My Joyful Experience as a Soldier

Summit Prompt: What is your equation for becoming your best version?

I did my National Service in Singapore and served two years in the Singapore Armed Forces. I was in the combat unit where I had to go through two years of rigorous training. I enjoyed every moment of my training because I learned many great lessons in the army.

Today I’ll share three of the success equations I learned as a soldier.

Discipline

During training, we always tell ourselves, “Whether you like it or not, just do it.” That’s the spirit of discipline. Discipline starts with getting up at 5 am and going to bed at 10 pm. Discipline means training on time, attending lessons on time, and taking the right actions on time.

As a soldier, I learned that discipline means treasuring time and making use of time to achieve the best outcomes. Discipline means working consistently, working correctly, and working ‘with’ time.

As Robin Sharma says in his book, The 5 am Club, about the 20/20/20 minutes formula — exercise, reflect and grow. If we’re too busy, we make it 10/10/10 minutes, instead of 20 minutes. At the end of the day, it’s consistency that matters a lot. Discipline teaches us to master time and not allow time to work against us.

I’m not a top writer or the best writer, just a simple writer doing my best to write daily and publish at least one article a week. I’ve a full-time job with many commitments, but that doesn’t stop me from my love of writing. I remain consistent with it. Writing for me is like a private vacation with the divine. To enjoy the fruits of our passion like reading, writing or exercising, we also need discipline.

Strategic Thinking

A soldier must always be on the move. As in one of the Rocky film series, actor Sylvester Stallone said, “Keep moving forward and that’s how winning is done.”

In the Army, I went through a ‘standard obstacle course’ where I learned to cross risky physical obstacles. This obstacle course is about learning to move forward without backing down.

This standard obstacle course trains a soldier to:

• Be mentally strong and tough when facing challenges
• To overcome the obstacles and not give up
• To find ways to think strategically and find alternative ways or master the technique of how to overcome this obstacle in a short time
• Remind a soldier that mental and physical fitness go hand in hand when you want to overcome challenges and achieve your goals

I applied the same principles in life to move forward to face challenges rather than backing down or giving up. When handling challenges, I refer to my past lessons, calculate all risks factors, plan and create workable solutions, and simultaneously anticipate the possible consequences (favorable and unfavorable conditions) that can arise out of my actions.

A soldier without courage is like a lion without mane. To face any obstacles or challenges, courage is your best buddy whom you’ve to bring along.

Always Be Ready

A soldier must practice taking the lead to be a good leader. Taking the lead requires a calm and strong mind. We do a lot of endurance training. One of them is the route march, where the soldier must march a long distance with heavy marching packs and rifles and walk steadily and patiently for hours.

The route march taught me the importance of being patient and calm. It taught me not to act too late or too early, but at the right moment. For example, if I walk too fast in the long route march, I get tired fast, and if I walk too slow, I cannot complete my route march in time. Route march also teaches the skills of sustaining energies.

During long marches, we pass through dangerous jungle pathways and adverse weather conditions. These pathways and weather conditions train a soldier to be ready to protect, defend, and handle any problem that may arise at any time.

In route marches, I learned how to remain sharp and alert and not to let tiredness affect my thinking and reflexes. Similarly, during times of difficulties, it is good to keep your mind and body sharp, strong and ready so that you can successfully manage or solve any problems that stand in your way.

In other words, be prepared to expect the unexpected when striving for success. And be prepared to face and overcome unexpected situations that turn against you.

Final Words

One of my equations for becoming the best version is: practice discipline, strategic thinking, and move forward to act courageously. When you act courageously, be mentally and physically prepared to skillfully deal with the unexpected.

Thank you for reading my insights.

Thank you, Sahil, for this creative prompt.

I’m the author of the empowering personal spiritual guidebook, “The Cosmic Romance with Existence,” and The Golden Halo, a free newsletter that delivers enlightening stories and poems to your inbox.

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