“Crack on” helped me through some of the hardest moments of my life. It also nearly became the reason I lost myself.
There are two words deeply embedded within military culture.
“Crack on.”
Get the job done.
Keep moving.
Find a way.
Don’t complain.
Don’t stop.
In the right environment, it’s an incredibly useful mindset.
There were plenty of times during my military career when I needed it. When you’re cold, exhausted, uncomfortable or under pressure, being able to put those feelings to one side and keep moving is a strength.
The problem is that eventually the context changes.
But the mindset stays the same.
Pain? Crack on.
Poor sleep?
Crack on.
Exhausted?
Crack on.
Struggling?
Crack on.
Ask for help?
No. Crack on.
That became my default response to almost everything.
And for a long time, I thought that was resilience.
One of the most personal chapters in The High Performance Operator explores a period of my life when that belief was seriously tested.
I won’t retell the story here, but there was a point when I was struggling far more than I was willing to admit.
The signs were there.
My health was suffering.
My energy was poor.
I wasn’t myself.
But most importantly, I still believed I could push through it.
That had always been the answer before.
Why would this be any different?
Looking back, that’s the lesson that matters.
The strategy wasn’t wrong. The context had changed.
And I think this happens far beyond the military.
I see it in professionals all the time.
People who have built successful careers partly because they’re good at carrying responsibility.
They’re dependable.
Resilient.
They don’t panic when things get difficult.
They find a way.
Those are valuable qualities.
Until they become the automatic response to every problem.
You’re exhausted, but you keep going.
You’re carrying more weight than you want, but you’ll deal with it later.
Your sleep has been poor for months, but work is busy.
You’re increasingly impatient at home, but there’s a lot going on.
You’ve stopped enjoying things you used to enjoy, but you haven’t got time to think about that now.
So you crack on.
Nothing dramatic happens.
You continue functioning.
Which reinforces the belief that the strategy is working.
But functioning and being well are not the same thing.
Neither are perseverance and progress.
Sometimes pushing through is exactly what the situation requires.
Sometimes it isn’t.
The difficult part is having enough awareness to recognise the difference.
That’s one of the lessons that has fundamentally shaped how I think about health and performance and the philosophy behind Warrior Wellness Movement.
Resilience matters.
Determination matters.
The ability to perform under pressure matters.
But so does knowing when those qualities are no longer helping you.
Because there comes a point where continuing to push isn’t resilience.
It’s simply repeating the only response you know.
And sometimes the strongest decision available is to acknowledge that something needs to change.
So perhaps the question isn’t:
“Can I keep going?”
Most capable people probably can.
A better question might be:
“Am I still pushing because it’s the right thing to do, or because it’s the only way I know?”
I’d be interested to hear your experience.
Has there ever been a time when the mindset that made you successful became the very thing holding you back?
Chat soon. Ollie.
#TheCrackOnTrap #TheHighPerformanceOperator #HealthCreatesCapacity #Leadership #Resilience
