Sacrifice

Last Thursday was my last 'working' day in the Air Force. I look back and I cannot believe it has been nine years since I set foot on the Air Force Academy campus. Since I knew my departure was coming for quite some time I didn't have a very dramatic emotional experience on my last day, however I did welcome a feeling that everyone experiences throughout the course of their lives. I felt the familiar feeling you get when you know you have reached a crossroads. Last Thursday was the ending of an era for me and although I am extremely excited for the next chapter I will definitely miss many aspects of my Air Force life.

While reflecting on my time both as a cadet and as a member of the active duty Air Force I could not help but to think about sacrifice. The sacrifices I made, the ones my wife made, and how they have impacted our lives. I started thinking about the greater sacrifices that many members of the armed forces make. My reflection led me to another realization, one that I revealed during my departure speech in my unit.

While I was giving my departure speech to friends and coworkers I stated that "my military service gave me far more that I ever gave back. I imagine that statement will become even more true as time goes on and as I embark on new endeavors in the civilian world."

I truly believe that statement. That is not to say that I was bum who took all he could from the military and left, because I didn't, and I am very proud of what I contributed during my service. I was merely expressing my awe at how far I have come since the day I stepped into the dorms of the Air Force Academy.

So were those "sacrifices" really sacrifices if ultimately they benefited me and contributed to my growth and happiness? Maybe I am being naive or romanticizing in hindsight but actions that ultimately benefit you greatly don't really seem to embody what sacrifice stands for. It almost seems more like delayed gratification. Or better yet, an investment in the future. Was the bypassing of a traditional college experience for a regimented character building leadership laboratory really a sacrifice for me? Was the lack of control over where I lived and when a sacrifice, or did it merely expose me to new parts of the world that I never would have otherwise been privileged to? Did the nearly seven months I spent in Iraq away from my family and friends set me back forever or set me apart forever?

Without delving into the Back To The Future-esque arguments that compare what your life would have been like had an event not occurred, I think the point of my riff is that sacrifice is not as straight forward a concept as we may think. I can confidently say that the sacrifices my wife and I have made over the years had shaped us, improved us, and have given us a hell of a ride that we never would have experienced had we not had the foresight, and/or ignorance, to embrace.

Becoming The Trend

Above is the (great) video for "Icarus Lives!" by the band Periphery. I must admit that when my brother first turned me on to them I didn't necessarily know how to digest them. I dug their sound but looking back I definitely didn't appreciate just how unique their music really is. Judging by the 'e-chatter' floating around about these guys it is safe to say that they have made an impact on the metal community. Although I wouldn't say they are my favorite band of all time it does speak volumes that I have probably listened to their cd more in the last few months than I have any other cd I have. Why am I intrigued by this band? Because they don't sound like anybody else.

That got me thinking back to all the bands that I have really dug over the years. What do they have in common? They don't sound like anyone else. They have a distinct personality or dare I say it, brand. Of course there are copy bands that will follow in the footsteps of unique bands, but when a great band steps outside of what is common there is a period of time where they truly stand alone. I think those few drops of sand in the hourglass where a band is out ahead of the trends are really special moments. And it is those moments that generally shift the way a genre is headed. Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Megadeth, Metallica, Pantera, In Flames, At The Gates, Killswitch Engage, The Black Dahlia Murder are a few that come to mind over the last few decades that have truly been unique and influential and that stand alone for a brief period of time before eventually shifting the direction of the genre (list is definitely up for debate). So what happens when a band bucks the trend and ventures out into aberrance? They become the trend.

Although established social norms often reward conformance and toeing the line so to speak, it is these trips off the beaten path that can be the most rewarding and defining in the long run. How can I seek opportunities to break free from the status quo, to truly grow as a person, yet still remain tangible and enjoyable to be around as a husband, a friend, a professional, and a member of society? Where can I go against the grain and become the trend for the betterment of myself and those around me? That is the challenge, and if it takes analyzing metal bands on my blog for me to recognize this transcendent life lesson so be it.

Goodbye Baghdad!

I am sitting watching a beautiful desert sunset at Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar. As I logged into my blog I realized that it has been over a month since my last post. With all the things that were going on during my deployment, all the commitments, all the people to stay in touch with, and my own personal mental sanity something had to be sacrificed and unfortunately that something was my writing. After I take a few weeks to relax and fully enjoy time with my wife I plan on getting back into a more regularly scheduled writing regimen similar to the frequency pre-deployment. What will likely be different are the topics I write about and my views of the world. I have been through so much in such a relatively short period of time and these past six months have certainly changed me and helped me grow.

As I look back now that I am out of Iraq I think that subconsciously I may have avoided sitting down and writing. I think I avoided writing because I was acutely aware that the multitude of experiences within my deployment were just too much to fully process. I am sure that over time I will have a better understanding of the magnitude of the reality I was living and how that reality was shaping me as a person.

I went through some tough times during my deployment but I also went through some great ones. The experiences I gained from my time in the desert are undoubtedly priceless experiences. I feel more confident in myself and what I can achieve moving forward. I cannot wait to taste my old life again and appreciate just how great it is, and I cannot wait to make it even better. Although I would never willingly seek out another six months away from my family and friends again, I wouldn't trade what I have experienced either.

Some of what I have taken away will undoubtedly be shared as it will not only benefit those who have not experienced what I have but it will help me understand and grow from my deployment. Some experiences will be shared with friends, some will be saved for my family, and some will remained locked within as the moments and emotions cannot be successfully transfigured into words.

I thank you all for standing behind me as I made this journey and I look forward to rejoining you and living the good life back in the best country in the world. Goodbye Baghdad!

A Lesson In Change

The last few months have been an interesting time for me. I have been working two jobs. One that seeks to embrace and encourage change through continuous process improvement, and one that knowingly or not stifles change and creativity. As frustrating and unique it has been to work in two completely different environments at times, the experience has been valuable. Earlier this week I was informed that I will be shipping out to a different base (destination unknown) by the end of the summer. It was pretty shocking and it caught my wife and I off guard. These recent experiences all share a common thread and that thread is change.

“The only thing constant in life is change” - François de la Rochefoucauld (French classical author, leading exponent of the Maxime, 1613-1680)

All of the experiences got me thinking about how we as human beings deal with change. When animals don’t change they die, as in they become extinct as a species. Humans aren’t attune to thinking in terms of a species. We think in terms of individuality. We embrace who we are as a person. However I would argue that we too die if we do not change, yet the effects are harder to see as the scope of change is typically only defined as that individual's lifespan.

We all like to latch onto the concept and buzz about embracing change and seeing it as an opportunity. However, in practice this is rarely the case. I would argue that this tendency might be some form of a survival instinct. If we find something that works we continue to do it; it really is quite rational. What we often fail to realize is that the world around us is constantly changing and therefore doing the same thing over time is ignorant and more risky than constantly changing and adapting.

I have found, and verified through my recent string of experiences, that empowerment and choice are key elements in determining how people with deal with change. As a continuous process improvement facilitator for the Air Force, I work in a lot of Rapid Improvement Events (RIE’s). Over time you start to see patterns with regard to human behavior even though the participants change. There are always people who come in pissed off that they have to participate, that they have been voluntold to participate, and they say that the stuff doesn’t work. The RIE’s typically last about 3-5 days and I can comfortably say that the majority of those types of people leave feeling that they have positively affected their process and changed something that they didn’t think they could and/or would want to change. How does this consistently happen? How does one go from Scrooge to DCC in a matter of days? The answer is empowerment.

When people are empowered to make change they embrace change. Not only do they embrace it, they see it as a important force in their personal development and their day to day happiness. RIE’s are a proven way to form a team of key players and to empower them with the ability and resources to make change. Even if they come in as antagonists they are inspired to create something. I really believe that it is an innate human desire to create.

Contrast this example with my recent relocation blindside. When I learned I was moving I was floored. This wasn’t part of my plan. I am not supposed to move yet. This ruins everything. Blah blah blah. I was not empowered to make the change, I was told. I did not go through a buy in process to verify that this change is for the better, therefore I resisted. The fear of the unknown is a powerful thing, and often when you are forced to change you are being forced into the unknown. As you can imagine this doesn’t get too many people excited.

As I work through accepting the fact that I am moving I can begin to rationalize that the change is not automatically the root of all evil. Being an optimist I even tell myself that this is going to work out to be a good thing in the end. However, positive thinking and rationality still do not change how people (or myself for that matter) react to the prospect of change. Becoming empowered to make change is the catalyst that shapes future behaviors regarding change. If you can get used to working through dealing with and creating change you are in essence familiarizing yourself with confronting the unknown. And that confrontation takes courage. Become a courageous change agent, alliteration aside it is a valuable lesson that will better your life.

Guest Bloggage (And Bonus Cool Quotes) - John Satterberg

Guest Bloggage With John Satterberg - I am pleased to present to all you BadskiBlog enthusiasts an awesome guest post by one of my best friends John (Opie) Satterberg. Opus and I grew up playing hockey together and began our quest into the awesome world of metal together. He served (and will continue to serve on the reunion tour) as the bassist and stage presence facilitator for our currently hibernating melodic metal band Mask Of Sanity. He is a true lifelong learner and an avid reader. He left his father's company to take a job in construction for a lot less money, and within a few years started his own construction company Satterberg Construction. I reached out to him to shed some light on how he started his own business, and he surpassed all expectations by delivering this beauty. Enjoy and if you are interested in adding a Guest Bloggage post to the BadskiBlog collection contact me at Truecore27@aol.com.

I’ve had trouble getting started on this installment of Badski’s guest blog for quite some time now and have decided to take a different approach to what may be ‘Conventional.’ When asked “How I started my business?” I could literally write a how-to manual that would read like stereo instructions and would be boring as hell; there are plenty of how to manuals out there for starting businesses and building houses. I could also share something based more on the ‘why?’ I started my business, which I feel is more important.

Most people have destinations that they want to arrive at during their lives, whether it’s an abundance of money, a meaningful relationship, a perfect family, a bunch of toys, etc., and people become so consumed with trying to reach their given destinations that they neglect the only opportunity they have to make any kind of a difference and that opportunity is only experienced in the now. In the past I have been stressed, anxious, fearful and hopeless in many different settings and if I had not experienced these feelings I would not have learned some of the valuable tools that I now have that bring me back into the present moment whenever my mind wants to be in the future.

The feelings listed above were all a result of my being in one situation and wanting to be in the future, thus resulting in anxiety caused by my mind, which is separate from being. The only real title I feel that anyone can give oneself is ‘human being.’ The attachments to titles such as “assistant to the assistant manager of the movie theater” are taken so seriously that I find them amusing. When speaking of being, I am referring to the oneness of all things, the energy flowing through all life forms in the universe, God if you will (George Lucas calls it ‘The Force’). The word that best describes this feeling of being is enlightenment.

I will not go so far as to say that I am ‘Enlightened,’ however in some of the hardest times of my life I have eventually come to experience the deepest feelings of peace, serenity, appreciation, wonder, and love, and in the feeling of these feelings I came to the realization that no matter what happens in this life, I will be OK. I was unaware until recently that the word for what I speak of is enlightenment, experiencing being to the fullest, which is nothing at all. It is everything stripped away to the very essence of who you are. Nothing in life is possible without love. Yes I believe in God, and I believe that God is not found outside oneself and that there is no one religion that has the right answer over another, I believe that God is everywhere and in everything and that God is here and now, presence, enlightenment, being.

This is ‘Why’ I started my business. I started my business because I learned that in life you are not a failure if you don’t make it, you are a success because you went for it and hopefully learned something along the way. The biggest struggles that we face are also the biggest opportunities for growth, and when we are experiencing the most pain around a given issue, we are simultaneously doing the most growing. I have a little black journal that I take with me everywhere. This journal is filled with quotes, ideas, fortunes, and other miscellaneous things that I find insightful. I’ll share some of my favorites. Thanks for reading, have fun and enjoy!

“The mouth of a wise man is in his heart.” –Benjamin Franklin

“The more I read, the more I meditate, and the more I acquire, the more certain I am that I know nothing.” –Voltaire

“Good people are good because they’ve come to wisdom through failure. We get very little wisdom from success you know.” -William Saroyan

“Man can learn nothing except by going from the known to the unknown.” –Claude Bernard

“He who knows others is learned; He who knows himself is wise.” –Lao Tzu

“Man’s mind stretched to a new idea never goes back to its original dimensions.” –Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr.

“The foolish person seeks happiness in the distance; the wise person grows it under his feet.” –James Oppenheim

“Courage means doing things in spite of fear.” –Dr. Laura Schlessinger

“If one remains on a journey of spiritual growth, one’s capacity to love grows and grows.” –M. Scott Peck

“He said that successful men rarely know the real reasons for their success, even though they always think they know. He added that this is caused by the fact that they’re too close to the forest to see the trees. That explanation had a big effect on me; if I couldn’t rely on the traditional advice of successful people, what could I rely on? It finally became apparent that the only solution was to develop my own philosophy and techniques, based on my own personal experience.” –Robert J. Ringer

“Through considerable wasted time, effort, and money, I found that most people, who claim to be real estate buyers (or buyers of any big ‘product’ for that matter) seldom, if ever, actually close a sale.” –Robert J. Ringer

“The more limited the parameters of consciousness, the more constrained the experience of life. Without consciousness there is no way to experience who we are.” –Shirley MacLaine

“If your goal is to become financially secure, you’ll likely attain it…but if your motive is to make money to spend money on the good life…you’re never gonna make it.” –Mr. Martin

“A good plan today is better than a perfect plan tomorrow.” –General Patton

“Work as if you didn’t need the money. Aim for the point where you don’t do anything unless your heart is in it.” –Richard Templar

“Never mention how much you’ve got, what you’re worth, or how much you earn.” –Richard Templar

“Great moments are born from great opportunities.” –Herb Brooks

“The person who wants the deal the most gets the worst deal.” –Jo-Ellan Dimitrius

“If one throws salt at thee thou wilt receive no harm unless thou hast sore places.” –Latin Proverb

“All men’s miseries derive from not being able to sit quiet in a room alone.” –Blaine Pascal

The Personal MBA

I am adding a new blog to my list of blogs that I follow. The site is called The Personal MBA. Go to the site and read the manifesto. It's very cool and I think it will strike a chord in a lot of the people who read my blog.

I am a big proponent of education, especially education you are interested in. Growing up I would say I was an average student. I am not exaggerating when I say I do not remember even taking tests in high school. I can remember taking the SAT's and that is about it. I was much more focused on hockey, jamming in my band Mask of Sanity, and chasing girls. I always just kind of showed up, did my homework, tried to keep myself sane in class by joking around and managed to get fairly good grades. It wasn't until I got to college that I actually got interested in educating myself.

Not withstanding all the benefits of formal education, I have really become intent on furthering my personal education. Sometimes I feel as though I have actually learned more since I graduated college than when I was there. Nothing replaces my college education and the foundation it set for my capability to continue learning on my own. However I feel as though I have learned so much through reading books, watching/learning from TV, scouring the Internet for knowledge, and viewing my everyday life through a learning lens, that I place at least equal importance on the value of personal growth and education.

It comes as no surprise that when I stumbled across The Personal MBA I was stoked and ready to begin the journey. I am always blanking when I go to the library or to Borders. Eventually I just end up picking books based more on their marketing than on a suggestion or the actual content. I think this list will help me focus my reading on quality, tested books while actually branching out from some of the business books I have been gravitating towards. I have read some of these great books already but I am honestly going to try and complete the personal MBA suggested reading list in its entirety again. I also watched an interview online at Think Different TV with, coincidentally, the founder of the Personal MBA where he discusses with Ben Casnocha the benefits of taking notes or jotting down concepts. I have never been good at this but they suggested using a 3 X 5 notecard as a bookmark that doubles as notes. I might give it a try.

My advice is to check out the site. At the very least check out a book, any book, and keep learning!