I’m reminded of the amazing story of an army specialist who
overcame multiple barriers in performing his duties one day in the wilds of the
Korengal Valley of Afganistan. For his
effort he was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor.
Imagine being pinned down by withering enemy fire in the
real world of a military firefight. Just
surviving through such a firefight would be one thing but Specialist Salvatore
Giunta did more than that.
A quick overview of some of what happened on that fateful
day when enemy forces engaged Giunta’s team with a well-coordinated attack…
Giunta sees his squad leader fall and races through the
barrier of heavy gunfire to pull him to safety and administer medical aid.
Giunta continues to fight through the overall barrier of the
chaos of battle even though his body armor had been struck by enemy fire.
Giunta continued overcoming the barriers of rough terrain
and heavy enemy fire to get to wounded fellow soldiers.
Giunta’s next barrier to overcome was the top of a hill
where he noticed a couple of enemy combatants carrying a way a wounded American
soldier.
On his own he engaged the enemy and rescued their captured,
wounded American soldier. He rendered
medical aid to the wounded soldier as the rest of his team caught up to him and
provided cover and security.
Would you call what Specialist Giunta did that day a
success?
I would!
He overcame multiple barriers to the successful rescue and
medical care of his squad leader; other wounded team members; and the soldier
being hauled away by the enemy.
The only way he could have accomplished all of that was to
overcome the ultimate barrier between him and such success.
You may not have to go through the multiple barriers of
withering enemy fire and difficult terrain in a faraway land. However, you do have to overcome multiple
barriers to whatever you define as success including the same ultimate barrier Specialist Giunta overcame.
Giunta had a desire to save his comrades in arms that was
greater than his fear of the
barriers he would have to overcome to fulfill that desire.
Fear is your ultimate barrier to success, too!
What drove Specialist Giunta to overcome fear in his
situation? It was his gut feeling about
the consequences if he didn’t act.
His reasons why
he must act were much more powerful than his reasons to hunker down in safety
and watch his teammates die before his very eyes!
You must conjure up the same gut feelings about why you want
to achieve your success, as you have defined it.
For everything you want to be, do or have, list all the
reasons WHY you want those
things.
Right next to that list build another list of the barriers
(including fear) that could stop you from achieving those things.
Ask yourself the following 3 questions:
What actions will I take to achieve my success and by when?
What is my plan for achieving those things where I have strong, gut-level reasons why I want them?
Are my reasons why gut-level enough to overcome all the barriers (including fear) to what I want?
Achieving your success by following the above suggestions
may not result in a Congressional Medal of Honor.
However, you will demonstrate the
mettle necessary to overcoming barriers including the ultimate one: fear.
How have you overcome fear in the
past? How could that method apply to
achieving your desires for success?
Please share your thoughts by commenting below.
And…please forward this information to others by following the social
media share link at the top or bottom of this post.
Thank
you.
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