Elite

CHAPTER 12Guard Your Mind

Having worked alongside elite people my entire career I have noticed many commonalities. One is that elite people feel responsible for controlling the information that they allow into their minds. Sometimes they need to learn more information to become subject-matter experts and other times they need to remove harmful information that could be distractions. You are responsible for the information that you allow into your mind. This is because your thoughts will eventually turn into actions and your actions will ultimately turn into habits. Make no mistake about it, you are responsible for controlling your internal environment and guarding your mind.

Hell Week

I remember it as if it were yesterday. The sun was melting into the waters of the Pacific Ocean on the horizon. As the sun’s light shriveled into the black, cold waters of the sea, the heat from the day left with it. Every muscle in my body was fatigued. More than 24 hours of pure challenge was behind me now. I had carried boats over my head, been pushed to the limit with long telephone pole like logs, and ran race after race for more than a day straight.

The sun was leaving, but we would not sleep that night or the night after for that matter. In the first few weeks of BUD/S, the students must make it through the most grueling training that our military has to offer, Hell Week. In this week, we would run a total distance of nearly 200 miles, spend most of our time in borderline hypothermic ...