Once upon a time there was a young man. This young man was charged with caring for his fathers flock of sheep. The days were long and quiet – seriously sheep aren’t that hard to care for. Are they?
Anyway this young man had a few different incidents where he had to deal with quietly escalating situations of danger that required him to take action and make snap decisions.
The first incident was quite low level. Just a minor mishap with one of the sheep wandering off. What did he do to fix this – he started keeping a better watch on what was happening around him. (Key point #1 – observe).
A few days later another situation emerged – he saw an eagle attempting to attack a lamb. What to do? Is observation the best strategy? Probably not. What he does do is wave his arms around and throw a big stick. Not really a ground breaking strategy or one that was going to earn him any recognition – but effective anyway. (Key point #2 – simple actions can be the most effective).
As time goes on the levels of danger and peril that affect the sheep steadily increase. Time and time again the young man is required to both dig deeper and elevate his 
response type to the dangers at hand. As the threat level increases so does the need for his ability to react and his arsenal of resources to improve. (Key point #3 – future actions and strategy are best built upon previous experience).
As a result of the young man having to deal with and face more and more complicated situations – he learns to back himself. He takes hold of the fear that dwells inside him, he overcomes that fear and he turns his actions into courage. (Key point #4 – fear acted upon becomes a courageous act).
After many years, both quiet and busy, the young man is called upon by his country to deal with the biggest threat and security issue they have ever seen. And he has to do it by himself. Alone. There is no time to shiver, shake and operate out of fear. But rather he must draw deeply into his acquired knowledge and past experiences.
So what does he do? 1. Observe. 2. Simple actions. 3. Draw on past experience. 4. Act with courage. 
To sum all those points up – he sizes up the threat, pinpoints a weak spot and then launches his single shot offensive.
Is there anything in this story that rings true for you?
