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Ernest Shackleton

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13
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2020-09-13
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2020-09-13
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  1. “Abhorrence He wrote in his diary that night. I turned in but could not sleep, thought the whole matter over and decided to retreat to more secure ice. It is the only safe thing to do. I am anxious. I do not like retreating, but prudence demands this course. And so we see in the story of Shackleton, something we've seen over and over again, that sometimes your strength, your greatest strength can also be your greatest weakness. And we get that, an insight into how this befells Shackleton as well. Shackleton was not an ordinary individual. He was a man who believed completely in his own invincibility. So that's a huge strength, right? But it could also be a weakness in certain circumstances. It's very hard. It's not black and white. And to whom defeat was a reflection of personal inadequacy. What might have been an act of reasonable caution to the average person was to Shackleton a detestable admission that failure was a possibility.”

    2020-09-13 · Founders · #144 Ernest Shackleton · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  2. “The cold, the ice the sea he feared none more than demoralization he understands the power our mind has, and he understands you have to manage that power. It's extremely important. So I want to bring to your attention that there's several times in the story that they go down one path that looks promising and then eventually they get to a dead end and they have to retreat. And that, of course, is going to be extremely demoralizing, extremely heartbreaking. So this is an example of that. Shackleton reluctantly announced that they could not go any farther. Most of the men received the news with dismay. To hear Shackleton himself say that they had been beaten sounded almost unnatural and a little frightening. None of them, however, could possibly have felt their defeat so intensely as Shackleton, to whom the thought of quitting was abhorrent. Go back to that Steve Jobs quote. Half of what makes you successful is pure perseverance, meaning you are not going to quit. This Shackleton's version of that, the thought of quitting was”

    2020-09-13 · Founders · #144 Ernest Shackleton · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  3. “My rest or fine escape by the device of living for the moment, but for Shackleton, there was little rest and no escape. The responsibility was entirely his And a testament to how great a leader that his men thought he was, something that blew my mind is even after you read this book and you find out doesn't say it in the book. I found out researching otherwise. After everything that happens in the book, Shackleton goes back and a lot of the people that went with him on the first trip join him again. It's unbelievable. But this is another reminder. So the point of the story we're in, there's a very lack of progress. And of course, it's going to be demoralizing, right? And this is where he talks about that. It's so important to manage your own psyche and then the psyche, the people that you're leading, that we can make heaven or hell out of the same situation depending on our mindset. I think this is extremely important. Shackleton was concerned of all the enemies, the cold, the ice, and the sea, he feared none more than demoralization. That is a crazy sentence. Let's read that again. Shackleton was concerned of all the enemies.”

    2020-09-13 · Founders · #144 Ernest Shackleton · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  4. “I just want to pause for a moment and try to put yourself in his shoes. This is one of the heaviest burdens a human can have. He's almost certain that people will die and he's going to lead them to his death. And that not only that, more people can die or live based on the decisions he makes. Think about how heavy that is. I pray God I can manage to get the whole party safe to civilization. Now here's the problem. They're on a giant, I'm fast forwarding, obviously. They're on a giant chunk of ice. But that's floating. You don't control where the ice is going. So it does not get much worse than this what I'm about to read to you. They were castaways in one of the most savage regions of the world, drifting they knew not where without a hope of rescue, subsisting only so long as Providence sent them food to eat. What does it mean about”

    2020-09-13 · Founders · #144 Ernest Shackleton · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  5. “Stitna, this is really, really, really smart from studying the outcome of past expeditions, he believed that burden themselves with equipment to meet every contingency had fared much worse than those that had sacrificed totaled preparedness for speed. The journey would begin the next day. On the eve of setting out, Shackleton wrote I pray God I can manage to get the whole party safe to civilization.”

    2020-09-13 · Founders · #144 Ernest Shackleton · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  6. “Find that behavior appealing. Shackleton seemed to fear that this attitude would spread to the other men. And so what Shackleton does in situations like this is he actually takes the burden on himself. So he'll make sure if they're picking roommates for tents, he'll pick the people that are more negative so he can influence their thoughts. And if they are saying negative things, it only influences him. So there's a, as you can imagine, over this long story, there's all these peaks and valleys, peaks. One night the mouse found a leaky barrel of beer, and he drank all he could. When the mouse had finished he sat up, twirled his whiskers, and looked around arrogantly. Now then, he said, Where is that damn cat?”

    2020-09-13 · Founders · #144 Ernest Shackleton · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  7. “Gigantic flow, this gigantic piece of ice that is essentially going to be their home for the next, they don't know yet, but for the next several hundred days. So while this is all going on, we see a lot of Shackleton's inner thoughts about he understand that he understood, I should say, we all are influenced by the words and the actions of those around us much more than we even care to admit. And so not only does he got to worry about survival, but he's got to worry about managing the mental health of all the people that he's leading. And there's one guy that is very moody and pessimistic, and this is what Shackleton, this is how Shackleton approaches that. He was unique among them in the fact that he worried outwardly about the future, meaning he's verbalizing this. He's talking about this. Whereas almost everybody else was confident that everything was going to be all right. Shackleton's obvious and increasing dislike for him. Shackleton's not going to.”

    2020-09-13 · Founders · #144 Ernest Shackleton · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  8. “Euphoria and terror. And he says, I find a lack of sleep enhances both. And essentially, that's his really succinct way of describing this phenomenon known as like the entrepreneurial emotional roller coaster. And really, it doesn't just apply to building businesses, it applies to doing anything hard in life. And so this is what Shackleton is experiencing himself, but again, he can't, he's the leader. He cannot betray this and show this to the people that are relying on him to stay strong. So he said he was tormented by thoughts, both of what had happened and what might happen. He was careful, however, not to betray his disappointment to the men, and he cheerfully supervised the routine of reading the ship for the long winter's night ahead, so they're taking all the stuff off the ship that they might need before it sinks and transferring it onto this gigantic flow, this gigantic”

    2020-09-13 · Founders · #144 Ernest Shackleton · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  9. “It's also interesting to note that the start of World War I almost ended this trip before it actually began. It begins right as they're about to leave. Shackleton's uncertain about I need to, he felt fierce loyalty to his country. Should I stay? So he winds up asking them. But let me read this part to you first. Shackleton's position could hardly have been worse. He was damned if he did and damned if he didn't. He was just about to leave on the expedition he had dreamed about and worked towards for almost four years, four years of prep went into it before they were even able to get on the boat. Vast sums of money, much of it involving future commitments had been spent, and countless hours had gone into planning and preparation. At the same time, he felt very strongly about doing his part in the war. So he asked the government, the what they think it should do. The reply was a one-word telegram. Proceed two hours later, we're going to, Churchill has to pop up in the story. Of course he does. Two hours later, there was a longer wire from when”

    2020-09-13 · Founders · #144 Ernest Shackleton · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  10. “Could also be a forward summary of this book. Something to know about Shackleton that appears multiple times in this book is that he trusted his instinct. In this case, he's doing interviews for the people that he's going to lead on the expedition. And this was, you know, it's going to be really surprising, but it gives you an insight. And so he just made his decisions from his gut. These decisions were made with lightning speed. There is no record of any interview that Shackleton conducted with a prospective expedition member that lasted much more than five minutes.”

    2020-09-13 · Founders · #144 Ernest Shackleton · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  11. “His mind. His thoughts had returned to the Antarctic. He had been within ninety seven miles of the pole, and he knew better than anyone that it was only a matter of time until some expedition attained the goal that had been denied him. And now this is Shackleton talking about, he's making his primary argument for why, like, why would you even attempt such a thing? You almost died. I think he's been to the Antarctic at that time two or three previous times, and yet even after all the struggles he went through almost dying, he decides to go back. So he wrote, this is his reasoning for taking this trip. From the sentimental point of view, it is the last great polar journey that can be made. It will be a greater journey than the journey to the pole and back. And I feel it is up to the British nation to accomplish this, for we have been beaten at the conquest of the North Pole and beaten at the first conquest of the South Pole.”

    2020-09-13 · Founders · #144 Ernest Shackleton · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  12. “Few men have borne the responsibility Shackleton did at that moment, though he certainly was aware that their situation was desperate, he could not possibly have imagined then the physical and emotional demands that ultimately would be placed upon them. The rigors they would have to endure, the suffering to which they would be subjected. Nobody in the outside world knew they were in trouble, much less were they were. They had no radio transmitter with which to notify any would be rescuers, and it is doubtful that any rescuers could have reached them even if they had been able to broadcast an SOS. It was nineteen fifteen. There were no helicopters, there were no suitable planes. Thus their plight was naked and terrifying in its simplicity. If they were to get out. Had to get themselves out.”

    2020-09-13 · Founders · #144 Ernest Shackleton · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  13. “The general feeling of relief at being off the ship was not shared by one man. His name was Sir Ernest Shackleton, and the twenty seven men he had watched so ingloriously leaving their stricken ship were the members of his imperial, trans Antarctic expedition. The date was october twenty seventh, nineteen fifteen. The name of the ship was endurance. The position was in the icy wasteland of the Antarctic's treacherous Wendell Sea just about midway between the South Pole and the nearest known outpost of humanity, some twelve hundred miles away.”

    2020-09-13 · Founders · #144 Ernest Shackleton · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source