Marines train ad nauseam!  And they do so in conditions as close to war as possible so that the Marine becomes accustomed to performing at a hero-level under conditions of extreme stress.  Boot Camp is like this.  For the first 2 weeks, I was completely disoriented.  Nothing was said that wasn’t yelled.  Drill Instructors talk so fast that they can be hardly understood, and regardless of what I did, it was not good enough or fast enough.  Then an interesting thing took place on the 15th day – I adjusted.  All of the sudden, that level of stress became normative.  My wits returned to me, and I went from just trying to hang on and survive to seeing how I could push through and excel.  It was a turning point for me and a vivid memory.  I had found confidence and swagger.

It is clear to me now more than ever that my business is much like this.  I should be training/preparing or I should be at war/advising/serving my clients.  We market our tails off to create presence and get meetings and appointments, but are we ready to perform if all the marketing pays off?  We must be prepared.  Our ducks need to be in a row.  We must train, train, train so that when it is time to stand before that client, we can do so with a swagger that cannot be faked or duplicated.  Arrogance is when you fake it.  Swagger is supreme confidence in your preparation and ability to come through for your client’s best interest.  And that is when things get fun!

And to leave you with a parting gift for reading my ramblings, enjoy this short news story.  I love it!