Fighting Upfield

The Spartans carved their place in our history books by being some of the toughest, fiercest and most dedicated warriors the world has ever known. Masters of close-quarters combat, they studied and dissected the habits and tendencies of soldiers in battle. Coining the term roughly translated as “fighting downstream,” they labeled the tendency of a soldier to trade a few blows with an enemy before moving laterally to another opponent. The enemy combatant would usually oblige and himself also move along to engage with another foe. This process would continue with non-lethal strikes going back and forth before this dance would start all over with another participant.

Although still exposed to great risk, a soldier engaged in this behavior had little potential for a successful outcome because he would rarely stay engaged with a single combatant long enough to defeat him. Furthermore, indiscriminate hacks were generally employed rather than decisive strikes as fear and the sobering reality of potentially taking another human life wore away at the proficiency of the soldier’s attacks.

Young Spartans displaying the tendency to “fight downstream” in their training would be beaten mercilessly. Even as boys, the Spartans were trained to fight “upfield.” This meant a Spartan would always strive to press forward and, once engaged with an opposing soldier, would fight with him and him only until one of them fell, then move forward to meet his next foe. They were conditioned to always move forward and to see every fight through until completion.

While you may not be battling with swords and spears, I think there is a great life lesson in this – see your battles through until completion. Even if you lose, fight until the end. Most everyone around you will face obstacles and challenges, take a few hacks, and then move on to something else. They’ll engage for a while, but the battle might be longer or more difficult than anticipated so they will move “downstream” to take on another contest – another project, challenge, opportunity, relationship, etc. Most will not stay in the fight long enough to fail or succeed; they will simply move on.

Fight to the finish. And even if you fail, unlike the Spartan warrior, that’s not the end of the road for you. You will still have the opportunity to pick yourself up, treat your wounds, and move forward to attack a new objective. Fight upfield.

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