Clint Bruce, a former Navy SEAL, spoke at an event in North Dallas recently. Mr. Bruce was witty, passionate, “real,” and genuinely insightful. Simple—not simplistic, but simple. And therefore, helpful.
He founded Carry the Load, which has truly helped many remember those we should remember on Memorial Day—“Restoring the True Meaning of Memorial Day.”
Mr. Bruce spoke on the Five Elite Habits. (He told us to aim for “elite,” but don’t be an “elitist.” Good distinction). Here are the five habits :
- Balance
- Curiosity
- Being Tribal
- Knowing your “why”
- Sharing your scars
They are all good, useful, and helpful. But the one that especially grabbed me was the second one—curiosity.
It takes courage to be curious. It requires that you admit that there are things you do not know (and you should know), and you have to seek them out.
I thought of the mixture of humility and confidence that it takes to be curious. You have to be:
- Humble: “I don’t know this thing that I should know/that it would be good to know.”
and/but - Confident: “I am confident that if I seek this out, I will learn something, and then be able to put it to use…”
I have known for years that the best writers discover much of the valuable content they write about out of their own curiosity. (The list of such writers is long.) Clint Bruce helped me better grasp the why of this trait—why curiosity is in fact one of the habits of the genuinely elite.
Contributed by:
Randy Mayeux
Professional Speaker & Writer
Co-founder, First Friday Book Synopsis
The 16% 