This week's book: "The Wisdom of the Bullfrog" by Admiral William H. McRaven.
"Do what you can, with what you've got, where you are."
Squire Bill Widener, quoted by Theodore Roosevelt
Forty years ago, Gordy Linn wanted someone at our brand new firm to learn options trading strategies. I was the eighth employee at our company at Chicago Board of Trade, and told myself I was too busy.
I wasn't really too busy. But it sounded hard and I just didn't step up.
Another guy did. His name is Rich, and I’m happy to say that he's still a friend today. He learned the strategies. He struggled with them at times but kept at it anyway. He became the firm's first options specialist. A few years later a big European bank hired him, then moved him to Paris and put him in charge of his own team. He retired around age fifty.
I've thought about that one a lot over the years.
Chapter seven of this week's book is called Sua Sponte. It's Latin for "of your own accord," borrowed from the motto of the 75th Ranger Regiment.
McRaven describes a ceremony honoring a legendary Navy SEAL who had survived being paralyzed from the chest down and had lost his vocal cords to cancer. As the man wheeled himself to the podium, it was obvious the microphone was set too high for him to reach.
More than two hundred people watched.
One young SEAL didn't. He broke ranks, marched to the stage, saluted the man, lowered the microphone, saluted again, and returned to his place.
When McRaven asked him later why he'd done it, his answer was simple. Sir, Something had to be done, and nobody else was doing it.
That's Sua Sponte. Don't wait to be asked. Don't assume it's someone else's job. See what needs doing and do it.
The part that stings about Rich is that nobody passed me over. The opportunity was right there, offered to whoever wanted it. I talked myself out of it with a reason that wasn't even true.
One thing to try today
Think of something you've noticed needs doing, at work, at home, in your community, that you've been quietly assuming someone else will handle. Do it today. Don't announce it, don't wait to be asked. Just do it.
What's an opportunity you talked yourself out of? Hit reply, I read every one.
I'll go first: options trading, 1985. "I'm too busy" is the most expensive sentence I ever said.
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Talk tomorrow,
Mike
Practical wisdom for the life you're building