the soft American, JFK on killing comfort

Summary

December 1960, JFK publishes a piece in Sports Illustrated called The Soft American. he’s worried about convenience. he’s worried about indolence. he’s worried about kids driving instead of walking. he had no idea what was coming with phones, social media, and on-demand everything. he was right anyway.

1. he saw the trajectory. modern leisure can add to life, but it can’t be confused with slothful ease. the strength of the youth and the fitness of the adults were among the most important assets of the country, and he watched them decline in real time.

2. in 1962 he found an old Teddy Roosevelt executive order challenging Marine officers to ruck 50 miles in 20 hours. JFK reissued it to the public. an open challenge of discomfort, on purpose.

3. this is the same thing I keep writing about in Killing Comfort. we get warned about comfort for a millennia and we don’t listen. it’s not just an American problem anymore, it’s the whole developed world.

4. the question JFK left us with is the same one I’ll leave you with. are you going to be a spectator, or are you going to be a participant in the vigorous life.

5. choosing hard isn’t logical. it’s the choice to do the thing not because it’s easy but because it’s hard. that’s the lesson and it’s still the lesson 65 years later.

go be a participant. try harder.

Transcript

experimenting with format

The most impactful business is the business that genuinely improves another human, a better human business, and to grow a business like this, you have to continually improve yourself. This podcast is a documentation of that thesis, scaling businesses and also personal growth. My goal is for you to shortcut this journey.

So if you’re ready to try hard, subscribe, if you like what you’re hearing, please share and enjoy. Welcome to the Better Human Business Podcast. I’m Jerred Moon and today I’m trying out some new content, a new format, if you will. What I’ve been working on and studying a lot is things on killing comfort.

So I wrote the book Killing Comfort, I’ve been pulling a lot of resources from there and diving in further on historical figures, talking about killing comfort. I’ve been looking at religious texts, all these different things. Like I said, some of this is in the book, some of this is in the book, some of this will not be in the book, but it’s been really cool.

jfk and the soft american

It’s just something I’ve been studying and diving into more and really been enjoying. All I’ve been doing right now with this content is throwing it in short form video format, so like Instagram real, YouTube short type of information, but then I was thinking, why don’t I bring this over to the podcast where I’m just kind of experimenting with content and everything about this podcast is about getting better.

And so killing comfort is a part of that. If you want to grow your business, you need to get better as a person. I think I’ve beat that horse to death in all honesty. And so what I’m going to do in today’s podcast is I’m going to talk a little bit about what I’m talking about, but then I’m going to play the short clip from the video because it makes perfect sense even if you don’t see the video content, and then I’m going to end with JFK, and it’s a little excerpt from one of his speeches that I really love.

So what this was about was JFK published this piece before he was president called The Soft American. I highly recommend everyone go read it. I’m a huge fan of JFK, and this has nothing to do with politics or anything else. He seems super into physical fitness and urging Americans to be more fit. It was a big part of what he thought that we should do as Americans.

kids driving to school

He implemented a lot of policies around physical fitness and physical fitness education in schools. But The Soft American, he’s really just calling out the American people. He’s just talking about how it’s great that we have all these new conveniences and easy buttons if you will, but he was worried that they would compound and get worse, and boy was he right.

He was talking about, in The Soft American, if you read it, he’s talking about kids driving to school instead of walking to school. He thought those were kind of problems. He had no idea what was coming with what would happen with TV, what would happen with the creation of mobile devices and social media.

So just crazy things in comparison, but he was right to have this hunch that, hey, we might be headed in the wrong direction here. I’m not as concerned as about Americans specifically, I really feel like the whole world is going down this path, but I think that it’s something that’s really cool. If you do have a chance, go check out the entire Soft American speech by JFK.

the 50-mile ruck challenge

Now I’m going to play the short excerpt that I did on The Soft American and published in video format, and like I said, end out with JFK, a short excerpt from one of his speeches. Again, would love any feedback on this kind of format because it’s something, like I said, I’m studying and doing a lot of right now, and I want to be able to bring it to the podcast in some way.

We do not want our children to be a generation of spectators. Rather, we want each of them to be a participant in the vigorous life. John F. Kennedy said that in 1960. We’ve been warned about comfort for a millennia, but we just don’t listen. December 26th, 1960, Sports Illustrated publishes a piece called The Soft American, written by Kennedy.

Kennedy could see that technology was improving the quality of life for most Americans, but he was concerned about a more significant effect. He says, of course, modern advances and increasing leisure can add greatly to the comfort and enjoyment of life, but they must not be confused with indolence, with, in the words of Theodore Roosevelt, slothful ease with an increasing deterioration of our physical strength.

spectator or participant

For the strength of our youth and the fitness of our adults are among our most important assets in this growing decline as a matter of urgent concern to thoughtful Americans. Kennedy went even further in 1962 when he found an executive order issued by Theodore Roosevelt challenging all U.S. Marine officers to finish a ruck march of 50 miles in 20 hours.

Kennedy reissued the challenge to the American public, a call to arms for the American people, an open challenge of discomfort. So I leave you with a question today. Will you be uncomfortable? Are you going to be a spectator, or are you going to be a participant in the vigorous life? Why do some say the moon?

Why choose this as our goal? And they may well ask, why climb the highest mountain? Why 35 years ago fly the Atlantic? Why does Rice play Texas? We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard.

Because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills. Because that challenge is one that we’re willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one we intend to win.