EverydaySpy Podcast - CIA Spy: This ONE RULE Will Make You a Weapon in Life | Andrew Bustamante

Starting point is 00:00:00 Ambition comes in all shapes and sizes. At First Citizens Bank, we roll with your goals because we're built for what you're building. Fit for your ambition for Citizens Bank. The most lethal people I knew at CIA didn't have medals. They didn't have muscles. The thing that made them so dangerous was one simple rule, a rule that you won't see in social media. You don't hear about in your favorite podcasts. And you certainly don't read about in best.

Starting point is 00:00:31 selling self-help books. But that is one rule that I'm going to share with you today. Elite operators at CIA and in the military understand that emotion is a liability. Emotion is what distracts you. Emotion is what derails you. Emotion is what makes you doubt yourself. So instead we rely on consistency, consistency of execution, consistency of certain skills, consistency of a process because consistent inputs will result in consistent outcomes. And it's the outcome that the mission is all about. The mission doesn't need your emotion. The mission needs your consistency. When I was a junior officer in the U.S. Air Force, I ended up becoming the youngest commander ever in charge of 200 nuclear ICBMs. I didn't get there because I was creative. I wasn't promoted because I was innovative. I followed

Starting point is 00:01:22 the protocol exactly to the letter with consistency every time over time. time. And as a result of that, I built the kind of trust and dependability that was needed in the nuclear missile field. When it comes down to nuclear weapons, people understand that one emotional decision could result in global Armageddon. So they have no space, no tolerance for emotional people. That doesn't mean you're not allowed to have emotions or feel emotions, but it does mean that if you're going to operate, you cannot operate from a foundation of emotions. Don't get me wrong, 24-hour shifts, underground in the missile fields of Milstrom Air Force Base in Montana were not easy. They were not fun. The protocols were repetitive. The boredom was mind-numbing. But that difficulty

Starting point is 00:02:09 is also what made it all the more important to continue to follow those protocols with discipline. At the end of the day, whatever weapon system you command doesn't care about your feelings. It cares about inputs and outputs. It cares about consistency, whether it's your business or your family or your job. So if you want to have elite outcomes, you have to create an elite system, a system that doesn't change, a protocol that you follow consistently every time. Whether it's a morning routine or a gym routine or a diet routine, make sure that you set it and you follow it consistently. When things get hard, you have to default to execution, not emotion. One of the most powerful tools that you can use for consistent execution is actually as simple as a checklist. Checklists aren't,

Starting point is 00:02:56 weak. They are weapons. They are weapons that can help you get ahead of your competition. They are weapons that can help you stay in a strong position on the battlefield. They are weapons that help you feel confident that no matter what lies ahead of you, you will be able to blow through it and continue to achieve the outcomes that you desire. It's actually all of the unsuccessful people out there that romanticize the idea that gut feelings and instincts are what somehow get you ahead. In reality, high performers and millionaires understand that it's not about your gut. It's not about your instincts. It's about following a process that systematically demonstrates predictable outcomes.

Starting point is 00:03:34 Whether we're talking about pilots or spies or CEOs, all of your elite operators understand that they can't trust their emotions, but they can trust their checklist. The checklist that tells them what to do, when to do it, and how to do it over and over again. because that checklist takes away all the variability of how you feel or how much sleep you got or what time of the day it is. When you have a checklist, it gives you absolute certainty that what you are doing is the right step in the right order at the right time. My success as a junior officer in the military didn't come from the fact that my commander

Starting point is 00:04:10 liked me. It came from the fact that my commander could trust me to execute consistently. He could trust me to follow the checklist. He could trust me to follow the standard operating procedure, the SOP. He could trust me when he turned his back. He could trust me when he went to sleep. And ultimately, he could trust me even after he left the position and promoted me to be his successor. In the military, I was handed a checklist.

Starting point is 00:04:33 But when I joined CIA, I had to create my own checklist. And you can create your own checklist too. All you have to do is create a checklist that includes the tasks that best serve you, that best suit the outcome you're trying to achieve. That checklist doesn't have to be long and complex and convoluted. it only has to include the five most important tasks you do each day. What time do you wake up? What time do you go to the gym?

Starting point is 00:04:58 What time do you spend learning something new? What time do you spend making a change in your career or your business? And then what time do you reflect on what you did earlier in the day so that you can improve, change, or keep your checklist the same? That's it. Five daily tasks. Five simple things that you can repeat every day. You can grow more tasks if you want to, but you can't take away.

Starting point is 00:05:20 any of these five critical killer tasks. Remember that if your life doesn't run on a checklist, it runs on chaos instead. You can see why consistency becomes such a powerful weapon for elite operators, because consistency negates the need for emotion, because you can build systems and processes with checklists that deliver consistent outcomes. You can become elite without being the smartest, without being the most creative, without being the most innovative. All you need to do is trust, that consistency. CIA showed me that consistency beats talent every time. When you obey simple systems and processes, you don't burn out. You might get bored, but you don't get stressed. You don't get frustrated. You don't lose your way. You don't start to have self-doubt. You just execute the system

Starting point is 00:06:11 over and over again, gaining consistent results. CIA believes that all people are born with a spy secret superpower. For some people, that means they can win deals for others. They can spot liars. Some can even seduce lovers. I built a free three-minute test to help reveal to you exactly what your secret hidden superpower is. All you have to do is click on the link in the description below. Take the test and start using your spy superpower to stay ahead of 99% of people. Sometimes just by inches or feet, but you never lose ground like your competition. This is exactly why consistency is so powerful. The person who makes huge leaps and gains also makes big

Starting point is 00:06:53 mistakes. They fall back. They trip themselves up. They don't continue to make steady forward progress. And that creates a whole slew of secondary and tertiary issues for them. It creates self-doubt. It creates doubt in the minds of other people like investors or family or employees.

Starting point is 00:07:09 But when you constantly execute with consistency, it grows not only your confidence, but the confidence of those people around you. Because they come to see you as reliable, as consistent, as professional. I didn't get ahead of my peers in the military. I didn't get ahead of my peers at CIA because I was better than them. In many cases, I can tell you a thousand ways that I wasn't as good as them. I wasn't as good as shot. I wasn't as good an athlete. I wasn't as good

Starting point is 00:07:36 in languages. But what I had was consistency of execution. What I had was a reliable outcome every time. What mission planner saw in me was consistency. They saw a person that didn't skip steps or cut corners. I don't skip reps at the gym. I don't improvise sales calls in my business. I don't trust my talent. I trust the technique. And you should too. If you can master consistent execution, you'll be able to overcome any emotion that you feel. You'll be able to build a simple five-step checklist to master every day. And you'll be able to outperform everybody out there who relies on their talent because you instead will be following a proven consistent technique, a process, a system, a protocol that will bring you success where 99% of people can't find it. Consistency has been

Starting point is 00:08:29 fundamental to my success in the military and at CIA. Inside my brand new CIA memoir, Shadow Cell, I actually talk about how consistency got me out of a dangerous situation more than once when I was serving undercover and overseas in some of the most hostile countries known to Americans. Shadow Cell hits bookshelves all around the world on September 9th. If you order the book before September 9th and send me an email, I've got a free gift coming your way. You'll find all the instructions and links below in the description, and I'll see you on the other side. Yamava Resort and Casino at San Manuel is California's number one entertainment destination for today's superstars. Catch the Jonas Brothers return to the Yamava Theater stage on April 30th,

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EverydaySpy Podcast - CIA Spy: This ONE RULE Will Make You a Weapon in Life | Andrew Bustamante

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