A few years ago, I came across an article that detailed a number of military tenets (a belief or philosophy) taken from a number of sources. A lot of them were a bit naff but a few held some value for me.

Like most people, I’m maybe not as disciplined in my life as I’d like to be. I have short spells of super-discipline before it slides somewhat, but I do often find a renewed focus in some memes/ maxims/ sayings, etc.

From this article there were a few, supposedly taken from the US Navy Seals, that really hit a chord with me and not only gave me that short term focus and super-discipline, but also have stayed with me for a number of years and acted as a ‘go to’ whenever my discipline is fading.

Although I have found several differing opinions regarding what this actually means, for me, the key is in the desire to work hard. Now that may not sound like a particularly useful revelation, but I mean it in a much deeper sense. We all work hard to achieve the goals we set in life I’m sure, but how do you make that work ethic a constant. For me it’s simple, learn to enjoy the hard work.

In order to do this, it’s probably a good idea to have some structure around your work tasks in order to be able to take a measure of your activity and performance. This way you can actually measure your achievements. When you are able to identify and measure these achievements it becomes possible to recognise your hard work and the ‘payoff’ you’ve created and feel a sense of pride in what you’ve done.

Indeed, Maslow, in his hierarchy of needs talks about self-esteem and recognition as being one of our main motivators and drivers.

By learning to enjoy the workload and the measurable outcomes from that workload, you can easily assign that sense of self-worth or value and create a constant positive approach.

There is another aspect that I take from this. If I’m assigned a task, I make sure I consider the time required to prepare for the task. This brings another tenet to mind.

Which reinforces the need to ensure the ‘hard work’ is done early to create an easier delivery of the actual task. In fact, in both my private and work life, I dedicate as much time as possible to training and development. Within the realm of training, I also divide this down to gaining new knowledge, practising applying that knowledge, and training to develop the skills to apply that new knowledge easily and effectively.

Again, this may sound like a simple thing to do, but how many people actually do it? How many people have time in their diary, right now, for learning, training and development? In my experience the number is very low. Often we are happy to continue doing what we’ve always done as training and development often requires effort, support and sometimes sacrifice.

My favourite of the tenets. Being fully committed to the tasks, goals and achievements you want to aspire to is a very difficult thing to do. Now, in the military I can understand this as being fully physically and emotionally focussed on the task at hand. For me, this is more simply being mindful of the task consistently, not letting goals drop by the wayside. If a goal is deemed worthy of achievement, then any amount of focus, adaptation, re-deployment and refocus should be applied to ensure its implementation.

This may be over an extended period and does not in any way mean I discard all other tasks for one singular task, but simply keep it in my purview until its completion. Fully committed within the constraints of good business practice to achieve the desired outcomes.

We are all familiar with the theory of pushing ourselves outside of our comfort zone. The mere practice of doing this consistently extends your comfort zone, which in turn increases your ability to face new challenges. In business things are constantly changing, including customer expectations, legislation, best practice even the tools that we use, so the act of embracing change, moving out of your comfort zone and getting comfortable being uncomfortable is key to sustained business success.

I have, over the years, met many young and old entrepreneurs full of passion for their ideas who, without the right amount of planning, budgeting, market research and general business acumen, have run full speed into disaster. Now I’m fully aware that you can’t plan for every eventuality, but you can use a structured and measured approach to your business decisions before making your ultimate commitment. Awareness of the pitfalls can be your best defence against business failure.

‘Focus on the solution, not the problem’

Often when faced with even a small problem some people may stop, procrastinate and fail in their attempts to overcome the problem without even really identifying and focussing on what the solution might be. Problem solving is a key skill in business as it is in life and finding solutions under pressure often require a certain approach, mixed with both experience and fortitude. All of these things can be found in the previous tenets which is why I find them so valuable. Each one offers a certain clarity of approach, focus and sense of purpose but combined they create a framework to ensure your survival in any situation.

The final one, for me the most important, is: ‘No plan survives first contact’

This in no way should suggest that planning isn’t important, far from it. It tells me that the ability to plan effectively, recognise new challenges and failed actions and to be able to re-assess, re-plan and implement your new plan is an essential part of leadership and management under pressure.

For me, every new product, service or provision that we offer our clients starts with a plan. A structure, timescale, objective and desired measured outcomes that determine the success of that enterprise. The ability to change, adapt and re-shape these based on feedback, results and challenges ultimately determines the success of our business.

I hope sharing these tenets helps you to consider your own approach to growing your business and offer some value as they have done for me. There are more tenets, sayings and maxims and there are always great learnings from leaders who have faced life or death decisions under pressure. For me I keep returning to these 6 simple tenets that have helped me through recession, unscrupulous competition, market pressures and even a pandemic. I hope they do the same for you.

Thank you for reading

– Alan

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