Inspect your front line!!

Every year around about this time, I have made it a point to take stock of the last 12 months. In doing so, I go through what progress I have made, what failures I experienced, what lessons can be learnt from those failures and most importantly, what I will do better next year. In doing this introspection, I have found that there is a key element that always lies at the heart of success or failure. I call this element “The Inspection of Your Front Line”. Put simply, who is standing with you on the front line of your life’s battlefield and what qualifies them to be there?

In recent years, I have taken a keen interest in the workings of military units around the world and noted a few lessons from them. What sort of training do these men and women have to endure? What sort of mindset does it take to complete this intense, mind testing and physically “impossible” training? What sort of person not only survives but thrives in this environment? What sort of person virtually stares death in the eye every day yet remains motivated and willing to answer the call to defend their country at any time? What sort of person will risk their life in battle by carrying the injured body of a fellow soldier to safety? What sort of person willingly enters unknown territory to fight an enemy with courage? The answer to all these questions… A good soldier!!

In my research I have found that military units around the world have varying levels of intensity in training but several aspects are consistent. They all look to eliminate selfishness, build courage and confidence, control fear, create an alert yet positive mindset, build a soldier that is willing to put their life on the line for another, sworn loyalty to his country and discipline beyond what is considered humanly possible among others.

Here I pause and ask a question… If your circle of friends were an army and life were a battlefield, how many of them would you take to war with you?

Imagine being on the front line of a battlefield of an unknown country in the dead of night with an elite group of soldiers of which you are one; then imagine what it would be like if the soldier next to you kept reminding you how the enemy would attack any minute now, how unprepared you were, how inadequate your firepower was, how outnumbered you were, how he missed his mother’s cooking, how he hadn’t had a bath for over a week… and right in the middle of his whining, a bomb went off meters away from you… Wouldn’t you consider shooting this guy yourself?

In the military, many people sign up for the training yet only the minority actually graduate. Why is this so? The answer is simple: The kind of soldier described above should never make it onto the battlefield. The intense training is meant to weed out such elements long before the time for battle arrives. Why then would you allow “untrained” friends into your inner circle and still expect to win? Is it time to conduct a training session of your own?

Who is with you on the front line of life’s battlefield? Are you surrounded by friends who will encourage you to push ahead? Are you surrounded by friends who will consistently affirm your positive attributes? Are you surrounded by friends who will point out your blind spots with your best interest at heart? Are you surrounded by friends who would take a bullet for you? Are you surrounded by friends who will dare you to dream? Are you surrounded by friends who will challenge and stretch you to want more out of life? Are you learning anything from your circle of friends or are you “the teacher”? Are you surrounded by friends who are as loyal to you as a soldier is to their country?

Once in a while, I come across people who claim not to need people in their lives and others who claim not to have any friends. My question to these people is simple: If you were to be dropped in the middle of a war zone, would you be able to fight an enemy army alone? Unless you are Batman, the answer is a resounding NO. Human nature demands us to need others in order to get ahead.

As we end the year 2016 and start the New Year, I dare you to look to the left and the right of your front line. Who is there that shouldn’t be? Is your front line so crowded that you can’t tell who’s who? Would each soldier in your battalion take a bullet for you?

On the flip side of this coin, I further challenge you to look at yourself… Are you a good soldier? Are you selfless? Are you loyal? Are you courageous and confident? Do you have an alert yet positive mindset? Are you willing to make sacrifices for those who you call your friends? Do you challenge your friends to stretch beyond that which they believe is possible?

If the answer to these questions is no, how can you then expect it of others towards you?