Staying in the fight (Part 1)

Mark Divine, Founder, SEALFIT

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, the option to quit means that you get a blanket and cup of coffee. However you must then deal with the long-term pain of regret. In the event of a firefight, accident or disaster, the stakes are much higher - life or death. Quitting is simply not an option there.

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 the same clarity and strength as when we are strong, but in our weakest moments? A single bad decision, made in a moment of weakness, can have disastrous consequences.

Here 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.

Never give up on yourself. Quitting is simply NOT an option

Pain is temporary, quitting is forever. Whether it is the pain of seeing a long, complex project through to fruition, or the pain of getting through 50+ hours of hard core physical training, simply removing the quit option is the first step to ensuring victory.

Ultra Runner and SEALFIT coach Scott Morgan encourages us to endure through our darkest moments and hold off on making serious decisions at night, when things are at their most difficult in a race. Wait until the warming rays of sunlight peek above the horizon! Never giving up means that you permanently remove “quit” from your vocabulary, and do what is necessary (morally speaking) to survive (or accomplish a really difficult task).

Examples of those who did what was necessary to get the job done include:

· Marcus Luttrell, the “lone survivor” SEAL who fought his way out of what most would consider a no-win situation, outnumbered and outgunned 100 to 1. He beat the odds through shear tenacity, mental toughness and not ever quitting.

· Aron Ralston sawed his arm off to survive after he getting it trapped beneath a boulder. Would you?

· The Apollo 13 crew never gave up, even when everyone was gearing up for the inevitable news that the moon mission was lost in space. Through intense focus, creativity and never giving up in the bleakest of circumstances, they were able to navigate their tin can of a spaceship back to Earth. Really amazing!

On the other end of the spectrum is a peer of mine at Officer Candidate School named Bush. He was as gung-ho of a SEAL candidate as any who could “out-PT” me on any day. Yet Bush quit during our very first PT of BUD/s! Wow, I could not believe my eyes. “I just can’t do it” he said.

“What do you mean? We have been doing this every day for that last 4 months!” Still he quit. He left a back door open which he literally ran through at the first sign of serious hardship.

You must be like Luttrell, Ralston and the Apollo 13 crew, not like Bush. Close all doors to quitting. Remove it as an option. Never give up until you succeed, or die trying.

20X Factor: you are capable of 20 times more than you think you are

During Hell Week I heard this quote from an instructor. It stuck, and sure enough, by Thursday of Hell Week I was actually getting stronger and having fun. Most of my class had quit. What was going on? Once the mind accepted the new circumstances, it adapted and started to work with it.

I found myself enjoying the humor of the crazy instructor staff, and I was astounded how my body, despite 100 hours of no sleep and non-stop training, was getting stronger (though I admit there were moments of delirium as my mind struggled to deal with the lack of sleep).

Bottom line, this is the same experience ultra-runners and those who do extreme events have – a break down, then building back up as the body and mind adapt to the new, harsh reality of the circumstances. Through this you learn that you are truly capable of at least 20 times more than you previously thought. You undergo a psychological and physiological paradigm shift. After this experience, anything less than Hell Week looked easy. Our SEALFIT Kokoro camp is built upon this same concept. Don’t accept your self-imposed limitations. Dare to discover what you can truly accomplish!