10 Life Lessons from Basic SEAL Training from Admiral William H. McRaven

By Steve Nguyen, Ph.D.

 

University of Texas at Austin 2014 Commencement Address – Admiral William H. McRaven

Watch his speech above or directly on YouTube, https://youtu.be/pxBQLFLei70

An inspiring and powerful 20-minute commencement speech by Naval Admiral William H. McRaven, ninth commander of U.S. Special Operations Command, at the University-wide Commencement at The University of Texas at Austin on May 17, 2014.

Admiral McRaven’s commencement speech is perhaps one of the best commencement speeches I have ever heard. It is on point and offers some fantastic life and business lessons.

Below are excerpts from his amazing speech.

10 Life Lessons from Basic SEAL Training

1. If you want to change the world, start off by making your bed.
“If you can’t do the little things right, you will never do the big things right.”

2. If you want to change the world, find someone to help you paddle.
“You can’t change the world alone—you will need some help— and to truly get from your starting point to your destination takes friends, colleagues, the good will of strangers and a strong coxswain to guide them.”

3. If you want to change the world, measure a person by the size of their heart, not the size of their flippers.
“SEAL training was a great equalizer. Nothing mattered but your will to succeed. Not your color, not your ethnic background, not your education and not your social status.”

4. If you want to change the world get over being a sugar cookie and keep moving forward.
“Sometimes no matter how well you prepare or how well you perform you still end up as a sugar cookie.”

“For failing the uniform inspection, the student [in Basic SEAL training] had to run, fully clothed into the surfzone and then, wet from head to toe, roll around on the beach until every part of your body was covered with sand. The effect was known as a ‘sugar cookie.’ You stayed in that uniform the rest of the day — cold, wet and sandy.”

“There were many a student who just couldn’t accept the fact that all their effort was in vain. . . Those students didn’t understand the purpose of the drill. You were never going to succeed. You were never going to have a perfect uniform.”

5. If you want to change the world, don’t be afraid of the circuses.
“Every day during training you were challenged with multiple physical events — long runs, long swims, obstacle courses, hours of calisthenics — something designed to test your mettle. Every event had standards — times you had to meet. If you failed to meet those standards your name was posted on a list, and at the end of the day those on the list were invited to a ‘circus.’ A circus was two hours of additional calisthenics designed to wear you down, to break your spirit, to force you to quit.”

“Life is filled with circuses. You will fail. You will likely fail often. It will be painful. It will be discouraging. At times it will test you to your very core.”

6. If you want to change the world sometimes you have to slide down the obstacle head first.

7. If you want to change the world, don’t back down from the sharks.
“There are a lot of sharks in the world. If you hope to complete the swim you will have to deal with them.”

8. If you want to change the world, you must be your very best in the darkest moment.
“At the darkest moment of the mission is the time when you must be calm, composed—when all your tactical skills, your physical power and all your inner strength must be brought to bear.”

9. If you want to change the world, start singing when you’re up to your neck in mud.
“If I have learned anything in my time traveling the world, it is the power of hope. The power of one person—Washington, Lincoln, King, Mandela and even a young girl from Pakistan, Malala—one person can change the world by giving people hope.”

10. If you want to change the world don’t ever, ever ring the bell.
“In SEAL training there is a bell. A brass bell that hangs in the center of the compound for all the students to see. All you have to do to quit—is ring the bell. Ring the bell and you no longer have to wake up at 5 o’clock. Ring the bell and you no longer have to do the freezing cold swims. Ring the bell and you no longer have to do the runs, the obstacle course, the PT—and you no longer have to endure the hardships of training. Just ring the bell. If you want to change the world don’t ever, ever ring the bell.”

——

“Start each day with a task completed. Find someone to help you through life. Respect everyone. Know that life is not fair and that you will fail often. But if you take some risks, step up when the times are toughest, face down the bullies, lift up the downtrodden and never, ever give up — if you do these things, then the next generation and the generations that follow will live in a world far better than the one we have today.”

“It matters not your gender, your ethnic or religious background, your orientation, or your social status. Our struggles in this world are similar and the lessons to overcome those struggles and to move forward—changing ourselves and the world around us—will apply equally to all.”

“Changing the world can happen anywhere and anyone can do it.”

Written By: Steve Nguyen, Ph.D.
Leadership Advisor & Talent Development Consultant

Link

University of Texas at Austin – Adm. McRaven Urges Graduates to Find Courage to Change the World   https://news.utexas.edu/2014/05/16/mcraven-urges-graduates-to-find-courage-to-change-the-world

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Heroic dog braves Long Island Sound to rescue baby deer

by Melissa Breyer (@MelissaBreyer) –

© Mark Freeley/Facebook

 

We all know people who wouldn’t hesitate to dive into the water to rescue an animal in need; but how many dogs do you know that would do the same?

Come to think of it, maybe more dogs than people would rise to the occasion! Dogs are incredible in the art of rescue and have been doing it at least since the early 18th century, when monks living in the frigid and treacherous St. Bernard Pass in the Alps used their namesake St. Bernard dogs to help on their rescue missions after blizzards.

But what makes Storm – an English golden retriever from Port Jefferson, NY – even more special is that without any training or prodding, he leapt into action upon seeing a baby deer in duress in the Long Island Sound. Retrieving may be in Storm’s nature, but still, what a trooper.

“Storm just plunged into the water, started swimming out to the fawn and then grabbed the fawn by her neck and started swimming in to the shore,” says Storm’s caregiver, Mark Freeley.

Freeley took a video of the event, having no idea of how things would turn out. As you can see below, Storm gets to the babe, brings it back to shore, and then lays down next to it. And then?

“And then he started nudging it with his nose and then started pulling it to make sure it was gonna be OK, I guess,” Freeley says.

Freeley quickly called animal rescue workers who arrived as the deer headed back into the water, apparently spooked by the dogs.

“This time it went out even further,” Freeley says. Between Freeley and the careful team from Strong Island Animal Rescue League, the deer was rescued yet again.

The sweet fawn is currently on the mend at Long Island’s Save the Animals Rescue Foundation, donations to which can be made here.

CBS New York station WCBS-TV reports on the story below.

Related on TreeHugger.com:

• Sweet Swedish pair rescues a moose from frozen lake
• Man saves dog, dog saves hummingbird, hummingbird saves man who saved dog
• Photographer’s tribute to his dog is heartbreakingly beautiful

Tags: Animals | Pets

 

Google Leak Details Massive Pixel 2 Smartphone

by Gordon Kelly –

 The Pixel 2 is going to be big. Literally very, very big…

The ‘Taimen’ has surfaced. The third of three codenamed Pixel handsets – Muskie, Walleye and Taimen – until now it was only rumoured through anecdotal code fragments, but now the device itself has appeared and revealed its core specifications.

The handset was picked up having been tested on ubiquitous benchmarking software Geekbench – a famous honeytrap for upcoming devices. It recorded the handset’s CPU as a “Qualcomm @ 1.90 GHz, 1 processor 8 cores”, aka the Snapdragon 835 used in the US edition of the Galaxy S8. There was also 4GB of RAM and it was running Android O, the next generation of Android due for release later this year.

So how did the Google GOOGL +0.51% Taimen perform? In line with other Snapdragon 835 models:

• Google Taimen: Single Core: 1804 | Multi Core: 6284
• Galaxy S8: Single Core: 1929 | Multi Core: 6084
• Xperia XZ Premium: Single Core: 1943 | Multi Core: 5824

This is impressive given the Taimen is still a pre-production device. Then again the first generation Pixel and Pixel XL actually used a Snapdragon 821 chip, which was an incremental advancement over the Snapdragon 820 in the Galaxy S7. Whether the 821 only existed due to issues with the 820, however, is a matter for debate and there are no signs a Snapdragon 836 is planned at this stage.

So why is the Taimen massive? Because of Google’s smartphone codename history:

• 2012 – 4.7-inch Nexus 4 (Mako)
• 2013 – 5-inch Nexus 5 (Hammerhead)
• 2014 – 6-inch Nexus 6 (Shamu)
• 2015 – 5.2-inch Nexus 5X (Bullhead), 5.7-inch Nexus 6P (Anger)
• 2016 – 5.1-inch Pixel (Sailfish), 5.5-inch Pixel XL (Marlin)

Google has always used fish (or whales in the case of the Nexus 6) and they always correspond to size with the larger phone getting the larger species. Muskies (up to 17kg / 38lbs) are larger than walleyes (up to 11kg / 24lbs), but Taimen are in another league altogether with specimens caught over 100kg (220 lbs).

Of course there is a chance such a size difference means the Taimen will be a tablet like the Nexus 9 or hybrid like the Pixel C, though Google has historically differentiated these lines with Nvidia Tegra chipsets and 4GB of RAM in a hybrid would seem low for a late 2017 device.

Furthermore Apple will launch three new iPhones this year (maybe four) with a standout premium 10th anniversary edition among them. Could Taimen be Google’s equivalent standout Pixel? The optimist in me certainly hopes so…

 

Plastic Card Alternatives

Last time, I wrote something about how wood pulps can be used to make biodegradable plastic cards for retailer and business promos. Of course, we all know that this will definitely require an expensive machine, or an equally huge fund, in order to pull off. This virtually renders smaller businesses unable to make these eco-friendly cards. These cards are very helpful with promoting your business, and you can’t just stop using them for your promos, memberships, and gift cards. If you’re one of those businesses who are looking for a cheap, eco-friendly alternative to plastic cards, then you are in luck. I’ve listed down a couple of alternative media and materials that you can use to market your business the same way as how you use your standard Plastic cards!

Paper – Paper is the obvious choice if you’re looking for the cheapest alternative. It’s easier and cheaper to produce paper cards than their plastic counterparts. They are made of resources such as wood or used paper, which are quite renewable. The card itself is biodegradable and easily disposable. This card is the perfect choice for one-time use cards such as discount vouchers or gift cards. The only flaw with paper cards is that it is not practical to use them for data cards with magnetic strips – but you can definitely add QR and Bar codes in it, just as long as customers make sure these paper cards won’t get wet.

E-Mails – E-mails are the fastest and easiest way to get in touch with a potential client or customer. However, using e-mails for marketing will also require you to make a decent-looking webpage. There are also unwritten, ethical rules regarding the use of e-mails for marketing. Rememember that people do not want spam, so don’t send it to just anyone! You’ll want to post a “news feed” subscription in your site so that you’ll be able to have an e-mail list where you can send e-mails without worry. You should also mention that you’ll be randomly giving away discount promos via e-mail to encourage folks to subscribe.

Mobile Gadgets – I was planning to list “alternative” to your typical plastic cards but this one is more of like the plastic card’s “next step in evolution”. The invention of smartphone innovated how common folks gain access to resources that you can’t usually get from outside your home, such as electronic cash and Internet. Your business shouldn’t get left behind by this technology, so start taking advantage of it! Electronic credit is already accessible via smartphones so folks can pay for your products or services on the dot. A lot of freeware sites provide ways for clients and customers to scan QR and Bar codes with their smartphone’s cameras. The image above is a great example for using these scanners: Koreans placed a virtual grocery store for customers to scan. Each item for sale has its own QR code to be added to your shopping cart. With electronic money, customers can pay for the item and have it delivered to their home while they’re still in the train. Of course not every business can afford electronic billboards like that. For a cheaper alternative, use posters, stickers, or tarpaulin banners.

These 3 tips are both eco-friendly and cheap for small businesses to use. You can even do most of these things on your own! Hopefully, this can help your small business to stay afloat and compete with bigger business rivals.

 

Therese Shaw is an advocate of recycling through turning clutter into art and other practical items. When not doing arts and crafts, she does freelance writing occasionally for companies like Cardprinting.us, a print service that uses environmental friendly plastic cards and offers keytagprinting.

 

Get ‘Er Done: Stop Procrastination

Procrastination is at the center of every college student’s life.  Let’s face it, if you didn’t procrastinate every now and then, you wouldn’t have any life at all.  Of course, if you want to continue attending college, at some point you are going to have to do some work.  When you’ve been having a great time it can be hard to trick yourself into really wanting to get back to work, but it can be done.  As with everything else, there are a few tricks that you can use to get yourself back into work mode.

Reward Yourself For Working

While the eventual goal of a good grade and graduation is lofty and appealing, it really isn’t a great in-the-moment motivator.  That doesn’t mean that you can’t be motivated – you are just going to have to find something that does work.  Try to reward yourself after a certain amount of work with M&M’s, movies that you like, or just a break to walk outside.  Of course, you have to stick with your plan.  If you struggle for control, ask a roommate or friend for help policing it.

Start With The Easy Stuff

Staring down a problem that you don’t understand is only going to make your legs give way and you flee from the room.  That doesn’t mean that the problem can’t be solved, it is just easier to do it once you have your momentum.  Try to find aspects of the work that are easy and start there – whether it is formatting your page for the essay, or writing a section you understand really well.

End With The Easy Stuff

Just like the beginning, the ending of a huge project is murderous.  You stare at the remaining space to be filled, or the problems left to be done, and they loom huge and intimidating.  If you are prone to giving up at the end, save yourself a little something for the end as well.  Maybe it is just reviewing the work or re-formatting the paper, but there is bound to be something light that you can use to keep yourself going at the end.

Plan Ahead

Sometimes we get so caught up in procrastination that we forget that we have real commitments going on in our lives.  Unfortunately, those commitments only ever seem to rear their head just when you need to get work done.  Take into consideration future events and move your deadline up accordingly, so that you don’t wind up writing your thesis during your cousin’s wedding.

Remove Distractions

Even when you have the best rhythm going, it can all be shattered in a single instant through the sound of a good friend calling, or just the friendly ‘bing’ of Facebook.   Life is going to do it’s best to keep you from getting work done.  When you sit down to work, eliminate those temptations – turn off your phone and log out of Facebook so that you can focus on the task at hand.

About the Author

Pan B. is a writer for Mycriminaljusticecareers.com. Becoming a police officer can be a challenge. But if you visit this website, it can help you stay informed with this great career.

 

The Ted Williams Horror Show

by Antsy McClain on Wednesday, January 12, 2011 at 8:42am

Poor Ted Williams.

Just a few weeks ago, he was standing on a street corner minding his own business, and now he’s television’s current flavor of the month, being paraded about like a 12-year old pageant-hopping beauty queen. Being reunited with bridge-burnt family members while a hungry world watches every raw emotion on their big screen televisions.

You know Ted, right? “The homeless man with a golden voice”made famous literally overnight on YouTube. A reporter from The Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch with the best of intentions filmed him one day and the rest is, as they say, history. The video went viral, and within days it garnered millions of views. He had a once promising radio career but alcohol and drugs derailed him.

People responded saying they would hire him. I was moved, and responded under the video, “Thanks for posting this video. Ted rocks. I will be in Ohio soon, and would love to pay Ted to do some voiceover work for our live shows, podcasts, etc. I’ll bring my ProTools and portable studio. How do I get ahold of him?”

There were a lot of these kinds of replies. Folks like me with a couple hundred extra bucks wanting to help out a guy down on his luck. There were so many replies that the channel author posted an announcement saying he was delivering Ted a pay-by-the-month cell phone soon and asked us to stay tuned.

In a matter of days, he went from humble panhandler trying to piece his life back together to this month’s media darling. On that initial YouTube video, he said he’s been clean and sober for two years. I am betting more than once in the past few weeks, Ted has wanted a drink. Or six.

I hope he stays on the wagon, for no other reason than to spite the media hounds who not so secretly want him to fail so they can capture every awkward moment on film. If he does slip, millions of people hungry for human drama (due to a lack of excitement in their own real lives) will be watching his every move while they munch Cool Ranch Doritos from the comfort of their living rooms. And if he’s back on the street in three months, the television producers won’t care, and the Dorito-munching masses will be watching the Next Greatest Thing as they ignore or escape their own real life.

No one could withstand this abrupt whiplash of lifestyle – not even well-adjusted people with families, mortgages and successful careers. If we’re honest with ourselves, we’ll include our own names in this category of the easily corrupted. It’s human nature. Heaven knows I’ve had my own struggles with pride, arrogance, greed, excess, etc., and no one outside of my 135-member fan base has ever heard of me. Imagine what Ted’s going through right now. Ugh.

As I was paying for my gas this morning at my favorite convenience store, I was stopped in my tracks under the always-present, always-yakking television as a tearful Ted Williams was being confronted by a disenfranchised daughter in a Maury Povich-type setting under the hot, high def lights of a television studio. So tacky. So degrading.

Iwanted to cry. I felt like I knew Ted. I mean, I knew him all those days ago when I was his 34,678th viewer and he was a homless guy on the streets of Columbus. I replied to his video, for crying out loud. That makes us almost family. I wanted to tell some of the others standing with me under that television that I knew Ted before all this, that I was one of the first to view that video, that I practically discovered Ted Williams.

And I had to stop myself. Was I being sucked into this media machinery of Ted Williams? Am I a cog in the wheel of the media machine? It dawmed on me that I may not be the wise, cynical type afterall, the one who has claimed to be above all this. I’m not that guy at all. I think I may be (Ihave paused a long time before actually typing these next words) a part of the problem.

My mind reeled as I got to my car and drove on. I tried to steer my thoughts back to Ted Williams. Ihope for the best for Ted. I hope there’s someone close to him that cares for him and not only for the money he’s going to make for them. But it doesn’t appear so now. I see him as a lone, frightened guy in a sea of confusing lights and commotion with no loving, guiding voice to tell him to take his time, to heal his wounds and to take time to do the little things, like work out his family reunions off camera.

And I’m betting AA would agree with me when I say that interventions should never be conducted by television producers.

In this photo provided by NBC Universal, homeless man Ted Williams prays during NBC’s “Today” show, in New York, on Thursday, Jan. 6, 2011. Williams, who was living in a tent near a highway in Columbus, Ohio, just days ago, was in New York for an emotional reunion with his 90-year-old mother, media appearances, and to do some commercial voiceover work. On the “Today” show, he described his previous 48 hours as “outrageous.” (AP Photo/NBC, Peter Kramer) NO SALES Original Filename: Today Show Homeless Radio Voice.JPEG-0cd90.jpg

 

We hope you enjoyed the time off, ‘cause 2011 is going to be SMOKIN! At least for us at www.bayintegratedmarketing.com

BayIntegratedMarketing opened the first “real” week of 2011 with 4 new accounts ready to take their web presence to the next level.  Among them are an Insurance Broker, a Dr. of Chiropractic, a Corporate Travel Management company, and an OutDoors Outfitter in Florida.  What is amazing is that the solutions for all these diverse companies are essentially the same, they are immediately applicable, they are extremely affordable, and they will bring additional revenue in the door starting the very first day.

This is an exciting time to be in business.  The holidays of 2010 were slow and relaxing, lots of family and friends, and more than a few extra pounds.  This “new year” just feels different.  The business environment seems ready to pounce, six additional holiday pounds have already bid farewell to my midsection, the real estate market has bottomed out, and the Dow seems fairly likely to be able to sustain 11,000 + this year for the first time in many.

We have had our negatives:  the Ducks lost and the unemployment numbers are still bad, but all in all I just have a feeling about this year.

All the best to you and yours!

BAY INTEGRATED MARKETING

Stephen A. Ulrich – +1 650 430 2190
email:    steve@bayintegratedmarketing.com
LinkedIn:   http://www.linkedin.com/in/steveulrichmktg
Blog:  https://bayintegratedmarketing.wordpress.com/
Website:  www.bayintegratedmarketing.com
Twitter:  @steveulrichmktg