Year of the Triple Deuce: Deeds Not Words

I had the great honor of serving in only one battalion in the US Army before my career was cut short when I was wounded and medically retired from the Army. When I graduated from West Point, I chose the 10th Mountain Division because I wanted to fight Al Qaeda in Afghanistan due to the tragic events of 9/11. Unfortunately, I never made it to Afghanistan, but instead I was assigned to 1st Brigade Combat Team, 2-22 Infantry Battalion and deployed to Iraq in 2007. The motto of the 2-22 IN BN is “Deeds Not Words” and this phrase, among any other I’ve encountered, has always meant something to me.

Over the past 15 years I have been wounded in combat resulting in a catastrophic leg amputation above the right knee, I completed a masters degree at night while working and learning to walk again, I worked on Capitol Hill while fighting for servicemembers and their family’s benefits, I then started a company at 29, bought a house sight unseen, in a city I had only visited once, sold my business at 33, started a family owned distillery on the side, broke my hip at White Sands Missile Range, bought another business, then last year, suffered ?a massive widow-maker Heart Attack. Oh yeah, this all occurred ?while trying to help my wife raise two little girls.

I think due to my life experiences, both good and bad, I get asked a lot about perseverance and resilience. To be honest, I had to spell check those words because I had absolutely no idea how to spell them or what they meant. This is just the way I am built. Deeds, not words. Many times in life, I looked down on myself and thought I never had a shot at becoming anything at all.

Fortunately, I’ve always had a shot. Even better, each of those terrible events gave me an even bigger shot. I’ve grown and sold a business, and now own two more. I make an impact on the trajectory of the community around me, and have achieved financial freedom for my family, including my two daughters, who are the light of my life.

Maybe you’re like me. Maybe you’ve thought that you wouldn’t get a shot, or maybe you took a shot and missed. It’s not over. It’s only the beginning. Deeds, not words.

Over the next several months and year I’m going to lay out the importance of goal setting, perseverance, and how you can activate it in your day-to-day life to achieve monster-sized goals. Through personal stories and lessons I’ve learned through hardship and toil, I am going to share my personal thoughts on successfully achieving both professional and personal goals. I will be publishing a regular podcast and look forward to conducting speaking engagements to answer any questions you may want answered. I look forward to sharing my journey with you all, and using my platform, the one I owe to this great country, to make the world a little better. Deeds, not words.

Please contact [email protected] and follow me at @HinchmanReal on Twitter for any questions you want answered or for any personal speaking engagements.