Military Transition Briefing

SOFT TISSUE #000 America hasn’t had to play a kinetic, home game, since 1865. Actually, scratch that. A lot of media is talking about the Spanish Flu pandemic of 1918. But another one hits closer to me—the 1957 H2N2 Pandemic. If anyone knows a good book on it, let me know. 116,000 Americans lost their lives. Until the 1918 #pandemic, there wasn’t a large return of Americans from combat that precipitated the trend. Similar to now, the vector came across the sea in a matter of months. My grandmother almost died because of it. My mom was a pre-teen, but remembers it vividly. That’s the power of events like these. They upend futures, not just the ones you plan. But the ones unplanned after you’re gone. Events like this twist & transform #fate. Our challenge is to stand in the breach, & be the best we can be to face it. But also, recognize we are going through the stages of #grief. Many of us are still in denial. I’ll admit—my birthday bourbon rations were exhausted in 9 days. Not 30 like originally intended. We have an enemy, with total freedom of #maneuver & unchallenged fields of fire. We’ll talk more about this metaphor of war..but this is the beginning. What we have, is a challenge that already eclipses 9/11. And what I’m looking at, are #systems. How those systems supplant & support humans who operate in them. Myself included. Welcome, to Soft Tissue. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/militarytransition/support

Designing Your Life Conclusion --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/militarytransition/support

Designing Your Life, Chapter 11 --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/militarytransition/support

Designing Your Life, Chapter 10 --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/militarytransition/support

Designing Your Life, Chapter 9 --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/militarytransition/support

Designing Your Life, Chapter 8 --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/militarytransition/support

Designing Your Life, Chapter 7 --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/militarytransition/support

Designing Your Life, Chapter 6 --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/militarytransition/support

Designing Your Life, Chapter 5 --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/militarytransition/support

Designing Your Life, Chapter 4 --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/militarytransition/support

Designing Your Life, Chapter 3 --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/militarytransition/support

Designing Your Life Chapter 2 --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/militarytransition/support

Designing Your Life, Chapter 1 --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/militarytransition/support

We’ll go through the book “Designing Your Life”, & talk about how it applies to military transition. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/militarytransition/support

It's easy to look on a chart & plot where you'll transition to. It's hard to actually take leave & go sort out the new terrain. Just as we gain situational awareness about a new assignment or deployment, treat your transition location the same way. Spend as much time there as you possibly can. Don't just wait until you buy your home--keep going back to visit. Make your new home as much of a home like your current one. This is easy when you're transitioning from a duty station you've been at before. It's hard when it's an all new location. Or a location with a limited military presence. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/militarytransition/support

If you're two tours from getting out, find a transition mentor now. The military gives us this phenomenal structure to frame our transition. But once we get out, that structure evaporates. You have to create a similar structure on your own. Getting someone on your side who's at your horizon helps greatly. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/militarytransition/support

If I could make a straight line path to transitioning out the military, this would be it. The first step would be to Visit Your Transition Location. When I say visit, I mean to be there so often--it feels more at home than where you are now. Many vets expect to learn their new home after they get there--but that's hindering your shift. The more you visit, the more you shift your attitude & energy of where home is. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/militarytransition/support

There's the rule of marksmanship: Know Your Target, & Know What's Beyond It. That rule is even more important in transitioning. Veterans think getting out & getting that first job or opportunity right is the objective. It's a start--the real objective is 18-24 months after you've put your shadow box away. When you go through the emotional & cultural obstacles in commanding your transition. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/militarytransition/support

Mistakes 6 & 7 run together. Mistake 6 is not having a clear exit strategy from the military. There are six paths to transition, but really 1 path in uniform. You have to have as much clarity after the uniform as you do in uniform--without the structure the military provides to maintain that clarity. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/militarytransition/support

Making a salary & having available cash compounds the anxiety in transitioning. If you know you're getting out, you need to buffer with 3 to 6 months of cash reserves. If not--you may take a job or offer somewhere while you KNOW you'll be moving again in less than 3 years. Launching is a great strategy, like in education to get a new degree. But going into a new job & knowing you're not staying won't help you settle & finish your transition. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/militarytransition/support

You can't do everything you need to transition alone. Consider how a unit prepares for a campaign or to maneuver. The unit succeeds not on the strength of an individual member, but the collective, synergistic strength of all its members. Same thing in your transition. Instead of trying to be a resume expert--find the expert to help you craft the best resume possible. Find the recruiters, career coaches, mental health counselors, & corporate mentors to be your team to help you engage in your transition. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/militarytransition/support

Its hard to corrollate spending $1000 on a resume to land a $100,000 job. Or gaining skills that you won't use when you get out. Have a clear budget to spend toward your transition, & make sure you're getting the best impact for investment. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/militarytransition/support

Lets talk about Transitioning Mistake #2: Lack of Homework. The homework it takes to transition is constant, cumuative, & iterative if you wait until you can take offers, youre behind the pace. You start your transition homework the day you join. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/militarytransition/support

I came across an real estate investment book which outlined 7 mistakes investors make in rehabbing properties. I thought I'd make a mint flipping homes in San Antonio, but didn't work out that way. Now--I wish I had stuck with it. But those seven lessons can also be applied to the "flip" our lives take when we transition out of the military. This 1st mistake is to "Think it's Get Rich Quick". Not taking the time or patience to think the long game, or to not expect delays or frustrations to make the transition possible. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/militarytransition/support

“STAR: Needs to dominate. Being a member of the group is not enough. If he or she can’t make it to the very top, they’re disappointed.” *If you have a three-car garage in main home, vacation home, and your ex's home--you're a star. If you're a natural--and you get the audience you want with little effort--you're a star. If professionals and journeymen claim they wouldn't have succeeded without you--you're a star.* You don’t choose to get here, you’re chosen. In the military, we call this senior rank: E-7 & above, O-5 & above. 15-25 years of waiting. We literally use stars to designate senior rank. In music, the stars are the Billboard 100. Or the top 50 iTunes podcasts. They become single names: Michael, Taylor, Bieber, Rogan. Our “stars” in uniform can become similarly recognizable. Today, there’s Youtube stars making $15 million a year, streaming video game commentary to a million people. Stars are everywhere--but you can't plan to become one. You willing to take that flight? --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/militarytransition/support

“PROFESSIONAL: Exudes self-confidence. Is willing to risk everything to make it. Passion and desire are almost equal to talent.” If you use your skill or sell your product 3-4 times a week--so frequently it never sits is the garage--forget that, if you don't even have a garage & you’re doing this on the road, in a dive bar, with your friends, for crowds big & small, when no one is looking, & it's all you care about--you're a professional. This is where you want to be. Steven Pressfield has a great book called “Turning Pro”. There’s a moment when the excuses fade away, and you stop living your life as as amateur. In the military, there’s these explicit moments when it happens: Making the choice somewhere around 10 years to go for 20. Civilians have to be professionals at both where they are & where they want to be. There’s a constant refinement. But there comes a day where being the best possible only gets us to a percentage of being the best civilian possible. What's your choice? --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/militarytransition/support

“JOURNEYMAN: Plays every festival it can, year after year, honing its live act hoping to infect people.” *If then product, service, or skill is in your garage or long-term memory—& not gathering dust—& you use it once a week or so--you're a journeyman. If it's something you do every day for a small audience--family excluded--just because you enjoy doing it, you're a journeyman." Journeymen look at the job search when they have to look at the job search. It’s something the do because they have to. It’s something they dread. This is how the services enable (or disable) members to be ready for their transition. TAPS is mandatory within a year or 18 months of getting out. No one at work is talking about being prepared-because they themselves aren't. But civilians operate at least at this level every day. They’re one foot in their current life, one foot on the horizon. Being a journeymen is a start, but there’s more that must be done. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/militarytransition/support

“HOBBYIST: Earns his living outside music, his career is first, music is second.” —Bob Lefsetz *“If that product, service, or skill is dusty in the corner of your garage--or your attic or your brain--and you break it out a few times a year, you're a hobbyist” —Travis Collier In the rule of the garage, the hobbyist tinkers. The hobbyist just buys the tools, but never puts in the work. They don’t even master the tools they want to use. Think about the weekend your friend got the urge to start a landscaping business. They buy the gear, but it’s been in the garage growing rust the last two years. They thought it was too hard, didn’t consider building business before buying the heavy equipment. What does this mean for your transition? You can’t be a hobbyist about what you want next. You have to be focused on putting the work in—you have to even enjoy the work you have to do. Even when it sucks. Imagine if someone was a hobbyist in uniform? #military #transition #briefing #alexa --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/militarytransition/support

“The best time to start promoting your book is three years before it comes out. Three years to build a reputation, build a permission asset, build a blog, build a following, build credibility and build the connections you'll need later.” —Seth Godin I dropped continuing this series for the last month. Thank you for being patient; I’m back. This break actually exemplifies the ideas presented in this rule. The rule the garage is his idea of the level of effort you put into the craft, family, or community build upon four levels: Hobbyist, Journeyman, Professional, or Star. Taking this break is me not being professional about the platform I’m building towards my military transition in 2021. I want to be a big media platform, but I have a small media time & budget. My lesson here is this: To be a professional, I have to focus. More importantly—I’ve let the platform drive the work. How can I generate supportive content more easily? Thank you for waiting. Now, back to work. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/militarytransition/support

"If this is the art you must do—on the road, in a dive bar, with your friends, for crowds big and small, when no one is looking, and it’s all you care about—you’re a professional.” The Rule of the Garage is this question: Can what you do in your garage become the way you earn a living? Think about side hustles & hobbies. Some people transform their hobbies into hugely successful businesses. They scratch their itch, then categorize their success to help others scratch theirs. There's also people who never leave their garage. Consider this: Roger Goddell just asked for a $50 million salary. To do what 10,000 fantasy football league commissioners do in their garage every Saturday for 16 weeks. The original idea came from this post by Bob Lefsetz, Hollywood's conscience: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/2012/12/11/hobbyistprofessional/ And the next few episodes will cover the four levels of success Lefsetz notes. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/militarytransition/support

There's five general values guiding veterans in their choise of when to transition: Respect, Resolve, Honesty, Identity, Clarity. For me, it was Identity & Clarity that originally drove me to pursue early retirement from the Coast Guard. Unfortunately, the opportunity for early retirement closed. While I'm humbled to continue service in the uniform, what I realized was my choice to serve isn't where my values come from. It's the other way around--I find the highest & best opportunity to live based on my values. Uniform or not. How do your values factor into your choice to stay in the military or leave? --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/militarytransition/support

One thing helping businesses keep to their Hedgehog Concept is their inner circle. Whether a Board of Directors, Shareholder meeting. You need the same board of directors & confidants to help you win your transition. I talk about collecting people into five supporting categories: Mentors, Advisors, Masterminds, Accountability Groups, & Coaches. Having one or two from each group helps you reaffirm your own Hedgehog Concept, and keep clarity towards what you want to do after serving. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/militarytransition/support

Passion is the last thing to worry about in your transition. Not the first. The odds of you finding something new you're as passionate about as something old you're leaving (the uniform) is slim. And holding out for passion risks you missing out on anything less passionate, but doable. Cal Newport talks about the "Passion Hypothesis". But Good to Great frames the hedgehog concept questions in the exact same way, a decade earlier. After deciding your number one-five skills & determining how to converts those skills to profit, THEN you can worry about passion. Then you can decide if it's something you want to do & you would find enjoyable. Try to answer the questions in reverse, you never get to the core strengths & skills you bring out of the uniform. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/militarytransition/support

When you transition--it's not solely about salary you have to worry about. It's the conversion ratio of your work for a wage or price you command. We're fortunate in uniform to have a fixed, clear payscale. That said--it's challenging to easily compare our skill value as out of uniform. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/militarytransition/support

There's a phrase in Jim Collin's "Good to Great" that's stuck with me: Egoless Clarity. Egoless clarity is a powerful term. It focuses me to see how successful or lacking I've been in my work. It's humbling and empowering to know what you're in the best in the world at. What you can be best in the world at. And to know that without sunk cost, expectations, or emotion--what can you truly command? How can egoless clarity help you? --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/militarytransition/support

Getting back to the Hedgehog concept. The concept focuses on the intersection of three core questions: What skill can you be the best in the world at? What drives your economic engine? What are you deeply passionate about? Today, let's talk about the first skill. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/militarytransition/support

Before we get into the Hedgehog Concept, let's go to the bedrock: Choice. You chose to enter the uniform; you choose to leave. The difference in the answer to those two questions will tell you a lot about what you value, & the career you truly want to pursue. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/militarytransition/support

The Hedgehog & The Fox is an old Greek parable, but informs today the work you need to do to command your transition. The fox does a great many, disconnected things. The hedgehog does the one thing that means success. It can feel exciting to be a fox. And the military rewards multitasking, multiple skills, having multiple specialties. But that's only one way to win--hedgehogs win more often after the uniform. This is the first of a four skill series, focusing on the Hedgehog Concept as coined by Jim Collins, author of Good to Great. Applied to businesses in his book, how can the Hedgehog Concept work in your life & career choice? --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/militarytransition/support

There's always that quote in PCS Orders when you can deny Orders, & be a civilian in six months. There's always these moments when you can be free. That's not just getting out of the uniform, but being in uniform as well. Discipline is freedom. Execution is freedom. Accepting a choice is freedom. What if you found your freedom now, but not waiting for it later? --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/militarytransition/support

“You want to be uncommon against common people.” -David Goggins --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/militarytransition/support

David Goggins has two powerful quotes recently on the Joe Rogan Podcast: “The worst thing that happens to a man is he becomes uncivilized”, & “You want to be uncommon amongst common people”. How do we as veterans avoid excesses civilization & remain successfully uncommon in our life after the uniform? --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/militarytransition/support

Continuing on the Four Forces of Innovation, & how to use them to tell your story better. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/militarytransition/support

Four Forces of Innovation --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/militarytransition/support