The Do HARD Things Recipe For Success

How to dominate life

What’s crazy about living during this time in human history is that there is an unfathomable amount of information and knowledge available at your fingertips. There are countless resources and recipes out there to help create the life you want. These recipes can help with getting fit, getting rich, and having amazing relationships and experiences. You can create whatever you want by getting clear on what exactly that thing is, finding the recipe to create it, and following that recipe.   

My best friend from the Army, Jay Tiegs, and I have spent two years researching the best recipes on how to get what you want out of life. We’re writing a book titled Life on Offense: Do HARD Things that curates the best military and high-performance coaching frameworks and tactics. Our manuscript explains the recipe that has created success in our lives. We believe that the four ingredients you need to dominate life are: 

1. A vision  

2. A clear strategy

3. Lines of effort

4. Tactics 

Let’s break these down. 

1. Your Vision

Commanders on the battlefield define an end state with the conditions that make a mission successful. An end state is what we civilians refer to as a vision. A good end state or vision covers four key areas: The state of our forces, the state of the enemy force, the terrain, and the civilian population. 

A simple example would be: At the end of this operation, we have taken control of the bridge, the enemy has been destroyed, the bridge remains intact, and the civilians are unharmed and moved to their nearest village to safety. 

Your vision could be: By December 31st of this year, I set a personal record (PR) for my marathon time and qualified for the Boston Marathon. I generated $20K in savings and paid off the $5K credit card debt. My family went on a Hawaiian vacation, and I completed my masters degree. 

A well defined end state or vision has clear and measurable outcomes. Being clear makes life so much easier. 

2. A Clear Strategy

In war, a strategy is a broad plan for achieving your objectives. The two main types of operational strategies are offense or defense. Offense is aimed at capturing or claiming new territory and achieving the objectives to win. Offensive strategy is bringing the fight to the enemy. The advantage of being on offense is that you get to choose the time and place of the battle and what tactics you will employ. To be clear, the Do HARD Things strategy is a life on offense. 

A defensive strategy on the other hand is a response to offensive attacks. The purpose of a defense is to resist and deter oncoming attacks. This strategy is responsive and reactionary. In U.S. Army doctrine, the defense is only considered a momentary pause in the offense to regroup and bring it back to the offense as quickly as possible. 

A simple example of strategy can be seen in nature between a hunter and its prey. Every morning in Africa, a gazelle wakes up. The gazelle knows it must run faster than the fastest lion or it will be killed. Also every morning, a lion also wakes up. The lion knows that it has to outrun the slowest gazelle, or the lion will starve to death. Regardless of whether you’re the lion or the gazelle, when the sun comes up, you better be running.

This analogy of the gazelle and the lion illustrates two different ways to live. The gazelle represents the defensive strategy: The gazelle is focused on avoiding threats, being cautious, reacting quickly, and just being faster than the slowest gazelle. Its existence is dictated by fear, always ready to bolt at the first sign of danger. Whereas, the lion epitomizes an offensive approach to life. As a predator, it is in constant pursuit of opportunities. The lion is driven by the need to hunt. To survive, he has to seize opportunities, embrace risks, and aggressively pursue the gazelle. The lion survives not by avoiding danger, but by overcoming its prey. You have the choice to take on the mindset of the gazelle or the lion. You can live defensively, just reacting to life's challenges. Or you can opt to live offensively, proactively seeking opportunities and facing challenges head-on.

3. Lines of Effort 

A line of effort (LOE) links multiple objectives together. An LOE is a series of tasks that need to be accomplished to achieve your mission. It is the critical path for working toward part of your vision. You will have milestones or objectives along each LOE that will bring you closer to accomplishing a goal. An easy example would be planning to train for and run a 5K, a 10K, and then a half marathon on the way to finishing your first marathon. It is just a series of events that build up to accomplishing a larger goal and achieving a vision.

There are four LOEs you need to create success and balance in your life. In the self-development community, these are often called focus areas or life arenas. Here are the lines of effort for a life on offense:

Health 

Affluence

Relationships 

Development 

To win in life, you have to experiment with recipes for each of these LOEs. Finding and executing the recipes that work for you will allow you to create the life you want. It sounds easy, but it’s not. It’s HARD. 

4. Tactics

Tactics are specific techniques to achieve your goals. These are deliberate actions that are interconnected within the lines of effort. Tactics are specific and measurable actions that enable you to gain ground as you work toward your vision. You can think of these as the football plays that get you further down the field. Here are some quick examples of tactics for life on offense:

• If your vision is to speed up your 5K time from 20 minutes to 19 minutes, then the tactic could be to incorporate threshold running intervals on Tuesday into your weekly running plan. 

• If you want to generate $12,000 in savings by the end of the year, your tactic might be to make an extra $250 per week while working a part time job or side hustle. 

• If you plan to enrich your marriage, then a tactic could be to have a date night once a week for an entire year. 

Doing HARD things requires embracing an offensive mindset and executing tactics that bring you closer to accomplishing your vision. A good strategy and a solid plan using the lines of effort will guide you along the way. If you are interested in the methodology that Jay and I developed, subscribe for more in-depth tactics on how to live on offense and dominate life.