"Tour of Duty"

Do what you can, with what you have, where you are

Monday, April 28th, 2025

Writing to you from Denver, Colorado

I first heard my father use the term, “Tour of duty” when I was sent out to work on wildfires last year as an EMT.

A tour of duty is a timeframe in which you’re aiming to get something important done. Something you know you should do, but will be uncomfortable and, at times, challenging.

You call it a “Tour of duty” to remind yourself that you’ve only got to stick it out for a little bit - then you can head home or let off the gas.

In thinking of things in this way it’s much easier to get a fair amount of things done (while you’re tired, uncomfortable, missing family…) within a short period of time which you outline for yourself. It’s all about proper structuring and use of time - getting as much as you can out of 3, 6, or 9 months…however long it takes to complete what you have set out to do.

In The Preparation, the Tour of Duty is paramount to making rapid success.

You Can do More in 2 Years Than Most do in 10

Ask any successful person and you’ll see that they are constantly thinking of what to do with the time they have, and they are outlining a schedule days, weeks, or months in advance.

Benjamin Franklin had a strict schedule for himself.

He would start the day at 5am and spend the next two hours thinking about what he would do that day; “What good shall I do this day?”

Work, for him, would start at 8am and go until lunch. Afterwards he would put in another 4 hours of work before settling down for the evening to begin reflecting over what he did that day and what he could do the next.

Ben was an absolute workhorse, but that fact of his character, coupled with his proper use of time allowed him to rack up a life full of major accomplishments:

He helped draft and sign the Declaration of Independence, negotiated the Treaty of Paris, Signed the U.S. Constitution, served as ambassador to France, proved that lightning is electrical, invented the lightning rod, invented bifocal glasses, invented the Franklin stove, mapped the gulf stream, invented the glass harmonica, founded the first public library in America, started the first volunteer firefighter department, founded the University of Pennsylvania, organized the first American insurance company, improved the postal service, published the Poor Richard’s Almanack, wrote the Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin…

If I continue you’re either going to fall asleep or be overwhelmingly impressed like I am…

Assuming you bring the ambition, it all comes down to time - the most valuable asset you have.

In August of this year I will be at the 2-year mark of The Preparation. Over that time I have had 2 or 3 “tours of duty”. The first was when I was going to EMT school in Idaho.

This was where I first became the beta tester for the program. I began to structure my time (planning a To Do list for every day and setting benchmarks for success for 3-month timeframes) while diving headfirst into things I had never done before.

I began signed up for a 4-month EMT school, started looking for jobs to work during that time, and eventually settled on working at an Office Depot about 25 minutes away from home. As I began to realize how much free time I had, I started taking Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu classes, practicing chess, reading more, and studying even more for EMT school.

Some days passed slowly, others passed quickly, but it was always a grind.

All of a sudden those 4 months had passed. After lifting my head up to look around I saw that, for the first time in my life, I had managed to put some accomplishments under my belt.

The second tour of duty came when I left Uruguay on April 29th last year to come back to the states. The major goal was to take advantage of a major opportunity I was given: working on wildfires as an EMT.

Within the time I was in the states (from May to September 24th) I was able to learn how to pack mules in horses into the backcountry from a very capable man that offered to teach me the skill here in Colorado. I also met a good, wise and successful man near me, learned how to rappel and build raising and lowering systems at a rope rescue course in South Dakota, trained BJJ, climbed four 14,000ft mountains, skydived for the first time, rock climbed for the first time, started the training to get my Open Water scuba certification, became a certified wildland firefighter, and worked on wildfires for a total of 41 days.

It’s always a long time away from family, the people you love, and home.

But, if you can really push yourself to be a better and more capable man by the time you do get home, it’s totally worth it.

It is, however, a grind.

The third tour of duty is happening right now. I’m back in the states to work on wildfires again, train BJJ as much as is reasonably possible, get my private pilot’s license…but, I do need to find a few other things to do/learn while I’m here.

Anyway, when you’re a young man with little responsibility, lots of time, and plenty of energy it seems, to me at least, that the best thing you can do is make use of the benefits of youth to get as much done as possible within as short a timeframe as possible.

Don’t let the passage of a year, two years, or ten be daunting to you…

Limit the timeframe in which you think. Focus on what you will do today, this week, and the next 3, 6, or 9 months.

Whether it be working, learning a skill, or both - you need to focus your time and energy on completing one or two major tasks. For example: working on wildfires and getting your PPL…

But, it could also be to make a certain amount of money at a menial job while also taking a construction class or boxing as often as possible while taking a no-code course online.

Choose your own adventure…

Along the way, you will find that no matter what, you will have more free time than you expected. You have to fill that free time by learning/doing things that we could call “secondary objectives”. Don’t let time go to waste.

“Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.”

-Theodore Roosevelt

It’ll be uncomfortable and tiresome. You’ve go to find your edge - the point where you are on the brink of pushing yourself too far - stay at that edge, balance on it.

You’ll find that you’ve done more in two years than most do in ten.

The Tricky Part

The hardest part of it all is not that you’re going to be tired, it’s not that you’ll be putting yourself in uncomfortable situations, it’s not that you have to constantly seek to do more - no, the hardest part is remembering that the period of discomfort will pass.

You can let off the gas soon, but for now you have to go full throttle.

You’ve gotta remind yourself that what you are doing now, this “tour of duty” as difficult as it may be, is setting yourself up for future success. Do it now for the future - your future.

You will be uncertain of your success, tired, and lonely at times. That is guaranteed.

During those times repeat this to yourself, “I’m doing this now for the future.”

When the day comes that your tour of duty is over you’ll look around and see the stack of accomplishments under your belt. There’s nothing like it.

Limit your timeframe, aim for a couple major accomplishments, structure your time, tack on more things to do/learn, and put your head down to do the work.

-Maxim Benjamin Smith