Writing Wednesdays
“You Gotta Be Great!”
By Steven Pressfield | Published: February 10, 2010
There’s a theme to all of these Writing Wednesdays posts, and the theme is Resistance: what it is, how it attacks us, how we can beat it. Here’s an insight that struck me with blamm-o impact last week:
I was in Washington, D.C., with Maj. Jim Gant of the U.S. Army Special Forces and Chief Ajmal Khan Zazai, a tribal chief from Paktia province in Afghanistan. We were speaking on the subject of “tribal engagement”—a new military/cultural strategy for Afghanistan—at the Naval Academy, Marine Corps University and several think tanks. (If you’re at all curious about this, click on “One Tribe At A Time” in the header of this page or scan through the “Interview w/Tribal Chief” posts.)
What “tribal engagement” entails, at least the way our threesome was positioning it, is that a small team of U.S. troopers embeds itself with an Afghan tribe and becomes part of the community, living with the tribe, working with it, supporting it, fighting and dying alongside it. It’s a bottom-up strategy for producing security, justice and good governance. Maj. Gant had achieved success using this strategy with his Special Forces team on a prior tour in Afghanistan. That was what he was speaking about to the Marines and midshipmen last week. Onstage, he was trying to be cool and objective, presenting the concept in an impartial, professional manner. But his passion kept getting the best of him.
Maj. Gant at the girls' school in Mangwel, Konar province, Afghanistan
Midway through each speech, Maj. Gant started recruiting. He started firing up the troops. His eyes got big and the veins popped out on his neck. “You gotta be great! You have to be great every day or you’re dead and so am I. Don’t lie. Don’t ever lie, because they [the Afghan tribesmen] will see right through you. They know you better than you know yourself. If you promise something, deliver—because if you don’t you will lose everything including your life.”
Maj. Gant’s mission wasn’t to enlist anybody. The Tribal Engagement program isn’t even in place yet. But he couldn’t help himself. “I want three years from you. That’s your commitment. Not seven months, not twelve months. I’ll send you home for thirty days a year and then you’re back with me in the shit.”
It won’t surprise you, I’m sure, to hear that, each day, as soon as Maj. Gant finished, he was swamped by Marines and midshipmen. “I’m in, Major.” Sign me up, sir!” At night, when he got home to his quarters, his inbox was overflowing with e-mail addresses. “Take me, sir.” “Here’s where you can reach me.”
Now: what does all this have to do with writing or art or entrepreneurship?
Attitude. Attitude in the face of Resistance.
Each day, when we stateside warriors confront our fears of failure (or success), of exposure, of loss or humiliation, of all the outcomes that terrify us in our art and our lives, why not call on Maj. Gant’s attitude?
“You gotta be great! You can’t settle for mediocre, or almost-good or half-assed. Every day you have to be great or people are gonna die.”
Watching those Marines and midshipmen jump out of their seats and swarm around Maj. Gant, it was clear to me that young men and women’s hearts today (and some of us who are not so young) are starving for challenges worthy of their secret, limitless capacities. They’re ravenous for a call to greatness—even in something as obscure and potentially thankless in terms of public recognition as being part of a team of infantrymen slogging into the back of beyond to help people who may in the end only hate us and even murder us.
Who’s going to be your Maj. Gant? Who’s mine? There’s only one inspirational leader for either of us, and he or she is staring back every morning from the mirror.
One definition of leadership is the capacity to recognize the aspiration for exceptionalness in the souls of our troopers—and then put words and deeds to that imperative. Summon it. Call it forth by action and exhortation. Maj. Gant did that last week for those young Marines and midshipmen—and each of us needs to do it too, for ourselves. Inspire ourselves. Call ourselves out. Self-initiate, self-motivate, self-validate.
“We gotta be great!”
Sign me up, Jim (no, wait … make that Steve). I’m ready to go.
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I made only one mistake this week…that I know of;-)
I failed to leave a dinner early enough only two blocks away from seeing you and Seth Godin at Border’s in Columbus Circle. Kick, kick, kicking myself!
PS I live for Writing Wednesdays!!!
Praise continues to ring out on the logic of Major Gant’s message.
http://thomaspmbarnett.com/weblog/2010/02/really_working_with_tribes_in.html
Mr. Pressfield,
Please do not EVER stop writing.
I watched Bagger Vance, and it was great, but I felt that I was missing something, so I borrowed the book. If I hadn’t read the War of Art, I probably would not have watched the movie. If I hadn’t watched the movie, I probably would never have borrowed the book. Each step a victory over resistance.
Please do not EVER stop writing.
Jet
Strange. I too watched the movie Bagger Vance, after I had read the War of Art. Both have inspired me to be the best I am, and then share that with the world. I agree Self-initiate, self-motivate, self-validate.
“We gotta be great!”
Jesus, I’m pumped! Thanks, Steve.
All the best to the guys and gals that ask to be taken by Maj Gant. Wish I could go with you.
Rod Roth, Cpl. USMC 1957-60 (1st Force Recon Co.)
I’ve decided to be in love with you. I should probably just stop there.
Read “War of Art” because it was recommended by several different authors (the final hit was from Seth Godin). Here’s expecting that it has changed me.
I didn’t intend to be unable to put “Gates of Fire” down because I’ve never been interested in the retelling of war and I knew that it would be highly detailed and my imagination would fill in the rest. I expected to read a portion and set it aside, maybe to return another day.
But, I can’t stop reading it nor have I been able to stop telling everyone that will listen to me about what I’m learning from you.
I found your blog and have scanned many of the entries so as to mark those that I want to reread and process more deeply.
This last year has been a year in which I have taken up extreme challenges to make the next half of my life quite different from the first half. I recognize the Resistance (love that you practically anthropomorphized it) coming from within and without.
So … sign me up, Diane. I’m ready to go! (And yes … I still plan to just be in love with you … sorry!)
I saw you speak at Borders with Seth Godin last week – thought you were great !! Bought War of Art – just finished it and feel SO inspired by it.
Thank you.
18L’s could be great. There are obstacles currently obstructing this possibility. They need help. They want to be our tribal engagement experts.
“SF to establish linguist MOS
Special Forces is establishing a new military occupational specialty: 18L, SF linguist. The goal of creating the new MOS is to provide two 18Ls, either staff sergeants or sergeants first class, per A-detachment by fiscal year 2012.
As interim goals, SF will fill one detachment slot with an 18L having a language capability of 2/2/2 between FY 2010 and FY 2011. By FY 2012, each A-detachment will have one 2/2/2 18L and one 3/3/3 18L. The intent is to maintain a basic level of linguistic ability while achieving a high level of skill and to provide a small number of Soldiers competent in languages specific to regions of current and future deployment.
Development of training is ongoing, although authorizations for training will not be available until FY 2013.”
Keeping writing please.
Nice words, nice article, nice people.
Thank you for this inspiration. It was forwarded by a friend on a day I couldn’t have needed it more. The empowerment will surely give me the strength I need to conquer today! I’ll let you know!
Laura
of course infidels would be welcome to change Afghanistan.