Book Tracking 8
Embrace The Suck
By Brent Gleeson
Hey, another business book written by a navy seal extolling the values of hard work, no pain no gain, and relating lessons from the battlefield to the board room… Bla, bra, bra? Maybe, but I’m a sucker for military guys who translate their military success to business success. Maybe that’s because my biggest mentor, my dad, took what he learned in a short six year military career and translated that to learning under others and then propelled himself to a massive business success.
Navy seals have become so renowned for their exploits, whether we’re talking about David Goggins, or Admiral William McGraven, Jocco Willing, etc. every single one of them has something to teach us and have valuable insights into what it takes to succeed. This book essentially tells us that a path to success exists in embracing the suck, or as my friend and mentor Erik Weihenmayer would put it, embracing adversity.
It’s not a new message and definitely one I embrace, but also one I need to be reminded of regularly especially when my own training is not going so well. Just the other week I had to remind myself of this book’s core message as my guide Andy and I ran hard at or near my 5k race effort on a cold and windy day. As we jogged during the cool down Andy reminded me that I needed to relish every single training condition thrown at me. Hot and humid, awesome; cold, wet and windy, bring it on; the worse the conditions the happier I needed to be because I could thrive in that environment. Anyone can perform in ideal conditions, it’s those who can still perform in the toughest of circumstances that rise to the top.
That’s essentially the core message of Embrace The Suck. Adversity makes us stronger.