No shame no gain
On an episode of his podcast, Jocko was talking with retired UFC fighter, author and army veteran Tim Kennedy.
And at one point in the conversation...
Tim's talking about his first ever wrestling competition.
He was 13 at the time....
A really small kid...
And he was matched up against this monster.
His Dad, who raised his kids to be strong and self-reliant, and was Tim's hero, had driven him to the tournament, and was watching from the bleachers.
Understandably, Tim wants to do his old man proud.
The match starts...
And in 30 seconds, it's all over.
The other guy wiped the floor with him.
Tim walks back to his dad with his head stooped....
And in the podcast, Tim tells Jocko that that was one of the most shameful moments of his life.
But then he said something interesting:
That the shame of defeat in that moment spurred him on....
And sparked the fire within that led him to the top ranks of the UFC.
In other words...
His shameful defeat was the seed of his success.
It lit his competitive fire.
And Tim ends the conversation with something particularly jarring:
"In this current generation, there's no fire."
We agree.
All around us we see quitters. Softies. Cry-babies. Milksops wanting everything done for them. Wanting someone to hold their hand. Blaming everyone else for their problems.
Not even a spark of fire.
It's sad...
Because these guys have no-one to teach them the value of failure.
Our prescription for these guys?
Tell 'em to go wrestle.
Tell 'em to go start a business.
Tell 'em to forget university, and seek instead the school of hard knocks.
And, of course, teach them the manly art of cut-throat shaving, where knocks are a given.
You shave, you cut yourself.
You shave, you cut yourself.
You shave, and one day, you don't cut yourself.
Skill is born by persevering through failure.
A powerful lesson for any man.
A lesson which, although it might not give you your fire back, could possibly light a few sparks in the right direction.
If you're new to the bloody game, the best place to start is with The Cutlass.
Its replaceable blades means you can concentrate on holding your own in the arena, and learning from defeat, rather than keeping the blades sharp.
Go get some knocks.
And at one point in the conversation...
Tim's talking about his first ever wrestling competition.
He was 13 at the time....
A really small kid...
And he was matched up against this monster.
His Dad, who raised his kids to be strong and self-reliant, and was Tim's hero, had driven him to the tournament, and was watching from the bleachers.
Understandably, Tim wants to do his old man proud.
The match starts...
And in 30 seconds, it's all over.
The other guy wiped the floor with him.
Tim walks back to his dad with his head stooped....
And in the podcast, Tim tells Jocko that that was one of the most shameful moments of his life.
But then he said something interesting:
That the shame of defeat in that moment spurred him on....
And sparked the fire within that led him to the top ranks of the UFC.
In other words...
His shameful defeat was the seed of his success.
It lit his competitive fire.
And Tim ends the conversation with something particularly jarring:
"In this current generation, there's no fire."
We agree.
All around us we see quitters. Softies. Cry-babies. Milksops wanting everything done for them. Wanting someone to hold their hand. Blaming everyone else for their problems.
Not even a spark of fire.
It's sad...
Because these guys have no-one to teach them the value of failure.
Our prescription for these guys?
Tell 'em to go wrestle.
Tell 'em to go start a business.
Tell 'em to forget university, and seek instead the school of hard knocks.
And, of course, teach them the manly art of cut-throat shaving, where knocks are a given.
You shave, you cut yourself.
You shave, you cut yourself.
You shave, and one day, you don't cut yourself.
Skill is born by persevering through failure.
A powerful lesson for any man.
A lesson which, although it might not give you your fire back, could possibly light a few sparks in the right direction.
If you're new to the bloody game, the best place to start is with The Cutlass.
Its replaceable blades means you can concentrate on holding your own in the arena, and learning from defeat, rather than keeping the blades sharp.
Go get some knocks.
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