“Preoccupied with a single leaf, you won’t see the tree. Preoccupied with a single tree, you’ll miss the entire forest.”
Takuan Soho (1573-1645)
In the heat of conflict and battle, the mind tends to lose its cool.
Perhaps too many things come at you at the same time, setbacks, criticism, shocking events.
The danger in these situations is that you may lose your balance, and your ability to think clearly.
You might find yourself becoming emotional and letting fear, frustration, and desperation take over.
This is exactly what you must strive to confront.
You must learn to actively resist the temptation to act emotionally and instead have the mental fortitude to act with strength, confidence, and clarity.
And there is only one way to learn this – to expose your mind to adversity.
You must callous your mind, and let others lose their mental balance whilst you keep your own presence of mind.
Go Full Steam Ahead
The legendary Vice Admiral Horatio Nelson (1758-1805) had seen it all during his years as a sea lord.
He had already lost an eye during conflict at Calvi, and an arm at Tenerife.
He defeated the Spanish in 1797 and defeated Napoleon in the famous Battle of the Nile in 1798.
Yet none of the hardships he had faced up until then was quite like the one he faced from his own colleagues in the Royal Navy during the campaign against Denmark in 1801.
By then he was Britain’s greatest living hero and was the obvious choice to lead the campaign.
Yet, he was overlooked in favor of Sir Hyde Parker, whilst Nelson was installed as his second-in-command.
This was a delicate business, you see, and Nelson had a fiery temper, with a tendency to take things too far.
All they had to do was gently nudge the stubborn Danes into complying with a British-led embargo on military goods being sent to Napoleonic France.
Thus, the Admiralty deemed it more appropriate to appoint the more stable Parker who would simply do the job, and nothing more.
So, despite the dent in his ego, Nelson complied.
But soon he saw trouble ahead, time was of the essence you see, and they needed to act fast before the Danes caught on and built up their defenses.
Nelson, wanting to take the initiative, sifted through the intelligence reports, and drew up a detailed plan, which he presented to Parker.
But it was ignored.
Parker was, to put it lightly, a very cautious man, and his motto, “Everything in good order”, summed up his personality.
This, however, infuriated Nelson, who burned for action.
Nevertheless, on March 11th, the British fleet set sail for Denmark.
And before the battle had even started Parker was already showing his timid and cautious side – instead of anchoring at Copenhagen, Parker chose to anchor well north of the city and convened a meeting with his commanders.
He explained that the Danes had built up their defenses and meant to blow the British out of the water, whilst those familiar with the Danish waters detailed that the surrounding waters could be treacherous with the winds being quite tricky.
Due to these difficulties, Parker reasoned, they would wait for the Danes to leave harbor and fight them in the open seas.
As Nelson heard this, his face started etching with rage, and he finally let loose on them.
He huffed up and down the room, jerking the stub of his lost arm as he spoke.
No war, he roared, was won by waiting.
The Danish defenses were only frightening “to those who are children at war”.
He explained that he had already worked out a strategy, he would attack from the south, whilst Parker and his reserve force could stay on the north, and he would use his mobility to take out the Danish artillery.
As for the wind and treacherous seas, aggressive action was more important than such things.
Nelson’s speech did its job – even Parker was impressed.
After all, he was their most successful leader, and his confidence was riveting.
The plan was approved.
The next day, Nelson advanced upon Copenhagen, and as expected, the Danish guns did a number on the British sailors, whilst Nelson paced up and down his flagship, HMS Elephant, urging his men onwards.
He was in an ecstatic mood, and at one point a shot from the enemy guns almost hit him.
Now little shaken, he nonetheless remarked to a nearby colonel that he “would not be anywhere else for thousands”.
Parker, meanwhile, followed developments from his comparatively safe position in the north.
But he was beginning to regret his decision, he was responsible for the campaign, and here was Nelson, wilfully ignoring the slaughter of his men.
If they were to be defeated here, it was he who was going to pay for it.
As a result, after four hours of back-and-forth cannon and artillery fire, he decided to call them back, and so hoisted flag 39, the order to withdraw.
On board the Elephant, Nelson was informed by a lieutenant of his.
But Nelson simply ignored the order.
“Is number 16 still hoisted?”, he asked.
Flag 16 was his own flag, and it meant “engage the enemy more closely”.
The lieutenant confirmed that it was, and Nelson simply told him to keep it that way.
A short while later after his officer reminded him of Parker’s order, Nelson calmly held up a telescope to his blind eye and jokingly said, “I really do not see the signal”.
Torn between who to obey, the fleet captains chose Nelson.
They would risk their careers along with his.
Luckily, however, the Danish defenses started to crack, and soon some of their ships started to surrender as well.
The firing of the guns began to slow, and less than an hour after Parker’s signal to stop the battle, the Danes surrendered.
Analysis
When the Admiralty chose Sir Hyde Parker, it made a classical military error – they trusted a man who was careful and methodical.
These sorts may seem calm, even strong, but their disposition hides a severe weakness.
Often, the reason they are so careful is that they are terrified of making a mistake, and the consequences that might have on the battle or on their careers.
This doesn’t show at first, but put them in a battle, and suddenly they can’t think straight, they see problems everywhere, and defeat in the smallest setback.
What seemed like patience at first suddenly shows itself to be fear, and these moments of hesitation bring them down.
Nelson, however, was quite the opposite.
He made up for his weak and delicate constitution with fierce determination and strong mental fortitude.
What others mistook for aggressive impulses was actually him being more resolute than everyone.
Where others needlessly fretted over casualties, the wind, and enemy formations, he concentrated on his detailed plans to see him through.
Where others hesitated, he stuck to his plans and forged right ahead without a care in the world.
Yet, although he was seen as reckless by everyone around him, he was anything but.
Rather, before a battle nobody planned or strategized more so than him.
And it was precisely that knowledge that gave him a sense of when the enemy would start crumbling.
Once he put his plan in motion, there was no hesitation on his part.
Increasing your presence of mind wipes out any mental weakness.
Should you feel caught up in inertia and caution, call up that aggressive energy to see you through.
The biggest mistake we could make in this situation is to be unnecessarily cautious and start doubting ourselves.
Save your carefulness for the preparations before the battle, but once it starts, let it go.
When you are faced with moments of turmoil or trouble, force yourself to be determined and confident.
Ignore those who balk at any setback and call for retreat.
Just go full steam ahead, double your resolve, and intensify your confidence.
Detach Yourself from the Situation
For those working with film director Alfred Hitchcock for the first time, seeing him at work was often a surprise.
While most filmmakers were balls of energy, yelling and screaming out orders, Hitchcock would quietly sit in his chair and sometimes even dose off.
Some actors would think that something might be wrong, and when they would ask Hitchcock, he would sleepily reply, “Oh, I’m so bored”.
When anyone complained, or an actor threw a tantrum, it didn’t faze him.
Unsurprisingly, his colleagues found it hard to understand how a man doing such stressful work to stay calm and seemingly uncaring.
Some thought he inherently had a cold personality.
Others thought that it was merely a gimmick, a performance by the director himself.
But few suspected the truth – he had already intensely planned everything with complete attention to every detail so that nothing could go wrong.
No nervous cameraman, no temperamental actress could interfere with his plan.
All he had to do was sit back and revel in the security of his plans.
His process would begin with a storyline, from a novel or from his own idea.
Then he would meet a writer, who would soon find his new client to be unlike any other.
With other directors, the writer’s job would often be to turn a half-baked idea into a screenplay.
But with Hitchcock, things were different, with him the writer’s job was to simply put an idea trapped inside his head onto paper.
Granted, the writer would do the dialog, but not much else, everything was in Hitchcock’s control.
Samuel Taylor, who wrote the script for Vertigo (1958), thought that his descriptions of many scenes were so vivid that it almost seemed as though he was recounting them from memory.
When that was finished, the shooting process would be guided by Hitchcock through detailed notes to every crewmember there.
Everything, from lighting to camera positions to set dimensions was spelled out clearly in those notes.
Other directors may give themselves some leeway and shoot from many angles, but not Hitchcock.
With him, the movie would essentially be edited in the shooting process.
He knew what he wanted, and he spelled it out in his notes.
If an actor or producer tried to change anything, he would be outwardly pleasant and perhaps pretend to listen, but he was inwardly unmoved.
Nothing was left to chance – even the clothes an actor might wear.
For example, when actress Kim Novak refused to wear a grey suit in Vertigo because she felt it made her look washed out, he told her he wanted her to look like a woman of mystery who had just stepped out of the San Francisco fog.
Could she argue with that?
No, so she wore the suit.
Hollywood’s best actors said he was the easiest director to work for.
Since everything was so carefully staged that his films didn’t depend on the actors’ performance, they could just relax and do the job.
He would simply sit back, whilst everyone would do the small part outlined for them.
Everything would fit into his vision, which is why when Taylor saw Vertigo for the first time, he remarked it was like seeing another man’s dream.
Analysis
When Alfred Hitchcock directed his first film in 1925, a silent named The Pleasure Garden, everything went as wrong as it could possibly go.
Hitchcock, you see, absolutely hated chaos and disorder, unexpected events, and nervous crew members ruining everything.
Which is why he decided to start treating his filming operations much like a military campaign.
He taught himself all the technicalities of filmmaking, whether that may be set design, lighting, or camerawork, he learned it all.
From then on, he would control every aspect of the film, and leave not one shadow fall between planning and execution.
The way Hitchcock took control in advance may not seem like the presence of mind, but it actually takes it to its height.
By planning for every eventuality beforehand, he allowed himself to be calm and find security in the knowledge that he had thought of everything already and had foreseen problems, and had thought of their alternatives.
So when his colleagues shared their doubts or gave him some semi-baked idea, he would pretend to listen, but really, he was ignoring them.
Additionally, that relaxed manner he showed had the added benefit of making everyone else around him relaxed, and easier to manage as a result.
The thing is, it is easy to be overwhelmed in battle, so many things come at you at once.
When this happens, it is easy to lose sight of your goals and plans, and suddenly you’ve lost your presence of mind.
Presence of mind is in fact the ability to detach yourself from all that.
It is the ability to see the whole battlefield, the whole picture, and to do so with clarity.
All the greatest generals had this ability, and what gives this mental distance is preparation, and employing a tight grip on the details beforehand
Strengthen Your Mind
As humans, we like to believe we are rational creatures.
In fact, we assume it’s what differentiates us from animals.
But the truth is we are just as emotional as we are rational.
What actually distinguishes us from animals is that we feel the full range of emotions: we cry, we laugh, we feel frustrated.
During our daily routines, we maintain our façade of rationality, and that helps us seem calm and collected.
But the moment we are exposed to adversity of some sort, we respond emotionally – for example when we feel attacked by a friend or colleague, we respond with anger, sadness, and feelings of betrayal.
Only with great effort can we return to our previous state of rationality, and even that rarely lasts past the next attack.
What you must understand, therefore, is that the mind is weaker than your emotions.
As a result, what equips you best to deal with these moments of adversity is not more knowledge or intellect.
What makes us stronger is learning to make our mind stronger by being more able to control our emotions, and to develop mental discipline and toughness.
Nor can someone teach you this skill, you cannot learn it from a book either.
The only way is through practice.
The first step though to is understand that there is a need for it, you must want it badly enough to work for it.
Outstanding historical figures such as Alexander the Great acquired such presence of mind and mental fortitude through experiencing and overcoming adversity, through trial and error.
They were in positions of responsibility where they either had to develop this quality or sink.
To help you with just that, the following ideas will give you practical skills aimed at cultivating your presence of mind.
But don’t just read them, act on them – otherwise nothing will come of it.
Expose Yourself to Adversity
The famous WWII general George S. Patton was from one of America’s most distinguished military families.
His family included many generals and colonels who had fought and died in wars such as the American Revolutionary and Civil Wars.
But despite being raised on stories of their heroism, he still had one great fear – that he during a battle, he would become a coward and disgrace the family name.
Patton got his first real taste of battle during WWI in 1918 when, at the age of 32, he commanded a tank division.
At one point, he managed to lead some infantrymen to a hilltop overlooking a strategic town, but German fire soon forced them to take cover.
And soon they were trapped.
They quickly found they only had two options – retreat and come under fire from both sides of the hill, or advance and be battered by German machine gun fire.
Since they were all going to die anyway, Patton thought, better to die advancing.
But the moment he was to start leading the troops out, he was struck by an intense trepidation.
It seemed his worst fear was about to come true.
It was right then that he saw a vision.
It was a vision of his ancestors looking sternly down at him, as though inviting him to join their company of dead war heroes.
Suddenly he snapped back into focus, he charged out with his fellow soldiers, and seconds later fell after being hit in the thigh.
But nonetheless, he survived.
From then on, even when he became a general, Patton made a point of needlessly visiting the front lines.
He would use the vision of his ancestors as a stimulus to challenge his honor and force himself to face his fears.
Those around him thought that nobody had greater presence of mind than he, but they simply did not understand how much strength of will it took to do that.
The lesson of Patton teaches two things.
The first is the importance of confronting your fears.
There is only one way, you see, of cultivating courage within yourself, and that is to confront and overcome your fears.
Overcoming a deep-rooted fear gives you confidence and the ability to have presence of mind during times of battle and adversity.
And the second thing is that this story teaches us about the motivating power of honor and dignity.
In giving into fear, you disgrace yourself, maybe even your family, and perhaps even those you lead.
Being a leader of even the smallest group allows you to feel this motivating power.
When you lead, people are watching, they are judging, and depending on you.
To lose your composure will ruin the communal spirit and make it hard for you to live with yourself.
Self-Reliance is Strength
There is little worse than being dependent on other people.
It makes you vulnerable to all kinds of emotions – betrayal, disappointment, frustration.
And thus, it is only a recipe for disaster.
Early during the American Civil War, General Ulysses S. Grant, who would later become President, saw that his authority was slipping.
His captains wouldn’t follow through with his orders, fellow generals were criticizing his plans, and his subordinates were not giving accurate information about the terrain they were passing through.
As a result, he lost his composure and began resorting to alcohol.
But by the time of the Vicksburg Campaign in 1862-63, he had learned his lesson.
He began to ride over and document the terrain himself before a battle.
He honed the precision of his orders to make it harder for his orders to be flouted, and when he made a decision, he simply ignored his fellow generals.
He had learned to rely on himself.
His feelings of helplessness dissipated, and a strong presence of mind remained.
Self-reliance, it turns out, is critical.
You should become less dependent on others, even so-called experts, and expand your own repertoire of skills.
Also, become more confident in your own decisions.
People have a habit of overestimating others and underestimating themselves, so to compensate, become self-reliant and trust yourself.
That being said, this doesn’t mean burdening yourself will petty details – learn to distinguish between that which is important and that which is not.
Laugh at Their Foolishness
The Duke of Marlborough, one of Europe’s greatest generals, was not only skilled in tactics and strategy, but he also possessed a great presence of mind.
During the early 1700s, he was often the leader of a coalition army against the mighty French armies of King Louis XIV.
But whilst he was bold and decisive, his fellow generals would often be timid, narrow-minded, and would balk at his ambitious plans.
They had little patience and little vision.
The duke, a subtle courtier, never confronted them directly though.
He would indulge their fears when he was with them, but once they weren’t looking, he would cut them out of his plans.
Occasionally, he might make it seem like he shared their opinions, he might pretend to agree with their views, or even change something minor they suggested.
But he never got frustrated or angry as that would ruin his presence of mind and undermine his ability to lead.
Rather, he forced himself to be cheerful and patient.
That’s because he understood one important fact of life – you can’t fight everyone, and there is no point in always trying to do so.
It would only lead to exhaustion and frustration.
The world is full of such people, the indecisive boss, the rash colleague, the hysterical underling.
You may want to fight them, but that’ll only ruin your presence of mind.
Instead, do what the duke did, treat them like children and detach yourself emotionally.
While inwardly laughing at their foolishness, perhaps indulge them in one of their harmless ideas.
The ability to stay calm, cheerful, and patient in the face of such people is an important skill.
The Way to Calm Your Mind
Sometimes we may feel like we are being overwhelmed by the situation, and we let our imagination run wild.
When this happens, we need to find a way to calm our anxieties and regain control of our imagination.
Often the best way to do this is by imagining yourself doing a relatively simple, repetitive task to calm yourself.
This technique was stumbled upon once by a tea master during the Edo period of Japan.
The tea master had just entered the city of Edo (now Tokyo) with his lord when he was aggressively approached by a samurai who then suddenly proceeded to challenge him to a duel.
Naturally, the tea master was shocked, for he didn’t know the first thing about sword fighting.
Yet, when he begged for mercy, the samurai simply wouldn’t relent.
Nor could he run away as that was considered shameful and would have brought disgrace upon his lord as well.
Now thoroughly panicked, the tea master met a swordsman whom he asked for help.
Luckily the swordsman agreed, but first, he wanted the tea master to make him some tea.
The tea master proceeded to perform the task, with his manner calm and his concentration perfect.
The swordsman, seeing this, shouted in excitement that he didn’t need to learn anything from him – he was already ready.
When the tea master asked why, the swordsman simply replied that all he had to do was arrive at the duel, imagine he was making tea in his mind, and then proceed to raise his sword.
The next day, the tea master arrived at the appointed place and arrived in a dignified, calm, and composed manner.
When the samurai saw this, he must have thought him to be a skilled swordsman, because he immediately bowed and apologized for his behavior.
A focused mind, you see, has no room for the effects of an overactive imagination.
Once you have regained control of your mental balance, only then should you face the problem.
At the first sign of fear, use this technique, and practice it until it becomes habit.
The ability to control your imagination at times such as these is a crucial skill.
See the Person, Not the Myth
The feeling of intimidation is extremely hard to combat and often ruins one’s mental balance.
This was what composer Dmitry Shostakovich found out when he and his colleague met Joseph Stalin during WWII to discuss a new national anthem.
Meetings with Stalin were, simply put, terrifying – just one misstep and it could go very badly for you.
Unsurprisingly, the meeting soon went wrong.
Stalin had criticized the colleague for the poor arrangement of the anthem, and scared silly, the colleague began to apologize and tried to deflect the blame.
The thing with Stalin was that as soon as he smelled fear, he would be relentless.
Luckily, however, Shostakovich quickly veered the conversation elsewhere and asked Stalin’s opinion on another matter.
Stalin, wanting to prove his expertise, took the bait and left the other guy alone.
Instead of letting Stalin intimidate him, Shostakovich had forced himself to see him for what he was, a mere mortal.
If you confidently spoke to Stalin without being brazen or aggressive, he would leave you alone.
You should try this and not let the hype get to you.
See the person, not the myth.
Perhaps see them as a small child, riddled with insecurities – cutting down the other person a size will help you keep your mental clarity.
Footnotes & Further Reading
Greene, Robert. The 33 Strategies of War. Millionaire
