The Military Mindset Every Founder Needs to Succeed with Anthony Stazicker

0:00Thinking about doing the thing isn't doing the thing. Planning to do the thing isn't doing the thing Telling people you're going to do the thing isn't doing the fucking thing You have to do the fucking thing And you have to take that leap of faith You have to do it You have to commit Today's bite-sized episode features Anthony Staz Staziger Former UK Special Forces operator and co-founder of ThruDark When you ask somebody, what's your biggest fear? It's like a preset response is, fear of failure When you break that down though, and you think, what is fear of failure? Why are you scared of failing?

0:31You're not scared. You're just scared of what other people's perceptions of you will be. Your loved ones and how they will feel and think towards you. Write things down. Write a plan of action of what you want to do. And it sounds basic, but most people can't even fucking plan a day. If you say to somebody, what are you doing tomorrow? They'll go, I'm going to work. Well, is that it? Welcome to this special bite-sized episode of Screw It, Just Do It from our back catalogue of over 550 past episodes. I love the title of the book, The Hard Road Will Take You Home. and the story, I won't ruin it for people, but the story on why you called it the Harder Attack.

1:04I mean, I was literally ready to sign up at my age to go, I think I'd do it with that. And, you know, it's really well described, like the voice and the kind of resonance of the guy who's actually... Goosebumps again when I think about it. Yeah, I bet, I bet. And something you mentioned in the book again, the jumping out of the plane at night, and I thought, that's a pretty good way to describe starting a business. isn't it really? It's a leap of faith, isn't it? And we talk about that. And that's a really nice sort of segue again into something I want to talk about, which is linked to the very first chapter about taking a leap of faith.

1:41And people will put up their own barriers. They'll put up their own excuses. And they are fucking excuses. However you dress them up, I can't do that because of this. I don't want to do that because of that. I'm not ready to do this because of this. And it's, I heard it the other day on a podcast. I think it was Chris Williamson who talked about, when you say, thinking about doing the thing, isn't doing the thing. Planning to do the thing isn't doing the thing. Telling people you're going to do the thing isn't doing the fucking thing. You have to do the fucking thing. And you have to take that leap of faith.

2:12You have to do it. You have to commit. And most people are worried about what other people will think of them. And when you ask somebody, what's your biggest fear? It's like a preset response is fear of failure. Yeah. And it's like, when you break that down though, and you think, what is fear of failure? Why are you scared of failing? No, you're not scared. You're just scared of what other people's perceptions of you will be, your loved ones, and how they will feel and think towards you. And you were all guilty of it. You like think competitions for jiu-jitsu. You think, oh, I don't want to do a competition because I've got a public profile, and if I lose, people are pressure there.

2:46But it's just a lesson, isn't it? It's a fucking lesson. It's a lesson. It's so small. So you don't learn. If you don't fail, you don't learn, do you? Exactly, and you worry so much, and you're constrained by other people's thoughts. which ultimately hasn't got fuck all to do with you or your life. There's no bearing on where you're heading and what you're doing. And maybe it means we're also frigging insecure of what people think about us. Massively. You know, it's this, and you mentioned it in the book, and we talked about it beforehand, but, you know, procrastination, you know, what advice, you know, would you give to someone who's, you know, thinking of leaving their job, doesn't have to be military, obviously, but, you know, to start their own business, they're procrastinating, they're not taking that leap of faith, as you call it, so well.

3:30how should they do? Well, again, it's a good question and why a lot of people get wrapped around the axles with things because they think too much ahead. They think too far in the future before they've even broken everything down. And parts of the book break this down as well in terms of the chapters and how they're formulated and then giving you examples and real-life experiences from me, my life, my time, my life, my military experience, and then business now, and kind of how it all then wraps up and you've got the action points at the end. but if you look at a military term or an ism, it is the battle prep.

4:03And the first sort of chapter of the book is battle prep. And you do this in the military. You prepare for battle. It's battle prep. Okay, what's the mission? The mission is to do this. Okay, well, let's work back from that. How long have we got before we need to execute that on that mission? Okay, who have I got at my disposal in terms of people? Where are their strengths and weaknesses? And you can then apply this to business as well. Let's say it's a business setting or perspective. and I think I give examples in the book as well in terms of setting up a tattoo studio. So if you look at stuff like, well, what's the business that I want to do and set up?

4:36What do I need to get there? Don't sort of start overthinking everything and I've got to do this and I've got to just break everything down systematically. It's about taking that step, isn't it? And going, okay, how much can I do before I have to take that leap of faith? Taking it back to that example, jumping out of a plane, you don't just suddenly end up on the back of a plane and fucking the green light comes on, the guy gives you the thumbs up and you jump out of the plane. it's broken down through training um through experience your kit and equipment your checks everything that you're wearing your ultimeters everything is checked triple checked safe you do practice jumps you know you do dry drills dry jumps then you do a smaller jump higher jump higher jump more kit more equipment night vision oxygen higher night time operational go do you know what i mean so this all this thing has got to be broken down and it's not you i'm not a fan of blind faith just running into a mission and operation and let's fucking go go go pop smoke straight up the middle that's not what it's about it's about preparing yourself mentally and physically and what can you do write things down write a plan of action of what you want to do and it sounds basic but most people can't even fucking plan a day if you say to somebody what are you doing tomorrow they'll go i'm going to work was that it but what what are you actually doing what do you mean i'm going to work okay talk me through your routine in the morning very similar of your 75 thing what's the first thing you do when you wake up break these break your hour down into 15 minute slots how could you be more productive what would you do well the first 15 jump in the shower brilliant I haven't worn my clothes laid out set out right okay what's the next thing you do I go downstairs I prepare my breakfast and this is the routine I do for my breakfast you know whether that's all the bits and pieces okay now what do you next 15 minutes I don't do this you meditate stretch or whatever but for me it's like get moving I get out of the house I prepare everything breakfast feed the dog out, walk into the office and I train.

6:26That non-negotiable for me is I've got a period of time now from half seven till about quarter to nine where I'm training. I'm moving. Physically, I'm moving. That's jiu-jitsu or it's the gym or I'm out for a run. And that's kind of, I'm doing it. So I don't set any meetings or anything's up before that nine o 'clock period. It's kind of hard fast for me. I'm not doing anything. Don't try and contact me or set up a meeting before nine o 'clock because I have to do that. So what do I need to do to enable that to happen and success or work that and break that bit down? So even before I've I'm just going to work.

6:53Before I've done that, I've already put all these other things in place before that to set myself up for success and enable that. And once I get into work, I'm showered, I'm in, nine o 'clock, breakfast, shake, things that you take, brilliant, done, right. Now you're breaking up your day. What's the first sort of quarter? And also look at yourself. When am I most productive? Yes. I'm shit after about three o 'clock in the afternoon. Fucking, you've lost me. So I need to fit as much. I need to eat the frog. I need to do the hardest things first first that require the most fucking cognitive brainpower and load do them at the beginning all the meetings get all the things that set yourself up set your day up in your diary get everything written down brilliant get to three o 'clock right i know i'm gonna be hanging right so what can i do it's either exercise or you get your winding down to finish the day yeah from there it's well i mean to now your family whatever that is for me kid right i've got to go go pick the kids up do tea with the kids spend that sort of valuable time with those guys bath and bed routine, kids, kids, kids, books, do all that.

7:50Okay, but now what are you doing after? Well, now, again, you can do more self-development. You can read your book for 20 minutes, 30 minutes. You can do stretching or you can train or you can do whatever you need or want to do in that period. And then keep stacking that, habit stack. Stack each day. James Clare is a good one. Keep doing it. Keep doing it. And then plan your weekends or somebody will fuck it or your missus will plan it for you. You know, have these things set up. That is very true. I know, people are like, it's the weekend, I want to chill out. Yeah. But go to bed at the same time, wake up at the same time.

8:17weekend or fucking not it's so important to you physically in terms of like how how much benefit that adds to your brain and your cognitive function you know it's cut the things out that that that fucking interfere with that stuff yeah you know the drinking and all the other bullshit all the stuff that's not not conducive to you lose half a day don't you lose that i refuse to do that you train you train in the morning i'll sit at the weekend i'll say i'm going for a run and i'll and i'll commit to that and if i can't i can do it myself i know i can but commit with other people I'm meeting friends for a run at fucking half seven in the morning.

8:50And then I'm doing a run that might be 5k, 10k. And I'm jumping in the sea, whether or not it's fucking summer or winter, we're getting in and we're putting ourselves through that. For me, Staz's playbook is pretty simple, really. Although it's definitely not easy. He chooses standards over hype. He leads from the front and he's prepared to do the uncomfortable work. If this resonates with you, please follow Screw It, Just Do It and rate and review the show if you enjoyed this episode. Thank you.