It was an honor to Cadre the Charming the Snake BETA this weekend. This Challenge officially marks an evolution that has been underway among our Cadre to teach you more that you can take back to your daily life. The snake represents the challenges in your life, the adversity we all face. CTS as a teaching concept is derived from tried and tested principles of the Green Berets. The lessons work in life, they work in business, they work in war. In essence, you don’t solve life’s toughest problems alone, and you don’t solve them with your body. If you try to kill all the snakes it will never work, there are too many. You solve the toughest challenges in life with your mind, and you do it together with other people that become part of your team, and you become part of theirs. Make friends and influence others if you wanna win kind of deal. That’s Charming the Snake.

We talked about the steps to leading

1. Understand the problem
2. Visualize a solution
3. Over- Communicate
4. Adapt to win

We talked about the 3 steps to rapport building: Know/Mirror/Listen “KML” as some security officers kindly asked us to leave their campus.

1. Know your audience – (daily life example: if you have a meeting with someone, google them first, find everything out you can. Then, as knowledge = power, put that info to good use).
2. Mirror them – I like what you like I care about what you care about. There is always common ground, so establish it. This is why SF guys always bring beer (when we’re in beer drinking countries).
3. Listen – actively, to what they say, not what you want them to say.

Then maintain rapport.

We used TLC as the framework for the AAR for every mission: Teamwork, Leadership, and Communication. With communication always being the glue, and oh by the way it’s impossible to over-communicate.

We changed leaders often throughout, and we learned that it’s always better to be the kind of person who says “SEND ME” when the Cadre (or the world) ask for a new leader. I expected a lot from the class, and I got a lot from the class. But what matters most is what happens now that we’re back leading our daily lives. Did the lessons really sink in, are we able to put them to good use? Yes, we are – that’s my goal as Cadre.

I was nervous before the Challenge started, as I always am. Once we got going, though, everything fell into place and it was an incredible opportunity to be out there with some of the best people you can hope to meet – this GORUCK Tough (GRT) community is and will always be incredible, and don’t forget it. We faced adversity, we overcame adversity together, and I was proud of the team. I enjoyed being a Cadre again (once a year isn’t enough!), and I’m thrilled for the push that is and will become Charming the Snake.

If you were in the class, please share something about the experience – what it meant to you, where it was different or if you have any feedback so it can be even better. You’re a certified Snake Charmer now so put your skills to good use 🙂

For everyone: if you you got questions, ask questions. Everyone in the class is dying to answer them for you, lol. And I’ll jump in if I need to.

Promotional push – today is the last day for the GRTBADASS discount. 50% off non-special events. If you want to earn the CTS patch in 2016, sign up for a Tough Challenge that is not a special event. Link here.

Thanks to everyone for so much support these past 5 years, it’s an honor to be among your ranks.