Sport is awash with wisdoms, some obviously useful, some a little more obscure that take some figuring out. But there are other sources of wisdom that are hugely beneficial in a sporting context and probably the most significant source is the military.
You might think that military wisdom would simply be about battle situations or what soldiers need to be motivated or to become hardened to the risks they face but there’s more to it than that. Much of it deals with personal development and psychology because if you get that right, then the other stuff starts to take care of itself.
Now of course it must be acknowledged that opinions about the military as an entity differ greatly from person to person and not all people around the world are as fortunate as we are in the UK and other countries. Some will have to cope with a military presence in their society that’s authoritarian or a negative influence for whatever reason. Either that or they’re living under occupation with all that means for their personal safety and freedom.
But as serious and emotive as these matters are and not to belittle them in any way, that’s not what this is about. We look to military wisdom for inspiration precisely because it works. If it didn’t work, it wouldn’t survive to become military wisdom!
It’s about learning from their practical experience, born out of difficult and challenging circumstances and understanding how that experience can benefit us. But apart from this, for Sport Walkers especially, these wisdoms are particularly appropriate because they deal with overcoming challenges.
No plan survives contact
One of the most well known and well used military wisdoms in civilian life is “no plan survives contact”. Now you might view this as a literal description of what happens in battle but you can also view it as an understanding of the reality of life itself.
Yes the terminology is military – “contact” meaning meeting the enemy in battle – but “contact’ for us is when you start something tangible, begin a challenge, reach a mountain or other obstacle on your route. “No plan survives contact” for a Sport Walker is an understanding that you can plan as much as you like but when you go out for your daily walking workout or begin a challenge walk, your plans will be impacted by things that happen along the way.
There’s no point being like King Canute and saying “no, I’ve made my plan and nothing is going to divert me from it”. If your plan is based on good weather and the weather turns bad on you, your plan is no longer of any use to you. You’re now plan-less, unless of course you have another plan!
What taking note of military wisdom like “no plan survives contact” teaches us, is to be aware of our limitations and to be adaptable. It’s wisdom that should guide us to prepare but to understand that we have no control over some things, so we need to be able to go with the flow a little.
When Roger was on his South Downs Way solo non-stop challenge walk, he’d agreed to meet his support crew at a particular car park right next to the trail on top of a major hill feature – Ditchling Beacon. He’d chosen this location because it was exactly the right distance from the previous meeting point to stock up on new supplies of drinks and food.
But when his support crew drove ahead to get things ready, they discovered that the road had been closed for a big cycling hill climb competition and they couldn’t reach that specific car park. So the message was quickly sent over to Roger that they would meet him about a mile further on at the next car park.
Now in theory it could have been possible to discover the race event in advance and to update the plan but you’d have to be Googling every potential sport or activity that might be taking place on every road that intersects the route to have discovered it. It simply wasn’t feasible to plan for this.
And anyway, anything can happen on a journey like this. The support crew car could break down, there could be an accident on a road leading to a meeting point, any number of unforeseen events could happen regardless of how extensive the planning research had been.
But the point really is that, the “no plan survives contact” approach is all about being primed for uncertainty and being comfortable changing plans and adapting to disruption on the ground. It’s about not letting events stop you, simply because they aren’t in your plan.
In this case the crew quickly figured out a solution, texted Roger an update and he just got on with it. The extra distance didn’t make any difference to his feeding and hydration strategy – there’s always wiggle room there – and the race event actually presented him with a little visual interest along the way as he navigated the crowd barriers to pass through the finish line and carry on along the trail.
If the plan is sacred, then when something challenges it, you can be disrupted and disorientated, focusing on the problem rather than the solution. If you have a strong plan but understand that you may need to make it up as you go along a little if something unforeseen happens, then you can stay calm and simply adjust what you do before returning to the plan once you’ve negotiated the problem.
Face the threat as it is
Another great piece of military wisdom is the phrase “face the threat as it is in front of you, not as you would wish it to be”. This is a really superb mantra to adopt when you’re both setting out to get fit and to take on a challenge.
Facing the threat “as it is, not as you want it to be” is all about being 100% realistic and honest with yourself. It speaks to not pretending things are going to go one way because that’s the way that feels more comfortable. If getting fit is going to be a long tough process then accept that and work out how you’re going to manage it, in order that you can get what you want.
Many people who fail with diet plans, fitness programs or any other fitness related activity often fail because the reality doesn’t meet their expectation or hope. This phrase teaches us that facing reality is far more important than building a picture of what we’re doing that feels achievable.
The fact is that it can take a long time to achieve functional fitness. There’s the 10,000 hours principle of how long it takes for something to become automatic – a skill, a technique etc. So there’s time needed for technique acquisition and then there’s also time needed for the body to adapt and for the changes you make to embed.
Nutrition plays a big part too. You of course need to eat as well as train but while you may burn a certain number of calories when you exercise, you have to replenish them with food. So there’s a ‘two steps forwards one step back’ reality in terms of calorie burn but this isn’t a negative, it’s reality. You must eat to survive, so you need to view the process of exercise and dietary adaptation as a long term process. You eat, you work out, you eat you work out, you eat, you work out and gradually over time, the effect of your exercise starts to show itself.
If you desire to be ‘beach ready’ in three months, no amount of believing in that outcome is going to help you if it’s not realistic, given your situation. In the phrase “face the threat as it is in front of you, not as you would wish it to be”, the “as you wish it to be” part speaks exactly to this wishful thinking that can so easily derail us.
We want to see results quickly because we have that desire to be fit, to lose weight, to feel stronger but our expectations are almost always unrealistic. We might know what we need to do but the pace of change isn’t something we’ve factored in. This is when disillusionment sets in and we can lose commitment or think that what we’re doing isn’t working and give up.
It can take up to three years, from a standing start, to become an ‘automatic’ proficient Sport Walker, just as it can take up to three years to become a reasonably proficient piano player or anything else for that matter.
It isn’t because these things are slow or because we’re not talented or anything else, it’s because that’s just how long it can take for us to go through the stages of progress. We need to move from ‘unconscious incompetence’ to ‘conscious competence’, passing through two other stages in the process.
What does all this mean? Well, it’s understanding that when we start out there are things we don’t know but, perhaps, we don’t know that we don’t know them – that’s ‘unconscious incompetence’. It doesn’t mean we’re stupid or incapable, ‘incompetent’ in this case means we’re not yet proficient. We aren’t yet competent at something.
These four stages are really useful to take on board and apply to yourself when you set out on a voyage of discovery with something new and it’s also a really useful process to apply to building fitness. ‘Unconscious incompetence’ essentially means we don’t know our potential or ability because we’re just starting.
After a time, we begin to understand what we still need to master – that’s ‘conscious incompetence’ – knowing what your weaknesses are or what you’re not yet able to do. From there, we can move to ‘unconscious competence’ we’re getting there but although we are progressing, we’re not yet aware of our full potential because there’s still work to do. But this phase is really good because you’ve done enough the become competent, you just haven’t realised yet!
Finally, after a good period of time, we have a full understanding of what our abilities are and those abilities are playing out in everything we do. We’re able to perform to a strong level, which is giving us what we want and, most importantly, we know it. That’s ‘conscious competence’.
Now what, you may ask, has this got to do with “facing the threat as it is”? Well, it’s all about understanding exactly what your abilities are now, what you need to work on to improve them, how much work you need to do and how long that’s realistically going to take.
In short, it’s all about honesty. Honesty with yourself, about yourself. It may be difficult or even painful to admit to yourself where you really are in terms of health or fitness but until you do, you can never progress because denial is a block, a wall and you can only get past it by facing the reality.
So, be open to what you can learn from military wisdom. It’s largely helpful because it is so closely aligned to what Sport Walkers face, in terms of challenge, adversity and even the simple process of moving efficiently through the landscape.