Special Order 191
- theoseeds
- Sep 16, 2024
- 2 min read
On September 13, 1862, Confederate General Robert E. Lee wrote “Special Order 191”, his plans for an upcoming Civil War battle.
He handed Special Order 191 to a few of his messengers, then told them to deliver Special Order 191 to his lieutenant generals.
One of the messengers didn’t deliver Special Order 191. Instead, he took out his tobacco pouch and rolled Special Order 191 into a cigar.
Somehow, he lost that cigar. The Union Army found it, unrolled it, and learned all of the Confederacy’s battle plans. Then they trounced the Confederacy in the next battle.
A lot of the stuff that happened in the Civil War looks really dumb to modern military historians. Like rolling your battle plans in a cigar and leaving them for the enemy to find.
Another example: Civil War era soldiers did not try to take cover. They just stood in a line, walked slowly towards each other, and shot at each other.
They didn’t think to dig trenches they could shoot from. They didn’t think to hide in trees. They just said, “you know, standing in a formation, walking slowly towards the enemy, and getting shot is good enough for us.”
Lots of business owners think this way. They assume everything they do is “good enough”. So they do things the way they’ve always been done, without questioning them.
But other business owners are always questioning the way other people do things. They’re always testing and improving and looking for an edge by doing things slightly better than their competition.
The hyper-successful business owners who make it big are almost always the second type. The Elon Musks, Jeff Bezoses, Oprah Winfreys, Tony Robbinses, et cetera are obsessed with finding the best ways to do everything.
Now, I’m not saying to start overthinking and second-guessing every little thing you do. Or to overcomplicate your business and destroy your work-life balance.
I am saying there’s probably a few things you’re doing that are dumb and outdated. They’re the business equivalent of rolling up your battle plans into a cigar and then leaving them laying around for your enemy to find.
How do you stop doing dumb things and start doing smart things? My advice would be to look at what you’re doing that’s not making you money, and then stop doing it. And then look at what is making you money, and then double down on it.
Most coaching businesses get clients when they a) make content and b) send emails. So my recommendation is, create more content and send more emails.
And if you want some help with that, check this out: