The Art of Being a Formidable Force

Be a formidable person, a force of nature. A man of pure possibilities and massive momentum. Get shit done effectively, efficiently, always.

Formidable : adjective fɔːˈmɪd.ə.bəl / Strong and powerful, and therefore difficult to deal with if opposed to you. Causing to have fear or respect for something or someone because that thing or person is large, powerful, or difficult.

–Cambridge

I was a damn fine covert operative. My intellect, while above average, was still considered low – compared to others in the same line of work. Physically, I was the shortest person I knew that worked in the field.

The circumstances of how I was recruited and young age made other recruits shun me during training.

Everyone earned their spot from years of hard work, honing their natural abilities and mastering skills. I was essentially handed the opportunity as a kid.

I wasn’t ever the smartest guy in the room and certainly not the strongest in the gym.

The shunning, being made fun of, being taunted and being looked down upon was actually motivating.

A clarity of realization focused in my mind, that I needed to be faster, stronger and smarter than the rest to be better. Even if I couldn’t literally or technically be “faster”, “stronger” or “smarter”.

So I said fuck it and fuck them. No need to compare and arbitrarily try to be better than them.

Discipline is the soul of an army. It makes small numbers formidable; procures success to the weak, and esteem to all.

-George Washington

But I do need to be a better version of myself than yesterday, and tomorrow be the best version of myself until the next day and so on.

To be a formidable force.

You don’t have to be particularly talented or gifted to be such a thing, but you do need to make a conscious decision to do so. Being formidable is a choice, an initial and continuous directive of your state of mind.

Training harder. Learning deeper. Making mistakes. Learning from mistakes. Pushing yourself. Failing. Rising from failure. Succeeding. Adapting.

Become potentially better than anyone else by reaching then surpassing your perceived best.

First you must want to be formidable, then comes experience and practice – until finally, implementation.

[The featured photo was taken at the desert White Sand Dunes of Mui Ne in Southeast Vietnam. Equipped with the Vollebak Planet Earth Shirt and Triple Aught Design FAST Pack Scout backpack.]