Showing all posts in The Point

Look past your own injuries to the greater battle. A soldier may lose a leg, but if he quits, his loss could be for nothing. We can’t always move, we can’t always help. Sometimes the best way to help is to not ask for it.

Look at your own situation, then take a good, long look past it. One of the most important decisions is whether to ask for help. Sometimes it’s better to ask sooner rather than to make more work for friends later. But, if you can suck it up long enough to help someone else, do so.  · · · →

Sometimes the only way to get needed attention is to make drastic cuts against your own stuff. Steve Jobs sold the museum to help propel Apple into the future. Cortes burned his ships. It wasn’t easy for them and it won’t be easy for you.

You have your own painful self-cuts you must make, sooner or later. We need don’t cut back on our stuff every day, that’s not necessary. But, when the time comes, we always find an excuse—or five—to say, “Not today.”

No, we all must make painful cuts at times. Once we do, we grow.  · · · →

Battles never appear as are. Outcomes flow and weave in and out. Currents of war and conflict are so complex—and organic—that no one can know which way events will turn next. All we can do is know the behavior of a river based on history. But, which way what piece of debris will flow this time around—we can’t know.

The unpredictable nature of war should serve as both a caution and an encouragement.  Take no small victory to rationalize overconfidence—though aggressors do anyway. Free people defending home and country find hope knowing storms always precede calm.  · · · →

Deliberation is an important start, never a destination. Discussion must come before a conclusion, but it cannot be the conclusion in and of itself. We need to negotiate so we can move on to what is next. Once deciding factors have been explained and understood, it’s time to move on to whatever that next thing is.

Moving on to the next phase doesn’t involve what we often suppose. Yes, it’s usually unpopular. Yes, it’s usually political and partisan. But above all, moving into the phase of decision is about resources. Diligence, work, wits, strength, practice, study, smarts—these enforce decisions.  · · · →