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Overcoming Resistance: One Tribe at a Time

SOMEDAY

You have this story to tell. It’s gut-wrenching. True. Meaningful. It will change lives. It will save lives … lots of them. It has to be told.  You have to tell it – because you’ve lived it.

The "Someday, One Day" Story. Photo courtesy of H. Kopp Delaney

The "Someday, One Day" Story. Photo courtesy of H. Kopp Delaney

BUT

You have a family. Responsibilities. Spouse and kids. Your  job is pretty demanding. Business travel and all that. When will you ever find time to tell your story? Save those lives? So much to do …

IS THIS YOU?

Years later do you still have that story in you? Still have that idea for a new invention? New company? What’s stopping you? What’s stopped you?

RESISTANCE

You’ve heard about it before in, “The Power of Resistance: Lessons Learned” from bestselling author Steven Pressfield. It’s the intractable foe of all working writers and the death of most aspiring writers—and entrepreneurs, painters, astronauts, and <insert your dream here>. Resistance is a brutal, intangibly tangible force, an implacable foe. Evil. Toxic. It wants you dead—or dying slowly so it can laugh at your misery.

ONE DAY IS YOUR ENEMY

How many of you reading this right now intend “one day” to write a book? Start a new business, do charity work, paint, do something meaningful? “‘One day” is your Resistance. It’s also the unrelenting foe of anyone wanting to achieve anything substantive in this life.

THERE’S THIS PERSON I WANT YOU TO MEET

He has a spouse, kids, demanding job – a lot like you. His job requires travel and ongoing training – probably a lot like you too. But  he has this story in mind – that just won’t quit. This concept. He’s been writing, researching and working.  This story will change lives. It will save lives … lots of them.

RESISTING RESISTANCE

He’s committed to writing this story – and is – while still maintaining his commitment to his family, his work, his country. Passionate about it. He’s been doing the work – regardless of all other commitments. And — his job is making him travel soon – back to Iraq.  Yes, he’s a soldier.  He’s getting ready to deploy to Iraq, where he will lead an Iraqi commando battalion — but he finished the story. Along the way he made a friend, the bestselling author Steven Pressfield who uses him as an example of how to overcome resistance.

“Resistance, it seems, melts away in the face of conviction, passion and hard work.”-  Steven Pressfield.

The person’s name? Major Jim Gant. The story?  “One Tribe At A Time.”

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“‘One Tribe At A Timeis not deathless prose. It’s not a super-pro Beltway think tank piece. What it is, in my opinion, is an idea whose time has come, put forward by an officer who has lived it in the field with his Special Forces team members–and proved it can be done. And an officer, by the way, who is ready this instant to climb aboard a helicopter to go back to Afghanistan and do it again,” said Pressfield.

IT CAN BE DONE

For those of you that are, at this very moment, being slowed by Resistance, taunted by Resistance, need inspiration to fight Resistance, aspire one day to defeat the evil beast of Resistance … read “One Tribe at a Time,” by Major Jim Gant.  Or – download “One Tribe at a Time” to your computer.

If you’d like to comment or ask questions of Major Gant or Steven Pressfield about “One Triibe at a Time” and the “Tribal Engagement”  concept go to Steven Pressfield’s commentary section.

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About the Author

Steve Kayser is an award-winning business writer who has been featured in a marketing best practices case study by MarketingSherpa, "Purple Cows," by Seth Godin; "The New Rules of Marketing and PR" by David Meerman Scott (2007); "Tuned In: Uncover the Extraordinary Opportunities That Lead to Business Breakthroughs," by Craig Stull, Phil Myers, and David Meerman Scott; A Marketer's Guide to e-Newsletter Publishing, Credibility Branding, Innovation Quarterly, B2B Marketing Trends, PRWEEK, Faces of E-Content magazine and "The Changing Faces of PR" (2009) by Emmy-award winning former CBS journalist David Henderson. Steve's writings have appeared in Corporate Finance Magazine, CEO Refresher, Entrepreneur Magazine, Business 2.0, and Fast Company Magazine, among others.

Comments (4)

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  1. Jim Gant says:

    Steve,

    Thank you for your kind words. They mean a lot to me.

    STRENGTH AND HONOR

    Jim Gant

  2. Jon Oldham says:

    Jim,
    My father emailed me about your writing and I was wonder how to get my hands on it. i am currently deployed in Afghan and would love to read it. Thanks.
    Jon

  3. Ravi says:

    Very provocative article. I agree that it is far more effective to work with the tribal structure and culture – which represent the strength of Afghanistan over centuries. The tribal structure does not fit with our American way of democracy, nation-hood, and governance. But neither can we Americans impose another structure and culture. It is not like building a road, an airport or a dam. A tribe or an institution is not a machine, rather it is a community, a social living system -constituted by human beings not inanimate objects. However, our leaders continue to treat other nations as objects and not a community of human beings.

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