I failed, at least initially, at my military transition. I failed because I really didn't know what I wanted, and ultimately, who I was. I failed because I didn't listen to the right people and trusted the wrong sources. I failed because I tried to please everyone instead of myself. I failed because I had an exit plan, but not an entry plan. I failed because I was scared, I couldn't translate any skills and I would lose my job quickly without the security of the military. I failed because I prioritized the wrong things. I failed because I didn't focus on the right things.
I didn't know who I was. I thought I was a leadership master who was going to run a Bass Pro Shops one day in the future. If I could lead people in combat, I could influence people to make a difference anyplace. Well, those who volunteer are in a different class than those making near minimum wage. Each Soldier is a professional, not every worker is. Within months after my transition, my working out and healthy eating ways by night started to intertwine with the fact I was supposed to sell more sugar to the next customer passing through the door. I couldn't live with myself personally and I realized, I was a leader of leaders, not a leader of workers. I didn't listen to my brother-in-law, who had extensive knowledge and experience in the retail industry. He told me exactly how it was and what it would be like and how he wasn't sure if I was a fit. But I took career tests that told me Retail Management and I wanted to believe the recruiters and prospect of making some major cash soon. I tried to please everyone. I think I had over 100 different versions of my resume. I chased after this and that certification. I tried to make myself marketable to every possible situation, job, company. What I didn't do is focus on what I wanted and learned myself more. I didn't really analyze my skill set, my values, and my interest and then strategically go after my fit, instead, I tried to shape myself into each peg and fit every hole. My exit plans. I knew why I wanted to leave the military. I had about five major reasons that I truly believed in. I still believe in them to this day and by no means regret leaving the military. What I do regret is not focusing on what I wanted more, instead of dwelling on the past. It was like I had to keep selling to myself the decision, because of course, I constantly had people asking are you sure you want to do this...heck, people still ask me to this day. I had no entry plan, I took certifications, networked, worked my resume, etc. I did all the "right" things, however, I did not do it with an organized or direction or specific mission or goal in mind. I would be the equivalent of going on convoy to just drive around with no training intent, no mission to move supplies or personnel, just saying let’s go for a ride! I didn't assess my skills. I took the approach like I was in the military. I am a jack of all trades. Put me in the job and I will learn it quickly and excel at it. Well that doesn't work. News flash, you are hired for what you can specifically do! My skills list went from 50 or whatever ridiculous number it was to about 20. And of those 20, half are routinely practiced, the other skills I have, but I am less proficient at, they are supplementary job skills, not primary ones. Now, I know who I personally am (above) and professionally am and can focus my efforts accordingly. Because I have this confidence of who I am, I am less worried about translating my skills and less worried about job security, which takes a lot of the stress out of it. That, and I realized that every role isn't P&L, it isn't make money for us now or else you are fired next week, no mistakes! In fact, I would say the military called for far more perfection. I prioritized the wrong things. I prioritized the resume formatting, the PMI certification because I thought it made me more marketable, reading book after book about interviewing. I think I wrote down and prepared answers for nearly 200 interview questions. Let me tell you, there really isn't 200 questions, they all go more or less the same, and if you take time learning who you are (personally and professionally above) and network before the interview, chances are, you will be comfortable and more conversational, and therefore, be able to manage the interview more, rather than letting the interview manage you. I didn't focus on the right things. I wanted growth and my wife wanted location. I sacrificed some income. What I didn't consider was the mission or the culture. As I mentioned above, the culture was a clue about some of the indeed reviews and I quickly realized it was a beat down, drag out culture...it was survival, no real team effort...every man for himself, which was drastically different than my time in the military. The mission wasn't right because of my personal beliefs I forgot all about. Location was great and I was on a growth plan, but I was miserable every day. 4 or so years to become a leader of leader seemed like forever, especially while in the prime of life and starting a family. I thought I know what our priorities where, but I was dead wrong. It took all these failures, and a little break, to get the opportunity to launch my real transition. I sacrificed location, I sacrificed planned growth (though I quickly made up for that by making a name for myself). I gained some income, but I lead no one, which is kind of nice for a change. I am more of fit trying to reduce waste and save rather than making money for an organization. Just as important but feels like a lot less pressure personally. My point being, sometimes you must make mistakes to learn from them and learn who you really are. Hopefully you can learn from my mistakes, but realize you will make some, learn from them, don't dwell on them and keep focused on the road and goals ahead. With some planning, honest assessment and hard work, you can make it there!
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10/23/2019 0 Comments Diet and Exercise (Growth/Interests)So you have transitioned out of the military, ready to start a new chapter in your life. You may be starting a new career, maybe starting school at night, potentially settling down with someone, buying a house, starting a family. Maybe some of the above, maybe all of the above, but the bottom line is change is coming. Eventually, I will get into pay, taxes, retirement, etc. but first, I want to focus on diet and fitness.
Along with some or all of the above mentioned, you are probably close to or at the next age step in your life. You are no longer a kid who can eat trash all day, watch football, drink beer and get up and run it off Monday morning with the unit. Not only are you older, but there is no unit. So you get used to sleeping in a bit longer with no PT and it feels good, but the diet does not change. The job you get probably isn't that intensely physical, or not like it was in the military, so you begin to lose some of the additional caloric burn you had before just doing your job. Bonus, every Thursday you team visits the local mom and pop lunch spot to talk business and they make a mean lasagna. Finally, of course, there are the project, or sales, or team celebrations or just a bunch of people getting together for after work drinks at the local watering hole on Friday's. Next thing you know it, you have made that successful transition. A year as has gone by, you are in the groove at work, the military is just a thought in your mind, heck you have even grow out your beard for the first time, Nice! Unfortunately, you get that bathing suit back out for the summer and you have transitioned in another way...you no longer fit! Now to some, this may be perfectly fine with you, but my point is, a lot of what you took for granted gets away from you, and fast. Couple that with father time, and well, you need to have a plan. I say all this because it happened to me. I got out and still did some running, but the gym membership I had didn't last very long with the hours I was working. And at first, I worked at Truck Stop and got free sodas and discounts at McDonald's and Subway. Now I was running around a lot at work, so the impact was not immediately felt. However, I then moved to a job that was not as physically active nor demanding when I was active. On top of that, my wife get pregnant and I am not the one who likes food going to waste. So as she ate some of this and some of that, I scooped up the leftovers. In the matter of two years, I jumped from 174 to 200. I had no plan, I thought I was wrong, I was not used to a more inactive lifestyle, and I kept eating like it without doing much exercise outside of 2 mile run four times a week. HERE IS MY PLUG----I BECAME KETO! Now, though I will share my journey, my point is not to sell keto, it is to make you aware, which ever direction you decide to go, I just used keto and therefore, it is my example My wife and I decided to get serious about 9 months after the birth of our daughter. Within the first month, I had lost 12 pounds through diet and 30 minutes of weights, five days a week. We started dirty keto, just limiting carbs, which helped at first, but then we stagnated a bit. We reduced the dairy (eating a lot of cheese seemed so awesome at first). That helped shed off a bit more. Then, to become more healthy, we began cutting out the processed foods (no more jimmy dean sausages with my eggs). A few more pounds came off. As the weight started coming off and the carbs cleared my body, the energy increased. First, no more lulls after lunch, then the constantly sustained energy. A boy this was needed, I now had a toddler running around and couldn't afford to sit down from the hours of 5am to 9pm. My back started hurting a bit less and less and with the energy, I got a standing desk at work. Now my back feels great and I burn more calories. Next thing I knew it, I was lifting weights more aggressively (still in the same 30 minutes) without taking breaks in between rotating sets and muscle groups. I started shattering personal records. But as it all related to work, I was running circles around my peers, high energy and not tired and not glued to my desk. In earlier, out later and still not coming home crashing, but playing with my daughter. My hole life in improved, especially when the alcohol began to get cut out. I did not want unnecessary carbs from beer and without the carbs, two drinks felt like 12, which again, I couldn't afford the next day with a child running around screaming. So the drinks got all but cut, which also helped on the pocket (and that was a benefit as i adapted to paying taxes and taking home less money). Now I am fully in. Last business trip, as the team ordered, they look at me and said, "You are highly disciplined, I don't know how you do it." In which I replied, "I have been doing it for 8 months, I don't have to think about it, it's just my way of life now, it is that easy." The moral here is simple, understand a lot will change and have a plan before you a few years down the road looking in the mirror wondering what happened. And if for nothing else, I guarantee you will see it in your work performance and you if you see, so will your boss. Finally some good news, this is not the military, if it is seen, you will be rewarded (monetarily or promotion) almost immediately, not just on track or one year above your peers! Eric provides his 4 Mindset Tips for a Successful Side-Hustle.
Tip 1: Do what you know. The best investors will tell you never to invest in something that you don't understand, well the same can be said for a successful side gig. Any business is comprised of 3 primary components, funding, knowledge, and hustle. While you might have the other two covered, you likely won't be successful unless you know what you're doing. Whether you already have a strong knowledge base established or you intend to acquire it, make sure you don't jump into a new endeavor completely unprepared. Even paying a mentor to get you on the right track could end up multiplying your success in the long run. Seek out experts in that business and absorb knowledge from them like a sponge. You will still learn lessons simply through the process, but an appropriate level of foundational education can save you a tremendous amount of time, money, and anguish. Be sure to never stop educating yourself though. If you're starting a sales business, attend a sales class or seminar. If you want to get in to real estate investing, look for a local mentor and listen to podcasts. Trying to learn the entire business A-Z while simultaneously putting all your capital in will be stressful, exhausting, and can lead to significant imposter syndrome. Build a strong knowledge framework, then start allocating funds and hustle. Tip 2: Know when to rest. Sure, there are plenty of people out there that will tell you to work your face off like Gary V. While he is a thoughtful leader and influencer, he does what works for him. We all must know when we need to rest. Crashing from exhaustion and starting over the next day will only go so far before you hit burn out. Always plan time in your day to rest. Your heart spends nearly 2/3 of its existence in a state of rest despite our thought that it is always beating and working. The actual muscle contraction is simply a short interrupt to its resting state. Take advice from your heart and get more rest. Carefully timed rest periods rejuvenate us. Mental fatigue often does not have a linear build-up, but rather a compounding exponential curve. The further you push to the point of exhaustion, the faster you will arrive there. So, remember to allocate rest time for yourself and to do mental recuperation. It's important to note that when we sleep our cerebrospinal fluid has increased flow which cleans our brain of waste protein toxins created through expended mental processing. Tip 3: Commit! Don't go into any endeavor trying to dip your toe in the water. This will often lead to failure. You must give it your full effort if you want to reach success. Don't take this as a contradiction to tip 2, you still need to rest appropriately, but if you don't fully commit to the plan then you can expect to get poor results. Dive into your side gig like it's going to be your main source of income and tell everybody you know what you're doing so that they hold you accountable. Telling others will force you to adhere to what you say. If you keep your plan a secret, then you will have an increased probability of aborting the plan since you don't have any external parties holding you to it. Now think about a time where you had to make a tough decision. Did it feel more stressful while weighing the options, or after you chose a course of action? Typically, the stress exists in the process and dissipates after the decision is made. So, quickly commit to your plan and then move on to the next step in your business. Tip 4: NEVER quit! How many people do you know that learn how to walk without falling? There isn't a person out there that can claim this. Trial and error are how we learn. Our mistakes teach us the way to do things the right way and/or improve our technique and strategy. Never forget that. You haven't failed until you quit. Let me say that again, you haven't failed until you quit. Any obstacles in between are refining your process. When taking on a side hustle, there will be times where you want to quit. If you aren't having success, examine the business. Are others successful in this business? If not, did you choose the wrong business and need to pivot? However, if others are successful, what are they doing differently? Modeling other's successful techniques is a time-honored and tested method. While it might not give you the edge to set yourself apart, it might bolster your current business enough to start exploring new approaches. Changing directions to enhance your business is not quitting. Giving up and throwing in the towel will not get you what you want. So, stick it out, weather the storm, and be ready to adapt to change. Adaptability sorts out our standing in all competitive areas of life. You can connect with Eric on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/eric-roberts-28b2b893/ 10/9/2019 0 Comments Mentors (Location/Culture)If you are preparing or going through the military transition, you need to find a mentor, or mentors!
You can go about this one of several ways. 1- You can connect with friends who have already transitioned. You may get some good, honest feedback as a plus. Also, there information will probably be the most up-to-date. As a minus, if they are your friends, chances are they are not very well connected since they have probably transitioned relatively recently as well. 2- You can search out and connect to veterans (or perhaps non-veterans) in organizations you are most interested in. Pros here are that you can gain valuable access and information about culture, job postings, and references from the inside. Cons, however, are that this is often difficult. Essentially it takes "cold calling" and you doing an excellent job of selling yourself off the bat, the person being interested in you, the person having time, the person valuing or empathizing with your transition experience, the person having a mutual connection or background, and/or a combination of all of these. Example, I searched out Army Aviation under GE Aviation and cold connected with people I knew I could connect with easier. 3- You can use mentorship organizations such as Veterati or American Corporate Partners. Here you get a mix of people, but someone who probably is decently connected, has some experience with the transition process and relevancy to time, and who is obviously willing to mentor. However, you may not find the city or industry you are looking for, so the conversations can become rather generic, almost more like a help line. 4- Of course you can bypass all of these and just use a placement firm, or a head hunter if you will. You can pretty much count of them getting a job as pro. But as a con, you will be walking in pretty much blind, not learning much about the organization and certainly not gaining a mentor. So what can a mentor do for you? Well that is up to you and what you want when you find them. It can be formal or informal. It could grain of salt advice of feedback (take a look at my resume, listen to my elevator pitch, etc), it could be leads to other connections or jobs, it could be any number of things. In my opinion it is good to have a few different mentors. 1- The Talker, one who you trust what they are saying and who are good at sharing information and experiences. You can learn from them, there stories, mistakes, rights, etc. 2- The Listener, one that you can vent to, have open conversations with as you try and navigate this process. 3- The Connector, some who is well connected. They may not be the best listener or best talker, but will believe in what you are saying and will either stick there neck out there for you or continue to connect you with people of influence that will be influential in getting you where you need to go. And although it may take you a bit to figure out who is who, once you do, I would connect and grow with them in this order. That way can learn, try some things and if you swing and miss and get frustrated, vent about until you get it right, and when you do, go out there confidently chase down those leads! Finally, once the dust settles some years later and you find yourself comfortably sitting on the other side of the fence. Go out there and become the mentor! It is the best of way of keeping the ball rolling and keeping the information fresh to the transitioners. And if you ask me, it is an unwritten requirement of passage to be that leader and share that knowledge in order to help those 1%s out! |