Michelangelo, Colonel Trautmann, and the Authentic You
Michelangelo famously claimed that he didn't "create" his masterpieces. He simply saw the figure trapped inside the block of marble and chipped away everything that wasn’t the statue. When he looked at a raw, jagged slab of Carrara marble, he saw the David. His job wasn't to add limbs–it was to remove the excess stone.
Centuries later, Colonel Samuel Trautmann gave the same masterclass in personal identity to John Rambo in the mountains of Thailand:
It's like a sculptor who sees the statue inside the stone. He just chips away what doesn't belong until he sees it. You're a full-blooded combat soldier. You have to accept what you are.
Trautmann wasn't trying to change Rambo–he was telling him to stop pretending he was something he wasn't. He was telling him to stop trying to "add" a peaceful monk identity onto a man whose core was carved for the arena.
Whether you are looking at a 16th-century statue or an 80s action icon, the lesson is the same–You aren't a project that needs to be built from scratch. You are a masterpiece that needs to be uncovered.
Most of us approach our adult years like a construction project. We view ourselves as an empty site where we must constantly haul in new materials—more degrees, more "life hacks," more titles—to build a person of value.
But if you’ve been in the arena for forty years, your problem isn't that you’re missing pieces. Your problem is that your true self is buried under a mountain of debris:
The "Uncle Ernie" Imprints: The expectations of parents who gave you their map, not yours.
The Career Crust: The corporate behaviors and "masks" you wore to survive the long years of professional survival.
The Perfectionist Shell: The stylized reality we project to prove we are "ready" to a world that only rewards the finished product.
This isn't "you." It’s just the excess stone. As Trautmann would say, you're trying to "turn off" your nature to fit a role that doesn't belong to you.
It’s not just about fighting off "viral" ideas from the outside–it’s about having the discernment to look at your own life and say: This is not part of my statue.
When you practice the "Art of Subtraction," you stop asking "What else can I do?" and start asking:
What am I doing only because I’m afraid of being judged?
Which "goals" on my list actually belong to a version of me that no longer exists?
What part of my identity is just "debris" from a job or a lifestyle that is no longer my mission?
Chipping Away: The Coffee Talk Practice
Sculpting is a slow, rhythmic process. You don't take a sledgehammer to the marble; you use a chisel and a mallet, one strike at a time.
Next time you’re sitting with your coffee, don't look for the "Next Big Move." Look for one piece of "non-authentic stone" you can chip away.
Chip away the noise: If a social media feed makes you feel like you need to "add" more to be worthy, unfollow it. That’s a strike of the chisel.
Chip away the "shoulds": If you’re following a routine just because it's what "successful people" do, but it makes you feel like you're dying inside, stop. Go back to what makes your heart whisper.
Chip away the mask: Speak one radically honest truth today, even if it feels "unpolished."
The Result is the Authentic Self
The goal isn't to become a "New You." That’s just adding more paint to a statue that’s already perfect underneath.
The goal is to finally meet the person who has been there all along. When you remove the debris of the 20-year career and the external expectations, you don't find a "better" version of yourself. You find the authentic version.
As the Colonel might put it: You stop trying to be the monk just to fit in, and you start being the warrior you were built to be.
Put down the blueprints and pick up the chisel–your David is waiting.
Until next time,
Scott and Lennart