Good Morning

Welcome to the newsletter where we help you reach your FULL potential. Today’s newsletter is a little different, I will share an experience I had.

This past week I was part of a life-changing experience at Wounded Warrior Outdoors near Deer Park, FL. Wounded Warrior Outdoors, Inc. is a non-profit organization exclusively founded to provide wounded servicemen and women with therapeutic outdoor adventures across North America. WWO gives deserving Active Duty Warriors in transition the opportunity of a lifetime in the wilderness location of their choice. We call them “Adventures Enabled.”

Today I want to share 2 things I learned about leadership and mindset from these incredible men and women.

Leadership
Success = Humility

When I arrived to the event in the swamps of Florida my heart split in half.

Surrounded my veterans who were shot, burned, blinded, and bombed during their tours, I was quickly humbled and thankful for the sacrifices they made.

These vets were leading the different training sessions. One by one I went around meeting these fine Americans hearing their story.

But they didn’t say much about their military success…

Me: So tell me about your military story…
Here were their answers…

“oh I was just a grunt”
“I served a few tours, got injured”
“I was just another soldier on the battlefield”

Something didn’t seem right…so I asked one of the organizers to explain. He smiled, and chuckled a bit, “Derek, you are surrounded by SpecOps from Green Beret, Delta Force, Seal Team 6, MARSOC and many more.

Some of these men/women answered only to the President, where they hunted and captured some of the worst terrorists on the planet. One man in particular captured Saddam Hussein 🤯.

So what did I learn? Accomplished people are humble. None of these soldiers were walking around with a billboard sharing their kill count, medals, or expertise.

Their accomplishments were cemented in silence and sacrifice. I think we can all learn from that.

Let me put this into perspective
You’ve been to a networking event where there’s always a few people handing out business cards before shaking hands. Within 30 seconds they I, Me, My, Mine you to 💀 sharing all their accomplishments. Big turn off.

Humility speaks volumes and I hope that is a takeaway from today’s newsletter.

TAKEAWAY: Make your personal brand one of humility. While we all want to gain business and customers by sharing how AMAZING we are, take a note from these soldiers: Spare the bragging. Be humble.

Mindset
“Ok, Watch Me” - Attitude Determines Altitude

At the Wounded Warrior Outdoors event, each of the 10-ish competition teams were equipped with a wounded veteran leader. My team captain was Army Seargent First Class Justin Menchaca, and has an incredible story of mindset and overcoming his injuries.

WATCH THE VIDEO BELOW

Give this American Hero 10 minutes of your time

In 2011, during his second deployment in Afghanistan, he was shot in the head, leaving his right side paralyzed and speech impaired. Despite doctors' skepticism about a full recovery, his determined mindset and therapy led to rapid progress. He successfully relearned essential skills, including swallowing, speaking, walking, and shooting with his left hand.

After he shared his story with me I was wondering how he would shoot one handed in the competition…Never judge a book by its cover. I was dealing with a bad 🫏 warrior

Shotgun, full auto, pistol, AR - he shot one handed dinging targets like a pro. Me…not so much LOL

Half way through the event he opened up and shared he is a Green Beret: a member of the United States Army Special Forces at 19 years old…

Once again, a very accomplished soldier humble about his accolades.

Long story short - Under Justin’s leadership, and John Wick shooting skills, our team took 2nd place! I became fascinated with his sheer grit and mindset.

Could you imagine starting over in your 20’s having relearning basic skills due to disability? That would crush anyone’s mindset.

Not Justin - he is more of a man than I will ever be. He doesn’t feel sorry for himself instead he keeps a positive attitude and keeps moving forward.

Put. That. Into. Perspective.

These are the people that sacrifice so we can pursue life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

TAKE AWAY: SFC Justin Menchaca taught me that attitude determines altitude. This experience at Wounded Warrior Outdoors taught me resilience is a choice. Attitude is a decision. Every day we make a decision if the the glass is half empty or half full.

If you feel called to support warriors like Justin, check out the following causes:

Cells for Chad

Wounded Warrior Outdoors

This was an unforgettable experience for me. I am forever humbled and motivated to support soldiers wounded in combat.

I encourage you to get involved and support our veterans. They are the reason we can sit in a comfy chair at our computer and earn a living.

Stay humble out there. See you next week.

Derek