Think Like a Marine E-Book

Mark Hardie

• Herausgeber: Pitkin
• Kategorie: Ratgeber
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 111

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2021

Beschreibung

Practical advice and invaluable lessons for everyday life from a former Royal Marines Commando. Mark Hardie MBE has trained Royal Marine Commandos for operations in the world's harshest environments. In this inspirational guide he shows that being part of an elite fighting force doesn't only take stamina and strength, it takes the right mindset. Once you can take charge of your mind, you can unlock your potential. Whether you are heading into battle or facing the challenges of modern life, there are marine training techniques that will help you to think clearly, grasp the situation at hand and achieve your goals. Building on the author's own first-hand experience of operations and training Royal Marines, the book covers: - Learning what you can and can't control, when to use intuition and analysis. - How to remove distractions, avoid procrastination and maximise your efficiency. - How to increase your strength with equipment-free exercises. - How to take charge of stress, sharpen your senses and learn essential survival techniques. - Discover what makes a good leader and learn how to manage conflict. - How to make decisions, solve problems and employ the commando spirit in your everyday life. Highly illustrated and easy-to-follow, this book is suitable for all ages and all walks of life. When you can anticipate, adapt and achieve, you can Think Like a Marine.

Leseprobe

‘People first, then ideas, then equipment.’

John Boyd, military strategist

Contents

Introduction

ANTICIPATE

CHAPTER 1:Think Better

CHAPTER 2:Be Prepared

CHAPTER 3:Practise, Practise, Practise

ADAPT

CHAPTER 4:Get Fit

CHAPTER 5:Sharpen Your Instincts

CHAPTER 6:Know Your Environment

ACHIEVE

CHAPTER 7:Work Together to Aim High

CHAPTER 8:Make Success a Habit

CHAPTER 9:Be Reliable

Conclusion

Further Reading

Acknowledgements

INTRODUCTION

I think it’s fair to say that my time as a marine was one of the most significant and important periods of my life. The Royal Marines are the UK’s Commando Force and the Royal Navy’s own amphibious troops. They are an elite fighting force, optimised for worldwide rapid response and are able to deal with a wide spectrum of threats and security challenges. As such, marines are rigorously trained to adapt to new circumstances in order to survive and thrive. Much is made of the incredibly demanding physical training that marines have to undergo, including endurance training, assault courses and the infamous cold weather training in the Arctic. But how much is really understood about what it is to think like a marine?

As a marine I learned to process new information more quickly and effectively. I made conscious decisions to adapt. I developed a mental framework of infinite flexibility, learning through self-reflection and curiosity. This is what I wanted to explain in the pages of this book, which is intended to give guidance to anyone who recognises that it’s not enough to just survive; we need to thrive as well. The book is divided into three sections: ANTICIPATE, which is all about thinking ahead and being prepared; ADAPT, which is full of practical chapters on how to get fit and become more aware of your surroundings; and ACHIEVE, which explains how to turn this spirit into success, through teamwork and selfimprovement.

Whether you are heading into battle, or just making your way through modern life, there are elements of marine training that are incredibly valuable and relevant. This couldn’t be more true at the time of writing, as we are all now adapting to life during a global pandemic. Covid-19 has shown us that some of the ideas and institutions that we thought were unshakeable were not ready for the situation we were facing. But it also showed us that, as a nation, we had huge amounts of resourcefulness and resilience. We had to learn quickly, anticipate problems, find solutions and adapt. Every single one of us has a part to play.

Royal Marines Commando training is hard, but ultimately it is focused on turning a spark into a furnace. This spirit is held and sustained by each individual marine. To create it and then sustain and make it grow takes effort, attention and awareness. It is ignited through hard habits and stressful training. It is maintained, not by accident or luck, but by working on yourself every day. It becomes a white-hot furnace through collective endeavour. It is fuelled by a conscious choice to think independently. To choose to smile in the face of adversity. To choose to make every experience, good and bad, something you would not trade. An opportunity to learn and improve.

We need to see life now as a challenge in which the situation will continue to change and, therefore, so must we.

We need to THINK LIKE A MARINE.

Anticipate

We all have a built-in ability to imagine how a chosen course might play out. This mental ‘time travel’ means we can prepare, plan ahead and even out-think our opponents. Used in isolation, it can give us an advantage; used with careful preparation and simple planning, we can start to manipulate time to become more productive.

Think Better

Over 100 years ago, the British Royal Marines made the decision that all marines were to be taught to think for themselves, something which, up to that point, soldiers had never really been encouraged to do. They stood up straight in their intimidating uniforms in thin red lines and carried out drills designed to bring as many rifles to bear on the enemy as quickly as possible.

However, in 1892, the Royal Marines introduced a new drill book, which stated: ‘For the future, leaders of all ranks are to be taught to think for themselves, to act on their judgement, and to depend on their own resources. They are to be trained to accept responsibility and to bear themselves in action, not like machines but as intelligent beings, each using man’s best weapons – trained intelligence and energetic thought...’

This is where it all starts, with learning to ‘think better’.

MARINES WERE [and still are] DIFFERENT

As the Royal Navy’s amphibious troops, marines fought on ships and on land. At sea they were sharpshooters, climbing the ship’s rigging to get in a good position to take shots at the officers on the enemy ship. Why? Well, if you take out the officers, you take out the thinkers.

There were many occasions where marines fought conventionally on land, but more frequently they operated in small groups from their ship. They would often be sent ashore to gather information, protect sailors or simply explore and report back. They had to have an open mind and be ready for anything, because what they encountered was often new.

During the Napoleonic Wars, Thomas Cochrane, a British Admiral who became known in France as ‘The Sea Wolf’, wanted to use marines to raid the French coast. His idea was that this would create confusion, tie down French troops and so stop them fighting elsewhere. This is what marines do best; they leave their opponents wondering, ‘What happened?’ before striking again somewhere else.

Fast-forward to the Second World War and the aftermath of the German blitzkrieg assault on France, in which the Allies were unravelled to such an extent by the German Army that the resulting confusion and disruption led to the retreat from Dunkirk. Marines in Britain suddenly found themselves guarding ports and naval air stations because of the now very real threat of German invasion. At this point Winston Churchill called for the establishment of the Combined Operations Headquarters. This was to marshal the coastal forces of the Royal Navy and the Royal Naval Reserve and combine them with a new force of volunteers to be called ‘commandos’, trained to out-think and out-fight the Germans. And so it was, that in 1942 the first Royal Marines Commando was formed. They went on to serve across the globe in Burma, Italy, the Adriatic, North Africa and Western Europe. The lessons they had learned from fighting in every theatre was that this was the best way to train soldiers for the hard reality of combat, making them fit, intelligent, adaptable and independent. The commando role continues to this day.

TAKE CHARGE OF YOUR MIND

Marines don’t learn how to think by reading a slogan on a card. We don’t learn how to think by ‘liking’ something on social media. We take charge of our mind and, when we do that, we can unlock our potential and start using it properly.

Understand your mind

Harness its potential

Unlock its power

This lump of matter we call a brain is wasted sitting on a sofa playing games. We can take ourselves to the far corners of the globe – even into space – if we put our minds to it, so it’s essential that we learn to understand and adapt to our environment. If we really want to understand a situation or problem more quickly than our adversaries, then we have to learn how to think, and then practise doing it.

If you DO more you can BE more.

TRAINED THINKING

The thinking brain allows you to learn a new process and, more importantly, repeat it. Some people find it easy to focus but for others focused thinking takes effort; when people find it hard to focus, we say they have a short ‘attention span’. However, the reality is that they may just be hard-wired to pay more attention to their surroundings. People who see or hear things and are always on the lookout (rather than staying focused on one thing) are using their brain just as much as the person who can sit and concentrate. We might say these people are easily distracted but it’s a skill that lifeguards, paramedics and police officers all need to have – these people have the potential to be good marines.

The answer is that you need to balance both elements: if you are ‘easily distracted’ then you need to be better at focusing; and if you ignore all distractions you’ll need to become better at paying attention to your surroundings. Believe it or not, we are designed to be able to focus AND listen, observe, smell, feel the wind on our face. The real skill is being able to switch between the two.

RAPID SWITCHING AND RESPONDING TO TRIGGERS

We are constantly shifting between modes, from focused to ‘scattered’ and back again. Everyone is different; some appear unable to focus and are easily distracted by their external environment. Others may appear distracted by their own thoughts. Focused attention takes effort and training (see here).

When you are distracted you are often responding to a trigger. That trigger might save your life or someone else’s one day, so don’t listen to the teacher who complains that you can’t focus. Pay attention, by all means, but learn to listen to your scattered brain when it matters.

THE SURVIVAL INSTINCT

We all have a personal survival system: the amygdalae. These small sections of the brain are part of the limbic system, which is responsible for emotions, memory and survival instincts. In particular the amygdala responds to fear, triggering our autonomic nervous system (autonomic meaning ‘self-governing’). This system senses external threats and prepares the body to react, almost like sending a distress signal. We can be taught to ignore this built-in early warning system, but it is much more useful to be curious about it. Hairs stand up on the back of the neck, we feel butterflies in the stomach and, as adrenaline is pumped round the body, the heart beats faster and we experience restless legs.

You want to run away, but as a marine you are conditioned to stand. Military drill is a way of controlling this fight-or-flight response, designed to keep soldiers on the battlefield longer than their opponents.

MENTAL READINESS

Marines are trained to be physically ready to go anywhere in the world, at any time, in any climate. But they have to be mentally ready too. There are three elements to mental readiness:

Self-awareness

Self-awareness is the ability to think clearly combined with the ability to take action. Self-awareness means accepting a bad situation for what it is, accepting that it is hard and getting through it. This is often referred to as willpower or ‘strength of mind’, something that marines are renowned for. For marines, this is really just about getting things done. Marines make decisions AND take action.

You may decide to get fit, lose weight, learn a language or take up a musical instrument. Clear thinking helps you make the right decision, but it takes courage and determination to see it through and get on with it. In this sense, courage is the ability to finish what we’ve started, even when it gets difficult.

Self-awareness also covers problem-solving, as this is a process that includes identifying the problem, generating solutions and picking the right one. Naming or defining the problem requires clear thinking and it can be uncomfortable, as it needs honesty. Many people like to jump straight to solving the problem as it makes them feel like they are actually doing something. Marines need to have courage to name the problem before we can find the right solution.

A decision without action achieves nothing.

Self-control

We practise self-control when we force our thinking and survival brain to work together. It is about the application of will, even under stress, to allow us to perform in the most demanding conditions.

We can complete a task, even when scared.

We can solve a problem under pressure.

We can keep running when our mind is telling us to stop.

Self-control is also about understanding our emotions; the quicker we do this, the quicker we can get control of our minds, making us more resilient. We listen to and feel emotions – and then we use them. We turn fear into bravery and suspicion into curiosity; being brave and curious helps us to make better decisions, being scared and suspicious does not.

Another aspect of self-control is what we call sequencing: breaking down a big problem or task into bite-size chunks and then putting them in the right order. When you struggle with sequencing, big tasks seem impossible. Our goals suddenly seem further away, whether it’s getting to bed earlier or meeting a friend, and we end up feeling that we are not in control. Without self-control, we can become easily distracted when faced with big tasks: we hear a noise and need to investigate; we start thinking about tomorrow’s worries. This is why it’s often useful to think about what you really control in your life.

IN MY CONTROL

OUT OF MY CONTROL

Opinion

Intention

Desire

Likes

Dislikes

Environment

Illness/injury

Property

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