The easier, softer way! That’s the way we like it! We are intrinsically lazy, saving ourselves and our energies for flight or fight emergencies. We always are looking for the easy way, and the shortcut. In fact, sometimes the whole exercise could have been completed in the time we wasted looking for the shortcut. Sound familiar?

So warriors, be on guard against your desire for the easier, softer way. It is usually not. It is usually an illusion. The right way, the planned way, the warrior way (which looks tougher, harder, and more complex) is the easier, softer way. It is said that quality is neither free nor cheap. It is true however, that when all factors are considered, quality is usually the less costly solution.

Buy high quality garments and get years of use or buy cheap clothes, look the part, and replace them frequently. Buy cheap weapons and have them fail at the most inopportune of times.

The cohort to sloth (intrinsic laziness just spelled differently) is fear. Fear has a similar power. Fear helps the unknown look like the greener pasture. Let me illustrate this point with a story. We are strategically evaluating an expansion of our empire, and on the western boundary is the Dismal Swamp—reported to contain great wealth that is guarded by legions of ghouls, about which we have little intelligence beyond hearsay and rumour. Back on the eastern boundary, we have been battling (without great success) the kingdom of the Dwarfs, whose wealth can only very slowly be extracted from them.

The council decides to put the battle with the Dwarfs on diplomatic hold, and go after the ghouls with the promise of a greater, and quicker, return. Plans are made, and we assemble on the western boundary. Just then, doubt starts a flanking movement and fear starts to creep in. We have all heard about what happens when you are captured by ghouls, and so we start thinking about the lesser of two evils … and the slow progress against the Dwarfs is starting to look better and better.

So guess what happens? That’s right. We rationalize our behaviour, and go back to that lesser project (maybe a little more vigorously than before, in order to make up for having turned tail and run away).

Look at yourselves; you are being driven against your intellectual goals by your irrational and powerful emotional instincts. Instincts are keeping you from your success. Most of you don’t even realize how you are betrayed by yourselves. Your beliefs support your behaviours no matter how puzzling that is to your rational self.

How does this play out with struggling sales warriors? Well, they procrastinate instead of working on the major account. They do paperwork instead of prospecting; the examples go on and on. But true warriors embrace fear and discomfort!

They use these emotional flickerings as early warning flags, which is what they are. Fear? Yes! We must be going in the right direction for a big payday! Laziness? Well, the opposite is clearly required; let’s get to work!

You are warriors, and you are aware of your shortcomings. You use these tools to guide you to your true destination and help you to avoid a false retreat. With this power, you pierce the veil of self-deception and overcome your inherent weakness, turning it into a powerful strength. With this strength, you will do the right thing. So it is written.