Blitzkreig 🗲

Blitzkrieg.

A Word of German origin.

The word blitzkrieg means "rapid attack" in German, from blitz, or "lightning," paired with Krieg, or "war." The blitzkrieg waged by Germany on England in 1940 and 1941 is often called "the Blitz."

Definitions of blitzkrieg. noun. a swift and violent military offensive with intensive aerial bombardment.

Blitzkrieg, meaning 'Lightning War', was the method of offensive warfare responsible for Nazi Germany’s military successes in the early years of the Second World War.

The Germans combined their forces: tanks, artillery, and the swift air support from their first-of-class Luftwaffe Bombers penetrated enemy defenses before they could even assess what had just happened.

The strategy was to use fast, mobile units to quickly strike a decisive blow against the enemy, before losing soldiers or machinery.

An earlier Prussian General named Carl von Clausewitz developed the base of this German strategy, called the Concentration Principle.

He believed that the most effective strategy was to identify one crucial point and attack it with overwhelming force.

Eventually, the idea was combined with the strength of new military technologies to give birth to this deadly strategy.

On September 1, 1939, the Blitzkrieg struck Poland. Poland made the crucial mistake of spreading its defenses across its border, instead of concentrating them.

The concentrated Panzer Divisions were able to punch through the thin lines while the Luftwaffe cut off communication and supply with overwhelming bombing. By the time the infantry moved in, there was little resistance left to German occupation.

Enough of the history lesson. Let me tell you why, and HOW you can adopt Blitzkrieg in your actions.

The whole idea of the ‘Blitzkrieg’ (or the Blitz) is to attack and damage, before they realize it’s an attack.

To do something with vigor and such action, that victory is decisive.

Because you acted on it fast.

You didn’t think about what to do when a job opportunity came through, so you sat and planned and planned so that everything went smoothly when the time came.

Fair enough, planning is good!

Turns out, the interview is pushed up 2 weeks earlier, so it’s tomorrow.

“What do I do? I haven’t prepared enough? Should I wait until I have enough knowledge? Maybe I should skip this, I’m not ready.”

Job gone.

Then there are people who swoop in, get the job, and walk off.

You’ll think to yourself, “Oh he was just lucky. The company favored him because he was in a better department. They shouldn’t have preponed it, I wasn’t ready.”

Yada yada yada. Boo hoo.

No one in this world owes you anything. So if you want something, you go out there and get it.

Don’t blame anyone for something you can’t get, nor should you necessarily credit everything to someone when you achieve something.

Extreme ownership. Extreme accountability. 

Everything that happens to you is because of you. Good and bad.

If an opportunity arises, go for it.

Don’t wait for the perfect time, it will never come.

According to a historian, there are three key ingredients for any successful ‘Blitzkreig’:

1. Speed of movement

2. Speed of decision-making

3. An overconfident enemy.

If there’s anything we can learn from the WW2 Germans:

• Don’t wait for things to fall into place. If there’s the slightest window of opportunity, attack. Before it disappears and never appears again.

  You don’t know when good things come around. So carpe diem when you get the chance.
  

• Stop procrastinating. Do the work you’ve been avoiding. Take decisions swiftly. Time waits for no one.

• Work in silence, move in silence. Actions speak louder than words.

  The loudest one in the room is usually the quietest.
  

• Use the element of surprise. Attack, with full force when no one expects.
  Begin before you’re ready.
  Don’t even give even the slightest bit of space to doubt.
  Doubt kills.

Let them do all the talking. Meanwhile, you’ll be concentrating your efforts all on one thing until it becomes so big it’ll cast a shadow.

So big that it’ll be hard to NOT notice.

Then they’ll talk some more.

While you…will keep moving.

swiftly.

like the Blitz.

See you next week.

Godspeed. 🗲