+1 #1052: Warriors’ Ascent

Hi, this is Brian. Welcome Back to another Optimize Plus One. This morning, as I was wrapping up my AM1 deep work time block, which of course was preceded by that morning's meditation and the prior night's bookend featuring an early shutdown, complete digital sunset, and red lights at the Johnson house. I heard a tap, tap, tap on my office door. I knew it was Emerson, of course, so I got up and into my ready to give him a hug crouch. I opened the door. Emerson flew in and gave me one of his epic both arms, both legs monkey hugs. Miss you buddy. I told him. I've been working on some plus ones that we'll do together. Then he cruises over to my desk and says, you got a new mug. To which I replied, yeah, I did. It says Warriors Ascent. I got it from one of the guys in our optimized coach program. You know what he does then I tried to think of the best way to describe what a former elite Special Forces lieutenant colonel is up to as the executive director of a non profit serving veterans and first responders with pts. So I said, you know Commander Mark Devine? What was he? And Emerson says, a Navy seal. And I say, exactly. The elite warriors in the Navy are called SEALs. You know what they're called in the Army? Emerson says, hmm, kind of like Spartans. And I said, exactly like Spartans. Spartans were the elite warriors of the ancient world. Seals are like them in the Navy. The Navy fights battles on the ocean. The army focuses on battles on the land. In the army, the elite forces are called Rangers. Emerson says Rangers and he says it to himself with a far off look, imagining how cool those guys must be. Then we proceeded to chat about how our soldiers are kind of like another group of his favorite people, P.L. police officers. While the police officers keep us safe from people who may be doing bad things in town, our soldiers keep us safe from people in other countries who might be doing not so good things. We talked about how our freedom is protected by these warriors who volunteer to serve. I got misty typing that and thinking about it. And we talked about how that's a really challenging job, that sometimes the men and women who serve our country experience things that make it hard for them to come home and be with their families the way they'd like to be. And Mike, the guy from our optimized coach program, well, he runs an organization that helps those warriors heal. It's an ineffable honor to know that our work is playing, however modest, a role in serving those who have served us. And that's why his Warrior's Ascent mug has a permanent spot on my desk as a reminder of the extraordinary men and women we're blessed to serve as a symbol of how we're going to change the world one person at a time together. Starting with you, me and Mike. And that's today's plus one. I'd offer a shout out to Mike and his team at Warriors Ascent and all of the men and women in the Armed Forces who protect our freedoms. But when I asked Mike and his swim buddy Eric, a fellow West Point grad, Ranger and retired colonel in the army, what the Rangers Army's version of the Seals Hoo ya is, they told me it's hooah. But they told me they didn't yell much. The Army Special Forces Green Berets are the quiet professionals, they told me. They also told me that although they loved buddying up for the Coach program, they didn't refer to themselves as swim buddies. That's a SEAL thing. They went with Ranger buddies. Noted. And fair enough. I'm not messing with those guys. So here's to changing the world and being the change so we can change the world as the most elite, service oriented versions of ourselves today. P.S. when I googled Mike to get a link to his organization for this plus one, I happened to find an interview he did with Eric Barker, author of Barking up the Wrong Tree. Check out those notes. You want to know Mike's thoughts on how to overcome adversity? Well, check this out. The article Eric did with him is called A Special Forces Officer teaches you five Secrets to Overcoming Adversity.