In the Army, soldiers have to zero and qualify with their weapon every six months.
This is a requirement for everyone, regardless of rank or position.
From cooks to pilots, Privates to Captains – everyone qualifies.
Qualifying with a weapon means hitting a certain number of targets from set distances with a certain number of rounds.
The point of qualifying is to validate that you know how to use your weapon and you can use it effectively.
To qualify with the M4, the Army’s standard issue rifle, soldiers are required to hit a minimum of 23 targets (with only 40 rounds of ammo), from 50 to 300 meters out.
To be honest, this isn’t a very difficult number to hit; even the weakest marksman can usually hit in the high 20’s…
If their weapon is zeroed…
Zeroing is the process of confirming your weapon will hit what you aim at.
The general practice for zeroing an M4 involves a process of shooting 3 rounds at a time to judge accuracy (rounds hit where you aim) and “shot group” (i.e. all the rounds hit close to the same area consistently).
A good zero means you’ve got an accurate site picture and a tight shot group.
Sometimes, zeroing a new rifle with a new shooter can take upwards of 50 or 60 rounds. But once the weapon is zeroed to the shooter, it’s possible to zero in six rounds (two tight shot groups of three to confirm your site picture).
You’d think a weapon would come zeroed – that it would automatically hit what you aim at - but that’s not the case. Every weapon is a bit different and you almost always have to adjust the sites if you want to hit your target (when you’re aiming at a target from 300 meters away, the room for error decreases significantly).
There are a multitude of reasons for this, but it ultimately comes down to your build, how you line up the shot, and how you’ve set your sites.
Since every person is slightly different, every person needs to zero their weapon before they qualify.
I’m guessing you can see where I’m going with this analogy…
Zeroing and qualifying applies to more than just rifles.
In the business world, if we hope to qualify an idea, we’d better have our sites adjusted and zeroed. Just as it would be impossible to believe someone could qualify if they’ve never zeroed, it’s impossible to think someone could hit the bull’s-eye with their business plan in one attempt.
Yet people try to make this happen, over, and over, and over again.
Instead of taking the time to zero, people go for bull’s-eye on their first attempt.
Inevitably, they fail.
More often than not, they quit.
These aren’t talentless people. They aren’t passionless or ignorant or unqualified. On the contrary, many of them have years of experience in their sector, some have advanced degrees, and others have even started successful companies before.
But when they get a new idea, they skip the time consuming process of zeroing their idea – who is this product for, what will they pay for it, how do I know they want this, where has this worked before, what are my sales channels, can I do this without going bankrupt, etc. – and they jump right into qualifying – building the product, leasing the space, creating scalable channels, etc.
Their desire is the same desire we all have - we want the win, we want the bull’s-eye, and we want it now.
And therein lies the problem – without taking the time to get a good zero, you’ll never qualify – you’ll never hit the mark.
Even the best marksmen in the world zero their weapons before they qualify or compete.
And they do this each and every time.
If you want to be a great entrepreneur (or author, or anything else for that matter), you need to get used to zeroing before you qualify.
This means progressively getting a better site picture and tighter shot group – understanding who you’re writing to, understanding what they want to hear and how they want to hear it, knowing the best way to deliver the most powerful message, etc.
But of course – and here’s the catch - zeroing means failing.
Every round that doesn’t hit its mark is a small failure. But it’s all for a purpose: with enough failures you can correct your shot group and qualify.
No one brings a single round to zero – that’s foolish. Even if you hit your mark, you can’t validate your site picture or shot group with one round – it could have been pure luck. And just because you miss the mark with one round doesn’t mean you’re completely lost or ruined – you could be a small adjustment away from hitting bulls-eye.
The point is this: you don’t know unless you shoot multiple rounds; you don’t know unless you’re willing to fail more than once.
Business and art are the same way.
You can’t expect to zero in one try. Your ideas need to be progressively validated. You need to take your time and adjust your sites. And if something is off, you need to meticulously correct and adjust until it’s on target again.
Sometimes, this requires many, many rounds.
In the conventional business world, your job is to take and execute orders. Eventually, you’ll be responsible for disseminating orders from above, but at the end of the day, you’ll never have to do too much creative thinking, nor flex your creative brain too much.
Your job is to not fail at taking and executing orders.
On the other hand, if you want to live a life dictated by you and you alone, you need to get used to failing.
Entrepreneurship, art, writing…these things require the creator to fail before he succeeds. It takes time to adjust a site picture and tighten a shot group. It takes a lot of failure to finally find success.
Connecting the dots is never easy. Putting something together from scratch is difficult. Succeeding is, well, rare.
But if you’re the kind of person who gets restless building someone else’s empire, or living on someone else’s terms, then you’ve got to get comfortable missing the mark.
Remember, trying to hit bull’s-eye on your first try is insane without a good zero.
Focus on your shot group and site picture. Focus on consistent, small improvement. Focus on failing closer and closer to your mark.
Failure is inevitable during this process, but stick with it long enough and you’ll discover something incredible:
Winning is also inevitable.
Because at the end of the day, you'll get your good zero.
And if you can get your good zero, you will hit your target.
Do you really need more money in your bank account before you can create something worthwhile?
Do you really need to develop a routine before you can start making something great?
Do you really need more time in the day before you can dare boldly?
Or is it possible that you can create something worthwhile regardless of the number of zeros in your checking account; or that by making something great you create the routine you need; or that just maybe ‘no time’ is precisely the right time to dare boldly…
Writing a book, building a business, creating something without permission – these things are hard to do and they’re plagued with setbacks and failure.
Of course, the enemy knows this and uses it against us. Excuses are just another tactic used by the enemy to stop us from creating our life’s work.
But like anything the enemy throws at us, we can overcome it.
We can prepare ourselves by recognizing these universal truths of creation:
I promise you this – there are a million reasons you shouldn’t start today, why tomorrow works/feels/seems better – but none of these reasons matter. They don’t keep you from doing the work: you do.
With a simple choice, right now, you delay building your worthwhile project.
Or, with the same simple choice, right now, you begin building your empire.
The choice is yours every day.
There will never be a perfect time, place, or set of companions for you to begin your journey.
There will always be mountains to climb, swamps to traverse and dragons to slay.
This isn’t a reason not to start, it’s the reason you MUST start - otherwise there is no journey, no hero, and no story worth telling.
The crazy reality of life is this: it isn’t training. This isn’t a sparring competition getting you ready for the actual fight.
This is it.
This is the real thing. This is the main event. You were born into it. You have one life to live - no do overs, no second chances.
So you have a choice: fight like hell or throw the match.
Either way, you’re going to take a hit (many hits, actually).
While it might seem like throwing the match, which requires less of your energy and strength up front, is the easier choice, the fact is this: you’re going to take way more hits throwing the match than if you stand your ground, keep your gloves up, and hit back.
And I’m sorry to say but opting out to spectate or referee isn’t an option. You might not like it, but that’s the reality.
So how will you fight?
Is by starting.
Start right now. Not tomorrow, not next week - right now.
Now is the best time for you to start; now is the best place for you to begin your journey; now is the best way for you to climb the mountain and slay your dragon.
It’s not easy, but let’s be honest: would you have it any other way?
Good luck and keep fighting.
I talk to a lot of people - a lot of people with great ideas, great vision, and tons of untapped potential.
But they're stuck on 'start.'
Instead of trying, attempting, and building, they wait around for the perfect opportunity, the perfect connection, and the perfect launch.
News flash: perfect doesn't exist.
Is good enough.
You don't need to be perfect (you can't be), all you need is good enough.
And unless you start, you'll never be good enough.
If that's not enough of a kick in the ass, below are 4 reasons you should start - TODAY.
When you start - when you enter the ring - it stops being an idea, a thought, a dream; it becomes your work, out in the world.
No, you're probably not ready; but the sooner you take yourself and your work seriously enough to ship, the sooner you will actually be ready.
There are only two mistakes one can make along the road to truth; not going all the way, and not starting. [Buddha]
It's a paradox, but most important things are.
At first, you may have to fake it. This is okay: everyone else is doing the same thing, even (especially) the more famous writers, entrepreneurs and artists.
Stop worrying about being a phony and start shipping your projects.
Note: you might still feel like a phony even after shipping your 100th project, but that's not what the rest of the world will see.
If you start and it doesn't pan out, keep going. If that doesn't pan out, pivot. If that doesn't pan out, try a different technique, tactic or strategy.
I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work. [Thomas Edison]
There is no such thing as a single opening launch that, if not done PERFECTLY, will destroy your business, career and art.
Unless you've raised millions in venture capital, the initial start is almost insignificant.
The first version is never the FINAL version. This goes for everything; the first draft of a manuscript, the first iteration of software, or the first marketing campaign of a brick-and-mortar company.
Don't sweat the start. Just start.
Stepping into the ring (actually shipping your product; moving from hobbyist to professional) is never easy.
We think we need to be completely ready - trained up, competent, and ready to deal with any possible failure point.
But that's just it: you are ready. Whether you know it or not, you've been ready you're entire life; you just never stepped into the ring.
So step into the ring already.
Start.
It sounds simple - and it is.
Start right now; release the first version of your blog, publish your first eBook, sell your unfinished (but minimally viable) product.
The worst that can happen is it doesn't work, which means you're closer to a solution that will.
The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing. [Walt Disney]
We all have them.
Not just the kind when we sleep, but the more important ones – the ones we have when we’re awake.
They come to us when we’re driving home from work, when we go for a long run, when we reminisce over war stories with an old friend.
These dreams usually spark something deep within us. They excite something dormant; something we didn’t know existed…at least for a moment.
In most cases, as quickly as they come, they go; they pass through us unscathingly, with us no worse (or better) for wear.
But sometimes…
Sometimes they come and hit us like a ton of bricks.
That feint twinge of excitement in our gut becomes a blinding vision of what could be…
The image is crystalline; the emotion is palpable; we see everything as if for the first time, with brilliant clarity and gratitude.
The dream isn’t a dream any longer – it becomes something tangible, something that physically moves us.
It scathes us and leaves a mark, for better (or worse).
But even the exhilaration, the rush of an epiphany fades.
And we’re left stuck in traffic, or struggling with an incline, or realizing our stories are mostly embellishment now…
All people experience something like this at some point in their lives. It might not happen with quite the same intensity, but every person experiences moments of understanding, appreciation, and possibility followed by a fall back into reality.
And the majority will go back to work the same way as they did before the dream. They will lay bricks for a day’s wage.
It’s the reasonable thing to do.
It’s the realistic thing to do.
Dreams are silly anyway - real life matters more...
The majority will, but not everyone.
A few will go back to work differently.
Their actions will take on the power of purpose, their goals the strength of intention. They won’t lay bricks for a day’s wage, but to build their own castle.
It’s the unreasonable thing to do.
It’s the unrealistic thing to do.
But dreams matter – sometimes more than real life…
“Then all I can say is that, in that case, the made-up things seem a good deal more important than the real ones.” [The Silver Chair]
What will you do with your dreams?
p.s. let us know in the comments what you're working on - and more importantly, why you're working on it. We want to hear!
p.p.s. Subscribe to The Resistance Broadcast and get the help you need to complete your worthwhile project, build your empire, and create your life's work.
It’s simple enough to understand that you must instigate to be successful.
It’s much more difficult to put this understanding to use.
And if our logical conclusions aren’t actionable, what’s the point?
Here are a few quick tips I’ve compiled from some extremely clever, creative and successful people on how they created great works (everything from successful blogs, to best-selling books and cashflowing startups).
Note: I took the liberty to elaborate on their original ideas. If you discovered a different but noteworthy lesson that I didn’t cover, let me know in the comments below!
I hope this helps (I know it’s helping me as I start on my next major book project and an even more epic business project - more updates on that later).
Enjoy
Credit: Al Pittampalli (successful entrepreneur and author of Read This Before Our Next Meeting)
In a compelling and insightful interview I did with Al Pittampalli (compelling and insightful because of Al, not my interviewing skills), Al explained the first draft of his book came off a little stiff and lacked personality.
Al knew he needed to find his own voice, so he looked for inspiration and found it, of all places, in the movie Jerry McGuire. There is a scene in the movie where Jerry, the protagonist, has an epiphany and stays up all night to write a manifesto on his business.
Al did a quick search online and found the actual manifesto (a bit of trivia: the writer of the script, Cameron Crowe, actually wrote out a full length manifesto to help Tom Cruise get into character on the movie set). After reading the manuscript, he knew it was the perfect style for his book.
“Why don’t I try, instead of using my own voice, to use Jerry McGuire’s voice.” [Al Pittampalli]
For the next several weeks, Al woke up early in the morning (3am) and pretended to be Jerry McGuire as he rewrote his book.
Instead of losing his voice, he was able to refine and develop his own.
Thanks to just a bit of inspiration-seeking, we now have an incredibly powerful book that is uniquely Al.
Credit: Hugh MacLeod (artist and author of Ignore Everybody: and 39 Other Keys to Creativity)
The most creative, ambitious, and daring ideas are, by their nature, personal. So friends, family, and peers can’t help you.
Nobody can understand your art or your project better than you. You know your art deeply and personally; others only see the surface.
The more mad or bold the art, the less likely someone can give you good advice on what to do, how to do it, or if you should even attempt it in the first place.
“The more original your idea is, the less good advice other people will be able to give you.” [How to Be Creative]
Instead of asking for advice, go make your project or art the way you want it made.
Credit: Tom Morkes (yea, I'm crediting myself - that’s how I roll).
I’ve listened to hundreds of podcasts, read hundreds of books, absorbed a lot of information from a lot of different people, and put it all to work in various ways throughout my life, including during active duty military service. You might expect there’s a unifying technique on how things ought to be done if you want to be successful.
The truth is – there isn’t.
Some writers wake up early– others work better midnight to dawn; some leaders yell a lot, others are quiet and contemplative; some entrepreneurs develop multiple businesses simultaneously, others only one and focus their entire energy behind it.
Every single writer, designer, artist, entrepreneur, leader and warrior has his own rituals, schedule, and techniques; no two share the same.
So the point is this: If you’re stuck, don’t worry about figuring out whether Twitter is better than Facebook is better than Pinterest is better than whatever for conversion.
Focus on what matters: the work only you can do, in the way only you can do it.
There’s no one right answer; only a bunch of imperfect solutions.
You won’t know which is best for you until you start (finish, and ship).
Go instigate.
p.s. what are your best creative hacks to get unstuck and kick start your project? Let us know in the comments below!
Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect. [Mark Twain]
The thing about writing, building, inventing, designing, or creating (essentially anything that requires leadership) is this: it’s not safe.
Not only do you expose yourself to the dangers of a foreign environment (leadership by its nature takes the unknown path), but you expose yourself to the most dangerous element of all: the tribe.
The tribe is a great thing when you’re in the majority – when you fit in, comply and keep quiet.
For the nonconforming leader – for the outlier in the minority – the tribe is a detriment to success, freedom and happiness.
When you fit in, comply, and keep quiet, the boss rewards you.
Your peers, likewise, accept you as an equal. And rightly so because you ARE an equal; quiet, compliant and agreeable like everyone else.
On the other hand, when you don’t play by the conventional rules, when you challenge the way things work, and when you speak up when there’s something immoral, unethical or just plain illogical, there is no reward from the tribe – in fact, there is only punishment or exile.
If you do any of those things – when you expose the weakness of the status quo - you undermine the authority figure. When you undermine any authority figure, you necessarily insult their tribe of followers.
Not only will your boss punish you, your peer group will reject and scorn you (they are, after all, the quiet compliers that, for their own safety, didn't speak up to begin with – why would they speak up to support you now?).
In an environment like this – essentially every bureaucracy that has ever existed – it doesn't pay to think creatively; it doesn't pay to be brave enough to speak up when things don’t seem right; It doesn't pay to challenge and lead and move outside the tribal boundaries.
If you do, you will be ostracized.
Because the system perpetuates itself this way, what you’re left with is an org chart of followers, safety seekers, and non-disrupters. They make very good robots for the robot factory.
You can stick with the tribe.
You can find strength in numbers.
You can reassure yourself that quiet, compliant and agreeable is a worthy existence.
Or you can step outside the tribal boundaries.
You can choose another direction.
You can decide your own path, determine your own pace and packing list, and design your own life’s journey.
The tribe won’t like it.
But we don’t need more tribes – we need more individuals.
The man who lets a leader prescribe his course is a wreck being towed to the scrap heap. [Ayn Rand]
What will you choose?
p.s. what are your thoughts on the tribe and the individual? Leave your comments below.
As soon as you choose to create something worthwhile, you take the first step in a long and very real journey…
Like most journeys, it's not always pretty.
Life will try to beat you down and break you if it can.
There will come a time when things are confusing, uncertain, and perilous.
And you WILL face setbacks, challenges, and failure.
Your peers might scorn you, your "tribe" ignore you, and your effort will seem in vain.
The path will be rarely straightforward, the road rarely clear, and the struggle lonely and sometimes desperate.
At times like these, it will make sense to quit.
There's nothing pretty about doing something ambitious or unorthodox.
The journey of creating something worthwhile is messy - it can't be any other way.
The journey itself must be scary, dangerous, and unreasonable - otherwise, there would be no need for courage.
The adventurer recognizes the only paths left to explore are those that are scary, dangerous and unreasonable.
The adventurer understands that the guaranteed and safe path is traveled daily by those of little courage.
But the unknown path - the one that sits beyond the threshold of certainty - is ripe for exploration and for what befalls those brave enough to travel along it.
Your journey is unique.
At times it will be painful; you will doubt yourself and your project, question your ability, and challenge every virtue you thought you possessed.
But while your journey is unique (and the struggle will, at times, seem unbearably lonely), the pain you experience is universal.
Every adventurer sets his own course and travels his own path, but the pain he experiences - the loneliness, confusion, fear and desperation - those are experienced by every adventurer who chooses the unknown path.
But the path is painful for a reason.
Every great adventure ends with an equally great reward: whether it's discovering buried treasure, winning the championship title, or finding your way back home.
The spoils go to the victor, and the victor is always the one who sticks it out to the end.
Having the guts to travel the unknown path, to create something worthwhile, takes courage, boldness and (sometimes) madness.
Like everything worth doing, it won't be easy.
But like every difficult thing worth doing, the spoils go to the adventurer and the adventurer alone.
Have you started on your journey?
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I, I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference.
Robert Frost
Join The Resistance, defeat your inner creative Enemy, and create your life's work.
This is part 2 of a 3 part series explaining the Enemy (the thing stopping us from creating our epic work). You can read part one here. If you are new, read my new book: The Art of Instigating; this article will make more sense, I promise.
In the first part of this series, I explained the conventional forces of the Enemy: the Army of Bad Habits (the accumulation of years of individual actions, repeated daily and consistently).
Fighting the Army of Bad Habits isn’t easy, but it’s also the simplest to understand and identify.
The unconventional force of the Enemy is much harder to understand and identify.
The Enemy’s unconventional force is one that uses subterfuge to confuse us into giving up on a project right at the start, or bailing on our project near the end.
It gets us when and where we’re weakest.
The Enemy’s unconventional force is negative self-talk propaganda.
“Negative self-talk propaganda is all the terrible, unproductive, fruitless, worthless, silly things we say to ourselves when we’re building something worthwhile.” [Tom’s Blog]
Self-talk originates in the rational part of our brain (the left side of the brain; although exactly where our rational thoughts come from is still being debated and a topic for another post).
These thoughts are negative because they don’t help you create anything.
Negative self-talk propaganda will rationalize why you shouldn't do anything inventive, productive, or creative for as long as you live.
And, in fact, negative self-talk propaganda will try its hardest to out-rationalize your positive, ambitious side by explaining why anything you decide to create will fail; why anything you long to build will just enter the abyss of unsuccessful; why no matter how hard you try, it will all be in vain.
If you’re hoping for a rational reason why you should instigate, you might as well stop looking, stop instigating, and start following orders, instructions, and rules.
There is nothing rational about building your empire or creating something from scratch and without permission (or at least nothing to out-rationalize why you SHOULDN’T do these things).
The negative self-talk propaganda in your head is very, very good at rationalization; its entire existence is based on subterfuge and undermining your productive thoughts.
It’s propaganda because we've learned, over time, what society (school, family, work, etc.) thinks we should do, and those memories affect and change our internal monologue.
This propaganda is the negative things we say to ourselves as we try to build something epic, something we've seen others do but we know we can do better, or something unique but we’re not sure how others might take it.
It’s propaganda because it’s not true.
Anything you thought could be done can be done.
Anything you think you could do better can be done better.
Anything unique you want to bring to the world deserves to be brought into existence.
Negative self-talk propaganda can’t be destroyed; it can’t be killed and buried like we all wish it could.
It exists, and we have to deal with it every day for as long as we live – no amount of therapy will get rid of it.
The way to deal with negative self-talk propaganda is simple:
Negative self-talk propaganda HATES when we take our lives into our own hands, develop our goals, and ship them to the market.
It hates it because it can’t do anything about the persistent effort we give to a singular endeavor.
If you think you should quit, if you think it might not work, if you think it’s stupid…do it anyway.
Go to work.
You’ll find (very quickly) the negative self-talk propaganda fades….
At least for a time.
As with everything worth doing, the Enemy will always be there to try and break us down.
Don’t let it.
Instigate your life’s work.
Continue reading Part 3: THE ENEMY DEFINED (PART 3: THE COMMANDING GENERAL OF THE ENEMY)
It takes guts to create something from scratch.
It takes guts because you’re in uncharted territory.
If you’re inventing, designing and building something from the ground up – from idea to physical, tangible product – there is no template to follow.
It takes guts because your project might fail.
Your product (or service, or initiative, or speech) might not live up to your expectations, or receive the type of praise you hoped for. The marketing campaign might not drive sales like you planned. Your startup - regardless of the time spent planning and preparing - may lose money from day one and never turn around.
(*This is a graph of the statistics from Small Business Trends. The graph includes self-employed persons, so actual startup company failure, as most entrepreneurs understand the concept, may be more severe)
It takes guts because you’re exposed.
As soon as you put pen to paper, you’re opening yourself to others. When you finally push the publish button – on your first self-published novel, or that terrifying first blog post – anyone in the entire world can see it. When you push the publish button, you can't hide behind anything anymore; that's scary.
But most of all, it takes guts because making something and taking ownership of it opens you up to criticism.
It is fear of criticism – from peers, or family, or “others” – that we fear the most; that keeps us from doing our meaningful work.
Sadly, since birth, we’ve been programmed to avoid criticism at all costs (is it any wonder the most common fear is speaking in front of an audience?). To avoid criticism, all you have to do is make nothing and take ownership of nothing. To avoid criticism: hide.
And that is exactly what most people do.
Instead of starting something new, they stay with the pack and uphold the status quo.
Instead of trying something bold, they ignore the impulse and quietly go back to work.
Instead of speaking up, they stay quiet.
And months and years later, these same people will complain about the same inequalities, and hardships, and daily tribulations that they’ve always complained about (but more bitter).
They had the chance to instigate.
They chose not to.
And then there are the few who do start something new, or try something bold, or speak up when the rest are silent. These people are the movers and shakers – the people we remember and the companies, products, and services we talk about.
Drew Houston, CEO and founder of Dropbox, designed the digital storage platform because he wanted to solve a problem that others hadn’t yet been able to solve. He built Dropbox into one of the fastest growing companies in Silicon Valley and turned down a multi-million dollar acquisition offer from Apple.
Phil Libin, CEO of Evernote, spent years building the company to the (ridiculously enormous) size it is today, all without an exit plan. He has no plans to sell out to another company. Or, as he puts it, there is no exit plan for your life’s work. Incredible.
Jonathan Fields (author of Uncertainty) created a whole new platform to bring entrepreneurs, instigators, artists, and change makers to the rest of the world. The content is brilliant.
Scott Dinsmore created Live Your Legend (referencing the transformative book The Alchemist) to inspire others to live a life of purpose ON purpose. His writing inspired me – it might just inspire you.
These people all have one thing in common – they all draw their own map.
They didn’t wait for permission from someone else – they developed their own ideas into successful, tangible products and services. They each created their own reality around the things they care about. Whether it’s solving the problem of digital storage or figuring out a way to inspire people to find and live their passion, each person here has done something important, bold, and unique.
So the question is this: how do you plan to draw your own map? What is holding you back? In what ways can you instigate change in your own life (or work or play)? Share your thoughts below.