Previous Page
Marketing 101 By Mike French mike@mikefrench.com
Two Success Barriers
hat common barriers stop people from moving ahead to the next level in business or life? How can one move forward to achieve higher success? I learned about two enormous success barriers as a young man shortly after going into the Army at a military training exercise that almost killed me along with the training sergeant in charge of my instruction. He obviously did not under- stand this success barrier.
W
Shortly after graduating from high school I was drafted into the Army. Up until this time, my life had been pretty uncomplicated. I lived on a small island in Alaska and my life revolved around attending school, working a part-time job, and, for fun, hunting and fishing. Army basic training was pretty straight
forward soldier preparation. After basic, we were assigned “jobs” and sent off to Advanced Individual Training schools (AIT). I was sent to Fort Huachuca, Arizona to be trained as a truck driver. This new “truck driver” job description seemed odd to me since I didn’t know how to drive.
Soon after arriving to AIT at Fort Huachuca, training began with a trip up a steep mountain for a driving skills test. Upon arriving I could see a long road zig-zagging steeply down the mountain- side with lots of sharp switchbacks marked with orange cones at each turn. At the top was a long row of canvas backed deuce- and-a-half military trucks.
The trucks were running and manned with a passenger, a training instructor ser- geant with pen and clipboard in hand. One by one, each soldier got into the dri- ver’s side of a truck and proceeded slow- ly down the mountainside making turns left and right at the orange cones. I too got into a truck and sat down next to a sergeant. I could feel the rumble of the truck beneath me as I peered nerv- ously over the steering wheel at the steep downward slope stretched out before me.
26 Automotive Recycling | January-February 2016
Then the sergeant said firmly, “Navigate the cones!”
At this point I figured I should let him know I didn’t know how to drive. “But, I ....”
Before I could finish, the sergeant repeated what he had said previously, only louder, “Navigate the CONES!” He startled me! I tried to tell him again. “But, sir, I don’t ...”
The sergeant slammed his clipboard against the truck’s dashboard with an ear- piercing crack and screamed at me at the top of his lungs: “I SAID NAVIGATE THE CONES, AND DO IT NOW YOU NO GOOD WORTHLESS PIECE OF ...”
I practically jumped out of my skin! And, as a reflex action, I jammed the stick- shift forward and stomped on the floor peddles with everything I had. We lurched forward and downward at breakneck speed!
Forget about the cones! Forget about the turns! Straight forward and down- ward we went plowing a new path through all the side winding roads along the way without making a single turn! There were no seatbelts and we were thrown all over the cab including into each other. We both yelled, me in sheer terror, and, he, cursing loudly as he fought wildly to gain control of the ram- paging vehicle.
Somehow we managed to get all the way to the bottom of the mountain with- out rolling over. Finally we stopped in a great cloud of dust. We sat silently stunned for a few sec- onds. The sergeant’s face was white as a sheet. He then softly spoke. “Son, why didn’t you tell me you didn’t know how to drive?” “Well sir,” I said, “I’m from a small island in Alaska. We had boats, not cars. I don’t know why they made me a truck driver when I don’t know how to drive. Why didn’t they draft me into the navy?”
This incident taught me the first of two barriers that can quickly sabotage some- one’s success. Success Barrier One: Not asking criti- cal questions before doing anything new. Never assume anything! Get important information at the beginning of every- thing you do. Be open-minded and will- ing to learn in every circumstance. If you are stuck in your ways, you will never move forward. You may even get into seri- ous trouble.
The sergeant’s driver test was closed- minded and assumed some critical things about me that weren’t true and he didn’t bother to check to see if his assumptions were accurate. His error was a barrier to success and it just about killed both of us! He should have asked at least one very important question to every driver before starting the test, “Do you know how to drive?” Success Barrier Two: Not practicing something until you become uncon- sciously competent at it.
The next day after my driving test dis- aster I was assigned a special instructor to teach me how to drive.
I faced some serious challenges over the next few days after my training exer- cise incident. The first was learning how to drive very quickly from scratch and the second was trying to keep up with the rest of the group who already knew how to drive. I had some sloppy mishaps, many close calls, and one wreck. It was brutal! In the process, I learned that there are four distinct stages to learning anything and you must go through each one in order to be good at something. Stage One: You’re unconsciously incompetent.
At the beginning of anything new you attempt, you don’t know what you don’t know. You do most things wrong but you don’t even know it.