Jack Reacher Taught Me Confidence and Clarity
I may be a little late to the scene on reading Lee Child’s popular Jack Reacher novels, but that doesn’t mean it’s too late for me to dissect the fictitious character even further.
Before I dive in here, however, I want to clarify which Jack Reacher character I’m going to discuss. The Jack Reacher character I am referring to in this post is based off of Lee Child’s popular book series and not the film featuring Tom Cruise portraying Jack Reacher.
Sorry Mr. Cruise, I don’t mean to hate, but last I checked you’re not 6 foot 5 inches tall with a 50 inch chest. Also, Last I checked you didn’t graduate from West Point and serve in the Army for several years while working up and down the military chain (I’m just sayin).
Onward…My dissection of Reacher today will be focused on two distinct areas:
- Clarity
- Brass Balls Confidence
Jack Reacher Clarity
Jack Reacher appears to have a ton of clarity. He is able to process vast amounts of information with relative ease, and has a knack to think outside the traditional box.
I’ve yet to read or imagine Reacher as someone who has a lot of distractions diverting his attention (e.g. checking emails frequently, surfing the web, goofing around on social media, text messaging, etc.).
If Reacher was posting Facebook status updates on what he ate for lunch, or how many times his pet cat went to the bathroom, then I doubt he would be able to think as clearly. Then again, I don’t see Reacher as a cat kind of guy – I could be wrong though.
Reacher isn’t the type to be weighed down by a bunch of material burdens either. The dude is like a John Rambo (2.0) with a much higher intellect, and appears to live off the basics with relative ease.
Photo from: http://memebase.cheezburger.com/puns/tag/rambo
In 61 Hours, for instance, Reacher hitched a ride on a travel bus with just the clothes he was wearing. He ends up getting stuck in a small town in South Dakota after the freak bus accident and manages to survive with the basics, despite the harsh winter storms.
Ultimately, Reacher sees excess luggage and material burdens as an unnecessary evil that will weigh him down and prevent him from accomplishing whatever his life mission is. Houses, cars, jewelry, you name it – he ain’t got it.
…It makes sense why Reacher has a ton of clarity. He has hardly any financial and/or material burdens, and doesn’t spend a ton of time (if any) on outside distractions. In 61 Hours, he seemed to be blown away by Google Maps.
Brass Balls Confidence
Jack Reacher is one bad dude when it comes to stepping up to the plate and pulling off high-level missions with ease. He can take out a ton of cats (I mean people) by himself, and knows his maneuvers beforehand.
Why is this?
Sure, one can argue it’s because of his military background. While I don’t discredit this theory, I also like to think that Reacher is super confident in his abilities simply because he has nothing to lose.
Think about it. What does Reacher fear of losing? He has no home or car that can blown up, no material possessions worth stealing (that we know of), no skeletons in his closet lingering around via email or on social media, etc.
Ultimately, with a nothing to lose mentality, Reacher has no issue taking risks, which certainly explains why he has such a high level of confidence, right?
Why On Earth Did I Write This?
I literally woke up in the middle of the night thinking about this post about a month or two ago (odd, I know). It took me some time to think further on this as I’ve been able to experience similar character traits of clarity and confidence, just not at the Reacher level yet.
When I started to reflect on my young life, I also noticed that I no longer had anything else to lose (except my family) as well. Ultimately, this served as a wake-up call for me as I now felt like I could walk into a room with a nothing to lose mentality – a big boost to my self-confidence.
Long story short, I now felt compelled to walk into any situation, meeting, bar etc., with brass balls confidence similar to how Russell Crowe walked into the arena in Gladiator.
If you’ve found this post to be remotely engaging, then awesome, and thanks. My quirkiness is what I like best about me, and don’t mind portraying it here.
Thank you Eric and I mean thank you. I love the character Jack Reacher and have read all the books. He is
definitely one of a kind. I was so upset when I heard Tom Cruise was playing his character that I tweeted about it ( you know how you picture someone from what the authors says about the character). I even got upset with Michael Connelly (who I also enjoy reading) who endorsed Tom Cruise for the part. I was also upset with Lee Child for not making sure he had a say in the choice of who played his character.
Oh! well I guess money talks. I enjoyed reading your blog. He definitely had balls and there was no lack of confidence.
Jack Reacher is my hero.
You’re welcome, and yes I was a little upset and of course caught off guard on the Tom Cruise choice. Most die hard Jack Reacher fans felt the same way. There isn’t even a striking resemblance of the two characters.
I’m glad you enjoyed reading the blog, and thank you for leaving a comment.
Cheers!
Eric
Love what you say re not being weighed down with material things. He was focused on one thing at a time (meaning more productive) and he didn’t get distracted with “crap”. I must read one of these novels (I seem to be a total square and keep reading biz or self help books!
Thanks Liz for the comment and yes, this is an awesome series. There is something about his character in which many people can relate deep down I feel. Funny thing is that Lee Child has a Jack Reacher novel entitled “Nothing to Lose,” which was a best-seller. I’m a bit behind on some of the novels, but this one will be next.
Hi Eric,
Though I haven’t read Jack Reacher, and am a Tom Cruise fan , I’m still willing to buy your arguments about qualities that this character possesses stemming from his background.
This is for sure that when one has a ‘nothing’ to lose attitude, the level of confidence is substantially higher. In such a scenario a decent blend of knowledge, experience and gut feeling (sixth sense!!!) tend to do wonders. We have seen the same especially in sports wherein supposed minnows upset the favorites on certain crucial days.
And yes, the point about distraction also hits the bulls eye. No distractions means more focus, resulting in better concentrated efforts, leading to higher productivity and success.
Hi Mr. Sumit,
Thank you for your comment and being able to expand this further! I tend to think outside the box and this was one of those articles I felt could really relate. External (and unnecessary) distractions are detrimental toward productivity, and having a nothing to lose mentality can provide a significant boost to our confidence. I like the added parts of “gut feeling” “experience” and “decent blend of knowledge” you added in.
I hope I wasn’t bashing Tom Cruise too bad. I cannot say that I am not a fan as I have enjoyed several of his films – just that him being cast as Jack Reacher caught me off guard. Then again as Ernestine pointed with an earlier comment, perhaps a big name like Tom Cruise was needed to garner some attention to get people to watch the film?
Hi – I stumbled upon your blog after Googling “What I learned from Jack Reacher”. I was sitting in my kitchen thinking of all the somewhat useful things I’ve learned reading the novels. For example, if you want to sneak up a flight of stairs, step on the edge, not on the center of the tread. You know, stuff like that (hopefully I’ll never have to know the best way to kill someone without making any noise.) Anyway I thought, I bet someone out there has put a list of things on the web. But it seems that’s not true. It would be fun to compare lists, so all you Jack Reacher fans, get posting!
Thanks Maureen for the comment and glad you were able to stumble on my blog from a Google search. His novels, along with the Brad Thor novels that feature Scot Harvath are something else. Reacher, however, has better ways of processing information and solving problems using some unorthodox techniques I find. And yes, it is quite interesting to learn of all the stuff that we may hopefully not use:-)
It would be awesome to see such a list for people to add and build onto!