Fundamentals- the basics done well… it’s every heavy hitter’s mantra, used as a baseline by most special forces communities. Whatever your trade, fundamentals are the core skills and values everyone returns to in their hour of need and those moments of high stress. They are the base of every strong character, the beginning of every success, the foundation for perfection. Perfection doesn’t exist though, it’s a myth, no one is perfect, we are human after all. What matters is that we strive to be the best we can be, to be as good at the fundamentals as possible, particularly in the services community, lives depend on it. The fundamentals are a set of building blocks that we should all strive to meet; not easily quantifiable, they are more areas and qualities that need regular attention. We’ve put some thought into these and put them down on paper.
Honesty- Honesty and excuses are every true professional's dichotomy; excuses get made and honesty sees through them- excuses only sound good to the person making them. Right now there is someone out there who is training to beat you, either in combat or in competition. For the thin green line, someone out there who will need your professionalism to save their life. With these facts in mind, there aren’t many excuses that are still plausible. Be honest with yourself, find your weaknesses and work on them. If you don’t like doing something, chances are you need to do it more. Honesty and no excuses - study more, develop and prepare.
Fitness - You never know when your body is going to be required to return to the most base of states, fight or flight, are you ready for both? The fit firefighter will get the casualty out the burning building; the conditioned civilian will keep their head above the water and fight back to the beach, drowning child in tow; the sub 16 min, 2mile man is going to be capable in the last bound when they fix their bayonet. Fitness is at the core of nearly everything we do, it’s what keeps us and others alive. Get yourself a good training program, take instruction where needed and phys hard.
Mental Resilience and mental conditioning - As important as physical fitness is mental conditioning. Just as the body becomes soft without conditioning, so does the mind; mental resilience will keep us going when the odds are down. Mental toughness is like a knife, it needs regular sharpening, failure to do so will lead us to become dull. Set the alarm clock an hour earlier, turn that shower to cold and get in it, say no to the snack. Put yourself under regular controlled stress and you’ll be bombproof.
Improvement - Don’t settle for second best, we can always get better, be stronger, be more knowledgeable. Look at who you are, are you being honest with yourself or are you making excuses?
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