Vice Admiral Tim Szymanski defines resiliency as being tough in the moment every moment. Brian Johnson explores how following protocol when you feel worst builds antifragility, drawing on lessons from senior Special Operations leaders.
Chapters
Hi, this is Brian. Welcome back to another heroic plus one. In our last plus one, we took a quick look at the 18 military aphorisms that form the basis of Admiral William H. McRaven's great book, the Wisdom of the Bullfrog. Recall, the Bullfrog is the longest serving Navy SEAL on active duty. We'll talk about a few of my favorite ideas from McRaven's book in a moment. Today I want to chat about wisdom I was blessed to receive from another one of the most recent bullfrogs. First, a little context. Admiral McRaven retired as the four star admiral commanding the US Special Operations Forces. The current four star general commanding the US Special Operations Forces is another one of my heroes and favored people on the planet, General Brian P. Fenton. I was deeply honored to receive an invitation from General Fenton and his team to present at a recent USSOCOM first Soft Truth event on Resiliency. You can learn more on LinkedIn. I've got a link to it and on Heroic got a link to that as well. Note the first Soft Truth is that people are more important than hardware. Now, I gave my presentation just a few days before creating my note on McRaven's the Wisdom of the Bullfrog. And as it turns out, while I had the privilege of spending time with USSOCOM's commanding officers, I also had the opportunity to spend time with one of the most recent bullfrogs, Vice Admir Zymanski, who retired as the Deputy Commander of socom. Today I want to chat about some of the wisdom I learned from that wise bullfrog. First, I must say that being in the presence of these heroic protectors was deeply humbling and equally inspiring and important. Note Although it is very easy to take the freedoms we enjoy for granted, I do not. It is because of the sacrifices of these brave men and women and their families and that we have the opportunity to flourish. Serving the force and their families, to repay our debt to them, is a sacred honor and one that I am fiercely committed to fulfilling at the highest possible level. Now, the first Soft Truth event I was honored to participate in was focused on optimizing the mental and brain health of these elite warriors. Vice Admiral Tim Symanski spoke on a range of issues. One of his gems jumped out and tattooed itself on my consciousness and made its way onto one of my ten pages of notes from the day. Vice Admiral Zymanski said that resiliency is being tough in the moment every moment. Now, I started my talk at the end of the day on resiliency by referencing his definition of resiliency. Then I extended his definition to include our idea of anti fragility by saying that we need to be tough in the moment every moment. Especially when we don't feel like it. The worse we feel, the more committed we are to our protocol. Period. And that's today's plus one. Remember the wisdom from the bullfrog. Here's to your antifragile resiliency. Let's practice our philosophy. Let's be tough in the moment every moment. Today.
