As you may know, I was in the military until just six months ago. I served as a U.S. Navy reservist from a few months after Sept 11, 2001, to March 2010. It was without a doubt the greatest source of pride in my life.

In 2007, I was deployed to Afghanistan. Many soldiers I served with in Afghanistan are, at this very moment, back in Afghanistan. During this holiday season, I can't help but think of my friends over there and the lessons I learned while serving with them.

As I set my goals and plan for a successful 2011, I am using the principles I learned in the military for planning a successful mission. Those lessons are:

1. Make sure my goal is clear.
2. Paying attention to the smallest of details is critical.
3. Surround yourself with a good team—a successful mission depends on teamwork.
4. Regardless of the goal, do not underestimate physical conditioning—good physical condition provides mental clarity, endurance and energy.
5. Care for your gear and, whatever your tools are, make sure they are in tip-top shape and always have the correct equipment for the mission.
6. Training and repetition in training is the key to success becoming second nature. In battle you will always fall back on your level of training; make sure your training is at a high level.
7. Respect the chain of command. Set your ego aside and work for the good of the unit.

So as I plan for 2011, my friends are on the other side of the world but always in my heart and mind. As I plan my new year, the lessons they taught me are ensuring a successful mission and year.

Ron White

. Please Do These Three Things by Ron White
I am extremely leery of any quick fix solution or overnight formula for success. In my opinion, they don’t exist. With that said, the following formula is one that I shared with two members of my family to encourage them to break through the rut they were in and experience success. Therefore, if I would share it with my family, I must believe in the principles. I suggested that they begin to regularly do these three things:

1. Surround themselves with positive people who believe that this life is not all that there is. Personally, I find this at my local church. This email goes out to thousands of people all over the world. I know we don’t share the same faith in all cases. This message is not about my faith. It is about you finding a group of people who regularly meet and have a belief that there is more to life than what we see. This is the first step to a positive outlook on life.

2. You must exercise weekly in order to stimulate endorphins and maintain an energetic life. Walking to the kitchen or curling 12 ounces does not count as exercise. I run one mile twice a week and 2-3 days a week do strength training. This is nothing difficult, but it makes a major difference in my attitude.

3. You MUST educate yourself through reading. The average CEO in America reads 4-5 books per month. The average American reads one book per year and 60% of us don’t get past the first chapter! Make a promise to yourself to read at least one book per month. Read anything!

Regardless, of what you read, develop a passion for reading and learning and you will see your attitude and outlook on life begin to change. Any person who faithfully invested their time in these three areas may not break world records in levels of success. However, everything in me believes that they would see dramatic improvements. I believe in those three things so much, I encouraged my family to invest their time in these areas.


HEALTH
“Make sure the outside of you is a good reflection of the inside of you.” —Jim Rohn

“Health and cheerfulness mutually beget each other.” —Joseph Addison

“Good friends are good for your health.” —Irwin Sarason

“It is not work that kills men; it is worry. Work is healthy; you can hardly put more upon a man than he can bear. Worry is rust upon the blade. It is not the revolution that destroys the machinery, but the friction. Fear secretes acids; but love and trust are sweet juices.” —Henry Ward Beecher

“Laughter is the most healthful exertion.” —Christoph Wilhelm Hufeland

“Time and health are two precious assets that we don’t recognize and appreciate until they have been depleted.” —Denis Waitley

“It may be possible to incorporate laugher into daily activities, just as is done with other heart-healthy activities, such as taking the stairs instead of the elevator. The recommendation for a healthy heart may one day be exercise, eat right and laugh a few times a day.” —Michael Miller



3. Learn to Crawl Before You Walk, Learn to Walk Before You Run by T.C. Cummings
Stallions like to run. Indeed, they were born to run. But they didn’t start their lives running. They had to grow gradually. Even as they fell—and they do fall—the pain and recovery was relative to their ability and growth at the time. A natural rule applies.

That rule, this philosophy, is crucial to the development of elite commandos or anyone with the strong desire to develop personally. People of this caliber—in applying themselves to personal betterment—need to constantly be reminded of the importance of respecting this rule of “walk before you run.” As a Navy SEAL, I know that after swimming for three miles while wearing dive fins in the cold ocean, a swimmer’s body is not prepared to hit the beach running. The mind can envision this action and may forget the rule, but the rule still applies.

To get to that place where the body and mind align, the body must transition. Muscles must reactivate, and rhythms must adjust. Only by respecting the rule can the envisioned outcome be achieved. If not, the would-be runner falls to the ground, disillusioned with his or her own belief.

Due to the high caliber of clients with whom I’ve had the honor of working in the civilian sector, I’ve been privy to see men and women possessing the same “stallion” characteristics in their business dealings as commandos possess in their operational battles.

In both cases, these “stallions” need to be reined in from hurting themselves when they seek to run before they can walk. It may be difficult for them to see this when they are in the moment, but it’s clear as a bell to an external observer who is an excellent listener.

We can only grow to the extent that we envision ourselves. Unless our inner representation grows as fast as our external growth, we will actually hold ourselves back from lasting success.

Do you know anyone who has dramatically lost weight with great joy only to revert to his or her old habits and weight?

Do you know people who have earned the money they really deserve only to squander it away and regress to their former income?

Who do you know that finally met the person of his or her dreams only to dump that loved one because of a list of silly reasons?

Leaping from crawling to running sets us up for a painful fall. We don’t achieve true personal growth, and because we find ourselves back at square one we may become disgruntled and distrustful of the process, often blaming anyone and anything but ourselves.

If you want to change, you must do the work. Go back to basics. In football, professionals earning millions of dollars annually practice the most basic drills throughout the season. Professional artists go back through the strokes and lighting. If you make millions of dollars consistently, most likely it’s because you go back to the basics of budgeting, saving and investing consistently.

Whenever you are seeking to grow—and you have a clear vision of what you wish to do—make sure that who you are being is big enough to consistently be doing what it is you wish to do. Make sure of this so you can consistently achieve your desired results.

If you are the “stallion,” then use your power and set yourself up to win with a coach or trainer whom you trust to observe and protect you from your own impetuous eagerness. And let them help train your muscles and harness your power so you can first walk and then run with a purpose.

If you are a leader responsible for “stallions,” then you must protect them from themselves as they seek to skyrocket up the corporate ladder. As a mentor, this is very much your charge. The personal damage—an increase of fear and frustrations—can be the result of falling on one’s face too often. This damage can be overcome, but recovery from it can take the wind out of your “stallion’s” sails. So as a leader, help them master the fundamentals so their climb up the ladder of growth and personal betterment is a lasting success.

Having the power of choice, we humans don’t automatically follow all of the rules as the stallions do in nature. We will never see a healthy plant provide fruit out of the natural order. For lasting success we need to consciously be aware that we must “learn to crawl before we walk, and walk before we run.”