Anyone can rustle up a sales pitch, spout a few motivational platitudes and talk of winning battles in the boardroom or on a golf course. And we pay them well for their mantras and their war stories. For them teambuilding is a daring afternoon building Lego models, or for the more testosterone-inclined, a bout of paintballing at the local activity centre.
Mack is different. The "teams” he worked in were elite U.S. Navy SEAL units, engaged in life-or-death missions of amphibious, alpine and special operations warfare. In the "teams", ordinary people achieved greatness – achieving endurance, heroism and self-sacrifice even as their counterparts wallowed in ordinary, suburban lives.
Look past the cheesy title, “Unleash the Warrior Within”, which sounds like the literary hybrid progeny of Conan the Barbarian and Anthony Robbins. You'll be more impressed by the immensely lucid and powerful insights that Richard Machowicz draws on from his military career. It is no exaggeration to say that this single book is devastatingly powerful in its insights and has genuine potential to revolutionize the shape of the reader's thinking. In fact, it has provided me with more practical tools for personal achievement than a dozen other more famous books in the genre.
Mack’s genius is to focus on the psychology that elite special forces teams deploy. The “Warrior” he speaks of in the title is nothing to do with fighting others, but rather the path of self-mastery, of personal achievement. The book opens explosively. Mack pitches us straight into Hell Week, the infamous and arduous endurance test that all new recruits to the SEALS must pass. As he is kept awake for days, dragged through rocks and surf and ripped by stones, carrying canoes so heavy they can break necks, he survives by repeating a simple mantra – “I can only be defeated if I give up or die”. He distills this into his core philosophy – “Not Dead, Can’t Quit” (TM).
Mack's book is as exciting and gripping as a novel. The action never fails - from his sniper training to his HALO (high altitude low opening) jumps, from his beach landings to his days as a Hollywood celebrity bodyguard. It’s no self-indulgent memoir though. The book is jam-packed not just with wise words but actual, practical techniques such as the CARVER matrix to assess priorities, and the phase diagrams to plan goals. The section on responding to physical threats – hint, always look at the mugger’s hands to see if they have a weapon - is worth its weight in gold.
As one of the world’s elite military forces, the Navy SEALs have no time for soundbites, or ideas that just sound good but don’t deliver. Richard Machowicz, who is now a noted TV personality in America in his own right, delivers some fascinating and highly practical ideas. He has further developed this into “Bukido”, a holistic martial arts and improvement philosophy.
Of course, you could dismiss all this as a “Full Metal Jacket”-style fantasy and instead take your self-development ideas from perma-tanned “road warriors” whose idea of struggle is a traffic jam on the M1 and an awkward sales meeting. Take that approach if you will. But you might just be missing out on one of the most compelling, exceptional and inspirational personal development books in print today.
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