Start with the Little Things

Chris Albert 00:00:00 (link to this point)

You know, one of the things I'm always saying is that if this country is gonna get better, if this country is gonna go on the right path, we have to step up as a community. Veterans are the sleeping giant in this country, and it is time for us to step up. That's why I wanna talk to you about The Citadel, the Military College of South Carolina. Now you might have thought about The Citadel in the past as this corps of cadets, this military institution, but they have programs for veterans that don't involve you joining the corps of cadets, don't involve you wearing a uniform every day, and don't involve you living a military lifestyle. If you wanna do that, great.

But if that's not what you're up for right now after your military career, then you don't have to do that, and you can access some of the best programs in the world. The Citadel has some hot degrees in intelligence, tactical strength and conditioning, engineering, and project management. And there's five student type options for veterans. There's graduate college, there's evening undergraduate, there's active duty students, non cadet day program, returning cadet veterans, and online programs. The academic offerings include undergraduate, graduate, college transfer, graduate certificates, and online degrees.

Veterans have access to every single academic degree the college offers, and they have the most flexibility when it comes to their schedule. They can major in anything offered to the cadets and would take those classes during the day with the cadets. But then there's other programs offered in the evening or online and graduate programs to choose from too to make things so flexible for you. The US World and News report has named the Citadel the number one college for veterans in the South. And for veterans who choose to take classes on campus, they get to be a civilian student in a military environment.

They don't have to wear uniforms, like I said before. They don't have to join the military culture of the corps of cadets. The atmosphere is a really good transition environment from military to civilian life. There's an organic mentorship that comes from taking classes with the cadets. The cadets wanna talk to you guys.

They wanna hear your stories. They wanna know what it was actually like to be in the military. A lot of the... A lot of these men and women are gonna go on to serve as officers in the military, and they're gonna exact change. And they need to hear from you guys.

They... You also get access to The Citadel's alumni network. Like I said, this is one of the most illustrious institutions in the world. And when you join the Citadel and you graduate, you're part of their alumni network. That includes so many leaders.

It includes so many business leaders, so many leaders from the military, and so many leaders from the government. The college's core values of honor, duty, and respect align with veteran culture. They align with who you are, and it's something that you're not gonna get anywhere else in this country. There is tons of special assistance for veterans at The Citadel. And whether you're a veteran or active duty military personnel, you can take advantage of these programs.

You also get access to the veteran student success center, the career center, the academic success center, the student veteran association, and all campus clubs. If you wanna play rugby, you could do that. If you wanna you wanna lift weights, you could do that. You get access to everything that the students get. There's fellowship opportunities.

There's tons and tons of financial assistance. So if you're interested in getting a degree from The Citadel and building your life, head over to citadel.edu/veterans.

This is Chris Albert, and I'm here to remind you of one thing. Someday, you're going to die. And that's not some morbid statement or scary idea. It's solid fact. Your time here on this earth is limited.

And we need to be reminded of this as much as possible for one simple reason, to live your best life while you can. This is the Warrior Soul Podcast.

What's going on, ladies and gentlemen? Welcome to the Warrior Soul podcast. My name is Chris Albert, and this is where we deliver tools, tactics, strategies, and ideas to help The US military veteran community and anybody else willing to listen to live their absolute best lives. What I wanna talk to you about today is starting with simplicity. Starting from the beginning, step by step, building block by building block.

And what I'm talking about here is actually going through the grind. You know, there's so many people out there who are just trying to swing for the fences, trying to hit a home run on on every swing because they don't wanna go through the work. Right? You you just wanna be at the top of the mountain. And when you do that, when you when you wanna get there so quickly, that leaves you ripe for the picking.

Right? In this day and age, we have so many Internet gurus out there who are trying to get you eight minute abs, who are trying to get you a million dollars in real estate in two months, who are trying to get you, you know, invested in the stock market and become multimillionaires through day trading, that kind of stuff. Right? And those people, they make money for a reason. Right?

They make money for a reason. It's because there are so many out... Of us out there who just wanna take the shortcuts. But what you gotta do if you're trying to get somewhere is you gotta be willing to do the non sexy things, the simple things, the things that you gotta do every day to get to where you wanna go. You gotta be willing to wake up every day and do the monotonous.

You gotta be willing to wake up every day and do the hard work that it's gonna take to get you up that mountain. And the reason why trying to swing for the fences every time is so dangerous is because... Well, think about it this way. If you tried to climb Mount Everest in a day, you'd die. Right?

If you actually look at the people who've trekked up Everest, you know, what they gotta do is they gotta go over to the base camp of the mountain. They gotta go there. They gotta acclimatize that to the height there because it's at a crazy altitude, you know, just at the foot of the mountain. And then they... They've gotta do some conditioning climbs, and they go up.

And then sometimes they'll go up to a base camp, and then it'll come down a base camp. Right? And they're going up and down the mountain for, like, a couple of weeks until they're actually able to be conditioned enough to ascend to the top. And those people put a lot of work into it. Right?

Of course, there are some services out there who will get you to climb Everest and and make it as easy as possible for you. But the people who do it that way, they're not truly accomplished. Right? They're not truly climbing Mount Everest. They're they're they're paying for an experience.

And if you... And if they if they did not have those guides who were there, you know, supplying them with oxygen, supplying them with everything, they'd be dead. And there's been a few accidents up there because of it. Right? Similarly, if you try to take a shortcut and somebody brings you to the top of whatever mountain you're trying to climb, and then they leave you without you going through all the necessary lessons that you had to learn to get to where you needed to be, well, you'd probably perish too.

Right? If if you won the... Look at lottery winners. There are so many of them who go bankrupt within months of winning the lottery. Right?

You have to be willing to do the hard work. You have to be willing to learn those hard lessons. And the way that starts is by you waking up every day and doing the monotonous. You waking up every single morning and doing what you need to do to get there. Right?

So what you gotta do is you gotta start by looking at your goal, and you gotta think about that end state, and then then you gotta work backwards. Right? So what was the step that you had to get to before that goal? What was the step before that? What was the step before that?

Think all the way back to the beginning to where you are now, and then think about that first action you gotta take. Alright? Think about that first action you gotta take, and then go out there and do that first action. Alright? And then go do the second one, and then go to the third...

Do the third one, and don't stop until you're up to the next go... To the goal that you want to be at. And then once you've reached that one, don't stop there. Keep looking for another one. Keep looking for another mission.

Alright? Don't trust in anybody who says they're gonna get you there in weeks or months or anything like that. Don't trust in anybody who says that they have an easy solution for you. Easy solutions are generally false idols. So that's what I got for you guys today.

I hope you take that to heart. And, you know, let's let's keep going on this quest together. Think about what your goals are. Plan backwards, step by step by step, and think about what that first action is. And if you wanna let me know what that first action you took is, hit me up on social media.

I'm at at Warrior Soul Agoge on Instagram, Chris Albert on Facebook, and at Warrior Soul Gear on Twitter. Get out there and live your best lives while you can. This is Chris Albert with the Warrior Soul Podcast, and I am out.