Unbroken: 9 Lessons on Staying Strong in the Toughest of Times
By Edward E. Klink
Nov. 11, 2011
Prospects dim? Surrounded by negativity and despair? Personal challenges got you down? Get inspired by the incredible true story of Louie Zamperini, Olympic runner, castaway, and POW survivor.
Source: Louie Zamperini.com
If you are looking for something to restore your faith, a riveting tale of how an underdog can overcome the odds, check out Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption, by Laura Hillenbrand.
This New York Times bestseller by the author of Seabiscuit tells the story of Louis Zamperini, the youngest American to compete in the 1936 Berlin Olympics. For most people, the grueling trials of Olympic competition would provide enough challenge for one lifetime, but for 19-year-old Zamperini, the Olympics were just the warm-up.
In 1943, as an airman in World War II, Zamperini's bomber plunged into the Pacific, where he survived some 47 days at sea only to be captured by the Japanese military and subjected to the horrors of one of the era's most infamous POW camps. Zamperini's life story of overcoming harsh adversities is almost unbelievable, the stuff that movies are made from, and his tenacity, toughness, trials, and recovery offer powerful lessons for handling anything that mires you down in life.
So you've made some mistakes. As a youth in Torrance, Calif., Zamperini first made a name for himself as a troublemaker and delinquent with a penchant for stealing pies and picking fights. He was always on the run from the law, even riding the rails as a teenage hobo. It wasn't until his older brother, Pete, forced him to try out for the high school track team that Louie found a purpose, something beyond himself.
If something in your past is dragging you down, let it go and don't let it define you. The American experience is all about reinvention, and Zamperini would go on to reinvent himself several times.
1. Train for something. Instead of outrunning the police down a local alley, Zamperini now poured his energy into outrunning competitors on the track. He reinvented himself as the "Torrance Tornado," setting a world interscholastic record for the mile in 1934. Now a hometown hero, his running won him a scholarship to the University of California and soon qualified him for the 1936 Olympic team.
We all need to be in training for something and setting the bar higher. Zamperini proved to himself and others that champions are self-made and not born. What are you in training for?
2. Real winners don't always win. Zamperini was the greenest American Olympian in Berlin at just 19 years old. (He was so wowed by the buffet on the ocean liner that he gained 15 pounds during the passage.) Zamperini didn't take home a medal, but he made an international name for himself as a tough competitor with a fast finish—just 56 seconds in his final lap of the 5,000-meter. In fact, Hitler arranged a personal meeting with Zamperini to shake the young athlete's hand. Little did Zamperini know, his future encounters with World War II perpetrators were destined to be far less cordial.
Everything that happens to us prepares us for future events, even though we usually can't see it at the time. Remember that even though you may not win the business this round, professional, hardworking efforts are always noticed.
3. Life doesn't go according to plan. Like many men in his generation, when the second World War came, Zamperini joined the military. He experienced the spirit and camaraderie of being part of a bomber crew in Hawaii until a malfunction sent his B-24 plunging into the Pacific. Zamperini and just two other survivors of the 11-man crew found themselves adrift on a raft surrounded by sharks in the middle of the planet's biggest ocean.
What do you do when your business drops out of the sky? When a longtime client bails? Or the economy turns your business plan upside down? As an advisor, your career is a grueling series of tests, and fate wants to see how you intend to handle it.
4. Never say die. As Zamperini slowly baked on a raft with no food or water, each day got worse, but some days were far worse than others. Such as the time Zamperini was forced to repeatedly jump overboard and punch the sharks underwater while the raft was strafed by enemy aircraft. Day by day, a case study on the power of a positive attitude played out on the raft. Zamperini kept a positive attitude, while a fellow airman fell into despair. The airman didn't survive.
Zamperini survived by practicing daily mind-conditioning exercises such as using his imagination to cook whole meals from scratch, and jerry-rigging tools to catch rainwater and small fish. Zamperini's survival gives a direct example of how mental attitude affects the body. Ask yourself, how do you handle a bad month?
5. Out of the frying pan... On their 47th day at sea, Zamperini and his comrade believed rescue was at hand. But their hopes were dashed when they were pulled aboard a Japanese vessel. Louie went from castaway to captive, and when the steadfast Olympic runner refused to cooperate by reading anti-American propaganda on air, he was sent to a prison camp so harsh it was kept hidden from the Red Cross. The sadistic officer in charge took an immediate dislike to Zamperini and set about trying to break him. He was starved, regularly beaten, tortured, and forced to perform slave labor. (The Japanese POW camps were so treacherous, 37% of their captives died while incarcerated.)
The more the guards tormented Zamperini, the more he defied them. He didn't quit in Berlin, he didn't quit on the raft, and he wasn't going to quit as a POW. Do you have a never-say-die-never-gonna-quit outlook? To make it in this business it's become a prerequisite.
6. Face down your demons. As many veterans know, the war doesn't always end when you get home. After the war, Zamperini channeled his renewed energy and capitalized on his fame and recognition by hitting the circuit as a paid speaker. But to cope with what we now call post-traumatic stress disorder, Zamperini started drinking. He needed a stiff drink to work up the nerve to take the podium and a few more to keep the nightmares away at night. The bottle unleashed a powerful desire within him, a thirst for revenge. Zamperini became consumed with the idea of returning to Japan to somehow find and kill his wartime tormentors.
It's easy for unhealthy choices to become habits, and bad habits will sabotage any successful plan sooner or later. What are the personal demons holding you back from where you want to be?
7. Find faith in something. Consumed by bitterness and rage, Zamperini's personal life was falling apart. His marriage was nearly over, but one day during a window of sobriety, he reluctantly accompanied his wife to an outdoor sermon. The topic happened to be "forgiveness," and Zamperini listened with a sense of focus he had honed as a POW. Perhaps it was the words he heard, or maybe he was tired of being angry, but that day Zamperini found his release. He gave up drinking and traveled to Japan—but instead of seeking revenge, Zamperini met and forgave his former guards, many of whom were now convicted war criminals for the torture they had inflicted on him and others.
Zamperini had many reasons to be angry and resentful after his mistreatment as a POW; many of his friends had died at the hands of his captors. But he realized that anger and resentment gnaw away at your energy and focus, like a pebble in your shoe that just won't let you take your natural stride.
8. You're as young as you feel. Having cheated death more times than he could count, Zamperini continues to see each day as a blessing and adventure. In 1998, at age 81, Zamperini again returned to Japan, this time to carry the torch at the Olympics in Nagano. Also as an octogenarian, he took up skateboarding for the fun of it. Even as of this writing, at age 94, Louie is keeping active. This past April, he collected an honorary doctorate and threw out the first pitch at a Red Sox game. He's still working as a motivational speaker. With any luck, Zamperini will be in the theater to watch his life play out on the big screen—Universal is producing the film version of Unbroken.
9. You're a character in your own story being played out right now in real time. Maybe your life hasn't gone the way you've planned, and you've got some real adversity ahead of you, but the world wouldn't have it any other way.
Hemingway once wrote, "The world breaks everyone and afterward many are strong in the broken places." Louie Zamperini proved this, and maybe we can all reach down inside, grab that torch of greatness, and run with it.
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