Some self analysis

[twobare]

As this year progresses I can't help but analyze all my habits. I break whatever is a hinderance to me, becoming more self disciplined. While keeping this up I've noticed my ego has inflated a bit. I sometimes think I'm better than some friends because I have my own unique goal and work harder in the gym. I know it's all bullshit and I haven't even proven anything to myself yet. However my worst offense is school. I don't see the point. I maintain a C average and I'm not leaving anyone impressed. Is school a key component to discipline and attitude? I just can't help but think its a waste of time if my aspirations are somewhere totally different than the classroom. I also wanna stop my mind wandering to places where I think im better than someone else. It's repulsive.

 

[EasyDay]

my own unique goal

That goal is becoming a Army Ranger based off of your introduction. People have joined the ranks of special operations with a a bumpy history in high school. However a growing number of enlisted are coming in with college degrees. The mental attitude that school is not important is nonsense and I suggest you bump those grades up.

Is school key? no.
Is it important? absolutely so take it seriously

 

[suaveflooder]

Part of being disciplined is doing things well that you have no desire to do. No matter what career path you choose, there will be things asked that you will find dumb and pointless. Are you willing to slack off at those times? If your rout is military, that could be at the cost of someone's life.

I'm, interestingly enough, the exact opposite of you. I pick things up very easily and have always been good at school when I make a decent effort. I've never really enjoyed working out. It's uncomfortable. At the same time, that feeling when you're done is AWESOME! The way you feel and how your body transforms is fun to see. I go in to my workouts knowing that I will be better at the end of the day than I was starting out, and that someday, someone close to me may need me to have that stamina or strength to help them out! My workouts have very little to do with me and more so what it could do for others. If I have to stand there, not knowing what to do because I didn't study or physically incapable of performing BEYOND what a normal person could do, I'm not sure I would ever be able to be okay with that. I work out 6 days a week because it's just something I've decided to do

As far as thinking you are better than someone else, you will find out very quickly it will never be an "I" effort in 99% of things you will do in the workforce....once again in any career. There will be times for that individual effort, but given that you are on a special operation website, you will find out very quickly the importance of "team." End of the day, you are one part in a bigger machine. I know it's cliche, but there will always be someone better than you. Start focusing on other people. How can you bring them up to your level? How can you push them to succeed ALONG SIDE you.

 

[x SF med]

Check your ego at the door.
You will be required to study in the military, so be good at it, even if the subject matter is boring.
Peer reviews for bad attitude can damn you as fast as inability to perform well above the established minimums.

You need to be a whole person to excel.

Start here: Why do we do this? Items to consider.

 

[twobare]

Check your ego at the door.
You will be required to study in the military, so be good at it, even if the subject matter is boring.
Peer reviews for bad attitude can damn you as fast as inability to perform well above the established minimums.

You need to be a whole person to excel.

Start here: Why do we do this? Items to consider.

I''m 100% certain why I want to be a Ranger. I also have enough self awareness to understand when i'm being an egotistical prick. I'm just saying I have a nasty internal dialogue that goes back and forth. Though it never materializes into anything.

 

[x SF med]

I''m 100% certain why I want to be a Ranger. I also have enough self awareness to understand when i'm being an egotistical prick. I'm just saying I have a nasty internal dialogue that goes back and forth. Though it never materializes into anything.

and.... ^^^ this post should show you some of the major issues you're going to have once you join the military. Even if you really do know everything, never show your hand. Your correct response should have been something along the lines of - Wow, you've given me something to think about, thanks. I'll get back to studying and doing PT."

At the moment, you have about zero Situational or self awareness... wait until your first confrontation with a situation where no matter what you do is wrong, you're tired, cold, hungry, wet, under a time constraint and have 30 km to reach your target, get set and accomplish your objective; all the while knowing you are probably going to lose a friend/brother while this is going on.

At the current moment, you have done less than nothing in the eyes of the people you want to join, and still feel you have a way to prove you know what it takes to be a member of their 'club'... once you realize you are no better or no worse than your fellow wannabes, you might just have a chance. You're 17, you don't know shit compared to a 20 y/o Ranger with 2 deployments, or even a 19 y/o kid who has made it through RASP and earned his Scroll.

Humility, you need some. If you think this post was harsh, you need to choose another goal, I was being nice.

 

[twobare]

and.... ^^^ this post should show you some of the major issues you're going to have once you join the military. Even if you really do know everything, never show your hand. Your correct response should have been something along the lines of - Wow, you've given me something to think about, thanks. I'll get back to studying and doing PT."

At the moment, you have about zero Situational or self awareness... wait until your first confrontation with a situation where no matter what you do is wrong, you're tired, cold, hungry, wet, under a time constraint and have 30 km to reach your target, get set and accomplish your objective; all the while knowing you are probably going to lose a friend/brother while this is going on.

At the current moment, you have done less than nothing in the eyes of the people you want to join, and still feel you have a way to prove you know what it takes to be a member of their 'club'... once you realize you are no better or no worse than your fellow wannabes, you might just have a chance. You're 17, you don't know shit compared to a 20 y/o Ranger with 2 deployments, or even a 19 y/o kid who has made it through RASP and earned his Scroll.

Humility, you need some. If you think this post was harsh, you need to choose another goal, I was being nice.

I was expecting something along the lines of this. Thanks for the kind words

 

[AWP]

As this year progresses I can't help but analyze all my habits. I break whatever is a hinderance to me, becoming more self disciplined. While keeping this up I've noticed my ego has inflated a bit. I sometimes think I'm better than some friends because I have my own unique goal and work harder in the gym. I know it's all bullshit and I haven't even proven anything to myself yet. However my worst offense is school. I don't see the point. I maintain a C average and I'm not leaving anyone impressed. Is school a key component to discipline and attitude? I just can't help but think its a waste of time if my aspirations are somewhere totally different than the classroom. I also wanna stop my mind wandering to places where I think im better than someone else. It's repulsive.

Plenty of guys decided school wasn't right for them at that moment in their lives and subsequently enlisted. This isn't a new dilemma. Your other baggage however...you have a long row to hoe if you enlist. Plenty of guys in your mental condition have enlisted and failed, miserably, because they lacked humility. "This is stupid, my workouts are better than this. Why do we have to show up at 0430 for a 0500 formation? I know a better way to do this task so I'll do it like that." and the list goes on. If you can't check that, don't bother enlisting. I'm not saying that to be a bully, but that's the hard truth. You'll struggle to make it out of Basic and jump school. SOF selection courses have chewed up and spit out stud athletes or guys who can kill it in the gym, but lacked a certain mental quality or two. Don't enlist thinking the military will completely change you because it can and will change some perceptions, but others....not a chance. You're not better than a single person on this planet, much less someone in uniform. Your hubris is self-destructive.

 

[twobare]

Thank you for your thoughtful reply. This was important for me to hear.

 

[Trojan1]

As this year progresses I can't help but analyze all my habits. I break whatever is a hinderance to me, becoming more self disciplined. While keeping this up I've noticed my ego has inflated a bit. I sometimes think I'm better than some friends because I have my own unique goal and work harder in the gym. I know it's all bullshit and I haven't even proven anything to myself yet. However my worst offense is school. I don't see the point. I maintain a C average and I'm not leaving anyone impressed. Is school a key component to discipline and attitude? I just can't help but think its a waste of time if my aspirations are somewhere totally different than the classroom. I also wanna stop my mind wandering to places where I think im better than someone else. It's repulsive.

I'm glad I found this because I'm at in the exact same place as you man. The way I try to look at it is surround yourself with guys who have somewhat similar mindsets. I know that's easier said than done but I recently losty best friend last summer who was a cadet at West Point and I decided to fulfill his spot on serving but I find myself especially around my roommates who are really complacent and try to walk all over me and it's hard to not just snap at them since I see what I want to do as something greater than them but I control myself and keep to myself. My grades are average too but I go to a very hard university so it's not a walk in the park. From what I've been told you must think grades aren't important since you don't try your best which is the way I see it too but I'm changing but still trying to remain focused on my end goal. Gotta get used to doing stuff you don't like!

 

[Red Flag 1]

Mod hat on.

 

[The Hate Ape]

Unless you're applying to college, your grades are relatively unimportant versus actually learning something. Having a strong comprehension of core fundamentals across the Science, Technology, Engineering (Maybe) and Mathematics will obviously assist you in life - SOF isn't just a league of cartoon characters that don't need to know shit. A lot of these guys go further into the world and applied critical thinking as well as relevant & genuine intelligence are important. What is the secondary effects of learning? You'll probably have better grades.

Try viewing the better grades as the litmus test that you're not a dumbass.

Another thing I want to point out is this trend of guys who just man-scaped for the first time in their lives feeling like they're ready for the community at eighteen years old. They talk like a weirdo, they read really robotic due to word choice, and they have this cocky or increasingly self-assured tonality to their posts. I would challenge you to comprehend the fact that you are not special - even if you're in better physical condition than the geeks at the gym doesn't mean that some of the people on this forum who are twice your age won't give you a swirly like Marty McFly's dad.

On your road through life and towards your goals, one of the most important things you can learn is humility.

Almost all of your responses have been stupid as fuck - why? Because you're a kid and you don't know any better. Doesn't matter how you feel about this; you have zero life experience, zero military experience, zero anything. Frankly, you shouldn't even have questions because you don't even know what questions to ask. Most of the guys on this forum are great mentors from whom you could learn a lot from. Do you think any of the generation before you had a forum to ask questions and obtain a mentor? Not at all.

They showed up to a place, was told to do something, did it as best as they could and was just as lost-in-the-sauce as the next guy. They succeeded on the same advice I will pass onto you, its the genuine cheat code to life in the military:

1. Be as physically fit as possible
2. Keep your mind sharp
- your ability to retain information
- your ability to communicate (with yourself and with others)
- your willpower
3. Shut the fuck up and follow your instructions.