I have a pretty sweet situation at my office. I share the office with my dad. Technically, it is his office, and when I bought the real estate company from him a while back, I stayed. So his office is still next to mine, and he is still an incredible resource to me. Frankly, I just like seeing him nearly every day. As is often the case, as the day winds down, I find myself in his office, or he is in mine – and we chat. Today’s chat brought back a memory.
After a Marine graduates boot camp, he’ll go to SOI – the School of Infantry. 6 weeks of hell for the true ground-pounder, and 17 days of the same for the rest of us. When I graduated SOI, I had a day lay-over before my flight took me to California the next day. So for the first time in months, I had some free time to walk around base. I made two huge rookie mistakes that day. First, I was walking with something in my right hand which was a big no-no because you can’t salute. Second, I walked by a Lt Colonel without noticing him. I was sunk.
Some Gunny standing next to the Colonel got ahold of me and ripped me a new one, and while he had me, he inspected my uniform. Without going into detail, I was not prepared for that spot inspection. That moment taught me something that I was reminded of today: be prepared. From that moment to my last day in the Corps, I never failed another inspection. I prepared every day as if I would have a spot inspection from some random Gunny, and I was determined to be ready.
So here is my take away from my chat with my dad today. Am I prepared now? If the big fish walks into my office, am I at the ready? Are you? What do you have better to do than prepare for the moment that you are working for?
And not only should we be prepared, but being prepared breeds confidence. My dad used the word swagger today, and that is a great way to describe most Marines. They are so prepared and trained, that they walk around with supreme swagger. It is sometimes awe-inspiring. Whether you are a commercial real estate practitioner like me, or not, confidence and swagger are game changers.
Do you have swagger? If not, what are you going to do to get it?
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