Former SEAL Mark Divine shares the secrets of true mental toughness.
What separates survivors from quitters in extreme challenges? When you look at the tactics used by successful SEALs, SEALFIT graduates, ultra-endurance athletes and survivors of natural disasters, they are surprisingly similar.
In the case of BUD/s selection or SEALFIT Kokoro Camp, quitting means you get a blanket and a cup of coffee. However, you must then deal with the long-term pain of regret. In the event of a firefight, accident or natural disaster, the stakes are much higher: life or death. Quitting is simply not an option.
So how can you learn to treat every worthy obstacle with the same hair-on-fire intensity as the life-and-death ones? The answer to this question is the Holy Grail of mental-toughness research. How can we train ourselves to make both minor and serious decisions with clarity and strength during our weakest moments? A single bad decision, made in a moment of weakness, can have disastrous consequences.
What follows are some tactics we teach at SEALFIT to help stay motivated, clear-headed and in control of our decisions so we can stay in the fight when it gets really shitty.