10 Style & Life Tips From The Military [0:00:00]
[Music] So, this last month I was back in San Diego
visiting some old military buddies, and I went to Marine Corps Recruiting Depot to watch
a graduation and I can tell you it was motivating to watch those devil dogs on that graduation
day go out there and put on a show.
And, it got me thinking I wrote down you know I need to create another video talking about
the style and the life tips that I took from the Marine Corps and I think any man is taken
from the military that you can use to become a better you.
Are you ready, guys?
Let's do it.
So, the first lesson I want to share with you is take the time to master the basics.
So we’re there at that graduation, I mentioned that it's 10 weeks long Marine Corps boot
camp and my wife is like, oh, that's not too long to learn everything you need to know.
And, I'm laughing because, of course, you don't learn everything you need to know.
They basically learned how to make their beds, how to have the lingo that you need to be
a United States Marine, but when you start off as a private you know basically nothing.
And then, you're going to go to your first, you know, station that they're going to train
you up a bit more, but, again, this is all basic training.
A little bit more advanced training, but it's when you show up to your first duty station
and you talk and you work with people that are more experienced with you they're going
to show you how really things operate.
This is where you learn and this applies to everything in life.
So many people go to college so many people start to dress it better and they think, oh,
I've learned everything I need to learn.
That is not the case.
Life is continuous education and if you're not doing that you are going to fall behind,
you are not going to be successful, you're not going to be able to achieve your dreams.
So, when it applies to style when you start getting dressing better.
Guess what?
Okay, you're better than 95% of guys out there, that's pretty easy, but can you go up to the
next level and then can you start to teach others because that's what you learned is
that it's about passing on that knowledge.
And, again, guys, don't think that college don't think that your advanced degree makes
you better or makes you smarter than others.
No, it's that continuing education it's every day trying to be a bit better than you were
the day before.
Tip number two, work hard and be proud of who you are right now.
So, the coolest part is during the graduation, the commanding officer asks all the privates
a question, and they sound off and it scares people in the audience.
And, I love it because these guys these young men are so proud and, yet, they're the lowest
rank in the United States Marine Corps, but it doesn't matter, they are now Marines.
And, I know so many of you guys are struggling or working hard, you just started to dress
better, you just made me found my videos, you are, you know, starting off in life, you
have may be only a few months experience, you feel like you know nothing, but here's
the deal is that we all start there.
Every commanding general started off as a lieutenant, every sergeant major of the Marine
Corps started off as a private, and that is the amazing thing is the potential.
And so, when you're getting started understand, yes, you'd like to have more experience be
able to -- be able to know how to do everything, but understand those guys that are 20, 30
years ahead of you, they would give anything to be in your shoes to be able to start again
and to have the whole world in front of them.
Next up, let's look at the importance of a team of not being one-dimensional.
So, if you go to a Marine Corps graduation what you're going to see is that the navy
is there in force because guess what?
The navy they take care of all the -- I mean they're the corpsman, they're the chaplains,
they give us rides around the world and anyone that's going to be anything in life whether
you want to be the best dressed guy whether you want to be the most successful man you're
not going to do it by yourself, you have to surround yourself with other people that are
going to lift you up.
If you want to level up your style, there's only so much you can pick up watching my videos,
reading books.
You need to actually surround yourself with people that can give you feedback, clothiers
that can help build the clothing, guys that know shoes to be able to well round out yourself,
go out find these forums where guys to talk about watches when they talk about fragrances.
That's why I have no problem recommending guys like Jeremy Fragrance, recommending people
who many people view as my competitors like Aaron Marino, Jose Zuniga, Raphael over The
Gentleman's Gazette.
There were so many -- so many other great guys, guys, that I could reference you guys
too.
I think you get the point.
It is about surrounding yourself with other men and women that can lift you up to the
next level.
The next lesson I want to share with you is the right clothing can make you look amazing.
Now, for these young marines, they're wearing these uniforms that fit their bodies in the
best shape of their lives they just look amazing.
And, understand that you've got to uniform as well.
I don't know what it is for your particular industry and the message you want to send,
but I know for a lot of guys a suit is their suit of armor.
This is something that you can wear a jacket and a pair of trousers made from the same
fabric.
It will make you look taller, make you look leaner, make you look more trustworthy, more
attractive.
All these are great things that you want to do especially if you're in sales, if you're
a consultant, if you're looking to start your company, go into a bank looking to get a loan.
But, let's say that's not you.
Well, guess what?
Put on a leather jacket, a suede jacket, put on something that's going to build up your
shoulders something that's going to slim you up something maybe more a monochromatic outfit
a dark jacket a dark shirt with dark trousers.
[0:05:07] Again, what I love about menswear is there
were so many things that you can wear and put on your body to hide all the imperfections
most of us have, but understand what your body type is.
Understand what clothing is going to make you look like a million bucks and love everything
you wear.
Gents, the clothing you wear affects your confidence, it affects how other people perceive
you and how you perceive yourself.
Wear the right clothing for the right situation and you're more likely to succeed.
Next up, let's talk about how the details matter.
When you look at a man in uniform you will notice everything is in its place and every
detail has been paid attention to.
So, they call it the fruit salad.
It's basically all the medals and ribbons a marine or a navy officer wears on his chest.
Point is is they are in a specific order and every metal there has a meaning.
In fact, if you're wearing a medal which you did not earn, guess what?
You're going to get kicked out of the military, you're going to get court-martialed, you could
go to jail for that -- that small detail is that important.
And, this is something when it comes down to everything a man does.
This applies to your clothing, this applies to your work.
When people look at a marine they can tell a guy squared away in the Marine Corps by
the way his uniform is pressed, by the way that he carries himself the way it fits.
And a lot of people say, well, how does this apply to the work he does?
Well, it does apply because I can tell if he pays attention to his uniform, most likely
his rifle is not going to have rust in it because he will have cleaned his rifle as
well.
In fact, he would do that before he took care of his uniform.
The same applies at work and the way you dress.
If you are very sloppy, you don't care about your appearance, I get it.
You may say that's not really important, but if you don't make your bed, I can assume that
you don't clean your dishes.
And, if you don't clean your dishes, I can assume that you don't really clean your bathroom
and I'm not going to want to be your roommate.
The same thing applies in business.
If you do not look the part, I don't want to be your business partner because I'm assuming
on a lot of other things you're not going to do what needs to be done what I consider
to be the bare minimum.
And this is the hidden message with the way we dress.
It sends the signal of how we do or do not pay attention to the details.
Next up, I want to talk about practicing perfection and the importance of practicing everything
you do.
So, if you want to dress sharp, you don't just wake up one day and start to dress better.
If you want to start wearing a hat, and I think every man would look great in a hat.
The point is you don't just wear it one day because you're not going to have the confidence
if you've never worn a hat.
You practice wearing that hat.
You wear it around the house where no one notices where you just kind of get a feeling
for it.
And then all the sudden, you start building up the confidence and you start to feel better
about it, then you start to actually not even notice it and it becomes a second skin it
becomes something you love.
And this is about dressing sharp.
So many guys get started and then they abandon it because they tried to do too much too quickly.
No.
Practice perfection practice taking a step in the right direction.
Maybe starting to wear that nicer jacket you know you're going to get compliments on, wear
that fragrance that, yeah, you know is something that, you know, you're not used to wearing
a fragrance.
Your wife may say something, she may not even like it, but you love the fragrance yourself,
so you wear it at the office.
The point is practice perfection, don't just practice because if you practice, practice
makes permanent.
You want to practice perfecting yourself becoming the best man you can be.
The next point is I want you to understand there is always a dress code.
So, at this graduation, all the marines are in there Charlie's there's a few marines here
that they’re in different uniforms, maybe they came from off the base, but in general
there was a protocol.
Understand at work they may say there's no dress code, but there is.
There is a culture, there is a way that people and they have in their mind an idea of what
a success is.
And you want to be thinking for whatever profession you have for whatever you do, what is that
vision of success and dress to it.
Now, you don't want to go overboard here.
If you are a sacker at a grocery store and you want to run the entire grocery stores
throughout the United States, you don't probably want to start wearing a suit.
But, you can dress nice, you can wear clothing that fits you.
Maybe you'll even bring in a bow tie.
You'll be a little bit eccentric, but guess what?
You know that you want to dress well.
You wear the bow tie because it stays out of the way, it just makes you look friendlier.
And people remember you and you become known as that guy that's going around sacking groceries
that is just so friendly and is on his way to bigger and greater things.
That's a good reputation especially when you're 16, 17, 18 years old just getting started.
The point is understand that people make judgments and that there is always a dress code there's
always a uniform that needs to be worn to be able to send the signal you want to send.
[0:09:55] Now, let's talk about rank and the military
this is really clear we're very upfront about the way the system works.
You've got officer, you've got enlisted, and within each of these categories you've got
variations of them.
In general, anyone on the enlisted side will first salute an officer not because they're
better it's simply the protocol it is the courtesy that is extended to the rank.
On the officer side, you've got second lieutenant, first lieutenant, captain, major.
So, a second lieutenant will then, you know, he's going to salute pretty much any of the
other officers above him and you're always saluting the person that has the higher rank.
Now, understand, in the civilian world, those ranks do exist, but they're not as upfront
about it.
There is this -- and I talked about this earlier, there's an idea of what a success is and when
a man dresses to a higher rank, he is initially afforded the respect that goes with that higher
rank.
So, if you look the part of a general, if you look the part of a lieutenant colonel,
guess what?
You're going to be treated with respect.
Now, in the military and it's the same in the civilian world, if you look the part,
but then you betray those expectations because you're a bad leader because, you know what?
You're actually an idiot, guess what?
People are going to talk behind your back they're going to maybe stop, you know, saluting
you as much.
They're going to find ways to kind of undermine you.
But the thing is is I want you -- why would you shoot yourself in the foot and not look
the part?
Quick story.
I remember I was sick on Naval Air Station Corpus Christi and I went to the doctor I
had put on my uniform.
I was in a hurry and I was kind of surprised these guys walked by me and they did -- they
just looked at me they didn't even give me a salute.
They actually looked at me kind of aggressively and I didn't think anything of it.
Walking through, I – then, I did not get saluted again right in front of the hospital.
I'm like, “What is going on?”
But, again, I'm sick I’m not feeling well.
And I'm sitting there and I take off my blouse and I look I don't have any rank I forgot
to put my first lieutenant bars on.
And, of course, nobody knew who I was and they thought I was a private.
So, I'm glad I didn't pass an officer who'd start yelling at me.
That would have been funny, probably made a better story.
Point is is that these ranks do exist.
People do make judgment calls based off how you dress, so you might as well look the part
of the higher ranking officer, the higher ranking enlisted man, so that you're treated
with respect initially.
Now, this next point was really hammered home when I met up with my buddies who I hadn't
seen for 15 years and I was surprised what they remembered about me.
Now, when you're trying to make some things happen especially in the Marine Corps, it's
all about mission accomplishment.
It's about going out there and getting the job done.
And, oftentimes in work, in school, we fall into this and we don't treat people with respect
because we're just trying to get done what needs to get done, we're being a man.
But, guys, when I talked with these guys about what they remembered about me, it was that
it was my character.
It was the stories they had about how I took care of my marines, how I was a great person
to work with, how I always -- you know I wasn't the smartest marine.
I wasn't -- I definitely was not the most efficient or effective adjutant.
I came in a bit soured initially because I'd been a fallen angel.
I was basically in a training accident I had to get out of flying jets.
And I just -- it was my dream to fly jets and all of a sudden, I'm in the infantry I'm
an adjutant within the infantry.
But, I tried to make the best of it.
And I had a great executive officer major, you know, actually at the time he was a major,
now, he got out as a Col. Lee.
You know I talked to Lt. Thomas, he was our doc when we deployed over, you know, to Iraq
and Kuwait and did all you know.
I'm talking with these guys and they're like, you know I remember this about you.
You were a good person, you always were there, you’re always trying to make things happen.
I could count on you.
Understand, gentlemen, your character and the shadow of that character your reputation,
that is what you always want to be thinking about.
Yes, it's important to get the job done.
Yes, it's important to meet the numbers and to make things, but never sacrifice the human
beings the people and treat them with respect.
It's funny and it's almost sad the people that we talked about that we didn't have the
highest opinion of that we never stayed in touch with that we, you know, it's like, well,
because honestly they were assholes and they were a bit toxic.
And, yes, they maybe had some great performance reviews and being able to accomplish mission,
but the marines under them, they had no respect for them because they actually -- I mean they
wanted to [frag?] them.
I mean, well, they – no, maybe not that bad.
But, I think you guys get the point.
You want to be a servant leader.
You want to be that leader you want to be that lion that's willing to die for the pride
and the pride is therefore willing to follow you into anything.
And if you can be that kind of leader who leads by example who puts others before him
and you apply this to everything you do, guys, you're going to be in great shape.
Now, I know I could have covered a lot more points, but, guys, I've got this video right
here, ten tips I learned from the Marine Corps when it comes to style thing.
I talk about style hacks that I picked up in the Marine Corps.
Go check out this video, guys, I go into a lot more detail.
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