It’s good to be reminded of concepts we learn over the years.  After all we can’t remember everything.

And it isn’t realistic to embody every lesson we’ve ever learned on a daily basis.  That would be exhausting.

I was talking to one of members the other day about her business (we have a lot of entrepreneurs in our gyms)

I was making a joke about attacking the weak, and her comments was something to the tune of “that’s aggressive”.

I can empathize with most people who may not understand the concept of “default aggressive”

This is a concept brought up in the book “Extreme Ownership”that I’ve discussed before.  I’m reading the follow on book “Dichotomy of Leadership”now.

This was a concept I learned playing athletics growing up.

It is never in our favor to let the opposing player or team dictate our actions.

It’s impossible to dictate every scenario, but you can do it more often than you think.

     In basketball I can force a guard to go a directions he doesn’t want to, I don’t want him moving towards his strong hand.

    In baseball I can shift the infield and I can pitch to a batter’s weaknesses.

     In football I can set up defensive schemes that make the quarterback have to go through all of their reads before talking an option

     On the job site I can build the contingencies want to move towards when things chance

     And at home I can seek out solutions to problems with my wife or kids and propose solutions rather than wait to see what happens.

This shouldn’t be confused with going full HAM (hard as a m$%^# F&*%@!) all the time.

Going back to last week’s email about participation.  Participating by default requires a “default aggressive” posture.

It does need to be balanced with the appropriate amount of aggression.

Aggression doesn’t mean kicking in every door you see.

It means actively engaging and participating in scenarios as the present themselves.

Would you rather be told what to do, or tell someone what you are going to do?

Most of us will opt for the second choice.

When we are unhappy we can usually come back to a point in the process where we were not “default aggressive” and the situation detoured away from our ideal outcome.

     Present your boss with the proposal.

     Talk to your spouse and tell them you want to work through whatever “it” is.

     Block your schedule so you have time for you.

     And tell people “No” when you need to. 

Being on the defensive requires far too much backpedaling and ends up with us navigating far more unknown than any of us would prefer.

Fern