͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏
 | | In today's edition, Joe shares: - The consigliere mindset
- Decisiveness under chaos
- The courage to break rules
| | Spartans!
Robert Duvall just died.
Most people will remember him as a legendary actor. The Godfather. Apocalypse Now. Tender Mercies. Lonesome Dove. Hollywood royalty.
But I didn't think of Hollywood when I heard the news.
I thought of Queens.
I thought of the consigliere.
Growing up around organized crime, the consigliere wasn't the loudest guy in the room. He wasn't the boss, not the muscle, not the hothead. He was the strategist. The steady hand. The man who understood human nature, incentives, fear, loyalty, and betrayal. He didn't flinch. He advised. He watched. He knew when to push and when to pull back.
Duvall's Tom Hagen in The Godfather wasn't flashy. He was disciplined. He was composed. He was controlled under pressure.
That's the mindset that wins wars, builds empires, and survives chaos. Apocalypse Now and the Warrior Ethos Then there's Apocalypse Now.
Duvall's Lieutenant Colonel Bill Kilgore is remembered for the bravado—the helicopters, the Wagner, the famous lines. But what most people miss is that Kilgore represents the warrior archetype that shows up across every civilization: the man who is calm in hell, decisive in madness, and strangely moral inside a brutal system.
Kilgore didn't panic. He didn't overthink. He acted.
The Stoics wrote about this two thousand years ago.
Epictetus said: "Don't explain your philosophy. Embody it."
Kilgore embodied it. He moved forward when others hesitated.
Spartan culture isn't about bravado. It's about decisiveness under chaos. When the storm hits, most people freeze. Spartans act. The Real-Life Warrior: Stockton But what really hit me was learning about the real-life officer Duvall's character was partly inspired by—men like Colonel John Paul Vann and other battlefield commanders who disobeyed orders to save their men.
These guys weren't perfect. They weren't saints.
But when command told them to hold ground that would get their soldiers killed, they made the call to move, extract, or break doctrine.
That's leadership.
Modern science backs this up. Extreme stress narrows cognition. Leaders who have trained in discomfort—cold exposure, endurance, combat, hardship—retain executive function. They don't freeze. They override bad orders when reality demands it.
In Why We Quit, a new book I am writing with Dr. Mark Mclaughlin - we talk about this: quitting isn't always weakness. Sometimes quitting is wisdom. Sometimes quitting the plan is what saves the mission.
Stockton-type leaders understood that. They had the moral courage to violate the system when the system was wrong. Ancient Wisdom Meets Modern Reality Marcus Aurelius wrote: "If it is not right, do not do it; if it is not true, do not say it." Duvall's characters—consigliere, colonel, cowboy, patriarch—were men living inside that tension. Loyalty vs. truth. Orders vs. conscience. Survival vs. ethics.
Modern authors echo this. Jocko Willink talks about "extreme ownership." Ryan Holiday talks about Stoic discipline. Nassim Taleb talks about antifragility—systems and people who get stronger under stress.
Duvall's characters were antifragile. They weren't fragile ideologues. They adapted. The Spartan Mindset Spartan is built on that same line:
Hard decisions. Personal responsibility. Action over comfort.
Sometimes obedience is cowardice. Sometimes rebellion is courage. Sometimes quitting is the strongest move you can make.
The consigliere understood power.
The colonel understood war.
The real-life commanders understood responsibility.
And the lesson is the same:
You don't rise to the occasion. You fall to your level of training.
So train hard.
Think clearly.
Be the consigliere in chaos.
Be the warrior when others hesitate.
Be the leader who saves the mission—even if it means breaking the rules.
Here's to the Hard Way!
Joe | | Obstacle Immunity
| Three thousand years ago, warriors didn't avoid obstacles—they sought them out. Every wall, hill, and enemy line was a vaccine against fear. Spartan obstacles are modern inoculations against fragility. You don't get immune by reading; you get immune by climbing. | | | ➝The Hard Way Podcast with Joe | | | THE HARDWAY PODCAST | | | What Fails First Under Pressure: The Breaking Point You Miss Pressure reveals the truth. Brian Alsruhe and Joe De Sena break down why discipline fails before strength and how missed decisions lead to quitting. Learn to use physical hardship to train the mind, stack small wins, and choose discomfort to build elite resilience. | | | | | | To keep receiving this newsletter, sign up here. | | | WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THIS NEWSLETTER? | | | |
| |
No comments:
Post a Comment