Fear Can Be a Positive Force

When I was in college, I routinely had to borrow money from a local pay-day loan company to keep my used car running. At the time, I was working two part-time jobs to pay my way through school and could barely afford to keep the car fueled, insured and maintained. I had neither  the income nor the credit rating to get a traditional loan at a lower interest rate, and my family didn't have the means to help me financially.

This may sound strange, but I was grateful to be able to borrow the money even though the interest rates where out of this world. I learned early on about cost benefit and risk analysis.  I had to, in order to survive and to achieve a life goal: earn a college degree to better position myself in life.

I had dreams, and I was going to make them come true.

Grittiness is Good

In college -- including summer school at the local community college -- I learned the importance of gaining and maintaining forward momentum. I also learned that maintaining a sense of urgency was
essential to achieving my own goals.

I was driven by pure fear. In the film, "An Officer and A Gentlemen," starring the actor Richard Gere and Lou Gossett Jr., there is a scene where Gere's character, in an emotional scene says, "I got nowhere to go!"

That was how I felt during that phase in my life; I had nowhere to go but forward. I didn't allow myself to think about what would happen to me if I accepted my status quo, and my sense of urgency served me well -- it still does. Today, the fashionable word to describe my mindset is gritty.

Fight, Run or Die in Place

Fear can make people run away, shut down, or fight. Grittiness is integral to fighting -- literally and figuratively. When the decision to fight is made, you have to be able to take a punch and accept pain.
The grittier you are, the more pain you can absorb and channel to your advantage.

I took more than my share of punches and pain in those days. It has been replicated in a few instances since, and those instances occurred while I was doing the work of a U.S. Marine.

Soon after graduating from college, I applied to and was accepted into the U.S. Marine Corps' Officer Candidates School in Quantico, Virginia. Over 10 weeks, I would undergo one of the world's toughest job interviews. I was being evaluated to determine if I had the potential to lead the daughters and sons of the American people, as a commissioned officer -- an officer of Marines and leader of Marines.

The 300

By law, officer candidates are required to purchase uniforms and incidental items required by the Marine Corps. I still remember the anxiety I felt when I was told to show up for the course
with $300 in my pocket.

The last time I ever walked in to a pay-day loan office was a few days before I flew east to attend Officer Candidates School. I borrowed $300. The $300, coupled with grittiness, was a worthy investment; I was commissioned a Marine Corps second lieutenant 10 weeks later.