[December 8, 2021] Victory! Success! Mission accomplished! Surviving an emergency! All these have one thing in common. The common factor is not luck, who you know, or even how blessed you are. To be victorious, you must be ready. Nothing legitimately counters this fact.
This article is part of a three-part series that lays out how to be ready to make your life the best it can be. In the future, I will come back to this idea and elaborate more on specifics and detail, and through example, HOW you can discover this most critical secret of mankind.
Part 1 will be to identify the requirements of success. Part 2 will be how to achieve success. Part 3 pulls this idea altogether for a philosophy of success that has been with us since the first time man walked on the Earth.
Part 1: Requirements of Success
First, the basics. Fundamental to human nature is the requirement that trust exists to accomplish any thing involving more than one person. This means you must understand ‘trust,’ nurture those around you so they trust in you, show that you can be trusted, and demonstrate your reliability when the going gets tough.
Second, the facts. Success means that you are the best person for the most people. You must protect the weak and those unable to protect themselves. You must protect the family, your community, and your team. You must know evil and what right looks like. You are responsible. Tomorrow, I will discuss how you can do this but for now, know that survival is the fundamental concept that is both socially necessary and innate.
Third, the idea. Courage and motivation. Without the mental ability to see and understand the danger, have the drive (the motivation) to step into the fire, and the imagination (the vision) to picture victory over defeat, you will lose. Or, worse, you will be enslaved by others or by your thoughts. The willingness to stand up against overwhelming odds is what you can expect. There is no substitute.
Being ready is a daunting challenge but, at the end of the day, it is our moral responsibility. Some will call it a duty to serve, selflessness to others. I’ve called it the same. But it is much more than duty and selflessness. It is life. Your life and the lives of countless others depend upon you. And for that reason, you must be ready.
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Please read my new book, “Our Longest Year in Iraq,” at Amazon (link here).
Gen. Satterfield, excellent start to the series. After reading both, I’m impressed and am waiting for tomorrow’s last part. Keep these articles coming our way. I like the way you summarize key traits of successful people.
For those that think “education” is every thing, “It is a thousand times better to have common sense without education than to have education without common sense.” … Robert Green Ingersoll
I like the quote.
Hey folks, just a reminder in time for Christmas that Gen. Satterfield has his new book out at Amazon. Go buy it for your spouse or other family members.
“Our Longest Year in Iraq.”
https://www.amazon.com/Our-Longest-Year-Iraq-Construction/dp/1737915510/
Got my copy. If you are a real fan, then buy this book. Great read. Our Longest Year in Iraq is the definitive publication on the buildup year in Iraq. It shows what our military is capable of doing. Gen. Satterfield brings it all to life. Every page is a story. Five Stars!
What’s it about, if you read to the end, you will see that his book is about the fact that YOU MUST BE READY at all times.
Got it, read the recent book by Gen. Satterfield an enjoy learning about war without all the blood and guts you normally read and see. This book is about honor and courage. It’s a must read and just in time for Christmas.
Don’t miss this other article by Gen. Satterfield on the importance of trust. I know that Gen. Satterfield hits on the ‘trust’ theme often. why? simple, he believes it is the foundation of human existence.
https://www.theleadermaker.com/building-trust/ … Building Trust
It’s also what I teach my kids in school.
Good article from a friend, “Mr. Socialist confesses” https://www.jewishworldreview.com/1221/keillor120721.php For those who love the downtrodden, the diseased, and the less fortunate, Garrison Keillor gives us a behind the scenes look at New York City and Minnesota. Both great places to love and to hate.
I love Garrison K and his weekly columns. Thanks Nick for bringing them to light at Gen. Satterfield’s leadership forum. For all who never heard of him, you are missing out.
“Free enterprise is fascinating, especially for us socialist communists who want to make the world into a dormitory with a cafeteria where on Mondays everyone has mac and cheese and on Tuesdays franks and beans, and so forth, but with free enterprise you get to see old empires crash and bold upstarts take over the town, such as Uber and Lyft have done to the taxi trade.” Now you can see this guy and how he has tremendous insight into the world in which we live.
Right!!!! 👍
Thanks all for your look at one of my favorite comedians, Garrison Keillor. I’ve been listening to him for decades.
Even a socialist must know how to be prepared. Just be ready to blame someone else for your terrible place in life.
As Churchill said, “Capitalism is the unequal sharing of blessings. Socialism, however, is the equal sharing of miseries.”
Once again, this idea of being prepared (ie being ready) is common sense. But, as we all know, common sense is learned behavior that works and fits human needs. Today we are witnessing a huge surge toward removing common sense and thus learning how to do well from our schools. When some groups perform better than others, the logic is that discrimination/racism/sexism is happening and thus disparities are bad/evil. The logic is false. When will we climb out of this self-destructive cycle? When idiots don’t rule us.
Great comment Max and thank you for putting my thoughts into words. Yes, we are not doing ourselves any favors by killing off commonsense. That is what keeps most of us afloat in a world that is chaotic and dangerous.
Excellent article, thanks Gen. Satterfield. 👍👍👍👍
“Courage and motivation.” Yes, I must agree. Remember the movie Gladiator?
What did the gladiator say? https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/gladiator
Maximus: Strength and honor. Not the same but similar ideas. Gen. Satterfield is trying to lay the basics out for success/victory/survival. So is “maximus” in this scenario. Are these really that different? I say not.
Great movie, IMHO. Great views in that we can sit back and watch as a battle is about to begin and yet be safe. Sitting on the edge of destruction is scary.
A take off of the basic Boy Scout motto, “be prepared.”
Right, https://www.theleadermaker.com/best-leader-advice-be-prepared/
An article by Gen. Satterfield on exactly this same subject but he now has a new twist.
Yep, Leaders … be prepared. Words of wisdom, words that are as old as humans. Being prepared is what we don’t do very well.
You would think everyone knows this and perhaps they do but so many don’t practice it and that is where the rub comes in to distort our successes.
— yet too many take the lazy way out and just say that it’s somebody else’s fault.
BE PREPARED. Simple. Message taken.
Yes, and for good reason the Boy Scouts adopted the motto. What I find particularly interesting today is that the senior leadership of the Boy Scouts of America organization are NOT prepared and have made numerous strategic blunders. The Boy Scout organization has gone down hill and most of the problem is from within. They were not prepared for the Marxist-Progressive attacks on it thru the culture war.
Doc, you got that right. I’m waiting for tomorrow’s article. Got to be a great addition. General Satterfield always hits the target.