OODA Loops

Yesterday while I was hanging up my laundry, I almost lost it over something that was so easy to fix. There’s this wind-chime right near the clothesline that I kept banging into while trying to hang my laundry up. It was driving me crazy by bouncing off my shoulder everytime I moved! I was about ready to pull the thing down from the tree and smash it into a million piece when I realized all I had to do was hang the cord for the windchime up into the tree branches until I was finished. An easy solution to something so minor yet so annoying to my peaceful Sunday afternoon. 

It reminded me of something that happened at work the other day and the simple solution that made the problem go away.  All week there was an incessant knocking on the desk whenever I came in contact with it. Something was loose and would rattle every time I typed on the keyboard or touched the desk. It started to drive me a little crazy. 

Then by the end of the week, I finally noticed that it was the padlock swinging and knocking into the side of the wooden desk that was tap, tap, tapping away. It took half a second to remove the padlock, set it down, and eliminate the nuisance.

Really, it couldn’t have been any easier. 

It sounds so silly but we try to ignore these little things that disrupt a calm mind all the time instead of doing something about it.

The moral of these stories? 

Don’t sit and let a nuisance continue to bother you incessantly. If you are feeling annoyed by something, figure out a way to do something about it. Whatever obstacle is presented to you that is in your way is telling you something that you’ve got to listen to and not try to ignore while it gnaws away at your serenity. 

Part of the power of forging an unbeatable mind is that you begin to create that clarity in your vision that allows you to see the obstacles that are in your way and act more decisively to do something about them. In Air Force jargon this is known as the OODA Loop, which stands for observe, orient, decide, act. By tackling greater and greater mindset challenges, you will be building the self-discipline needed to efficiently observe, orient, decide, and act on whatever nuisance is in your way or objective is assigned to you. 

Act on the decision to become greater today. 

My newest book is now available on Amazon in paperback and ebook formats. If you’re looking for guidance on how you can build an unbeatable mind and more resiliency, check out 21 Mindset Challenges today for four bucks.