Rick Musson Of Insurance Blog By Chris: Five Ways To Develop More ‘Grit’

An Interview With Fotis Georgiadis

Prepare. Prepare yourself for adversity and visualize yourself pushing through and becoming stronger. Then, when you’re faced with a problem in real life, you’ll know how to get yourself in the right mindset.

As a part of my series about “Grit: The Most Overlooked Ingredient of Success” I had the pleasure of interviewing Rick Musson.

Rick Musson is a consultant with InsuranceBlogByChris.com. He’s a 20-year law enforcement officer who strives to make the world a better place every day. When he’s not protecting his community, he’s making memories with this family.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Can you tell us a story about what events have drawn you to this specific career path

My dad was a police officer, and I spent time around the office with him when I was growing up. When I was in elementary, my friends and I would ride our bikes through town. I’d know my dad was working and might be out on patrol. I so badly wanted to be doing the same things as my dad.

So, my friends and I would pretend we were out on calls and patrolling the streets, all the while keeping our eyes out for the real police so we could really feel like we were working together on the force.

Can you share your story about “Grit and Success”? First can you tell us a story about the hard times that you faced when you first started your journey?

I was interested in traffic, so I decided to take a police motorcycle 80-hour course with no experience riding a motorcycle. It was the most difficult police training that I’ve had completed, both physically and mentally.

As you’re learning to push the motorcycle to its limits, you lay it over a lot, which can be physically and mentally draining. Falling hundreds of times can be discouraging, and when you feel the bike going down, you already start dreading picking it back up.

Where did you get the drive to continue even though things were so hard?

First, I prayed a lot for strength and determination. I also turned to my dad who is a constant source of encouragement. He pushed me forward, told me not to get discouraged, and believed in me, which is powerful.

Finally, I was determined not to be a quitter. Part of that determination is my upbringing, and part of it is who I am. I had a goal, and I was committed to doing whatever it took to attain it, even if that meant getting back on the motorcycle for the thousandth time and trying again.

So how did Grit lead to your eventual success? How did Grit turn things around?

It didn’t matter how many times I fell; I got back up just as many times. With determination not to give up, the skills I was learning and practicing started to click, and the course became easier and easier. I began to improve, which encouraged me to keep on going.

I passed the course, spent ten years serving the community on a police motorcycle, and taught many others the skills they needed to do the same. I got so much enjoyment out of riding, and every day experienced the benefits of the grit it took to get through that class.

Based on your experience, can you share 5 pieces of advice about how one can develop Grit? (Please share a story or example for each)

#1 — Persevere. Sometimes life is easy, but often it’s not. You are guaranteed to face adversity but how you handle those challenges, unfair situations, and hardships is what makes you succeed or fail in life. When you’re prone to give up, give it another try.

Take it one attempt at a time. If your second try is unsuccessful, do it again, and so on. When I’d fail at performing a maneuver on the motorcycle, I’d listen to the tips from my instructor and try again and again until I could master it.

#2 — Pull yourself up. If you examine your life and your past and see a pattern of quitting, you probably need to start exercising and growing the tiny bit of grit you have. It’s never too late to start. And you’ll never fall too many times if you always pull yourself back up.

When I was taking my motorcycle course, I had to get up over and over again. Eventually, I stopped falling, and riding became fun, making the perseverance totally worth it.

#3 — Press forward. Getting stuck in a rut is easy. However, pushing yourself forward takes grit.

Several years after I finished motorcycle operator school, I had improved my skills enough that I wanted to push myself forward and attended a motorcycle instructor school.

I had to push myself more than I ever had before and had to go through the challenging learning curve once again. Still, I finished, and not only did my riding skill improve, but I also developed a love for teaching others and the knowledge and experience to do so effectively.

#4 — Pick right. I could have said, “make good choices,” but that would have ruined the alliteration. I had to choose to keep a good attitude. I had to decide to listen to the instruction I was given. If I had chosen to ignore those who were helping me, I never could have made it. And if I had decided to focus on my failures, I would have given up.

For life in general, your choices affect the direction of your life, and if you make the right choices, you won’t give up, and you’ll find success.

#5 — Prepare. Prepare yourself for adversity and visualize yourself pushing through and becoming stronger. Then, when you’re faced with a problem in real life, you’ll know how to get yourself in the right mindset.

Preparation begins with your mind. Being mentally prepared before embarking on a journey will help you strengthen your can-do, never-quit, full-of-grit attitude.

One of the instructors I had said to enter every situation knowing you will win before you fight. Preparing your mind before every situation will lead to success.

Many components go into success, but without grit, even the smartest and most talented people will fail.

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped you when things were tough? Can you share a story about that?

After my years on the motorcycle for the police department were over and I returned to patrol, I was sad to leave traffic, and I thought no one had noticed my dedication. But then, one of my peers told me he appreciated how I had built the traffic unit and dedicated years to working on the motorcycle, investigating crashes, and keeping the roads in my city safe.

Hearing those words of encouragement showed me someone had noticed, helped me focus on my accomplishments, and encouraged me to keep a good attitude rather than feeling burned out.

How have you used your success to bring goodness to the world?

I work on the street every day to make my community safer, but I also have reached a position where I get to educate. I work with new officers to train them to make wise and safe choices, I train seasoned officers in the basics and new techniques, and I get to work with the public to help them understand law enforcement.

Are you working on any exciting new projects now? How do you think that will help people?

I’m working with another officer on a situational awareness group for our department. It will help officers get on a team and be involved in developing safety plans for events and it will help the community by increasing safety and security at public events.

What advice would you give to other executives or founders to help their employees to thrive?

Establish and develop trust with your employees. If your employees trust you, they’ll want to do good work and strive together to reach common goals.

You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)

Pedestrian safety is a serious issue, and often, pedestrians assume they’ll be ok if they’re using a crosswalk. Sometimes they’re not, but if they would have just used their eyes before using their feet, they could have stayed safe.

So, I would start a campaign focused on educating the public to look before they leap when crossing a street.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

“Never let the fear of striking out keep you from coming up to bat.” -Babe Ruth

Babe Ruth held the record for home runs, but he also had the highest number of strikeouts. No one remembers the strikeouts, though. I know that I cannot cower in fear, but instead, I need to face every situation with my whole heart in it to be successful.

How can our readers follow you on social media?

Check out InsuranceBlogByChris.com.

Thank you so much for joining us. This was very inspirational.

Thank you for the opportunity.