Welcome to the, “Operator Error” blog! Like most stories, this one has a main character who throughout the course of the plot encounters an “inciting incident” that leads to a resolution. In a typical story, our main character encounters a few challenges or obstacles, somehow manages to overcome them, then rides off into the proverbial sunset with some optimal desired outcome (the good ‘ol three-act-structure at its finest).
This story is a little different though, because it’s my story. It is truly unique and the plot continues literally every hour of every day with more and more obstacles, challenges, and resolutions. It’s never ending with multiple inciting incidents; similar to those “choose your own adventure books” that people my age used to read as kids.
This is significant because every single one of these inciting incidents, or obstacles, or challenges, either caused me to grow or caused me to regress. The one common denominator in each scenario however, was me. What I found was almost exclusively whenever I had a breakthrough, experienced growth, or “leveled-up”…it was preceded by an error, mistake, or poor choice I made…operator error. I just had to find the lesson and apply it to move forward as a better version of myself.
So there’s the spoiler alert…this blog, this site, and this business was formed exclusively to pass on the lessons, systems, decisions, habits, skills, and behaviors that have led our main character (me) to be successful and enjoy an optimal quality of life built on a foundation of gratitude, service, and resilience. As a life-long student of leadership, resilience, teamwork, and personal growth I can attest that these tactics work and have kept my life on an upward trajectory (with a few peaks and valleys in there…think of a healthy stock market chart but for 48 year-old dude that lives in Nevada).
We’ll dive into what “success” or “being successful” is in the future; this will look different for everyone. Though absolutely NOT free from daily struggles, challenges, and obstacles…I have been able to (with the help of amazing mentors along the way) build my life into exactly what “successful” means to me. I can assure you that though I am grateful for my success, I am hardly satisfied and my journey continues. This is an open invitation for you to join me and walk your path as well.
Some of you may have already started your success journey and your personal growth plan; some of you have not. A great deal of you will have started, and stopped, and started, and stopped many times over wondering why you just can’t quite breakthrough. Many of you may be further down the path; I would encourage you to stay. We can all help each other as our relationships grow. As the old saying goes, “A rising tide lifts all ships”.
You may have noticed the lack of a proper introduction to the character which normally precedes the inciting event, or “tipping point”. We’ll get to that eventually…and I hope you’ll subscribe to this blog so our relationship can grow organically and naturally over time. For now though, let’s skip that part.
Life for me permanently changed in February of 2023. At that time, I had been working a little under a year as a national trainer for a very prominent school safety non-profit organization. Out of an abundance of respect for that organization, I won’t name it here. They do, however, have amazing programs that really do help keep kids safe. If you work in education, law enforcement, emergency services, etc…feel free to email me if you’d like to know where to find them. That said, a true thought-leader trades on his or her own name without relying on the the past. Nobody cares about yesterday…as the old mantra goes, “Selection is a never-ending process”.
I had gradually began losing control over areas of my life that were normally very controllable for me; particularly my health. My weight had ballooned to its highest ever…280 lbs. It was not a “good” 280lbs. on my 5’9” frame. My sleep hygiene was atrocious. I was flying one to three times a week across all time zones and had no nutritional plan. Side note…did you know that every place in the US has the “best burger…best pizza…best beer?”
I wasn’t seeing my family much and much of my organization’s material, despite being a very noble and uplifting mission, had its roots in personal tragedy. The thought of exercising seemed impossible. I felt a deep sense of obligation to master as much of my topic (violence and crisis response in our schools) as possible.
Over the months as my own personal growth and health behaviors and habits deteriorated, I felt like more and more of a fraud as I presented. Here was a former law enforcement officer, with a tactical background to boot, preaching the importance of attention to details, doing the right thing, planning, communicating, and executing important protocols and procedures and it was painfully obvious to anyone in the audience that my own life was out of control. It was unprofessional in every sense of the word.
I was 100% committed to the mission…one might argue a little too committed…and I lost focus on the most basic premise of living a life of value. You have to be the best version of yourself BEFORE you can help anyone else.
That morning, February 13th of 2023, it hit me like a ton of bricks. Just staring at myself in the mirror was a call to action to myself. I had spent many evenings complaining to my wife that it wasn’t just failure to execute a growth plan I struggled with…I didn’t even have the desire to improve! Until that one moment. Life changed instantly.
To be completely transparent…I was furious at myself for even being in this predicament. With the clear cut aggregate results of my choices staring back at me in the mirror, my serving of accountability came with sides of regret, embarrassment, remorse, and shame. With the help of mentors and coaches (both direct and indirect), the breakthrough came by understanding it wasn’t a physical problem I was struggling with…it was a mental one.
From that day forward, I learned a few simple concepts that have led me to achieving the most optimal quality of life I have ever lived. They essentially changed my world view (we’ll get to that later too…if you lead a life saturated in stress, trauma, emergency response, etc..I promise you don’t have to just “survive” your career; you can thrive).
In brevity, it was a me problem. Fix yourself first. Fixing yourself is possible. In fact, it’s a certainty. Success is a system…not a mystery. Put the right systems in place and the results are inevitable if you stick to them. Be grateful for where you’re at, where you’ve come from, and ferociously pursue where you are going. You will have wins and losses, but the ability to not mentally sabotage yourself after a loss is one of the most important skills you can learn.
Finally, like it or not be a leader. Leadership occurs in all levels and in many forms. The legendary John Maxwell states, “Everything rises and falls with leadership.” He also defines leadership as “influence”…and trust me when I say as you proceed on your journey to the best version of you, you will influence others regardless of whether you even know it or not. You will also certainly BE influenced by those around you. Choose wisely…they’re the compounding interest on your investment in yourself, or they will cause your own personal recession.
So there you have it…the Operator Error blog. Join me every week as we explore effective and actionable steps in the never-ending quest for excellence. Take away whatever works for you from my moment of unbridled anger and disappointment that caused a total overhaul in my life.
Contribute to the community as well..share your success, reach out about hurdles and obstacles, and use this as a safe community where like minded people come to level up; regardless of your mistakes and past failures. Regardless of “operator errors”.
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