GARB for the WIN!

Neil was one major transgression away from getting a court martial when he came up with GARB.
We were blowing up stuff during hand-grenade practice when he had a brainwave.
Despite being one of the most clever guys I ever met, my comrade during military training was insanely scatterbrained.
So his reasoning was simple, he would, no doubt, still get punished for some things, but he had to sort the important stuff.
GRAB RIFLE, AMMUNITION, BOOTS! = “GARB.”

Often, Neil still forgot to pack his gear properly, and paid the price, he was forever doing pushups, running, enduring condescension and getting extra cleaning duty, but he always had his rifle, ammunition and boots – Leaving the barracks without boots was disastrous, and when not in possession of ones’ weapon, and ammunition, one faced serious legal consequences as a recruit. Once, when we got woken up in the dead of night with flashbangs and smoke, some of the other guys looked like deer in the headlights, but lo and behold, Neil stuck with GARB, he was ready to roll! And that simple self-help acronym also moved him into a space where he began conquering other tasks. He sorted out the most critical components of training, according to his reality, which allowed him to focus on the rest. Where he once regularly forgot his helmet, tin cup, water bottle and rations, “the rest” somehow began slotting into place, almost automatically.

GARB is not going to work for anyone. You might need to deploy BIRL, DROON, FRID, AART, or whatever else could suit your specific environment, context, or needs.
Sometimes I use WIN: “WHAT IS NEXT?”

I remember how Neil showed me a book he purchased prior to intake. It covered such a lot of topics about military training, but the kicker was that the book was intended primarily for a US audience. The time that Neil spent in trying to align “US Tips” with the profound differences of South African training ended up in sheer confusion, and frustration.
For him, GARB became the personalized game-changer outside of the “official” self-help offerings.

I’ve always loved inspirational, motivational, spiritual, and “self-help” books.
I hold the belief I should occasionally buy these things and help sustain authors and subsequently, the economy.
I am biased towards books, and have always been.
But I also believe in the one caveat, if anything proclaiming to be “self-help” can’t facilitate my own version of GARB, or WIN, it is just entertainment.
Entertainment is essential for keeping me sane, and keeping me human, but self-help books will rightfully stay relegated to the attic of entertainment if they do not help me create new versions of GARB. I think I repeated this sentiment twice, but according to a self-help guru, I heard at a tech seminar, repetition is the essence of growth. I think he used the acronym RAG? REPETITION ACTIVATES GROWTH. Sadly enough, after the seminar, I used WIN, and was left hanging. There were no clear-ish guidelines for continued exploration of the topics he addressed. But I had fun listening, he was an engaging speaker.

And that’s all for now! Here’s the reinforcement, or rather, the succinct summary then: My personal takeaway is always, after I’ve read something, motivational, or potentially helpful, is that … Uhm… well, there “should” be a takeaway. If there is no takeaway it is entertainment to me. If there is something I can implement practically, however small, it is a personal DIY project that is going to involve some work. I’m using “personal” way too much!

Love
Matt
2024 12 23

If you wish to donate money to me, drop a comment, or unleash scathing criticism about my views on “self-help,” send a mail to matt@mattlr.com.
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If you need assistance in formulating your own takeaway, WIN, or GARB, or by constructing other stuff that you reckon might make things easier for your, send me a summary of your story, and maybe I could comment on your example of how we navigate through life, by doing the best we can to make it meaningful, joyful, and nourishing for ourselves.