SAS Legends: Robert McKenzie. About the book “Self-discipline”

Robert McKenzie

Self-discipline. Secret techniques intelligence services

Chapter one. Self-discipline is the path to excellence

How many times have you told yourself that if it weren’t for my laziness or current circumstances, I could have achieved more? The older we get, the more things arise that we would like to change, but it is too late. What is our problem? The thing is that a person is designed in such a way that at any opportunity to postpone a task for later or not to complete it, we give up, and without any special remorse we put it off on the back burner. Even though it may be a very important task, without control we most likely will not complete it. What is this – our weak character? Laziness? Irresponsibility? Not necessarily, most likely, this is simply a lack of self-discipline, which can be developed with the help of the right techniques.

What is self-discipline? Self-discipline is the ability to control your actions, expressions of emotions and internal motivations. It can be innate in a person, like a character trait, but most often it is cultivated in oneself with the help certain methods. It is this that motivates a person to perform actions or achieve goals regardless of the obstacles that arise (problems, needs, bad mood, laziness, lack of incentive).

A person with good self-discipline is very different from his disorganized comrade. Such people are akin to special agents; they are able to gather their will into a fist and carry out difficult task. They will never stray from their intended path. Would you like to become a person who is capable of self-discipline to perfection?

In order to develop self-discipline, you will not need any exhausting physical training or financial investments; everything you will need is already with you - yourself. You are your most cunning enemy and most best friend. How much you can make friends with your subconscious will determine how great your success in self-discipline will be.

No matter how disorganized, spoiled, lazy, or simply unable to bring himself to do something he doesn't like, a person can develop perfect self-discipline. And this will not be some kind of violence against himself, the process of perfection will bring him pleasure. Developed self-discipline in the future will not only become the key to achieving success, but will also give a feeling of superiority over people who are not capable of becoming masters of their lives.

Chapter two. How are special agents different from ordinary people?

Look around us, we are surrounded by ordinary people who have typical behavior. Each of them has its own personality, but at the same time they are all basically similar to each other. They are not able to take the helm of life. It takes courage to fight with yourself, willpower to finish the job you started, boundless hard work and, of course, ideal self-discipline. You won’t just meet such a person on the street, but when you see him, you will immediately feel that he is different from others, because such self-control is reminiscent of the bearing of a special agent.

Remember movies about special agents. In each of them, the special agent is a strong strong-willed person. He always knows what to do in any situation difficult situation knows how to find a way out. It costs him nothing to get up early in the morning or, overcoming thirst and hunger, to complete an important task. Any disobedience of the special agent is regarded as sabotage. He is like a superman - he always achieves his goal and never gives up.

This behavior cannot but cause admiration. Each of us imagined ourselves as a superhero or special agent as a child. What is stopping us from making these dreams come true? There is only one answer to this question - only ourselves.

Let's take a closer look at the qualities of a special agent. How different is it from ordinary person? He doesn't have the superpowers of a fantasy hero. For the most part, agents have mediocre appearance, allowing them to blend in ordinary people. Their intellectual or physical indicators are often no different from the data ordinary people with a level of physical and mental indicators slightly above average. What is the difference between a special agent and an ordinary person?

It's all about perfect self-discipline. It is she who drives them to achieve their goals. Knowledge or physical exercise They will not be able to turn an ordinary person into a special agent if he does not have iron self-discipline.

Special agents have been working on personal self-improvement for years. The higher the level of self-discipline, the more successful the agent's career. A disorganized person will never become a special agent. Only confident, organized and disciplined person able to achieve goals despite obstacles.

Chapter three. Portrait of an undisciplined man

Self-discipline is a kind of core that makes a person unbending in the face of current circumstances. People who have this the most valuable quality, easily move through life, despite obstacles. An undisciplined person, on the contrary, largely depends on circumstances and only shows persistence under certain conditions. It is difficult for him to cope with a rapidly changing environment. His whole life consists of a series of events that somehow interfered with him.

An undisciplined person can be easily recognized by his behavior. Most often this impulsive people who never know what they will do tonight or tomorrow. As constant slaves of circumstances, they are unable to plan a to-do list for the near future and strictly follow it. Their relentless distractibility constantly forces them to break away from the intended plan on completely different issues, which most often may be of a minor nature.

Even outwardly, such people express their lack of composure. Take a closer look at your friends. Most often, an undisciplined person is characterized by a loose gait, fussy or uncollected movements. Having zealously taken on some task, in the middle of the process they get confused in the order of actions, lose interest in it, or even abandon it altogether. The look of such a person is confused. When trying to collect thoughts, the eyes begin to flicker, and a slight trembling may appear in the body, which signals that such a person is scrolling through options in his head further actions, from which he finds it difficult to choose just one right decision. The speech of such a person is fussy, the person often jumps from topic to topic, and often complains about unreasonable fears or complaints. Sometimes it’s the other way around—speech is monotonous with meaning constantly slipping away.

Self-discipline. Secret techniques of special services Robert Mackenzie

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Title: Self-discipline. Secret techniques of special services

About the book “Self-discipline. Secret techniques of the intelligence services" Robert McKenzie

Look at your life from the outside. Are you satisfied with everything about it? Perhaps you would like to achieve more in this life, but don’t know how? Mahatma Gandhi once said: “If you want to change the world, start with yourself.” Indeed, the key to success lies within us. It's just that many of us don't know how to change our lives for the better. Self-discipline techniques will help you solve your problems and set your life up for success. In this book you will get acquainted with unique techniques that will allow you to cultivate good self-discipline without Herculean efforts and at the same time enjoy life.

On our website about books you can download the site for free without registration or read online book“Self-discipline. Secret techniques of the special services" by Robert McKenzie in epub, fb2, txt, rtf, pdf formats for iPad, iPhone, Android and Kindle. The book will give you a lot pleasant moments And true pleasure from reading. Buy full version you can from our partner. Also, here you will find latest news from literary world, learn the biography of your favorite authors. For beginning writers there is a separate section with useful tips and recommendations, interesting articles, thanks to which you yourself can try your hand at literary crafts.

Quotes from the book “Self-discipline. Secret techniques of the intelligence services" Robert McKenzie

Still, everyone has a chance to change themselves; all they need is perseverance and a great desire to become self-organized people.

Only a confident, organized and disciplined person is able to achieve goals, despite obstacles.

Self-discipline is the ability to control your actions, expressions of emotions and internal motivations.

As sad as it sounds, in order to gain something, you have to give up something.

No matter what anyone says, the most important judge sits in your head. The opinion of others largely depends on the verdict he makes. Attempts, even if unsuccessful, are still experience. The more experience, the more knowledge.

The famous founder of Microsoft Corporation, Bill Gates, said in one of his interviews that he is always the most difficult work entrusts the lazy, since only the lazy can find the easy and fast way its implementation.

Download the book “Self-discipline” for free. Secret techniques of the intelligence services" Robert McKenzie

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IN bad behavior those around the child are inclined to blame the parents, who raise him “wrong”, connive him, overindulge him, let him down, don’t know how to cope with him. However, parents themselves often tend to blame themselves.

But the most amazing thing is that the same “inept” parents can be quite effective in raising their other child: for some reason he listens, willingly responds to requests, follows rules and agreements, and is easy to get along with. common language. This is exactly what happened to psychologist Robert J. McKenzie.

Having become a father for the first time, he was confident for three years that being a parent was easy: educational process went smoothly. But then his second son was born, and life in the family turned upside down, and not a trace remained of his father’s self-confidence.

Mackenzie has developed an education system that allows parents to understand their stubborn children and find a common language with them

All familiar pedagogical techniques the type of explanations, requests, reminders, persuasion that worked so well with the eldest son did not work at all with the younger one. This kid was determined to have things done on his terms. McKenzie by that time was an experienced psychologist, writing a doctorate in counseling psychology. But in some amazing way, all this knowledge did not help him one iota when communicating with the stubborn man. Forgetting all his principles, Mackenzie lost patience, lost his temper, became angry and threatened, after which he began to be tormented by feelings of guilt.

Of course, as a professional, he could not come to terms with his parental helplessness and, in the end, learning from experience the best teachers, has developed his own educational system, which allows parents to understand their stubborn children, find a common language with them and teach them their rules in the clearest way.

Mackenzie explains his approach in the book " Stubborn child”, which became a world bestseller. Here are his main ideas.

IT'S ALL ABOUT TEMPERAMENT

Mackenzie argues that stubbornness is a product of temperament. It can also be called an innate style of behavior. Stubborn children have many traits that make them unmanageable or difficult to manage. This style is characteristic of children from the very beginning of their lives. The actions of parents, their lifestyle or beliefs do not force children to behave in one way or another. A stubborn child prefers to learn the hard way.

When we deal with children like this, conventional methods parenting just doesn't work. The most difficult thing is when the temperaments of the parent and child do not match. If the parents themselves are flexible people inclined to cooperate, it is very difficult for them to identify with a child who has directly opposite temperamental traits. They just can’t understand why he doesn’t want to meet them halfway. And what bigger baby tests the patience of the parents, the more often they use ineffective methods and the more both sides get bogged down in the struggle for power.

But the situation is not hopeless! We can't change temperament, says McKenzie, but we can understand it, manage it and shape it in the right direction.

REVIEW EDUCATION METHODS

Autocratic or punitive(firm but disrespectful). Parents achieve obedience through fear, threats and intimidation. Obedient children in this case usually cooperate out of fear. Stubborn people often rebel and pay evil for evil.
Conniving(respectful, but not strict). It is based on the principles of freedom, equality and mutual respect. But it's missing important component- hard boundaries. Parents who adhere to this style are confident that children will cooperate when they understand what is right in a given situation. But in this case the child begins to rule rather than obey. Freedom turns into anarchy.
Mixed(neither firm nor respectful). It is characterized by inconsistency: it combines worst traits the first two methods, since the parent rushes from one extreme to another.

Only works with stubborn children democratic approach, firm and respectful. It is based on the belief that the child is capable of solving problems on his own, that he should be given choices and allowed to learn from those choices. Children are given only as much power and control as they can use responsibly.

BORDERS ARE ONLY HARD

Flexible boundaries - when "no" means "yes", "sometimes", "maybe" - are rules in theory, not in practice. They provoke children, and especially stubborn ones, to check and resist. They are trying to find out what we really expect and demand from them.

Strict boundaries, when “no” means “no,” are the best guarantee of cooperation with such children. They're in highest degree effective because they reflect the seriousness of our intentions, and that is what children need. The child tests them less, knowing that obedience is expected and required.

HOW TO EXPRESS YOUR THOUGH CLEARLY

Ineffective message: “If I see you jumping off the slide again, I’ll be angry!”

What does the child hear? That the mother is angry and will become even more angry. He does not see any other consequences for himself and continues to do what he is forbidden to do.

An effective message: "If you jump off again, you'll have to find something else to do." The focus is not on relationships or feelings, but on consequences. The child is told what is wanted from him and what will happen if he does not do it. We don’t shame, we don’t blame, we don’t shout. Speak in a clear, firm and respectful manner.

The tone of the message is also very important. Anger, exclamations and others strong emotions disguise the essence of the message. They indicate that the parent has lost control. It is at this moment that stubborn children realize that the parent is “hooked” and continue their “research” experiments.

The best way is to make your message affirmative and say it in a normal, everyday tone, indicating that the parent stands firmly on his own, controls himself and is confident that the child must fulfill his wishes. If your child is testing how far he can go, tell him exactly what will happen if he doesn't listen. It's not a threat - you're just supplying him necessary information so that he can do right choice: obey.

Stubborn children need to collect as much data as possible to make sure that following the rules is mandatory.

Do not allow quarrels or “trading”. If you take the bait and start arguing or discussing the situation, you are making it clear to the stubborn person that your rules are a subject for negotiation.

Offer to your child limited choice. This method gives him the opportunity to choose any solution from a limited number of options proposed by the parent. “You can stop making noise right away, or you can spend the next 10 minutes in your room. What do you choose?

In situations tinged with anger or resentment, temporarily distance yourself from the child using the “Let’s cool down” tactic. If both you and your child are upset, say, “I think we both need a little time to cool down. Wait for me in your room (living room, kitchen), and we’ll talk in about five minutes or whatever it takes for you to calm down.”

If you're the only one upset, say, "I'm really angry, I need some time to cool down." If you yourself have crossed the line, apologize. An apology from a loving adult affirms the child's right to be human and imperfect and gives him the courage to continue to work on himself.

HOW TO CLEARLY EXPRESS YOUR INTENTIONS WITH ACTIONS

To make sure that certain rules are mandatory and do not depend on them personal choice and situations, stubborn children often need more than just words. They have to experience what you say before they believe it.

The consequences that you warned about must occur without fail. If you are inconsistent, then you invite your child to test their boundaries.

Stubborn children are children with strong will. Those qualities that drive us crazy may actually become theirs. strengths

It is important that the consequences are proportionate to the offense. If your child returns from a walk 20 minutes late, you don’t have to promise that now you won’t let him go out for three weeks. If a child was roller skating without a helmet, there is no point in saying that he will have to sit in his room for ten minutes.

A good technique is a time-out, a temporary removal from something pleasant. A timeout usually lasts from 5 to 20 minutes and can be used repeatedly. Stubborn children need to collect as much data as possible to make sure that following the rules is mandatory. But this procedure cannot be used before the child is 3 years old.

HOW TO MOTIVATE SUCH A CHILD?

Encouragement that motivates a child to obey is extremely important. Don't wait for a special occasion. Whenever children help us, listen to us, or contribute to a common cause, we are given an opportunity to celebrate it. “I like the way you handle this,” “I couldn’t have done it without your help,” “I knew I could count on you” - these and similar phrases have truly magical power.

Children are naturally motivated to learn new skills, and it is important for them to be recognized for their success by people who matter to them.

And finally, about pleasant prospects. Stubborn children are children with a strong will. The qualities that drive us crazy may actually be their strengths. Provided, of course, that we provide them with the understanding and guidance they need to set themselves on the right path.

What is self-discipline? Self-discipline is the ability to control your actions, expressions of emotions and internal motivations. It can be innate in a person, as a character trait, but most often it is cultivated in oneself using certain methods. It is this that motivates a person to perform actions or achieve goals regardless of the obstacles that arise (problems, needs, bad mood, laziness, lack of incentive).

A person with good self-discipline is very different from his disorganized comrade. Such people are akin to special agents; they are able to muster the will into a fist and complete a difficult task. They will never stray from their intended path. Would you like to become a person who is capable of self-discipline to perfection?

In order to develop self-discipline, you will not need any exhausting physical training or financial investments; everything you will need is already with you - yourself. You are your most cunning enemy and your best friend. How much you can make friends with your subconscious will determine how great your success in self-discipline will be.

Chapter two. How are special agents different from ordinary people?

Remember movies about special agents. In each of them, the special agent is a strong-willed person. He always knows what to do and knows how to find a way out of any difficult situation. It costs him nothing to get up early in the morning or, overcoming thirst and hunger, to complete an important task. Any disobedience of the special agent is regarded as sabotage. He is like a superman - he always achieves his goal and never gives up.

Let's take a closer look at the qualities of a special agent. How different is he from the average person? He doesn't have the superpowers of a fantasy hero. For the most part, agents have mediocre appearance, allowing them to blend in with ordinary people. Their intellectual or physical indicators are often no different from those of ordinary people with a level of physical and mental indicators slightly above average. What is the difference between a special agent and an ordinary person?

It's all about perfect self-discipline. It is she who drives them to achieve their goals. Knowledge or physical exercise cannot turn an ordinary person into a special agent if he does not have iron self-discipline.

Special agents have been working on personal self-improvement for years. The higher the level of self-discipline, the more successful the agent's career. A disorganized person will never become a special agent. Only a confident, organized and disciplined person is able to achieve goals, despite obstacles.

Chapter three. Portrait of an undisciplined man

Self-discipline is a kind of core that makes a person unbending in the face of current circumstances. People who have this most valuable quality easily move through life, despite obstacles. An undisciplined person, on the contrary, largely depends on circumstances and only shows persistence under certain conditions. It is difficult for him to cope with a rapidly changing environment. His whole life consists of a series of events that somehow interfered with him.

An undisciplined person can be easily recognized by his behavior. Most often, these are impulsive people who never know what they will do in the evening or tomorrow. As constant slaves of circumstances, they are unable to plan a to-do list for the near future and strictly follow it. Their relentless distractibility constantly forces them to break away from the intended plan on completely different issues, which most often may be of a minor nature.

Even outwardly, such people express their lack of composure. Take a closer look at your friends. Most often, an undisciplined person is characterized by a loose gait, fussy or uncollected movements. Having zealously taken on some task, in the middle of the process they get confused about the order of actions, lose interest in it, or even abandon it altogether. The look of such a person is confused. When trying to collect thoughts, the eyes begin to flicker, and a slight trembling may appear in the body, which signals that such a person is scrolling through options for further actions in his head, from which he finds it difficult to choose one single correct decision. The speech of such a person is fussy, the person often jumps from topic to topic, and often complains about unreasonable fears or complaints. Sometimes it’s the other way around—speech is monotonous with meaning constantly slipping away.

Uncollected people often attribute their problems in life to a host of circumstances, or they admit their lack of composure and regret their actions. Unfortunately, this does not mean at all that in the future they will act in the same situation as they should. WITH more likely they would show their lack of composure in exactly the same way as always.

An undisciplined person is always late. No matter how much time you give him to prepare, he will still be late. Demanding that such a person fulfill his promises is a fool’s errand. He will forget about them again and again, look for circumstances that interfere with their implementation, and so on. Even if such a person at some point becomes ashamed of his lack of composure and wants to spend the day in a disciplined manner, by the evening he will still lose concentration and gradually return to his normal state.

Sometimes if an undisciplined person comes under the control of a tough leader who knows how to demand, then his self-discipline increases significantly. In such a situation, an undisciplined person simply does not have the right to laziness and mistakes and is forced to follow strict rules. If the environment around him is friendly and non-binding to follow any clear instructions, his self-discipline may drop even more than usual.

In Robert Pelton’s very good book “The Hunter, The Hammer & The Heaven” I read about how Bob McKenzie died. It turns out that he died 10 years ago.

Without exaggeration, the personality is legendary.

McKenzie was born in 1948. In 1965 he entered the US Army and underwent airborne and special training. He fought in Vietnam as part of the 101st Airborne Division. He was seriously wounded and spent a year in the hospital. He was dismissed from the army due to health reasons - doctors recognized him as a disabled person of the first group. The diagnosis stated that 70 (!) percent of body functions cannot be restored.

As a result, he was to spend the rest of his life walking on crutches, best case scenario. At worst, you might be confined to a bed.

Mackenzie went instead in 1970 to Rhodesia. There he asked to join the SAS, passed the most severe selection and served in the Rhodesian SAS for 10 years, rising from private to captain. There he was known under the name Robert McKenna (just in case, since the US administration did not welcome the appearance of its citizens in the ranks of the Rhodesian Armed Forces). He was the man who planned and carried out the most secret and daring operations of the Rhodesian armed forces, in particular the famous raid on an oil storage facility in Beira, Mozambique.

For exceptional courage he was awarded the Bronze Cross and the Silver Cross.

After the death of Rhodesia, Mackenzie moved to South Africa, served in the famous “Recchi”, and also as a major in the Transkei special forces (Bantustan in the Cape Province), where he rose to the rank of deputy commander.

In 1985, he returned to the United States and worked as a special correspondent for Soldier of Fortune magazine, while simultaneously taking part in various wars By to the globe. He helped train personnel for RENAMO in Mozambique, freed hostages and fought in El Salvador.

In 1992, McKenzie served as a combat training instructor in the HVO (Croatian Armed Forces). In particular, he trained King Tomislav's brigade in central Bosnia. (For a general discussion of English foreign volunteers, see Corey-Jones's "Dogs of War")

In 1995, he was offered a job in Sierra Leone. At that time...and before that, and after, in this small African country The usual thing was happening - chaos and murder. In 1992, a group of young officers under the command of Captain Valentin Strasser (27 years old) overthrew President Momo. But overthrowing the president is one thing, but dealing with the RUF militants who were rampaging through the country is another.

Strasser turned to private company Gurkha Security Guards (GSG), providing services in the security and conflict resolution market. GSG representatives Nick Bell and Mike Borlas in turn invited Bob McKenzie, by then a lieutenant colonel, to do the job of expelling the RUF militants.

Mackenzie, at the head of a team of 60 Gurkhas, had to prepare the Sierra Leone army to a more or less decent condition. McKenzie was expected to work closely with Sierra Leone's leading military specialist, Major Abu Tarawali, who was trained at the US Airborne Training Center at Fort Benning.

What happened next was a series of mistakes and accidents typical of any war and of Sierra Leone. Since the rebels unexpectedly went on the offensive almost along the entire front, the chief of staff of the Leonian army ordered Mackenzie to attack the rebel positions in the Malal Hills area. In general, this was not intended by the contract, since Mackenzie was only an instructor, but he decided to follow the order.

On February 23, two units of untrained Leonian soldiers set out on a mission. The first group was led by Mackenzie, with him were Lieutenant Andy Myers, Major Tarawali and 6 Gurkhas. The remaining soldiers were from the SLCU - Sierra Leone Commando Units.

According to Mackenzie's plan, aircraft would first carry out airstrikes on militant positions, so that the ground phase of the operation could begin at 08:00 on February 24. But the Nigerian pilots bombed another hill. The bombing alerted the militants and they prepared an ambush.

Mackenzie was at the head of the column when it was ambushed by the RUF. The first shot killed Taravali. Four SLCU soldiers were wounded. One Gurkha who was in the rear guard was also wounded, and his comrades retreated, taking the wounded man with them.

McKenzie received two bullets in the leg and one in the back. Lieutenant Myers began administering first aid. At this point, the SLCU panicked and ran. Major Taravali's body was abandoned, as was the wounded Mackenzie.

RUF fighters finished off the wounded lieutenant colonel, dismembered his body and ate his heart.

Sergey Karamaev a.k.a. Tiomkin