Five Winning Habits to fight our losing tendencies (a break from the

Foley firestorm).

Are you suffering from Foley fatigue? The following can provide a little break -- and hopefully some food for thought.

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A person's greatest strength can also be their greatest weakness. The same can be true of groups. Unfortunately, the folks on "our side" (anti-fascists) have some tendencies we consider strengths that often render us impotent in our fight for the soul of the nation.

Here are the top five:

Top Five Losing Tendencies

1. Pragmatism and "realism" that blinds us to the reality of infinite possibility;


2. Assumption that the limited resources we mobilized in recent efforts are all we've got -- an assumption that blinds us to the nearly infinite resources we can tap into;


3. Focus on implementation and programs rather than broad principles and goals;


4. Focus on systems, not people; reluctance to accuse/punish wrong-doers (and by extension, the groups those individuals represent); reluctance to personalize (condemning ideas, not the people who have adopted those ideas).


5. Reluctance to assert absolute knowledge when we actually have all the facts we need;

To be effective, we must recognize these counter-productive tendencies, make a conscious effort keep them in check, and cultivate new habits.

Top Five Winning Habits:

1. Instead of only going for what our pragmatism and "realism" tells us we can get (and achieving far less than that), we need to cultivate the habit of going for the whole shibang. We need to take up the good fights, even if we are "know" it will just be a "charge of the light brigade" (to claim to "know" the outcome is not realism -- it is not rational to believe in our own omniscience);


2. Instead of believing we must be miserly in allocating resources from a limited "pot," we must recognize that the pot is effectively infinite. We can inspire countless individuals, countless conversations, and countless actions large and small when we are passionate in fighting for http://www.wordspy.com/words/BHAG.asp">BHAGS (big hairy audacious goals) and principle;


3. Instead of getting lost in "how to do it" and on "educating" the public about program details, we must back up and get clear about the broad principles and goals we are passionate about -- principles and goals that are reflected in those programs. It principle and broad goals that that inspire and drive a nation to find the means. We can our particular "hows" in our back pocket, but it is the whats that must be front and center.


4. Instead of focusing on "fixing the system" so it "doesn't happen again," when wrong-doers betray the public trust we must be willing to go after them personally. Government is a system, but it is a system driven by people. We will never "fix" the system if we don't back up words with proof that "this behavior will not be tolerated."


5. Instead of inserting unnecessary qualifications and caveats to every assertion; we need to boil things down to simple truths and moral principles; We must understand that there are in fact absolutes in life. More often than not, we know all we need to know, even if we don't think we know all there is to know.

A Message to Those Who are Thinking "Yeah, but. . . "
As you read the "Top Five Winning Habits." some of you thought "Yeah, but chaos will reign if we give up our strengths" or "Yeah, but we have to balance bold action and cautious realism" (or some similar worry that cultivating these winning habits would be a problem).

Those who have "Yeah, but. . ." worries need to remember this: Our strengths are deeply ingrained. For many of us, these tendencies are built into the fabric of our beings. The "beliefs" that guide our actions are, and will always be, theories we are constantly testing against reality. We will always evaluate the facts on the ground as we decide where to apply our efforts. We will always tend to be pragmatic and realistic. We will always tend to jump past broad brush strokes and zero in on details.

Because these tendencies are so deeply ingrained, the only way to "balance" is to work hard on holding them check and to cultivate bolder ways. Our deeply ingrained tendencies will ensure that we don't "go too far" and start going off half-cocked.