{"id":1098,"date":"2017-02-03T07:36:16","date_gmt":"2017-02-03T06:36:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sertified.org\/?p=1098"},"modified":"2021-04-02T20:16:57","modified_gmt":"2021-04-02T20:16:57","slug":"se-thoughts-from-a-seal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sertified.org\/se-thoughts-from-a-seal\/","title":{"rendered":"SE Thoughts from a SEAL"},"content":{"rendered":"

Whether you\u2019re into quantum mechanics or Karma, to truly succeed means you\u2019ve helped others succeed.<\/strong>\u00a0Below are three short vignettes of what can happen when you help others \u2013 these are true stories about things that have happened to me throughout my professional life, and they represent some of my major milestones.<\/p>\n

Story #1: Easter \u201cSEALs\u201d<\/h3>\n

It\u2019s early January1992 and I\u2019m about half way through SEAL training – when I was dragged out of the water mid-way through a weekly two mile ocean swim. My lungs were filling with blood and phlegm \u2013 I can honestly say I know what it feels like to drown. Getting pulled from a swim is one step away from quitting. In my case, I was taken directly to medical for evaluation. After some lengthy tests, they discovered an \u201cantigen\u201d in my blood and that\u2019s when I confessed\u2026I had been sneaking asthma medication called Theodur. Something I had been taking since I was 12. As much as I had worked to convince myself I wasn\u2019t asthmatic, I still hadn\u2019t left behind my medicinal \u201ccrutch\u201d. I was given an option to quit via a medical drop, or be removed from my current class, take something called a methacholine challenge and let the results of the test decide my fate. I opted for the latter. I had six weeks before I could rejoin a new class and wait for the scheduling of the test. Up until that point, I hadn\u2019t really done much volunteering unless you count the mandatory stuff at the Academy. But I\u2019m not counting that because I was only doing that to check a box. Since I was limited duty, I had some free time and though I can\u2019t remember who it was, I ended up volunteering to help some severely disabled children \u201cswim\u201d. Imagine an extra large hot-tub with ramps and special lifts to lower children and adults into this massive warm water bathtub for the sensation of floating. Myself and another SEAL candidate swam these children around in the pool. We did it for a few hours a week, and I did it for no other reason or expectation than to help them (and keep them from drowning). I had no hidden agenda, just some extra time while I waited out my medical \u201csentencing\u201d at SEAL training medical\u2026weeks later, I pass the \u201cchallenge\u201d, join BUD\/S class 182 and graduate in July of 1992. (And I continued for the next 10 years helping special needs kids as a coach with the Special Olympics.)<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Story #2: From Bankruptcy to Best in the Business<\/h3>\n

It\u2019s 2006 and we are essentially broke. My business partner Mark and I hadn\u2019t taken a salary in a year – we had $25k left from $1.5 million that we had raised over three years- not even enough to pay our bills to suppliers. We just didn\u2019t want to admit it. While we\u2019re floundering on what to do next , I get \u201cpromoted\u201d to president of a local 150 person charity that I had been volunteering with since 2000. This is long-standing (founded in 1947) non-profit called the Guardsmen, \u00a0and it\u2019s charter is to raise money to send under-privileged and at-risk Bay Area kids to camp and school. It was honor to receive the vote of confidence from my Guardsmen peers, but definitely not the ideal time for me to be president of this great group. My business was collapsing around me and being the president was a full-time job in itself. Again, I had no agenda other than not to let down the 150 volunteers and the kids that counted on our million dollars plus per year in donations. I gave that presidency role everything I had and then even more than I thought I had. I didn\u2019t miss a single event (we had about 40 that year) and I even left the hospital within hours after my third son was born to attend an event. The volunteering there wasn\u2019t completely selfless, I had made some of my closest friends during those years and it was a joy to be with them\u2026but needless to say, it was a massive amount of work\u2026and it was also the year we created and launched a little product that we hoped would help us pay some bills\u2026that product was called The Perfect Pushup, and during my time as president our sales soared from $500k to $32 million. A year later, our little company was recognized by Inc Magazine as the fastest growing consumer products company in America.<\/p>\n

Story #3: Building Bonds<\/h3>\n

In 2011, we sold Perfect Fitness to a larger company called Implus Corporation out of North Carolina. A perfect match really, they have the operational excellence and we have the design and marketing excellence. I promised to serve as the head of their new fitness division for three years, and as my three year anniversary approached I have an unexpected visitor at our home on an August weekend in 2014. Our guest is a well-known volunteer for our public schools in our community (where all four of my boys attend) and she\u2019s asking for my help. Our public schools are stretched to twice the size of their intended capacity and for a variety of reasons, it\u2019s been determined that an upcoming November vote is the best shot we have at getting a $30 million construction bond passed. Not only is the vote only three plus months away, it requires raising over $30k non-tax deductible dollars to set up an independent bond campaign\u2026 and because of the circumstances, for the bond to pass we need a super-majority (67%) of votes from our community. \u00a0I had NO campaign experience and nor did my teammates that joined our little committee (and the fall is the busiest time of year for the fitness division of Implus). But what we lacked in expertise we made up for in working our collective butts off. From conducting newspaper interviews to gymnasium sized community outreach meetings to multiple volunteer phone banks to \u201cget-out-the-vote\u201d calls, our efforts paid off and we got the votes (over 70%!) forthe bond that will improve our schools\u2026.and a month later, Implusstarts the process of selling to a larger private equity firm\u2026which when complete four months later sets my family on a course to fulfill a twenty year dream of living overseas.<\/p>\n

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The point of these stories is to build a mental bridge for you between your actions and the achievement you seek. More to the point commit this ancient quotation to memory:<\/p>\n

\u201cWhatever you want from life, You must do for someone else first.\u201d<\/p>\n