THE WAY OF THE SEAL

THINK LIKE AN ELITE WARRIOR

TO LEAD AND SUCCEED

BY MARK DIVINE

COMMANDER, U.S. NAVY SEALS (RETIRED)

WITH ALLYSON EDELHERTZ MACHATE

Copyright 2013 The Readers Digest Association, Inc.

All rights reserved. Unauthorized reproduction,

in any manner, is prohibited.

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Training Tools at a Glance

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Training Tools at a Glance (continued)

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Training Tools at a Glance (continued)

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Training Tools at a Glance (continued)

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Marks Weekly Training Plan

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Marks Weekly Training Plan (continued)

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Melanies Weekly Training Plan

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Melanies Weekly Training Plan (continued)

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Jeffs Weekly Training Plan

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Jeffs Weekly Training Plan (continued)

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Appendix 1: Focus Plans

Checking in with your focus plans regularly will lead you to take powerful KISS actions every

day. You wont waste time on anything that doesnt move you toward your goals. When you get superfocused every day, week, month/quarter, and year on those top two or three things that are

connected to your passion, purpose, and mission, your thoughts and actions naturally align.

When youre in alignment, its easier to stack up victories, which develops confidence, which in turn supports your simplifying efforts, and so on in an upward cycle of success!

Photocopy these worksheets as many times as you need. With each one, dont forget to fill in the appropriate date, month, quarter, or year.

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Appendix 2: Power Rituals

Performing these Power Rituals daily and as needed (they could be adjusted slightly for use just

before or after an important event, respectively) helps train your mind to start and end each day

and each important challenge in a positive, powerful performance zone state.

The Morning Ritual

When you awake in the morning, the first thing you will do is drink a large glass of fresh water,

and then sit comfortably with your journal in a quiet spacepreferably one dedicated to your reflective and visualization workand ask yourself the following empowering questions. Write down whatever comes up.

What and whom am I grateful for today?

What am I excited about and looking forward to doing today?

What is my purpose, and do my plans for today connect me to it?

How can I move the dial toward my goals today?

To whom can I reach out and serve or thank today?

Are my goals still aligned with my purpose?

Next, spend a minimum of five minutes Box Breathing, then spend a minimum of five

minutes in mindful movement (I do up to an hour some days). My preference is yoga, but tai chi,

chi gong, or a short mindful walk will work. Finally, before you start your day, review your

Daily Focus Plan. Make any adjustments to ensure its in alignment with the answers to your morning questions, and block time in your schedule for key project work or training.

The Evening Ritual

Before you settle in for the night, sit comfortably with your journal in a quiet spacepreferably one dedicated to your reflective and visualization workand ask yourself the following empowering questions. Write down whatever comes up.

Was I on and in the zone today or off and unbalanced?

What contributed to this feeling?

What were the top three positive things I accomplished or that happened today? What did I learn from them?

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Are there unsolved challenges I would like my subconscious mind to help me solve tonight?

What went wrong today and what is the silver lining?

Now enter a meditative state using deep or Box Breathing, and then enter your mind gym

in order to review your major goals and continue your ongoing visualization work. While in your

mind gym, put any questions or problems that are bugging you to your counselor or to your

subconscious. Pay attention to your dreams and any waking thoughts the next daythe answer will usually be there for you.

Pre-Event Ritual

Use this ritual when facing a major mission, race, or challenge and you simply must be at your peak.

Once habituated, this can be a five-minute exercise with a powerful impact on your performance.

First, as you approach the time of the event (depending upon the duration and difficulty

of the event, this can be days, hours, or minutes before go-time), take action to avoid external

distractions (some events, like a race or workout, have a known start time; others are not as

known, but this principle applies in either situation). So find a quiet space where you can be

alone, perhaps sitting in the car or in a separate room. If you are in a crowded area, just sit and

close your eyes and people will leave you alone. Dont worry about what others think about youtheyre likely jealous that you have the courage to take care of yourself instead of engaging in the common nervous pre-event chit-chat.

Next, perform a dirt-dive visualization to size up your performance in the event and size down your enemy. The enemy can be an actual opponent, other competitors, or even your

board of directors! In this visualization, see yourself dominating the situation, totally in control,

and see your competitor as capitulating, congratulating you, or weak and ineffectivewhatever is appropriate for your situation. Basically you want to see yourself as powerful and crushing the

challenge and your opposition as weak and easily overcome. Its important to do both parts of this visualization because we tend to give our opponents or challenges more power than they

deservewe need to cut them down to size and build ourselves up. Focus on your physiology and psychology during each stage of the event as you see it unfold in your mind. Perform deep

breathing during this dirt dive. This sets the stage for the rest of the ritual.

Next review your goals and strategy for the mission or challenge. See yourself

accomplishing these with ease. Double-check your strategy against the reality of the moment: Is

it KISS? Are there any last-minute modifications you need to make? Is there a way to make it

even simpler? Are you prepared for the unknown with contingency plans?

Finally, initiate an internal dialogue with a powerful mantra to maintain a positive mind-set,

speech, posture, and state of being as you finish your pre-event ritual and launch into performing.

Postevent Ritual

Begin with the Whats the Silver Lining? exercise. When youve completed that, youll want to redirect your attention to a new mission or challenge, and reengage your planning and

training. This will be an iterative process, but it can be started in this postevent ritual with some

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ideas jotted down about whats next. When I competed in the CrossFit Games Open, I had to think carefully about whether to do it againthe time commitment to train for the unique skills is intense and took me off-course a bit from the core SEALFIT physical training model. This

postevent course correction can reveal a lot of interesting things. What if you voluntarily took a

challenge like an Iron Man race, but you really did not enjoy the process or the event? Would you do

another Iron Man just because you can? I wouldnt waste major chunks of life training for something I didnt enjoy the first time! What is another goal or 20X challenge you can set instead?

For a business venture, it may be that your first shot was off the mark. Would you try the

same thing again, and if so, how would you adjust your approach? Most entrepreneurial ventures

take three or more shots to find the product or revenue model that gets the gears to click.

Reframing, reflecting, and redirecting your efforts will help you stay on purpose and moving on

the right goals. Ensure that in this process you also reconnect with your why and get squarely behind the new goal to reenergize yourself so you can hit it hard when you get back to the

playing field the next day.