I’m reading the book WAR: As Soliders Really Live It by Sebastian Junger, who also wrote The Perfect Storm. It’s an intense look at the lives of the soliders fighting in the most brutal and dangerous areas of Afghanistan, as told by a journalist who spent months in the bunks with these guys. I’ll do a full write up some day, but just wanted to quote sections because much of Junger’s writing can just stand on its own.

On the difference between Iraq and Afghanistan

Captain Dan Kearney, the commander of Battle Company, drove down to Aliabad in a Humvee to help evacuate the casualties and remembers turning a corner in the road and hitting a wall of Taliban firepower. “I was blown away by the insurgent’s ability to continue fighting despite everthing America had to throw at them,” Kearney told me later. “from that point on I knew it was - number one - a different enemy than I fought in Iraq and that - number two - the terrain offered some kind of advantage that I’d never seen or read or heard about in my entire life.” pg 19

On which team is taking the most heat in Afghanistan

I ask him [Capt. Kearney] who is pushed the farthest out into the valley and he doesn’t hesitate. “Second Platoon”, he says. “They’re the tip of the spear. They’re the main effort for the company, and the company is the main effort for the battalion, and the battalion is the main effort for the brigade. I put them down there against the enemy because  I know they;re going to get out there and they’re not going to be afraid.” I tell Kearney those are the guys I want to be with. p 26-7

On the strange group dynamics of Second Platoon.

In Second Platoon you got beat on your birthday, you got beat before you left the platoon - on leave, say - and you got beat when you came back. The only way to leave Second Platoon without a beating was to get shot. No other platoons did this; the men called it “blood in, blood out.” after a movie one of them had seen, and officers were not exampted. I watched Gillespie get held down and beaten, and Pops got pounded so hard his legs were bruised for days. pg23

On the psychological buffer smoking affords

The fact was that the men got an enormous amount of psychiatric oversight from the battalion shrink - as well as periodic “vacations” at Camp Blessing or Firebase Michigan - but combat still took a toll. It was unrealistic to think it wouldn’t. Anderson sat on an ammo crate and gave me one of those awkward grins that sometimes precede a confession. “I’ve only been here four months and I can’t believe how messed up I already am,” he said, “I went to the counselor and he asked if I smoked cigarettes and I told him no and he said, ‘Well, you may want to think about starting.’”
He lit a cigarette and inhaled.
“I hate these fuckin’ things, he said. pg 40

On medics and how they can inspire a team

The combat medic’s first job is to get to the wounded as fast as possible, which often means running through gunfire while everyone else is taking cover. Medics are renowned for their bravery, but the ones I knew described it more as a terror of failing to save the lives of their friends.
…

When Second Platoon arrived in the valley, their medic was Juan Restrepo. He was extremely well liked because he was brave under fire and absolutely committed to the men. If youo got sick he would take your guard shift; if you were depressed he’d come to your hooch and play guitar.
…
On the afternoon of July 22 a foot patrol left Firebase Phoenix and moved south to the Village of Aliabad under a light rain
…
Restrepo was the only man hit. He took two rounds to the face and fell to the ground, bleeding heavily. THere was so much fire coming from so many different directions that at first on one even dared to run out and get him. When they finally pulled him to safety they didnt know what to do with such a bad wound, and he struggled to tell them how to save his life. Within minutes thre HUmvees roared out of KOP and a MEDEVAC flight lifted off from the airbase in Asabad, twenty miles away.
…
The radio call came in three hours later. [O’Bryne] and Mac were in the Second Platoon tent cleaning the blood off Restrepo’s gear. They had to use baby wipes because the blood had combined with diret to sement into the cracks of his M4. They were almost done when a sergeant neamed Rentas stepped into the tent and grabbed O’Byrne by the shoulders. ‘He didn’t make it, man,’ Rentas said. O’Byrne almost punched him for lying.
“For a long time I haded God.” O’Byrne told me. “Second Platoon fought like animals after that.”

I live in San Francisco and work in Palo Alto. Having no car to call my own, I bike to the Caltrain station every morning and ride down from the city. Door to door, the commute is about 60 - 70 minutes each way. I’m writing this post because I got duped.

You see, I follow Megan Berry on Twitter and clicked on a link she posted about tips for commuters. Turns out, her tip was “Move closer to where you work” which of course is useful advice, but not for people committed to commuting. So I decided to write the post that I wanted to read.

Long commutes are mostly a pain. You commute because you value the place you live so much you’re willing to endure the cost, hassle and time-lost in a long commute. After doing one for about 9 months, I have at least a list of things you can do to better pass the time.

• Read a Book. I read a lot of stuff online and on my phone, but I still really enjoy the pleasure of reading a physical book. In an age where 140 characters is the length of a thought, it is refreshing and important to step back and get the perspective of someone who has spent a year or more thing carefully and comprehensively about a specific topic. Long commutes are great for this.

• Twitter. On the flip side of this, sometimes I use my commutes to read all the tweets I missed last night. I get caught up on the big issues in my industry and what’s happening with my friends and acquaintances. I retweet some links, @reply some people and try to add some value to my followers.

• Meditation. Sometimes your day is going to be so busy that the best thing to do is to spend part of your ride focusing and preparing yourself for the chaos ahead. There are a lot meditation techniques available but my favorite is just taking 10 slow breaths while focusing solely on inhaling and exhaling. Great way to get grounded.

• Email. Again, the flip side of meditating is doing email on the train. Sometimes what I really enjoy is pounding out a few emails before the day gets started. You’re focused on writing a good response without any distractions and you roll into the office having already knocked a couple items off your to-do list. Gotta say: not a bad feeling.

• Napping. There is no shame in this. Sometimes you are just dead tired for whatever reason. If you can get a 4 seater to yourself or one of the upper level double seater, you can really stretch out, relax and drift away as the gentle rocking of the train lulls you into sleep. Just don’t forget to set an alarm!

• Phone Calls. While it can be annoying to hear a guy near you (why is it always almost always a guy?) squawk on the phone for an entire trip, the train truly does offer a great opportunity for catching up with friends and family. You aren’t going anywhere so you know you can devote some time to the call. Just make sure you speak softly and watch out for the tunnels - easy to lose reception.

• Networking. I’ve met some interesting people on the train like a business lawyer who helped a famous tech startup (I can’t remember which now) do their IPO or a former classmate who works at a firm near me. I’ve even gone on a date from someone I met on the train who worked really close to me. So don’t be afraid to strike up a conversation with the person next to, across from, or on the other side of,  you.

• Movies and Games. It’s nice sometimes to just shut off from the world and watch a movie or play video games. Bring your laptop or pull out your iPhone/PSP/Nintendo DS and go for it. Just make sure to use headphones unless you’re planning to turn the train into a personal theater/arcade.

• Writing. Writer’s block is something almost all writers deal with on a regular basis. I finished a 50,000 word novel in 2009 for NaNoWriMo in no small part because I bought a netbook and pounded away at it for weeks and weeks in a row. Fewer distractions means more stuff gets written.

On thing to avoid: - Doing “Brain-Intensive” Work. I’ve found that when I tried to crunch numbers or write something really sensitive, I have struggled on the train. The train doesn’t seem to be good for focused high intensity mental analysis. Maybe that’s just me. I don’t know how someone could handle heavy mental lifting while riding the train. But I know I can.

So there you have it: nine (9) things to try doing if you commute and one thig to avoid. I hope this has been helpful to you and feel free to email me or @reply me (Twitter.com/jasonshen) if you have any questions about it. Tell me if I missed anything!

I’ve been mulling two semi-related work habits/beliefs that I think really contribute to individual & team success. I see them in a lot of people I admire and to be honest, they are habits that I’m glad I’ve naturally adopted.

1) There is Always More You Can Do

A few months ago, my coworker/direct report said to me “Well, I finished my all my stuff for today so I’m taking off early.” She does a great job, but her attitude didn’t rub me the right way. The next day I told her:

“If you feel pretty ahead on your work and you’ve been putting in long hours, sure, an early day is fine. But don’t make the mistake of thinking you’re actually DONE with all your work.”

You are NEVER done.

There is always more you can do - more industry research to do, more analysis to perform on the metrics you track, more phone calls could be made to a potential clients / partners, more practice on the presentation you have next week, more emails to write (perhaps to a coworker saying “thanks for your help on project X”), hell, more icon cleaning on your desktop to perform.

People who are sucessful get ahead because they recognize that the number value-adding activities are endless and are always doing much more than is strictly required, because you don’t achieve great thing by doing just enough.

2) Take Initiative / Responsibility for Improving Everything

If you don’t like some aspect of your firm or your work life - salespeople aren’t closing, the payroll process sucks, your boss never responds your emails, the press releases the PR team sends out are super-bland - don’t just blame someone or throw your hands up in frustration.

Do something about it.

Build relationships with the various departments and stakeholders so they trust & respect you. Learn about what they do and study industry best practices. Ask the HR team if they’d like feedback from the staff, have a meaningful conversation with your boss, forward your PR team a press release you like, talk to customers about what closed the deal for them and send the insights to the sales team. I hate it when people say “that’s not my responsibility” because it is a sign of apathy and helplessness that is not productive.

I’m not advocating shirking your own job responsibilities, just that you ought to  proactively address other areas if you feel you can help the firm improve its performance.

These ideas may be a little off putting to some people and it’s possible that they can backfire (burn out & angry coworkers come to mind) but I do believe that people who adopt these mindsets will ultimately add more value to their organizations and be more successful.

We have all encountered this situation: you disagree with someone over some nontrivial issue -a friend, a classmate, a coworker - and you KNOW you are right and they are just so wrong. So you make sure they know it over and over again … but they still won’t budge.

The question you have to ask yourself here is: “Am I more concerned with being RIGHT or being EFFECTIVE?” If it’s the former, then keep doing what you’re doing. They’ll see the brillance in your ideas, I’m sure. Meanwhile, nothing will move forward.

If it’s the latter, then I advise you change tactics. Admit your view has flaws. Think about how their values affect their decision making. Ask someone they trust to talk to them. Provide some data from the real world that solidifies your stance. Or just let them have this issue and use the chits elsewhere.

Being right is never enough. No one wants to hear “Well it would have worked if s/he had just listened to me”. It is YOUR responsibility to ensure the right outcome.