My first platoon Staff Sergeant told me when I was an 18 yr old rookie police officer, “You’ll be ok as long as you shut the fuck up, listen, and work.”
My first SWAT Team Staff Sergeant told me when I was a 20 yr old rookie SWAT Team member, “You’ll be ok as long as you shut the fuck up, listen, and work.”
My first detective Staff Sergeant told me when I was a 26 yr old rookie detective, “You’ll be ok as long as you shut the fuck up, listen, and work.”
I wasn’t shocked. None of it was new because it was the same message I heard my whole life growing up.
My first foreman told me when I was a 16 yr old manual labourer at Maple Leaf Mills, You’ll be ok as long as you shut the fuck up, listen, and work.â€
My poor illiterate #Italian immigrant father Antonio told me the equivalent of, “You’ll be ok as long as you shut the fuck up, listen, and work,” in broken #Italian when I got hired at the same manual labourer job where he worked at Maple Leaf Mills for decades.
“You’ll be ok as long as you shut the fuck up, listen, and work,”was the consistent message in the 1960s and 70s. Ideological consistency existed. And it worked out – dual meaning.
“You’ll be ok as long as you shut the fuck up, listen, and work” translates into 3 Essential Rules of the 362 Essential Rule of 5th Degree High-Performance
Be humble.
Be honourable.
Be honest.
“You’ll be ok as long as you shut the fuck up, listen, and work,” got the following essential points across:
1. You are starting at the bottom in the basement. You have zero experience.
2. Learning everything you possibly can is the number one objective.
3. You can’t learn when you are a spoiled know-it-all who has done F-all.
4. Get #strongerandsmarter every single day to survive.
5. Lose your gullibility so you won’t be a danger to self and team.
Spilling your guts to get #smarterandsmarter was not an option. No discretion. “You’ll be ok as long as you shut the fuck up, listen, and work,”constituted a #PerformanceDemand. “You’ll be ok as long as you shut the fuck up, listen, and work,” constituted the essential ideological consistency that prevented confusion. There were no mixed messages. Every mentor I had communicated the same message verbally and non-verbally. Each one lived the same message. None of them compromised their beliefs. They all maintained deep, profound ideological consistency, the foundation of getting #strongerandsmarter every day because if you don’t get #strongerandsmarter every day, someone else will.
My mentors had no desire to be my friend.
My mentors had no desire to enable my weaknesses.
My mentors worked together to make sure I worked and outworked everyone in order to survive.
I’m blessed to have had mentors who expressed ideological consistency. It dramatically changed my life and continues to impact my life every day.
This is an excerpt from my new book – book #61 – entitled #strongerandsmarter.
#MUCHLOVE #soulofalifter
Blessings and all good things
#peace
Gino Arcaro