by Dominic Mann
It’s not the smartest, richest, or best educated that succeed in this world…
Nor is it the strongest men, the tallest men, or the best swimmers that become Navy SEALs…
It’s those that want it the most.
Navy SEAL Principle #3: Create a mental trigger to get through the direst situations
THE PRINCIPLE
“By eliminating the quit option and connecting the task to the bigger sense of “why” it was important to do in the first place (which is connected to why you are here on this planet), then you can persevere.”
— Mark Divine, former Navy SEAL
In the previous section, we took a look at the importance of having a burning desire and how it is the factor that determines whether or not a man gets through Hell Week (and the rest of BUD/S). You then discovered how you can replicate this Navy SEAL principle by pursuing a mission for which you have a burning desire.
Now, let's take a look at a very closely related technique used by Navy SEALs to endure particularly tough challenges: Creating a trigger.
What is a trigger?
A trigger is a mental image of the one thing in this world that is most important to you. For some Navy SEALs, that might be their child—who they want to see grow into a man or woman. For others, it might be elderly parents who need them. For higher ranking SEALs, it might be seeing all their men return from a mission unharmed.
Regardless of what it is, your trigger must be something for which you would live and endure anything for. (Note that this may—and probably will—change over the course of your life.)
When you’re in an incredibly difficult or dangerous situation, or are on the verge of quitting, pull the trigger. That said, overusing your trigger will diminish its effectiveness. SEALs recommend saving it for only the direst situations.
Your trigger serves as the ultimate motivation to get through the crisis at hand.
In his book, SEAL Survival Guide: A Navy SEAL’s Secrets to Surviving Any Disaster, former Navy SEAL Cade Courtley describes his own use of this technique:
“When I was going through BUD/S, my trigger was seeing myself walking across the stage at graduation and looking out at family and friends as I was handed my certificate of completion—that image made me endure. But once I got to a SEAL team and took on the incredible responsibility of leading men into life-threatening situations, my trigger was the image of all my men returning from a mission unharmed. I was not going to attend any of my guys' funerals—not on my watch—and that made me pull my trigger and do whatever needed to be done to keep my men alive.”
APPLICATION
You can use this Navy SEAL tactic of having a trigger image to get you through difficult situations in your own life.
For example, you might want to persevere through the pain of building a strong body or losing weight. Or perhaps you want to fight your way through particularly tough situations in the grueling process of building a successful startup—if that’s your goal. Regardless of what your goals are or your mission is, creating a trigger image can help pull you through particularly dire situations.
In my own life, I used to know a salesman whose trigger image (though he didn’t call it that) was taking his parents and family travelling around the world. When he felt down, he’d remind himself of this. For another guy I knew, it was to go back to his country and work on eradicating the damaging corruption plaguing his small nation.
Here is an excerpt from SEAL Ethos:
"I will never quit. I persevere and thrive on adversity. My Nation expects me to be physically harder and mentally stronger than my enemies. If knocked down, I will get back up, every time. I will draw on every remaining ounce of strength to protect my teammates and to accomplish our mission. I am never out of the fight."
Notice the words “My Nation” and “my teammates”? SEALs have a higher purpose. It’s not the typical, “I want to make more money” or “I want to be cool.” They have a mission that transcends themselves. And it is from this higher purpose that they draw their strength.
THE ACTIONABLE TAKEAWAY
Find the one thing you deeply care about and use that as the driving force in your pursuit of your mission.
Navy SEAL Principle #4: Systems, process, and discipline equals freedom
THE PRINCIPLE
“Our freedom to operate and maneuver had increased substantially through disciplined procedures. Discipline equals freedom.”
— Jocko Willink, retired Navy SEAL
For Navy SEALs, efficiency and precision is a matter of life and death. They have systems in place and processes to follow, because when you’re killing Osama bin Laden, extracting a heavily guarded hostage, or seizing a stolen ship from armed pirates, you can’t afford to make mistakes.
SEALs systematize everything from how to make split second decisions on the battlefield (they use what is called the “OODA loop”) to creating bulletproof missions (which they do by going through an exercise called “FITS”). They also have processes for everything else they do—from communicating with team members to how they position themselves and identify targets.
Have you ever noticed that it’s far easier to write something up—such as a report—when you have an exact structure to follow? Or that it’s far easier to build something—whether it be a business or a machine—when you have a pre-existing template, rather than starting from scratch every single time?
This is something SEALs are aware of and exploit. They systematize almost everything they do in order to increase efficiency and speed.
Former Navy SEAL Jocko Willink told Business Insider for the article Retired Navy SEAL: Discipline is Freedom, “what’s interesting is that the more strict we were with our standard operating procedures, the more freedom we actually had to operate faster and more efficiently because everyone knew what to do.”
Willink also mentioned that he was inspired to take this approach after observing that the highest performing SEALs were those with the most disciplined morning routines, getting up early and preparing for the day’s missions while others slept.
Having systems and processes in place, in Willink’s words, “meant that they could operate without my input. They already knew what was expected, and they executed accordingly. They made decisions based on the disciplined structure we had, and that meant they could execute faster and with confidence. The disciplined structure we had allowed that freedom."
So how can you apply this principle of freedom through structure to your own life? Let’s take a look…
APPLICATION
You’ll notice that a large majority of the world’s leading entrepreneurs, CEOs, leaders, and innovators have consistent daily routines. Steve Jobs famously wore the same clothes every day (and, though less famous, also ate the same thing for breakfast every morning). Mark Zuckerberg, too, wears the same thing every day. Jack Dorsey, the founder and CEO of both Twitter and Square, has themes for different days of the week—for example Monday is management, Tuesday is product, Wednesday, is marketing, and so on. (As a side note, Steve Jobs also had a similarly consistent schedule regarding what to do on each week day.)
I could list more examples of ultra-successful men and women that utilize the power consistent daily routines, but I think you get the point.
Creating structures, processes, and routines frees you to not only refine and make them faster and more efficient, but it also frees to you to focus on the more important things. In the case of Navy SEALs, achieving their mission’s objectives. In the case of entrepreneurs and CEOs, achieving their company’s goals and providing value to customers.
THE ACTIONABLE TAKEAWAY
Make a list of all the things you do. Everything from buying groceries and cooking food to going through your inbox at work and writing up quarterly reports.
Then, see how you can systematize these everyday actions. Create a routine. Over time, refine and make this routine more efficient.
You’ll very quickly find that adding stru
cture to your life is, paradoxically, actually quite liberating. As Gustave Flaubert wrote, “Be regular and orderly in your life, so that you may be violent and original in your work.”
Navy SEAL Principle #5: The 4 keys to extreme mental toughness
As I’m sure you already know, BUD/S (i.e. SEAL training) is one of the toughest things a man could subject himself to—both physically and, to a greater extent, mentally.
While this helps weed out the weak, it does have one downside: a very small minority of men get through. The vast majority—often up to 80 percent or more, quit.
In recent years, as war has become increasingly waged by small teams of highly trained special forces rather than giant armies of infantrymen, the need for Navy SEALs has gone through the roof. The U.S. Navy responded to this increasing need by calling in psychologists to identify ways to help more men get through the grueling training. After all, as the BUD/S instructors say, it’s 10 percent physical strength and 90 percent mental strength.
So how did the psychologists recommend the U.S. Navy increase the mental toughness of their SEALs?
Here’s the four pillars of mental toughness they identified…
MENTAL TOUGHNESS PILLAR #1: SET BITE-SIZED GOALS
The first key to SEAL-like mental toughness is to set goals and break them down into little chunks.
What the psychologists found was that it wasn’t the men that had one big goal that made it through training, but the men that set lots of little goals—“sub-goals” if you will.
Their goal is to become a Navy SEAL. The men that successfully made it through training were those that broke that goal down into bite-sized chunks. For example, if they’re going through the 90-minute “grinding” session before breakfast, they might tell themselves, “I will not quit until breakfast.” Or if they’re going for an endless run down the beach, they might tell themselves, “I’ve got to make it to that big tree [or yellow car, sign post, etc.].” Rather than allowing their mind to flood with images of the countless days of pain and suffering yet to come, they focus only on getting through what they are doing right now.
As former Navy SEAL Eric Greitens wrote in Resilience:
“It was the darkest moment for so many of because they weren’t thinking about what was right in front of us. They were thinking about everything that was to come. And in their minds, what they hadn’t yet seen or touched or tasted turned monstrous.”
So it comes down to this: When things get tough, focus on what is right in front of you. Focus on the moment. Don’t allow your mind to obsess over what is yet to come.
MENTAL TOUGHNESS PILLAR #2: USE THE POWER OF VISUALIZATION
One of the hardest tests (with one of the highest failure rates) trainees go through has them be harassed/attacked by instructors while performing emergency drills underwater. The instructors will cut off their oxygen supply, knock their mask off, tie up their scuba pipes, and so on.
Needless to say, this is incredibly stressful and can cause incredible panic due to our instinctive fear of drowning.
To pass the test, the trainee must remain calm. If the instructor finds they fail to remain calm, they fail the test.
So what did the psychologists find that the SEALs who successfully passed the test had in common?
Mental visualization. By mentally going through this test in their mind, the trainees prepare their mind and subconscious. When they do the real thing, their brain feels as if they’ve already done it, and so they are much calmer. This allows them to calmly and effectively deal with their air getting cut off, their scuba gear getting all tied up, and their mask knocked off without panicking or succumbing to confusion and fear.
But what does this mean for you?
When you encounter stressful situations (e.g. public speaking, a pitch, a job interview, a high-stakes sporting event, etc.) in life, you can prepare by mentally rehearsing and going through those situations in your mind.
Another underrated component of visualization that Navy SEALs utilize for high-stakes missions is visualizing in order to find potential problems. This allows the SEALs (and you, if you apply this technique) to find solutions and prepare ahead of time.
MENTAL TOUGHNESS PILLAR #3: MASTER YOUR SELF-TALK
You know that little guy/gal in the back of your head that just never shuts up? Well, as you probably know, that fella’s not always very encouraging. Often s/he tells you not-so-nice things like, “You’re an embarrassment!”, “You can’t do this… it’s too hard!”, “What will people think of you?”, and so on.
While you might not think your self-talk is that big of a deal, for Navy SEALs, it’s everything.
We talk to ourselves at a rate of between 800 to 1500 words a minute. And so, needless to say, your self-talk directly affects your mood. However, Navy SEALs learn to flip the detrimental power of negative self-talk on its head, making it one of the most effective techniques for staying mentally and emotionally resilient.
It all comes down whether you let your inner voice break you down and want to quit or build yourself up and encourage you to push on.
In his book, The Way of the SEAL, former Navy SEAL Mark Divine recounts a story that does a great job of demonstrating the power of self-talk.
On the Thursday of his Hell Week, Divine was caught joking with another student. Deciding he wanted Divine out of SEAL training, the instructor pulled him aside and gave him an endless barrage of tough exercises with the intention of making him quit. Mark Divine writes:
“I’m gonna make you quit, and I ain’t gonna leave until you do,” he [the instructor] said with a matter-of-fact smile. I smiled back at him, which he definitely didn’t like. He smiled wider. “Let’s start with one thousand eight-count body builders.”
So how did Divine get himself through it? He decided to keep a good attitude—a positive state of mind—with humor and positive self-talk. As he writes in The Way of the SEAL, he wasn’t about to quit:
“Okay,” I thought, “time to dig deep. He’ll have to kill me to get me to quit, so I had better pass out doing these builders before I die.”
Despite not having had a wink of sleep for nearly five days due to continuous training, he was able to get himself to 700 reps by simply talking to himself positively. To finish off the remaining 300, Divine started laughing to make himself feel better. In The Way of the SEAL, Divine wrote:
“I looked Instructor Evil in the eye and said, “Easy day, this is fun.”
“He smiled at me, genuinely this time, and said, “Get back with your class, Divine. Nice job.”
Another incredibly powerful way to become mentally tougher and reinforce positive self-talk is to have a short, powerful mantra. Whenever you’re in a tough situation, repeat it to yourself.
Mark Divine’s mantra to keep him going through training was, “Looking good, feeling good, oughta be in Hollywood.” Another Navy SEAL mantra is Richard Machowicz’s, “Not dead, can’t quit!”
Similarly, former Navy SEAL Eric Greitens suggests some simple mantras in his book Resilience: “Concentrate. Breathe.” “Good job, do it again.” “Stay tough.”
There’s also the famous, “Tough times don’t last, tough men do.”
If you work in business, you could make it, “mighty”, “titan”, “focus on results”, or whatever works best for you.
In the end, it all comes down to this: To become a champion, you must walk, talk, and think like a champion.
MENTAL TOUGHNESS PILLAR #4: AROUSAL CONTROL
Yet another incredibly mentally demanding test that SEAL trainees go through is one in which they have their wrists and ankles tied and get chucked into a pool.
Counterintuitively, the most important part of this test is not floating or swimming in order to breathe, but to control their fear of drowning—arousal control.
Trainees that get stressed and panic will not only fail the test for failing to remain calm, but they will struggle to do what is necessary to be able to breathe.
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sp; Meanwhile, the SEAL trainees that are able to control their arousal and remain cool, calm, and collected will have no problem surviving situations like this.
So how do they do it? How do they override their instinctive, knee-jerk reactions to stressful situations? (Think of our primal responses that are largely beyond our control, like shaking hands, sweaty palms, dilating pupils, etc.)
To remain calm in intensely stressful situations, Navy SEALs practice the 4x4 breathing technique.
What is 4x4 breathing?
The SEALs slowly breathe in for four seconds (i.e. fill 25 percent of their lungs per second) and then steadily breathe out for four seconds.
It is also important that you breathe deeply using your diaphragm (i.e. breathe into your belly, not your chest). Breathing tightly using your chest will only make you more stressed. So, as they say, “breathe into your balls.”
