The Way of the SEAL

Those are the 8 principles of the Way of the SEAL. They form the 8 chapters of the book. Before we take a quick look at a few of my favorite Big Ideas, I’d like to shine a light on Mark’s definition of a warrior—a definition that includes all of us.

He tells us that: “I consider the term ‘warrior’ to have a broader, more figurative meaning as one who is committed to mastering himself or herself at all levels, who develops the courage to step up and do the right thing, all while serving his or her family, team, community, and, ultimately, humanity at large.”

→ One committed to mastering himself or herself at all levels in service to his or her family, team, community and world. Amen.

Lest you think the “warrior” energy is too strong, remember Socrates, Rumi and the Buddha.

Socrates saw the path to mastery as the greatest and most important battle and told us: “I desire only to know the truth, and to live as well as I can… And, to the utmost of my power, I exhort all other men to do the same… I exhort you also to take part in the great combat, which is the combat of life, and greater than every other earthly conflict.”

Rumi gives us this gem: “The lion who breaks the enemy’s ranks is a minor hero compared to the lion who overcomes himself.”

While the Buddha tells us: “One who conquers himself is greater than another who conquers a thousand times a thousand men on the battlefield.”

Let’s own our warrior spirit in pursuit of the self-mastery that will most powerfully enable us to serve as profoundly as we can.

Front-sight focus. I LOVE this idea.

This is Principle #2. After we “Establish Your Set Point”—aka get clarity on your purpose and values (check out the Notes on Unbeatable Mind for a deeper look at this)—it’s time to identify your next most important goal and KEEP IT IN FOCUS as and until you crush it.

Front-sight focus. How’s yours?

When you set a goal do you start off towards it all fired up and then kinda sorta forget about it as things get a little tough? That’s not the Way of the SEAL.

Get clear on your target. Establish why it’s so important to you. KNOW you can achieve it (and if you can’t create that level of confidence, then shift it so you CAN—remember: challenging, meaningful AND feasible), then eliminate distractions and create immediate micro goals in pursuit of the big one.

That’s how we rock it. And, that’s basically a break down of Piers Steele’s award-winning formula (see Notes on The Procrastination Equation) breaking down hundreds of research papers on the science of motivation.

M = V x E / I x D ← Remember his equation? (You got the tattoo right?)

Motivation = Value x Expectancy / Impulsivity x Delay. Translated: Motivation = How much you want something times how much you think you can have it divided by how distracted you are times how far away the goal is.

Check out Conquering Procrastination 101 for more. For now, walk through that equation with your #1 goal right now. Where are you strong? What needs work? Keep your front-sight focus.

P.S. In terms of eliminating distractions, remember the Russian proverb that kicks off The ONE Thing (see Notes): “Chase two rabbits and catch none.”

This is from a chapter all about how to “Forge Mental Toughness.” Mark wrote an entire book about this which I HIGHLY recommend. Again, check out the Notes on Unbeatable Mind.

For now, it’s time to get our Sentinel on active duty—standing on guard at the gates of your consciousness. (I love that image.)

Imagine YOUR Sentinel now. Strong. Dignified. Absolutely (!) resolute in his or her commitment to protect your mind from all negativity.

Salute your Sentinel and thank him or her for their service. Now, let’s identify the precise means by which our Sentinel protects us. Remember: DIRECT.

Detect. We must NOTICE when our mind wanders to the negative. (Sounds easy but it’s not. This is why we meditate—training our minds to observe the contents of our consciousness rather than get mindlessly swept up by it!)

Interdict. You observed some enemy thoughts trying to take root in your mind. Now it’s time to interdict them. A good “Stop!” or “No!!” does the trick. The Sentinel is in charge.

Redirect. We’ve detected and interdicted. Now it’s time to redirect our minds to something positive. How can you swap out that negative thought with a more positive one? Do that.

Energize. Now we need to FEEL it. Smile. Strike a power pose. Seriously. Stand like a sentinel. POWERFUL. Take up space. Put your hands on your hips, your chest out and your head up tall and strong.

Might sound corny but Amy Cuddy’s research (see Notes on Presence) shows that holding “power poses” like that for as little as 2 minutes dramatically shifts your physiology in the right direction (testosterone up, cortisol down = more power). (And, of course, standing like a wilted flower does the opposite—reducing your power as your testosterone goes down and cortisol up.)

Communicate. Time to talk to yourself positively. “I’ve got this!!” “Let’s do this!!” Whatever fires you up. (In our interview, we joked about how much I love Mark’s mantra from his SEAL training. These days at the Johnson house, you might hear Emerson cruising around saying, “Looking good, feeling good, I should be in Hollywood!” Hah. (Of course, he has no idea what/where Hollywood is but super fun + funny. :)

Train. We’ve detected, interdicted, redirected, energized and communicated with ourselves. Now it’s time to train it. Not till you get it right. Until you can’t get it wrong. THAT’s mastery.

I salute you and your Sentinel. Let’s do this.

That’s from Principle 6: Break Things—all about applying total commitment, failing forward fast, seizing opportunity and innovating + adapting quickly.

Let’s get right to it: How do YOU commit?

Do you inject the uber-powerful energy your team and family and world can count on →
“YES! I’ve got this! #DONE.”

Or, a more wobbly, “Well, I’ll (*insert whiney voice with wringing hands*) try.”

The Way of the SEAL is all about #DONE. You say you’re going to do something and it’s DONE.

Period. That’s self-mastery. That’s the way we want to roll.

Remember: “Do or do not. There is no try.”

First: Yes, Mark has his SEAL trainees hold a push up position for FORTY-FIVE minutes.

It’s an exercise in 20X-ing their thinking—proving to them they can do way more than they think they can. But he doesn’t tell them to focus on the 45 minutes. He narrows their focus to the next ONE minute like Joe De Sena advised in Spartan Up! (see Notes), we need to focus on the next telephone pole—not the iceberg of pain of the ENTIRE project in front of us.

So, if you’ve got a big goal that’s freaking you out, break it down. Go Micro with your goals. What’s the smallest little tiny domino you can knock over next? Go crush that.

And, the rest of that Idea is goal genius. Simplify your battlefield (another Big Idea) by reducing your # of goals. Line up your dominoes. Check in daily to keep Mr. Mo on your side. #repeat.

TV news is toxic. Period. (Actually, exclamation point!)

Two quick things: First, as Alberto Villoldo tells us in One Spirit Medicine (see Notes), we’re exposed to more stimuli in a WEEK than our ancient ancestors were exposed to in a LIFETIME. Our nervous systems simply weren’t built to absorb *that* much information. It’s toxic.

As Alberto advises, “Nature designed the brain to deal with only one lion roaring at us at a time, not the entire jungle turning against us. … The media bring us news about wars and devastation happening in distant lands, but our fight-or-flight response operates only with local coordinates, and doesn’t understand far away. When we read about some catastrophic event, the thinking part of our brain grasps that it’s happening at another time and place. But the brain perceives images nonverbally and much faster. So when the hippocampus, which regulates the fight-or-flight response, is presented with streaming video of an atrocity, it registers it as happening now and nearby, and goes on high alert. The more damaged the hippocampus is by stress and toxins, the closer and more threatening the danger seems to be.”

Research confirms that. As Kelly McGonigal tells us in The Upside of Stress (see Notes): “One shocking study found that people who watched six or more hours of news about the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing were more likely to develop post-traumatic stress symptoms than people who were actually at the bombing and personally affected by it.”

Turn off the TV. And definitely quit watching TV news. (!!!)

Two genius lines: “Discipline is the spark that ignites the fire of habit.” + “When extraordinary efforts become commonplace, extraordinary results follow.”

Amen. Here’s to the discipline that makes the extraordinary possible as we master ourselves, optimize, actualize and give our greatest gifts in greatest service to our families and world.