaissance Marine, I began reading Tough Rugged Bastards with a certain amount of trepidation. Special Operators’ memoirs these days tend to be an unnecessarily overly dramatized version of a difficult, if fairly standard selection process followed by unbelievably difficult missions, sprinkled with poor attempts at amusing anecdotes. It’s often painfully apparent that the subject of the memoir did little of his or her own writing and merely told a few stories to a ghostwriter then sat back and took credit for an uninteresting, mediocre, quickly forgettable work. The first chapter convinced me that the author had trod the ground he described and then convincingly, informative, and entertainingly passed along his experiences to the reader. John Dailey writes with insight, humor, and above all, authenticity. Mr. Dailey’s authenticity comes across on every page and I was hooked by the first chapter. Tough Rugged Bastards is that rare special operators’ memoir: an honest telling of experiences common to the uncommon men and women of the special operations community. I highly recommend Tough Rugged Bastards to anyone seeking an unvarnished history of the men of Detachment One and the fledgling MARSOC, authoritatively and authentically written by a skilled author.
Repeat.
Words of wisdom from those who said it best.
“I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.”
― Frank Herbert, Dune
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See you next Thursday!
You're killing me with these teaser reviews of your book! I just finished Four Came Home and it never ceases to amaze me what people are capable of when put in hopeless and dire situations. Thanks for another great article.