Episode #260: Mark Divine – How To Create An Unbeatable Mind

At twenty-six Mark Divine graduated as Honor Man (#1-ranked trainee) of SEAL BUD/S class number 170. Mark served for nine years total on active duty and eleven as a Reserve SEAL, retiring as Commander in 2011.  His leadership of teams was so effective the government tasked him with creating a nationwide mentoring program for SEAL trainees.  He earned his MBA at NYU.  In 2007 he launched the SEALFIT program to provide transformational personal and team training experiences. The training utilizes an integrated warrior development model he developed, called Unbeatable Mind, which draws from his 20 years as a SEAL and business leader, 25 years as a martial artist and 15 years as yoga practitioner.  Mark has written has written four books, including The Way of The SEAL, and Unbeatable Mind.

Episode #260: Mark Divine – How To Create An Unbeatable Mind

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The Learning Leader Show

“Do today what others aren’t willing to do.  You’re 20X more capable than what you think.”

Show Notes:

  • Sustaining excellence:
    • People who have practices that value excellence and practice it regularly
    • Optimized training, sleep, and balance
    • Mental health:
      • Meditation, nature, learning, reducing potential to be stuck in biases
    • Emotional health:
      • Not afraid of going to therapy, spritual
  • Why is therapy helpful?
    • Mark married a therapist
    • They can be an emotional coach
    • “It’s preventative maintenance” –> Must be proactive
    • A “check up from the neck up”
  • You should always be investing in improving your “self”
    • Be mindful – yoga, zen.  It’s an evolutionary skill to help you connect at a deeper level
  • Why become a Navy SEAL?
    • Got MBA and a CPA — Got a job on Wall Street and hated it after three months
    • Started Zen meditation… It changed his brain
    • It created a structured program to look within himself and reflect
    • Mark did not like what was happening in the outer world (with his job)
    • He was meant to be a warrior and a leader
  • Did he ever have doubts?
    • No… Because he had prepared for the difficult moments through visualization and fully understanding his WHY
    • “I created total certainty in my mind. 100% that I was going to become a SEAL. I won in my mind.”
    • This outlook helped him finish #1 overall in his BUD/S class
  • How can we apply this to our world?  Outside of the military?
    • You must deeply care about what you’re doing… And then visualize your success.
    • A “personal practice of excellence”
    • “It must be something in your vision that you are really passionate about”
    • “Visualize it as a completion.  Visualize doing it to completion.”
    • “You’re the type of person who is worthy of completing that challenging task… Of achieving THAT”
  • How do you respond to skeptics?
    • The science backs it up… Do your research
    • Give it a try… Why wouldn’t you?
  • VUCA = Volatility, Uncertainty, Complex, Ambiguous — How to handle these situations
  • Creating a decentralized organization — Why this works in the military and in business (trust and certainty)
  • Why you must “learn to embrace risk” — Cannot be afraid of failure… And the plan must be flexible
  • “Do today what others won’t” — 20X more capable than what you think
  • “Society has weakened us… Everything is easy now.  You need to force yourself to do hard things.”
  • “Challenge leads to growth.”
  • “Your body will adapt to the new reality.”  “Push it past where you think it can currently go”
  • “You must challenge yourself every single day”
  • Exercise – Write your own obituary.  Think “What would people say about me?”
    • Do the deep self awareness work to “know thyself”
    • “If you don’t stand for something, you’ll fall for everything”
  • “Derive your passion around purpose. Create your set of principles.”
  • Originally, there was a scathing obituary written for Alfred Nobel… It was meant for his twin brother, but there was a mistake and someone wrote it about him.  It changed his life.  He was not aware of how badly he was thought of… And he became known for peace moving forward.  So much so… That they named a prize after him.
  • How Brad Stevens and Bill Belichick have mastered the art of coaching
  • Why the “hacking movement” is not good according to Mark
  • There must be deep learning over many years to get to mastery level of anything
  • Simplify = Be narrow on what you want, get rid of everything else. And focus
  • Use the “Get To Know You Document“

“If you don’t stand for something, you’ll fall for anything.”

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Episode 234: Jocko Willink — Why Discipline Equals Freedom