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Mental Toughness is very powerful, as illustrated by its central place in Special Operations Forces (SpecOps) training, but is often misunderstood for persistence, which is only a part of it.
It forms the backbone of what it takes for US Navy Seals (USNS) candidates to go through the BUD/s selection course, arguably the most intense and selective SpecOps training in the western world (not a specialist about Russian specops training, it could be even more extreme..)
Movnat training as part of the FFS is, in my opinion, the best way for regular persons like you and me to develop and increase our Mental Toughness. It’s not by chance that Erwan Le Corre, the creator of the Movnat method, was invited to train Seal Team three in Hawaii. I’ll now go through the definition of MT I find the most appropriate before looking at how we can develop it over time. I’ll take examples
Mental Toughness is a state of mind that combines, at least, the following three attributes:
Everyone would probably agree that the three mental traits described above are desirable. In combination, they provide what I think is Mental Toughness for a person. The key question is: how do you develop them?
There are a number of Mental strategies and approaches that can be used, most used by SpecOps training, including USNS training. They can also be practiced, at a more mundane but nonetheless effective level, through Movnat training.
This phrase is written on the Grinder, the place where morning Physical Training is held during BUD/S. That approach helps Seal students graduate from BUD/S and is also key in developing persistence and resilience. Take it to heart, it’s a powerful mantra.
How does it help? It seems simple but it really does shift your outlook on life from expecting negative surprises from time to time to expecting them every single day. And the day after there’ll be more, and so on. It doesn’t mean seeing life negatively either, as your achievements are very positive, but it means knowing they won’t come easy.
You go to sleep knowing tomorrow will be more difficult than today. And you wake up ready to tackle whatever life throws at you, knowing life is not fair nor easy. Going through the day without obstacles to overcome? Savor your luck, for you know tomorrow will be different.
A corollary is the other USNS saying: “Training is never over.” BUD/S training is the toughest of all military special forces and they then go through another 6 months of advanced training before earning their trident and Seal status. So you’d think those guys are then pretty armed to deploy with their teams and accomplish anything right? Wrong: they join their assigned teams with the title of “new guy” and are trusted with literally nothing. All seal teams do physical training, run and swim on a daily basis because even though they’re in top shape, they need to improve even further. They train other specialties. They train as a platoon. Whatever they do, they keep training against ever increasing standards. Think about that if you think you’ve achieved a level where you’re satisfied with yourself. Raise your goals, you’re capable of more. And yes, that also means tomorrow won’t be any easier because you’re now aiming higher.
This saying is common to many SpecOps training and is powerful in its own right. Again, it reverses the baseline of the normal. Your new normal should be uncomfortable. It doesn’t mean you’re always uncomfortable, but mentally the exception is now being comfortable, not the reverse. It doesn’t mean being miserable either, it only means owning and mastering being uncomfortable.
How exactly do you do that? These strategies will help:
A phrase often repeated by BUD/S instructors is “It pays to be a winner.”. That describes the fact that the winners of the physical challenges get to rest while the middle of the pack moves on to the next challenge and the last ones are actually targeted for more punishing challenges at the end of the day in addition to all the other challenges they already did. All this is meant to impress the fact that trainees should always give it their all and use maximum effort without holding back.
How to try and apply this in real-life though?
The best Mental Toughness books are all coming from the same place: US Navy Seals training and memoirs, written by actual Seals, who are far from the brute force guys you may be taking them for. If you want to explore that domain, the books below are a fantastic intro.
By DH Xavier (pseudonym). The single most useful book from this list. Why? Because it literally is a manual to go through BUD/S, the renowned 6-months initial training and selection course. What makes this book powerful is that there is isn’t any sugar-coating or political correctness. Yes, there is a lot of foul language. If you’re easily offended, this isn’t the book for you. The flipside is that you get to learn exactly what is going on at BUD/S, which is exceptionally difficult. You can’t help but be in awe of the persistence of the guys who make it and see your own life and struggles in a different way. Highly recommended.
By Robert Adams. What makes this book precious is that it’s zooming in on arguably the most difficult evolution of BUD/S and that it was written by a Seal who later went on to complete medical school and is looking back at Hell Week with this new knowledge. Hell Week is where most candidates drop from the selection and it comes after several weeks of training. Five and a half days of constant physical exercise, mental harassment, cold exposure, with only 3-4 hours of sleep at most. The knowledge that men go through this gruelling trial and the insights added to the commentary are enough to make you forget about the difficulties you’re having while training or through your day.
By Dick Couch. Couch is both a very gifted writer and a former Seal himself. He’s been allowed to follow Class 228 through BUD/S. His rendition of the training, along with all his detailed observations is precise and invaluable. He’s observing from the outside but adding insights from his own BUD/S experience. The fact it’s not a pure first-person account makes it a bit less powerful in terms of using empathy to grow your own mental toughness. But the description of the obstacles and trials faced are the best and is invaluable if you want to dig deeper.
By Dick Couch. This book is the follow-up work by the same author following another class of Seal Candidates for their next and final Qualification course, which they accede to after graduating from BUD/S. I would only recommend this book if you’re really interested in getting the most out of studying Seal training as this focuses on the mental rigours, how they plan operations, etc. Still very interesting and with lots of lessons, but definitely more intricate and less easily transposable to real life.
By Stephen Templin. The author isn’t a Seal but went through almost the entirety of BUD/S with exceptional performance before quitting with a stellar track-record in the last few days of the training to become a missionary. With such an author, you can probably guess this is a very entertaining first-person account of BUD/S. Still lots of insights, but the entertainment is definitely there. It also shows you the sort of character who eventually become seals and how you can try to emulate them a bit. I actually can’t resist to quote a passage from the book, where the Devils is an instructor at BUD/S:
I stole a glance over at the Devil, and he was placing a spider—a big daddy longlegs—on a student, who showed a little nervousness but not enough of a reaction to satisfy the Devil. He took it back and put it on someone else, who started squirming and shaking.
“I hate spiders,” I muttered. Lieutenant Devil’s ears perked up. Here he comes. Lieutenant Devil put the spider on my forehead.
I kept as still as I could, waiting for the insect’s next move. In military march, we step off with our left foot, but the spider stepped off with its first right leg. Then its second left leg. All eight of its legs were so long and thin that they seemed to tremble as the spider moved down my face, tickling my eyebrows. It stopped, and its peanut-shaped body hovered above the bridge of my nose. Devil’s eager eyes opened wide. I watched the spider anxiously as it stepped on my lips.
Keep moving, keep moving.
When its abdomen was over my mouth, I steeled myself, opened wide, and inhaled, sucking in the daddy longlegs. Then I closed my mouth and took a couple of bites before swallowing. The bitter taste was worth the price of helping the Devil’s next victim. And well worth the look on Lieutenant Devil’s face.
By Chuck Pfarrer, a former Seal officer, member of the famed Seal Team Six and who turned to a writing career after retiring from the Teams. A lot to take from this book and it reads like a novel. Many lessons including not sweating the small hardships in life and just getting things done without pausing even faced with incredible contexts. My favorite part is the description of their landing in Lebanon amongst the fighting and not finding a suitable place to establish camp with the other allied forces present. They just dug their shelter in the sand of the beach and covered it with the sand-filled bags. Problem solved, easy…
By Howard E. Wasdin and Stephen Templin. Another fantastic memoir covering in detail some real-world operations. Again, the entertainment is definitely present. But the real value is in transposing the hardships they are facing, and how they face and surmount them in our everyday life.
Well, the first chapter anyway… We’re writing a book and we’d love to get your feedback on Chapter 1 plus all the other chapters as they are written.
You get the full book for free and we get early feedback. Plus you’ll get our newsletter. Are you in?
Well, the first chapter anyway… We’re writing a book and we’d love to get your feedback on Chapter 1 plus all the other chapters as they are written.
You get the full book for free and we get early feedback. Plus you’ll get our newsletter. Are you in?