Picture this: It is World War II. Yeah, Axis vs The Allies.
How the hell does a man manage to earn himself both the Iron Cross, Nazi Germany’s highest honor, while also being made a Most Excellent of the British Empire?
Enter Juan Pujol.
Experiencing the atrocities of the Spanish Civil War, Pujol, having no experience in espionage and no James Bond movies to use as reference, had the undeterred wish to become a spy.
So he contacted the British Embassy in Madrid, offering his services as a spy.
And yeah, of course he was rejected.
Brits said no. But Pujol was going to be a spy whether they liked it or not.
He fabricated a false identity as a pro-Nazi Spanish Government official, and got the balls to play his farce in the face of the Gestapo.
And they bought into it.
Pujol quickly became a German informant. The German government granted him a monthly allowance and ordered him to relocate to London.
Of course he had no intent on doing that.
Instead, he moved to Portugal, a key neutral ally of Great Britain, and started to provide Nazis with blatantly false information.
The Germans thought he had successfully built an effective spy network (27 informants strong) gathering information for him.
Not a single one of them existed. Pujol was just sitting comfy in Lisbon just creating fake agent after fake agent. And the Germans were funding all of them.
Gestapo officers spent countless resources chasing down made-up convoys, chasing after imaginary double agents, based on the information Pujol was providing them.
He just made them believe they were always a little too late.
Eventually, the British Secret Service (MI6) contacted him.
Pujol played a key role on Operation Fortitude, making Nazis believe that Allied troops were going to attack on Pas-de-Calais, rather than on the beaches of Normandy.
The Normandy landings ended up being the pivotal point in the liberation of France.
What can we learn from Pujol’s adventures?
Sometimes you gotta create your own chances. You can’t expect other to always think you are just the right person for the job.
Savvy people will seize opportunities. Chads will make their own.
Not only that, but Pujol didn’t let rejection dictate his decisions. And once he was rolling, he had the courage and determination to keep up his blatant farce. Conviction in what you are doing is the name of the game.
You don’t need knowledge, approval, or hefty resources to allow yourself toÂ