More Rest = More Performance?

More Rest = More Performance?

Are you getting the most out of your team? Are you looking to enhance motivation and morale? Try giving your team more rest.

It was on my first combat deployment as the Special Forces team’s assistant detachment commander when I realized that one of my most important duties was understanding when my team needed to rest.  We were living in an Afghan village, running missions day and night, and responsible for pulling guard on our compound. Fatigue leads to carelessness, carelessness leads to mistakes, and in combat mistakes can lead to serious injuries or worse.

5 Team-Building Tips from a Former Green Beret

5 Team-Building Tips from a Former Green Beret

Green Berets have a high degree of emotional intelligence and are great at training partner forces and building rapport. Green Berets are known as “the quiet professionals.” Their operations are designed to be done in secret, and for their work to go largely unnoticed and unrecognized. To operate this way takes a great deal of planning, cooperation, and, teamwork.

Commander's Intent

Commander's Intent

Motivating a team and aligning them against the same goal is a critical task for every manager. As a former Green Beret, I always think of the Commander’s Intent we used when planning missions as a great way to provide motivation and alignment. Green Beret and Army Commanders use the Commander’s Intent to sum up all the essentials of a mission with no extra fluff.

Embrace and Learn from Failure

Embrace and Learn from Failure

Failure was a regular part of my life both while playing college baseball and in the Navy.  Failure was accepted as a part of doing business in both communities.  Failure is embraced by the best athletes and F/A-18 aircrew because they see the value in failure as an opportunity to learn and a necessary step towards improvement.  Every hitter in baseball will go through the humbling experience of a hitting slump where it seems like you can’t even remember the last time that you got a base hit.  Rather than hide from my failures as a hitter, I learned to embrace…

The (3) C’s To Finding Great People in all areas of your life.

The (3) C’s To Finding Great People in all areas of your life.

Character, Commitment and Competence – just words or a very quick and accurate way to decide who you surround yourself with. Do you have a method or due diligence process of determining who you will let into your life, cross paths with, partner with, take on as clients, etc.?

In what I do for a living, it is critical that I developed such a system that is…

How do you know what job you are meant to do?

How do you know what job you are meant to do?

It starts in your youth. As a military guy and former special operator, it had a lot to do with thrill and adventure. It also has much more to do with your attitude in a bad situation. As I learned about and became a Pararescueman, the complexity of the duty made me take notice to more than gumption, our smarts and practice had to be honed daily. Our affect had to be one of confidence in any given situation.

So, I’ll share this short story…

Have a plan, but be prepared to adapt and flex from that plan

Have a plan, but be prepared to adapt and flex from that plan

Players and coaches often use military metaphors when discussing sports.  For example, it is all too common refrain to hear coaches and players say that they are about to go to war before stepping out onto the playing field.  While some may roll their eyes at the clichés athletes and coaches draw between sports and war, I believe that my time spent playing college baseball taught me lessons that were easily transferrable to my career in the Navy.  Going a step further, the lessons I learned playing sports and flying F/A-18s in the Navy can benefit those in business.  I am excited to share with you the lessons I learned in sports and Navy and how they can help you succeed personally and professionally.

Mindfulness and Chronic Pain Management

Mindfulness and Chronic Pain Management

Recently I had the opportunity to attend a pain management clinic. I've got the usual aches and pains that come with putting in some good "mileage" and I wanted to learn how to physically deal with them better. Turns out physically dealing with pain is one tool - but dealing with the pain with a mindful eye can make a much more dramatic difference in how one feels.

What can entrepreneurs and startups learn from Navy SEALs?...Everything.

What can entrepreneurs and startups learn from Navy SEALs?...Everything.

I get a chance to read and hear many startup pitches, see the inner workings (and challenges) small to mid-size companies of all industries face daily. It is clear to me that (and no coincidence) so many Navy SEALs start new businesses, help grow existing businesses, and succeed at a much higher rate than non-SEALs.

Victory Strategies is a Veteran Owned Business.