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Earn your fecking stripes

Anything related to matters of the mind

Andy Black

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The first anniversary of my dad’s passing was last month and I’ve been thinking about him a lot recently.


Andy Black Snr joined the British army at the age of 16, and left over two decades later as a staff sergeant.

It’s been said that staff sergeants are the backbone of the British army. They’ve shoveled their fair share. They’ve been in the trenches. They engage in hand-to-hand combat.

Staff sergeants are practitioners leading a small team of practitioners. They lead not because they have stripes on their sleeve, but because they *earned* those stripes.


One thing my dad hated about the army was blind obedience to authority that doesn’t deserve it.

The last thing he wanted was for me to follow in the family footsteps (his dad and two older brothers were in the RAF and his younger brother was in the army too).

His revulsion to blind obedience must have rubbed off on me in some ways.

I’m a reluctant course creator. The thought of creating a course on something I’ve not been in the trenches for is not how I’ve been brought up. I created my course because I’m a practitioner, and because people kept asking if I had one.

I suppose that’s the best way to start a business - having people asking to give you money?


Anyway... one of the phrases that jarrs with me is “building authority”.

“How do I build authority?”

WTF?!?

Do the fecking work. Get in the trenches. Engage your market in hand-to-hand combat. Get bloody. Get knocked flat. Get up again. Keep going.

Keep going. Keep moving forward. Create a vacuum and people will tuck in and follow.

Battle scars are *earned*.

Wisdom is *earned*.

Grey hair and wrinkles are *earned*.


Want to know how to “build authority”?

Earn your fecking stripes.



When I get to my PC I’ll upload a photo of my dad. I know he was super proud of me. I just hope he realised how super proud of him I am.
 
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Andy Black

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ZF Lee

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The first anniversary of my dad’s passing was last month and I’ve been thinking a lot about him recently.


Andy Black Snr joined the British army as a boy soldier at the age of 16, and left two decades later as a staff sergeant.

It’s been said that staff sergeants are the backbone of the British army. They’ve shoveled their fair share. They’ve been in the trenches. They engage in hand-to-hand combat.

Staff sergeants are practitioners leading a small team of practitioners. They lead not because they have stripes on their sleeve, but because they *earned* those stripes.


One thing my dad hated about the army was the blind obedience to authority that doesn’t deserve that authority.

The last thing he wanted was for me to follow in the family footsteps (his dad and two older brothers were in the RAF and his younger brother was in the army too).

His revulsion to blind obedience to authority must have rubbed off on me in some ways.

I’m a reluctant course creator. The thought of creating a course on something I’ve not been in the trenches for is not how I’ve been brought up. I created my course because I’m a practitioner, and because people kept asking if I had one.

I suppose that’s the best way to start a business - having people asking to give you money?


Anyway... one of the phrases that jarrs with me is “building authority”.

“How do I build authority?”

WTF?!?

Do the fecking work. Get in the trenches. Engage your market in hand-to-hand combat. Get bloody. Get knocked flat. Get up again. Keep going.

Keep going. Keep moving forward. Create a vacuum because you’re in motion, and people will naturally tuck in and follow.

Battle scars are *earned*.

Wisdom is *earned*.

Grey hair and wrinkles are *earned*.


Want to know how to “build authority”?

Earn your fecking stripes.



When I get to my PC I’ll upload a photo of my dad. I know he was super proud of me. I just hope he realised how super proud of him I am.
Thanks Andy.

Thanks for your dad's service.

Although I am not in the army, we used army ranks in my old Boys' Brigade uniform organisation at school.

One of my first lessons on failure was from a Sergeant Nicholas, who trained my squad in Drill Camp.

I asked him,'Did you pass the Drill Award your first time?'

He shook his head,'No, I failed a few times.'

Yet, here he was, training me and the other guys.

I would go on to fail my first round, try again, fail again, and I would eventually find myself in Sergeant Nicholas' shoes as a drill trainer myself.

In the past few days, I have gotten lots of Upwork jobs in crazy ways that regular adults wait for years to do.

I have also lost a few clients, made some mistakes, and had to return money to one.

I love it though.

Going through the process of receiving the stripes gives you a better today and tomorrow, to live up to. For every next hour, you just know that can make a difference in someone else's life, more or less your own.
 
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Andy Black

Help people. Get paid. Help more people.
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EPIC CONTRIBUTOR
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May 20, 2014
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Thanks Andy.

Thanks for your dad's service.

Although I am not in the army, we used army ranks in my old Boys' Brigade uniform organisation at school.

One of my first lessons on failure was from a Sergeant Nicholas, who trained my squad in Drill Camp.

I asked him,'Did you pass the Drill Award your first time?'

He shook his head,'No, I failed a few times.'

Yet, here he was, training me and the other guys.

I would go on to fail my first round, try again, fail again, and I would eventually find myself in Sergeant Nicholas' shoes as a drill trainer myself.

In the past few days, I have gotten lots of Upwork jobs in crazy ways that regular adults wait for years to do.

I have also lost a few clients, made some mistakes, and had to return money to one.

I love it though.

Going through the process of receiving the stripes gives you a better today and tomorrow, to live up to. For every next hour, you just know that can make a difference in someone else's life, more or less your own.
Money is *earned* too. Well done.
 

Zcott

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That's a touching post, Andy. Thank you for sharing.

Your dad sounds like a good man. I'm not sure if you intended it, but it is clear from how you write about him that his strong values have been passed onto you.

Obviously don't know about your life out of this forum, but you help people all the time on here. You don't even know them, they could be a forum newbie, yet you help and push them to be better and achieve great things. I think your dad would be more than proud of you, and you too are a good man.
 

Andy Black

Help people. Get paid. Help more people.
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May 20, 2014
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That's a touching post, Andy. Thank you for sharing.

Your dad sounds like a good man. I'm not sure if you intended it, but it is clear from how you write about him that his strong values have been passed onto you.

Obviously don't know about your life out of this forum, but you help people all the time on here. You don't even know them, they could be a forum newbie, yet you help and push them to be better and achieve great things. I think your dad would be more than proud of you, and you too are a good man.
Thanks for your kind words. They’re much appreciated.
 
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