Better Business, Better Life Newsletter – Issue 30

Before I do that, the assumption is that you’re a self-motivated, driven and ambitious person, and that you’re doing the basics — eating right, exercising and getting enough sleep. 

Assuming that’s true, you’re a race horse and you’re ready to run. Now, I’m going to show you how to harness that energy, manage it and maximize it so that you can become the best version of yourself. 

You’re a ball of energy (we all are), and your energy burns bright or it doesn’t. It’s all about mobilizing that energy.” 

I was privileged to be at this conference & saw Gino give this speech & I think at that moment I fell a whole lot more in love with him & EOS. 

In this article, Gino shares the 10 disciplines, followed by the benefit to you, if you apply the discipline to your life. 

Each discipline is fast, simple, powerful and fully customisable. They will help you expand, focus and manage your energy. 

And if you’d like to get a hold of a copy of the EOS life book then please let me know.

What is the Stockdale Paradox? 

Stockdale was a prisoner of war in Vietnam for seven-and-a-half years. Before meeting with the legendary soldier and statesman, Collins read Stockdale’s memoir and found its grim details hard to bear, despite his knowledge that Stockdale’s later life was happy. Collins wondered, “If it feels depressing for me, how on earth did he survive when he was actually there and did not know the end of the story?” (Emphasis in the original.) 

When he posed that question to the admiral, Stockdale answered: “I never lost faith in the end of the story. I never doubted not only that I would get out, but also that I would prevail in the end and turn the experience into the defining event of my life, which, in retrospect, I would not trade.” 

Collins asked him about the personal characteristics of prisoners who did not make it out of the camps. “The optimists,” he replied. “Oh, they were the ones who said, ‘We’re going to be out by Christmas.’ And Christmas would come, and Christmas would go. Then they’d say, ‘We’re going to be out by Easter.’ And Easter would come, and Easter would go. And then Thanksgiving, and then it would be Christmas again. And they died of a broken heart … This is a very important lesson. You must never confuse faith that you will prevail in the end—which you can never afford to lose—with the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they might be.” 

This formulation became known as the Stockdale Paradox. The admiral elaborated further on the concept when, at a West Point graduation, he was asked if he dwelt on the end of his imprisonment to sustain him, or if he lived day to day? 

“I lived on a day-to-day basis. … Most guys thought it was really better for everybody to be an optimist. I wasn’t naturally that way; I knew too much about the politics of Asia when I got shot down. I think there was a lot of damage done by optimists; other writers from other wars share that opinion. The problem is, some people believe what professional optimists are passing out and come unglued when their predictions don’t work out.” 

The article continues to explain why there is no ‘normal’ to come back to and gives advice & exercises for leaders, including how to have faith without being an optimist. 

​If you’d like to learn more about any of these tools or would like to find out how I can help you achieve a better life through creating a better business, then book a free Discovery Call with me.

We’ll talk about what you want to get from your business & your life & come up with a plan to do that!

Debra Chantry-Taylor

Certified EOS Implementer | Accredited Family Business Advisor |  Entrepreneurial Leadership & Business Coach | Speaker & Workshop Facilitator