“Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated.”

Confucius

All tactical military operations, especially special operations, sound complicated and look flashy on the movie screen.  In reality, professional warriors boil things down until they are simple.  Simple works so much better, in the stressful fog of war, than trying to execute something complicated.   Every successful operation can be attributed to the execution of three simple acts: Shoot, Move, and Communicate.

That’s it.  No hocus-pocus.  No man-behind-the-curtain magic.  No super secrets of Spec Ops Soldier.  Just the quiet professional, who is really, really good at three simple things: shooting, moving, and communicating.

Warriors have learned over the millennia, that uncomplicated movements are more effectively executed in the hyper-stress of combat than intricate ones.  We are mindful to utilize economy of movement when reloading our weapons when they run dry, so that in a fire fight, we aren’t hampered with a procedure riddled with intricacies.  We eschew complex techniques in hand to hand/unarmed combat, and favor straightforward and plain methods to neutralize the threat.  It might not be spectacular but it works.

Most of all, we simplify our communication with each other.  If there is a misunderstanding, well, bad things happen very quickly.  We probably spend more time working on our comms than any other aspect of our trade.  Needless to say, when you are taking indirect fire, you don’t have time to unscramble jargon or decipher an acronym.  These things must be worked out well in advance, as in stop trying to show everyone how clever you are by using obscure jargon.  How many times have we heard the cliché, “Can you say that in plain English?”

The take away here is to simplify things in your life, not make them more complicated.  In your career, break down what you need to do to be successful into three major categories (like shoot, move, and communicate).  Do the same for your health and fitness, your relationships, etc.

Here’s another cliché for you:  Keep It Simple Sherlock!

Boo yah!