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Copyright 2012 2013 Mark Divine

Shibumi
Introduction
Knowing your Why
Front Sight Focus
Simplifying the Battlefield
De-cluttering the External Environment
De-cluttering the Internal Environment
Setting Anchor
Habituate Power Thoughts and Power Actions
Power Rituals
Defining the Mission
Sizing Up the Goal
Clarifying the Mission
Envisioning the Mission
Preparing for Rapid Change
Front Sight Focus in Action
The Habits of Masters
Shibumi The Art of Effortless Perfection
The Mastery Course

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Introduction
Welcome to Lesson 12. Wow - what a journey it has been! I bet you are feeling pretty good right
now. I am excited that you had the discipline and determination to stick with Unbeatable Mind - it would
have been easy to quit or just fade away. According to our records over 95% of you who started this
program have made it to lesson 12. That is an amazing number when you consider how busy and
distracted things can be these days. That tells me that the program works and is making a difference.
This month you will become a Foundations Course graduate and forever part of the Unbeatable Mind
team. Together we will make a huge impact in the world.
Lesson 12 is a summary and look at how we can integrate Unbeatable Mind principles in our
daily lives. Ultimately our goal is what I call Shibumi, which means effortless perfection. But before
we get into the meat and potatoes of the lesson, I would like to look back at the road we have travelled
together. Then at the end of the lesson we will take a peek at the road ahead the Mastery Course where I hope we will continue our training together.
I designed the Foundation Course as a comprehensive overview of the philosophy and training
that I provide in person during our three week SEALFIT immersion Academy. This academy is a
warrior-athlete, warrior-philosopher and warrior-leader immersion experience. Trainees are cut off from
former lifestyles and train from sunrise to sunset in the warrior monastery or SOF selection school
tradition. The training covers all the principles of Unbeatable Mind and SEALFIT and all five mountains.
It is extremely demanding and equally rewarding. It is transformational.
Recognizing that the content and practices of the inner training would be valuable to those who
could not or were not ready to attend a SEALFIT Academy, I conceived of the notion of packaging the
content and distributing it online. I called it the Unbeatable Mind Academy instead of SEALFIT Online
Academy because I did not want folks to mistake it for a fitness-training program. The first group to trial
this program were SEALFIT followers who were eager to plunge into the training and already had an idea
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of what was coming based on their exposure to SEALFIT. As word spread we soon had folks from many
walks of life stay-at-home moms, execs, entrepreneurs, first responders, health care professionals, small
business owners, military members, athletes of all types and even teens. The principles of Unbeatable
Mind have helped hundreds of special ops candidates, many trainers and CrossFit box owners. They have
helped the U.S. Womens cycling team win a silver medal in the 2012 Olympics. I have heard from many
participants about their personal breakthroughs in all areas of life and it is truly humbling and rewarding
to be part of such a great group working on self-mastery and service daily.
Unbeatable Mind started with the book I wrote as a backdrop to introduce the philosophy, then in
Lesson one and two we established the First Premise of Unbeatable Mind. The First Premise is that we
must win in the mind before entering the battle. This is a metaphorical way of saying do the necessary
work on inner self, and in your teams inner selves, before launching a mission, project of going after a
major goal. In learning how to do this effectively, you ensure victory every time because you have
succeeded in the inner domain. How we do this becomes the next question. The First Premise lessons
give us a path to begin to cultivate this winning mind-set. This is achieved through developing your
witness, then utilizing tools to interdict debilitating negative thoughts and emotions waiting to knock you
down, and tools to re-direct and maintain a powerful pattern of mental concentration. The exercise what
dog am I feeding? is used to trigger the interdiction process. A carefully chosen Power Statement can
also interdict negativity, while a positive, emotionally laden mantra will keep your mind focused and
healthy. The end result is a positive mind and body, a relaxed mental focus allowing you to use your
analytical thinking process clearly while simultaneously tapping into your non-linear, subconscious
creative and intuitive thinking process. In this manner the First Premise sets the stage for us to maintain a
front sight focus to achieve whatever goals we set for ourselves, to overcome any obstacle and to thrive
in any crisis.
Lesson three provides a philosophical background in the disciplines of the warrior leader
developing a lifelong focus on Self Mastery and Service. These two principles lead to a host of other sub5
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disciplines which, when habituated, form powerful foundations for ethical behavior. We also look at the
five mountains of Unbeatable Mind and how these will play a role in developing as a whole person as
opposed to the typical unbalanced person. The key take-away message is that warrior leaders do not
leave any openings; rather they seek to master themselves through daily training and practice leading to
powerful thoughts and actions. Only then can we ensure that our actions are not out of selfishness and
ego, but rather out of service to our families, teams, communities and humanity at large.
Lesson four introduces the Integral Warrior model. We take a philosophical journey into the All
Quadrant, All Level, All Lines, All States model first introduced to the world by American philosopher
Ken Wilber. I noted that when I stumbled upon Wilbers work I was pleased to see how it lined up nicely
with the warrior ethos and our Five Mountain philosophy. The Integral Warrior model is our
adaptation that uses the five mountains as the developmental lines in the I quadrant. In lesson four my
goal is to engage you in the notion that you operate simultaneously as a Body, Mind and Spirit in the
spheres of Self, Team Culture, and an Organizational Structure. We come back to this framework time
and again during the follow-on lessons to make distinctions and deepen our insights into human behavior.
Lesson five begins our deep dive into the five mountains themselves. We look at physical
training, nutrition and the physiology of the Fight, Flight or Freeze process. My stated goal with this
lesson is to provide you the insights and tools to turn stress into success. The lesson includes the
SEALFIT physical training guide, which is a comprehensive resource to get you started on a functional
training regimen if you were not doing so already. We also introduce the Paleo diet and offer some
resources to get you aligned with a healthier food and fueling program.
In Lesson six we dive into mental development. My goal in lesson six is to focus you on the
broader definition of mind, as it is understood in many warrior disciplines. The great news is that science
is now validating these concepts through many different research projects such as brain wave research,
neuro-plasticity, the heart as a mind organ, intuition and others. The results confirm what warrior and

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many spiritual traditions have experienced for millennium that the human mind is much more complex
and powerful than we have acknowledged in the West. The new concept of mind includes more than the
brain in the effort of knowing things. The human mind can connect with external, non-local and nonlinear sources of knowledge. This area of research and training is very intriguing and promising for our
childrens future and us.
Continuing our walk through the Foundation Course, lesson seven gets emotional with a look at
the third mountain of emotional development. We introduced the notion of a shadow self driving our
background of obviousness. The background of obviousness is that set of subconscious belief systems
that drive our behavior without our consciously being aware of them. These beliefs can be so subtle and
unknown to us, but clearly obvious to an observer who does not share them or is from another culture.
Race relations, gender roles, work patterns (blue and white collar, educator, military, family, etc.) and
language nuances all fall into this background of obviousness. We also look at healthy and unhealthy
emotional states, and discuss the personal and social management of your emotions. The Shadow Yoga
exercise introduced is a powerful tool to transmute unhealthy emotional responses into healthy ones.
Admittedly this topic is a challenge for most of us, but nonetheless a crucial area of development for any
leader.
Lesson eight is a fun walk into the world of intuition and awareness development. Looking at
military research projects such as Trojan Horse and Stargate provided the backdrop to the follow-on
discussion of why intuition is an important, but lost, art. We looked at how SEALs spend a lot of effort
cultivating situational awareness. This awareness and the long periods of silence interspersed with
moments of sheer terror help to develop the warrior intuition that keeps Navy SEALs on the edge and out
of danger. SEALs will typically stop intuitively before walking into an ambush, and tend to find creative
solutions to thorny problems. They use their intuitive skills in these situations, not just their analytical
skills. I introduce the Mind Gym as our signature exercise for cultivating our own intuition through
deep, structured visualization.
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In lesson nine we focus on Kokoro, the merging of heart and mind in action. I personally love
lesson nine because it sums up the warrior mind set and training methods. These are powerful methods
that will move mountains in your life as you develop the discipline to take the massive action implied.
Kokoro is found through challenge of both a physical and mental nature. This lesson brings home a
primary concern of Unbeatable Mind that we must train and practice daily using a well-conceived plan.
We must challenge ourselves to find our 20x again and again. Through this process we develop our
self-mastery and personal power through an upward spiral of success, awareness and momentum.
Lessons ten and eleven bring the Unbeatable Mind principles into the realm of leadership and
teamwork. Developing authenticity as a leader and follower, as well as strategies for leading and team
effectiveness are offered. I suspect these lessons will be extremely useful for professionals, entrepreneurs
and executives, and you will come back to them often for ideas and inspiration. They will be a source for
further discussion in the Mastery Course and specialized training going forward. This brings us to the
end of the foundation framework, where lesson twelve wraps things up with a discussion of how to
maintain your front sight focus in a busy and turbulent world.
Remember I never said it would be easy, I just said it would be worth it. Hooyah!
-- Mark Divine

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Front Sight Focus


Flashback. In the pitch black the sound of the helicopters rotor blades is deafening. The Jumpmaster
gives the thumbs up as the light turns green. You leap out into the dark. The static line does its job and
pulled the main chute from its rig. You count one thousand one, one thousand two, one thousand three
then look up to check the canopy. A-ok. Phew, all looks good.
Ahead in the darkness you see the vague outline of a teammates canopy. Something is wrong.
Upon closer look you see that he is coming toward you fast. Standard operating procedure for a mid-air
collision is for both jumpers to pull their right toggles, thereby moving them away from each other. You
turn right. He turns left and collides with you 1,000 feet from the ground.
Your canopy collapses into a wobbly sheet and you begin to plummet to the earth, picking up
speed. Eight seconds remain in your life. What are you going to do now? Panic?
Your breathing slows down and your mind gets very focused. Time slows down, each second
seems like a minute. You move deliberately through the malfunction checklist: Pull on riser to try to reinflate canopy (nothing). Pull on reserve chute cord, punch the bag, rip the reserve out, and throw it as
hard possible into the wind. The reserve shoots up and waffles around the main. You are screwed. You
dont panic, but take another deep breath as your gut tells you to continue to shake like hell the risers
connected to the canopy.
Suddenly the chute catches some air and the next moment you hit the ground like a ton of bricks.
The canopy had only partially inflated, but it was enough to slow you down for a survivable landing. You
wait a moment, savoring the intensity and surreal-ness of the situation. You are alive and unhurt, but
have never come so close to death before. It was life altering. What happened in those moments? How
did you stay in control? Had you not taken every single action you took the outcome would have been
different. You are grateful that you had spent hours visualizing this scenario in your training, down to

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every last detail. You are grateful that you had the courage to trust your gut. You are grateful that you
learned how to maintain a Front Sight Focus with your mental training.
Front sight focus is a metaphor referring to a shooter having a relaxed but intense gaze on the
target through the front sight on his weapon, rather than through the rear sight or over them altogether. A
Front Sight Focus, in the context of this lesson, means that we have integrated much of the learning in the
previous eleven lessons, and can operate with a relaxed gaze while we achieve the most vexing of
challenges, whether it is surviving a parachute accident or knocking the ball out of the park on a new
business venture.
Though most of us dont face the risk of plummeting to earth in a failed parachute jump, we all
have major challenges to overcome. You may have read our stand in the past, which is the foundation
upon which I built the Unbeatable Mind philosophy. The first line of the stand is this: the world is
unpredictable and chaotic. The ground beneath us is always shifting and the volume of information
coming at us is increasing and accelerating. How do we operate in this complexity and at this pace? We
must develop an ability to maintain intense front sight focus. This allows us to function at high levels in
any environment. Destiny favors the prepared.
When you employ front sight focus through your training and practice of Unbeatable Mind,
youll be able to maintain total confidence, superior execution, and a winning attitude amidst any amount
of turbulence. Front sight focus requires you to:

Cultivate a deep sense of purpose about your personal mission

Control your mind so as to eliminate distractions

Win in the mind before stepping foot into the arena

Lean into the future while maintaining superior execution in the present

Be able to connect your purpose to the mission of your team and organization

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Understand the relationship between the Self, Team, and Organization as integrated parts of a
whole, with you at the center

Knowing your Why


Front Sight Focus starts with knowing your why. At the onset of the SEALFIT 50 hour Kokoro
Camp I ask trainees why they are there. I get all sorts of answers. I can often tell from the answer to this
simple question who will not make it the entire 50 hours. Getting clear about your why and connecting
to it often as you work toward your goals is very important. Having a weak why is a recipe for failure
when the going gets tough. Strong whys are connected to your 3 Ps life: Passion, Purpose and
Principles. Your why comes for your deepest convictions stemming from your drive and determination to
fulfill your purpose. When my SEAL Team Three platoon was about to ship off to Desert Storm in 1992
I had a young enlisted guy refuse to go. He claimed conscientious objector status. I was stunnedI
honestly never thought a SEAL would go that route. SEALs literally tripped over themselves running
toward the sound of gunfire, and here was a conscientious objector? The reality was that his why for
becoming a SEAL was to see if he could make it through BUDs. He had no desire to actually embark on
an actual combat mission. Last time I checked the SEALs still hire and train men for the most arduous
and dangerous of combat missions, not to help the recruit self-actualize. This recruits why was weak,
and he put his teammates at risk. Not to mention his abuse of the trust and treasury of the citizenry.
My friend and SEALFIT Coach Glen Doherty knew his why. Contracted with the agency to hunt
for loose MANPADs in Libya, Glen was at the embassy outpost in Benghazi in September 2012 with his
agency partner Ty Woods, another teammate of mine from SEAL Team Five. Glen and Ty heard the
sound of gunfire and ran toward it to find the Libyan security personnel faltering under the blaze of
gunfire from a coordinate attack of about 200 extremists. They relieved a couple of the security team of
their weapons and proceeded into the breach of the firefight. In doing so they saved 20 American lives
while holding off the attackers for over 2 hours. Glen lost his life in this effort. But he never, not once,
questioned his why. Glen and Ty were Unbeatable Mind warriors who lived and died with the highest
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form of integrity offered to a human. They had the great privilege to live on and die on purpose and are
with their warrior brothers and sisters fighting on a different realm now.
Most of us are not danger close like Glen and Tybut you never knowdo you? I believe this
concept of contemplating on and aligning with the 3Ps which are reserved just for you - is crucial to
living a full life and fulfilling what the Buddhists call your Dharma your reason for being here on this
planet at this time and place. Thus it is a very good idea to set aside quiet time before committing to a big
goal, project or challenge and ask yourself why you are doing it. Make sure the answer is powerful and
impenetrable. You want to ensure you have the right why backing you when the going gets tough.

Simplifying the Battlefield


Maintaining a front sight focus is built upon the foundation of purpose. It then requires that we
simplify our battlefield by getting very clear about what we really need, jettisoning the things we don't
need, and learning to outsource or delegate everything else. We cant grow from complexity. We must
build simplicity into our life system so we can accelerate our learning and growth. We begin this
process by asking an important question:
"What two or three things do I love to do and that I am really good at?"
For example, Personally, I know that I'm good at writing, coaching, and envisioning the futureI'm
always about two years ahead of my organizationbut am I good at executing day-to-day operations?
Nope, I suck at that part. Am I good at web development? Marketing? E-commerce? No, no, and no.
Its probably a bad idea for me to expend my time and energy on those activities. I find someone else
someone whos as good at those aspects as I am at writing, coaching, and envisioningdoing them
instead. At home, do I love to fix the dishwasher and paint the walls? Nope. I hire folks to do also. I
feel good that I am helping those individuals make a living. I recall fun discussions with my Father about
this aspect of my personality. He does everything around the house and we grew up in a big house

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which meant that my brothers and I were his slave labor. I decided early that this plan wouldnt work for
me, so I would support the plumbers, fixers and painters of the world. As a result my life is simpler and I
have more time for the things I am good at. The unexpected benefit of this plan is that it allows me to
make more money by a large factor than I would have ever saved by doing that work myself.
The key is to focus on only two to three core competencies. What are you really good at? Figure
out and focus on what you're really good at, and then narrow that down to two to three core activities. In
my life the three core competencies I zero in on translate into creating new products, synthesizing ideas,
and communicating them in speeches, coaching sessions, books, videos, etc.
Focusing on your strengths doesnt mean you dont also shore up your weaknesses. In fact, you
must shore up your weakness if they are critical nodes in your life that could develop into to a failure
point.

Sometimes in a team environment, nobody else but you can fill a particular role. If your

responsibility is related to a weakness, you need to improve in that area and not of ignore it. Getting clear
on what you should be doing and shedding what you should not be doing can lead to some tough choices.
The warriors path is full of hard choices.

Hard Choices
Whether its leaving a team thats taking you too far off track, dropping a friend whose negativity
keeps you down, or ceasing an activity you used to enjoy but is keeping you from pursuing your core
interestyou will inevitably face hard choices. Some folks come to this point early in their lives but don't
do anything. Usually this is because they dont understand the importance of alignment, or they simply
lack the courage to make a change. Twenty years later, they're still stuck in that job or relationship where
they are unaligned, their passion squashed and the life force dripping out of them. Theyve become
experts in something they don't care about and are living that life of quiet desperation.

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When I chose to leave Wall Street and join the Navy I called my folks to tell them the news. My
mother burst into tears then my father accused me of trying to kill her. The process was an emotional
roller coaster. However, I was clear in my mind that I needed to take this drastic turn, and start living
aligned with my passion and purpose. Theres no effort more worthwhile than aligning passion and
purpose into a career. If that means we have to reorganize priorities, then embrace the suck and do it.
My Mom felt I was turning my back on the family. The alternative wouldve been to continue
down a path that would have led to that quiet desperation I was already glimpsing as a CPA on Wall
Street.

Often people have great intentions about starting new efforts, but get derailed by others or by

their own belief systems. They become timid and afraid to say no to obligations, or allow themselves to
get talked out of things. We must have compassion but also learn to lean into our purpose with confidence
and clarity. My family got over it and came around to support me. I remember how proud my parents
were as I accepted the Honor Man award from SEAL training. Accept that the choices we make can have
emotional fall-out - and that this is the natural result of reorganizing the structures in our lives. Time
heals all wounds and when aligned the right people align with us.
Simplifying the battlefield is SEAL-speak for eliminating distractions. You must learn to do this
for both external and internal environments. When youre not bogged down with excess clutter you
literally and metaphorically have more room for the things you need. If you jettison, outsource, and
delegate obligations, beliefs, even relationships that no longer suit you, youll have more resources to
devote to your remaining priorities. When you keep things simple, you put your resources into a
concentrated effort.

De-cluttering Your External Environment


Keeping things simple can be downright difficult. KISS stands for Keep it Simple, Smart. It is
an easy reminder that the simple plan, the simple idea, is always more effective than the complicated one.
Steve Jobs was dedicated to this principal. Apples incredible success hinges on this concept. Jobs
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insisted on the simple solution and often canned projects and people who veered toward the complex. I
heard the story of how pleased he was when a kid in Africa picked up an iPad and immediately figured
out how to use it. I observed my 1-year-old granddaughter do this as she swiped and clicked my iPhone
to find YouTube videos of laughing babies. It is simply amazing how simple the Apple devices are to
use. Lets commit to deepening KISS in our lives, starting now.
Unbeatable Mind Exercise: KISS

Step 1: Spend the next week or so de-cluttering your external spaces: your closet, the trunk of your car,
and your garage. Cleaning out these three spaceswhich you probably look at or enter dailycan have a
tremendous effect on your psyche. Releasing clutter and clearing physical space helps you release energy
thats been stopped up. Its like a mental breath of fresh air.

Step 2: Apply the 80 / 20 rule. Business-management guru Joseph M. Juran taught an 80/20 principle,
which applies to many things including the concept that 20% of your actions will lead to 80% of your
results. If you identify that highly effective 20% and then eliminate, delegate or outsource everything else,
you can increase the time you spend on your most productive actions. To identify your key 20%, for one
week keep a journal of how you spend your time. Record your work time as well as your personal time in
30-minute blocks. Note activities like cruising the web, Facebooking, meals, TV, reading, etc. for
personal time. Note activities like email, meetings, key project work, planning and creating for work
time. At the end of the week, analyze and chunk it down to get a picture of what youre really doing
every day. Which actions pushed you toward your goals? Which left you dead in the water or even took
you off track and drained your energy? Begin to weed out those actions and time-sucks that arent
serving you so you can focus on the actions that produce the results you want.

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Step 3: In order to identify the 20% of your activities producing the bulk of your positive results, you
need to get clear on what kind of results youre looking for. In other words, you need to make sure you go
after the best targets (goals). Goal setting is critical to maintain your motivation and forward momentum
and accomplish great things. Many people get frustrated because they choose too many goals to focus on
at any one time or they choose the wrong goals.
The secret to effective goal setting is also ruled by the KISS principle. I recommend setting goals
in three categories: long term (1-3 year) and short term (3 6 months) and weekly. The long-term goals
are tied to your purpose, and the short-term goals are tied to your long-term goals and your weekly goals
are tied to your short-term goals. Choose up to three goals for each category but no more. If you happen
to accomplish all three of your goals ahead of schedule, then you can choose the next three. Piling goals
onto a growing list results in being overwhelmed, leading no front sight focus.

Step 4: Chunk your time. We could hold a seminar on this exercise alone. This is key. Chunk your
time into three categories: Build, Maintain and Play or On, In and Out. Build / On times are focused
on working on your business or life activities directly tied to moving the dial forward toward your
major goals. Activities to include should be only those items that are directly related to generating
revenue or creating new things and relationships. Maintain / In times are for working in your business
or just doing every day activities that are important to you but not moving the dial forward. Things like
managing people and projects not related to revenue. Finally, Play / Out times are just that. It is time off,
away from work and when you can just play and rejuvenate. This is time to leave your cell phone and
email alone use this time to recover and focus on family, friends and personal rejuvenation. These
blocks of time can be an hour, a half-day, a full day, or an extended block. The important thing is to
block your time or it will get blocked for you! You have heard the story about the jar of rocks? If the jar
represents your life vessel and the rocks the things you do in life then if you fill your jar with the
small rocks first, representing little unimportant things that are always there for us to do then we wont
have room or time for the big rocks, representing the key, important things we must do to move the dial.
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Blocking time allows us to fill our jar of life with the big rocks first, which still allows us to do the small
things but with greater peace of mind.

Following these four steps brings KISS to life. You can intellectualize this but until you
experience it you will not know its power. Thats why we start with clearing stuff out physically. Then we
move to simplify the number of activities we perform regularly and narrow our focus to the actual goals,
keeping things as simple as possible by limiting the number of goals you pursue at any given moment.
Finally we plan and block our time for optimal focus. Simplicity leads to acceleration. Complexity leads
to stagnation. Seek simplicity and use it to drive toward your future with confidence and momentum.

De-cluttering Your Internal Environment


You may be aware that when people get close to a goal, they often sabotage themselves. It is
amazing that we can put so much work into something then ditch it on the one-yard line. Whats up with
that? Our attachments to negative belief systems and people who don't support us can sidetrack us. Fear
of success or failure can cause us to blink. All that baggage builds up and prevents us from thinking
clearly and acting powerfully.
Just as we did with the physical de-cluttering, lets also work to clear out unnecessary internal
baggage. Block some building time in your journal and note any beliefs or people you interact with
who may represent a pattern. Then sift through these notes and see if you can identify any beliefs or
people that may be holding you back. Pay attention to the things you tell yourself throughout the day.
Thoughts like, Im not smart enough to do that, or Im not that kind of person are telling. You dont
need to hold on to them any more than you need to keep seeing someone who is critical of you every time
you get together.

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There is no gimmick to this concept it just requires determination and commitment. As Yoda
would say, Do or do not. There is no try. Identify everything that isnt supporting you and your efforts
and dump it. There will be blowback, you can count on it. You will probably feel as if you are hurting
someone whos been important in your life. In therapy parlance this is called co-dependence. This is not
a healthy response. We want to be inter-dependent, not co-dependent. We should not accept anything
less than exceptional people, things, and results in our lives. You must be the subject of your own story
and not the object of someone elses novel.

Setting Anchor
We discussed anchoring in an earlier lesson, but it is worth discussing again here. When we
integrate the big four of mental toughness - visualization, breath control, positivity of mind and emotions,
and micro-goal setting we have the best chance to tap into our Performance Zone. The Performance
Zone is that state of mental relaxation, emotional empowerment, and optimal physiological stimulation
that allows for peak performance to flow out of us with effortless perfection. This effortless perfection is
called Shibumi in the Samurai tradition. Anchoring is creating a benchmark of this state when we
connect with it action or in training. Anchoring requires awareness of the flow statewe know it when
we feel it, and then suddenly it is gone just as quickly as it came.
Anchoring during a performance is ideal, but often it will need to happen when the event is over.
When you recognize the flow state arise, take a moment immediately afterward to check into your why
and the drivers of desire, beliefs and expectation that led to the peak performance. What was unique
about this event? Why did it happen now? Were you feeling particularly good today physically or
mentally? What was the reason for that? What beliefs were different about you today, and did you
expect to perform well today? Was the event your event and the competition not scary? The
questions you ask define your actions. Journal a detailed description of what you thought felt and
experienced when in your zone. Note your Physiology and establish several Power Affirmations or

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mantras to help anchor the state. Physiology is the body feeling of the state meaning youre relaxed
but coiled energy, flowing out of you as if from an infinite source. You were not fatigued, or overaroused. Your physiology was perfect. Affirmations are powerful statements that you will associate with
the peak flow state, and when stated with passion will allow you access that state again. Power
affirmations are positive talk with emotions and imagery attached. The words must have passionate
energy behind them invoking a narrow range of performance associated physiological and psychological
responses.
Using your visualization skills, invoke powerful images of yourself flowing through the
movement, effortlessly accomplishing the task, embracing the suck and dominating the race. Add sound
to the motion picture. It may be the crowd cheering for you, or your war cry said silently or whatever
fires you up. Supercharge your Performance Zone with emotions. These are emotions of faith, belief,
certainty, motivation and power. Create a ritual of this process to do just before you embark on your
mission. It will help you to win in the mind before you step out into the dark. This process is part of the
Pre-Event Ritual outlined below.

Habituating Powerful Thinking and Acting


Once youve cleared your internal and external environments, implemented KISS into your
planning, and learned to anchor your peak performance, then youll want to habituate success by
performing rituals around these principles. We want to prevent the internal and external junk from
taking over our lives again. We want to ensure that we lock in our performance drivers and never go back
to mediocrity again. This is where the Power Rituals comes into play. The Power Rituals are simple
practice of checking in with your thoughts, goals, and major actions morning and night, and before and
after major events in our lives. This ensures that we are aligned and accelerating toward self-mastery and
making success a habit.

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Unbeatable Mind Exercise: The Power Rituals


Morning Ritual:
When you wake up drink a large glass of water, then sit comfortably with your journal, ask yourself these
empowering questions, and write down what comes up:

What and who 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?

Who can I reach out to and serve, or thank, today?

Are my goals still aligned with my purpose?

Next, before you rush off to work, quickly review your Daily Focus Plan. Make any adjustments and
block time in your schedule as Build / On, Maintain / In or Play / Out. Your Focus Plan is a simple
worksheet where you list the following to help keep you on track throughout the day:

PRIORITY TASKS (must complete today)

PROJECTS (work on one step at a minimum today)

CONNECTIONS (call / email people I need to connect with to offer help, or b/c I need
something from them to move a project along)

IDEAS (any ideas that came up during the Power Ritual)

Evening Ritual:
Before you settle in for the night, find some quiet space and with your journal perform a look
back review of your day, from start to finish. Note whether you were on and in the zone today or
off and unbalanced. Why? Lack of sleep, diet, a relationship, stress? Then ask yourself what were the
top three positive things you accomplished or that happened to you today? Then ask yourself if there are
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any unresolved issues or questions. Do a short concentration practice and perform a mind gym exercise.
When in the mind gym put the question or problem that is bugging you out there or directly to your
counselor. Also review your major goals. Pay attention to your dreams and any waking thoughts the
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 5-minute exercise with a powerful impact on your performance.
First, as your approach the time of the event take action to avoid external distractions (some
events have a known start time like a race or workout. Others are not as known, but this principle applies
in either situation). So finding a quiet space where you can be alone, or 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 you, they are likely jealous that you have the courage to take care of
yourself and not need to engage in the nervous pre-event chit chat that is so common.
Next, perform a Dirt Dive visualization to size up your performance in the event and size
down the opponents or enemy. The enemy can be an actual opponent, other competitors, or 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 ineffective whatever 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. It is important to do both parts of this visualization because we tend to give
our opponents or challenges more power than they deserve we make them bigger than life. We 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.

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

See yourself

accomplishing the goals 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 the Performance Anchor process See, feel and hear your ideal performance state
start 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.
Your Performance Anchor should include deep breath control exercises. Elite athletes and Navy
SEALs utilize breath control to prepare for missions and events, so should you. The act of psyching you
up physically and mentally includes deep diaphragmatic breathing, forced exhalation breaths combined
with powerful visualization and positive affirmations. The breathing doesnt need to be fancy or esoteric
simple long inhale holds followed by a powerful forced exhale and short exhale hold will do the trick.
Repeat it twenty times while performing your visualization.
Post-Event Ritual:
When the event, challenge or mission is complete, again find some quiet place with your journal
to perform this ritual. First, remember who helped you along the way by asking yourself gratitude
questions. You have survived, or accomplished something big, so who can you thank and be grateful for?
Certainly include yourself, but also think about your family, teammates, mentors, support staff, even your
enemy.
Next, reflect on your performance. How did I do? What did I learn? Did I move dial on my 20X
Goals? How can I improve and do even better next time? Was the event worth the time and energy
would I do it again? Write down your reflections. You dont need to make any decisions just make sure
you write down key thoughts before they get lost or changed with our memory processing.

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If, upon reflection, you find aspects of your performance that you are not happy with, then
reframe with a positive lesson. What did you learn, what was the silver lining? Why did it have to
happen the way it did? You may not have won the event, but you can win the aftermath with how you
choose to view what happened and your positive response to it. This is a very powerful process that can
keep you focused on feeding the courage dog even when you fall on your face!
Next, we want to re-direct our attention to a new mission or challenge, and re-engage our
planning and training. This will be an iterative process, but it can be started in this post-event ritual with
some ideas jotted down about whats next? When I competed in the CrossFit Games Open, I had to think
carefully about whether to do it again. The 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 post-event 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 you didnt enjoy the first time!
What is another goal or 20X challenge you can set? For a business venture, it may be that your first shot
was off mark. Would you try the same thing again? Most entrepreneurial ventures take 3 or more shots
to find the product or revenue model that gets the gears to click. Reframing, reflecting and re-directing
your efforts will help you stay on purpose and moving on the right goals. Ensure that in this process you
also re-connect with your why and get squarely behind the new goal to re-energize yourself so you can
hit it hard when you get back to the playing field the next day.
Finally, make sure you reward yourself with something simple and meaningful. Even if you feel
you screwed up, you deserve to reward yourself for the effort it took to get through the challenge. Maybe
take a day off with your family? Or perhaps you have something you would like to buy but do not need,
so you have been holding off? I plan to buy a new car when I hit a certain goal this year. Do I need the
car? Not really - my 04 Lincoln is still putting alongbut I plan to reward myself when I accomplish the
mission.
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Performing these Power Rituals daily and as needed helps train your mind to start and end each
day and each important challenge in a positive, powerful performance zone state. It starts by asking
good questions. The quality of our lives is dictated by the quality of the questions we ask ourselves.
Answering the questions in the Morning Ritual and completing a Daily Focus Plan will lead you to take
power actions throughout the day, not wasting time on anything that doesnt move you toward your
goals. When you get super focused on those top two or three things every day that are connected to your
passion, purpose, and mission, your thoughts and actions will naturally align. When youre in alignment,
its easier to stack up victories. Stacking up the small victories develops confidence, which in turn
reinforces the KISS principle and propels you forward in a full throttle cycle of success.
I want you to trust me on how these power rituals lead to power thinking and power action and
can create a self-perpetuating engine of success. You should feel compelled to integrate them into your
daily routine. Im proposing that you discipline your mind with new habits that will lead to exceptional
results. The secret underlying this process is alignment. If you're dreams are to be a successful
entrepreneur or a Navy SEAL, yet you don your suit and go sell insurance daily with no viable plan for
how to get from where you are to where you desire to be, are you in alignment? No, because all day long
you're fantasizing about something else, or worse you're sabotaging your dreams. You don't like what
youre doing. You don't want to be where you are. This was me at 23 years old. I was miserable and
wouldnt admit to being misaligned, because I didnt know what that meant at the time. I had to dig deep
and learn the skills of contemplation in order to find my passion and purpose. Once I was clear on those
the rest started to line up. Front Sight Focus will help you align and move out toward your dreams.

Defining the Mission


When I launched the Coronado Brewing Company after leaving the Active Duty Navy I thought I
was clear about our mission. My view of it was that I would get the brewpub off the ground, be profitable,
refine the systems, then launch a second unit, then a third, so on and so forth then selling it and doing

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something else. But my partners had a different mission in mind. Their plan was to have me get the
business off the ground then milk it for a better lifestyle than they currently enjoyed. Obviously we did
not define our vision or mission as a team very well. As a result were not in alignment. We lacked front
sight focus as a team.

I did my part and when we hit profitability started phase 2 of my plan.

Immediately I met resistance and learned that my mission interfered with my partners plan. Several years
and legal actions later I sold my interest and started over with NavySEALs.com. It was an amazing, but
painful, learning experience on many levels. I needed to engage a post-event ritual that included a lot of
re-framing and re-energizing toward a new challenge. Perhaps most important was that I learned how
important it is to define the mission well so that all team members understand and support the mission.
First we must size up the goals of our proposed mission to make sure that we are ready for the challenge.

Size up your goal


You would be stunned to know how many SEAL candidates quit our SEALFIT Kokoro Camp.
This is after they have passed the SEAL screening test, met the standards, and been blessed by a wellintentioned recruiters. The candidate comes to his first true test of his character, the 50-hour Kokoro
Camp, and fails. What is going on here? Obviously he wont make it through BUD/s either. Why was
he so deceived? Was it the system that deceived him? Were the standards too low? No, these guys
deceive themselves with an unrealistic assessment of the situation. They failed to ask the right questions:

What is required to win (in this case earn the trident)?

What do I need to do to close the gap from where I am now, to what is required to win?

Can I realistically close this gap in the time frame I have set, and with the personal assets I have?

In defining your mission and establishing the goals associated with it, you must size up the situation
and answer those questions honestly. About two years into my SEAL career I met SEAL Astronaut Bill
Shepard, who later commissioned the International Space Station. CAPT Shepard inspired me to look at
NASA as a path in my SEAL career (we have had another SEAL enter the program since I met Bill
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Commander Chris Cassidy). I developed a strong interest in applying to the astronaut program. But I had
a problem. My educational background was 180 degrees off. I would need to go back and get an
undergraduate, then a graduate level science degree. After this, I would need related work experience,
and combined with my SEAL background I stood as good a chance as the other thousand applicants for
the 8 or so slots! After answering the three questions above I came to the conclusion that this goal was
best left for my next life. I would have to be satisfied with just being a SEAL! Sizing up goals is
crucial so you dont chase improper goals and set yourself up for failure. Lets look at the CARVER
system exercise to help us size up our targets in life. CARVER was introduced in Unbeatable Mind
Lesson 8 and is worth taking another look at in the context of maintaining front sight focus.
Unbeatable Mind Exercise: CARVER
SEALs use a tool called "CARVER" to help identify the highest value target when defining and
scoping a mission. You can think of your goals as your targets: Youve got to decide which ones are
worth going after, and of those, which should be your highest priority.
The C in CARVER stands for Criticality. How critical is the target to the overall achievement
of your mission? You want to reserve your time, resources, and energy for the most valuable targets.
Using our SEAL example, lets say out of five possible targets, going after the radar tower will have the
biggest impact on the success of the invasion force. Thus we want to rank that target highest relative to
the others. This target gets 5 out of 5.
The A in Carver stands for Accessibility. Is the target accessible with the available resources,
skills, and timeline? A radar station surrounded by a security force and anti-personnel mines might rank a
1 or even 0, while a lightly guarded station might rank a 4. The product you have the most experience
with, or already have a prototype for, would get a higher ranking than a new concept. Choosing goals too
far removed from our core competencies or resource availability makes for poor targets.

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The R stands for Recognize-ability. When I near the target will I know it? Is my mental model
clear and accurate? My goal for the NavySEALs.com / US Tactical mentor program on contract with the
Navy Recruiting Command was to dramatically improve the SEAL candidate pass rate on their screening
test when they got to boot camp. I hit the ball out of the park on my target, but lost the contract a year
later in spite of this. Why? Because I was focusing on the wrong target. The performance in the field was
easy for me. What I didnt recognize was that Government contracting was more about what happened in
the halls of the Pentagon, contracting shops and Congress than what happened in the field. I needed to
master the nuanced world of government contracting to succeed long term. I ignored that part, allowing
Blackwater to swoop in and knock me out of the contract the following year.
The V stands for Vulnerability. How easy is it to achieve mission success at each target?
Whats it going to take to get to it? What weapons and resources are required? SEALs operate in small
teams and, though we pack a mean punch, were not suitable for heavily fortified targets. If the target is
highly fortified it may require a missile strike, not a SEAL action. In business its common to
underestimate the time and resources required to launch a project. My experience has taught me to expect
three times the cost, difficulty, and timeline on any new project until you master front sight focus!
The E stands for Effect of mission success on the enemy or competitors. In the SEAL
metaphor, will a successful op lead to confusing the enemy or creating a blind spot? Is that what were
looking to achieve? Does this outcome help get us closer to our goals? Achieving success in the field with
the Navy SEAL Mentor program didnt keep Blackwater from taking the contract out from under us. In
that scenario reaching my metric target didnt have a strong enough effect on the overall mission to keep
the contract.
Finally, the R stands for Return on Investment. Perhaps all targets under consideration will
move you closer to your objectives, but the return might be higher for one over the others. The SEAL
mission has high ROI, for example, if it knocks out the radar tower permanently, allowing the execution

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of several high-value follow up targets. The ROI is less if we knock the radar out for a week. Youve got
the same target and risk level, but the ROI isnt worth the investment of capital.
To practice implementing CARVER, choose three important targets (goals). Rank your goals 1-5
in each CARVER category as described previously and see which one comes out on top. You may be
surprised to find that the goal you started off favoring didnt end up with the highest rank. Depending on
your mission, you may choose just one goal to pursue or you can use CARVER to help you to prioritize
them in terms of resource allocation or even procedural order. Whatever the case, remember this is a tool,
and the tool may lead to surprising results. Ensure those results feel right when you gut check them.

Clarifying the Mission


Once youve selected your targets and prioritized your goals, again asking the right questions will
lead to more clarity. There are two key questions you need to find acceptable answers to:
What are the explicit tasks associated with this mission and how can I achieve them?
Explicit tasks are those tasks defined in the mission statement. These may be the details of what
your boss asked you to do, such as complete the budget by close of business Friday, or they may be
tasks youve outlined for yourself. Its important to be clear about what youre asked to do (or what
youre asking of yourself). So we must ask deeper questions, such as who else is involved in getting this
project done? Can I count on them to do their part? Is there some higher priority task or project that will
sidetrack me?
Asking good questions can keep us from over-committing and agreeing to missions we cant
possibly complete. In the Vietnam War, a SEAL platoon was tasked with rescuing kidnapped passengers
on the heavily fortified Mayaguez. The SEAL officer asked the right questions about his explicit tasks
and, determining it was a one-way trip, declined the mission. He got into big trouble until the
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investigation proved that the order was an illegal order. He saved the lives of his men, and probably the
prisoners, by clearly defining his mission, then making a hard choice and taking powerful actionin this
case, to refuse the assignment.
What are the implicit tasks associated with this mission and how can I achieve them?
The second question is about the unspoken but crucial aspects of the mission. Implicit tasks are
those requirements of a mission that are likely assumed, but not stated explicitly. Lets say the explicit
task is to launch a new product line. That seems straightforward, but whats implied and not stated is that
we understand the markets needs, what drives the customers behavior, how to develop products and
launch them into the market. Further implied tasks could include anything from website development and
management to Internet marketing and copywriting. Often implicit tasks can lie outside the scope of the
business professionals core skills; theyd have to completely reeducate themselves in order to accomplish
the explicit task. And so the implied tasks, the unspoken elements, actually become the main thing.

Envisioning the Mission


Once the mission is solid and defined, we must now take action to win in the collective mind of
the team before we set out on the adventure. This sounds clich but is a crucial step in the success of an
elite team. It is one of the primary distinctions between a group of individuals working together in
harmony, and a team that dominates and wins every time. In essence, top teams perform a team pre-event
ritual that includes some of the same elements as the pre-event ritual described above. Team envisioning
is the most powerful of the team pre-event rituals.
In the SEALs the form this takes is twofold. First, the mission plan (strategic plan) is developed
in very graphic, visual detail. Videos, images, pictures, drawings and other visual aides are all utilized in
the preparation of the briefing material. Further the team leader will describe the mission in very visual
terms, ensuring that the team can see it in their mind as they follow along with the brief. Next, the team

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doesnt jump up and race out to get in the helicopter right after the brief (in most cases). They will dirt
dive the mission. The dirt dive can be as simple as mock diving the underwater route on the grinder, to
building a replica of the targets house and practicing on it until the team can run through the target in
their sleep. This latter technique was used in the epic Bin Laden raid.
Individually most SEALs would also spend time alone visualizing their specific roles and critical
action points of an operation in their own pre-event rituals. Thus the individuals and the team were
participating in the act of seeing themselves win in their mind before the op the first premise of
Unbeatable Mind.
This technique can be very useful for any organizational team. It is not unlike a top sports team
watching movies of their past top performances, thereby anchoring future performance with that imagery.
When the individuals and the team are in synch with their collective vision we get a powerful effect, and
it smells like victory! Then CAPT McRaven used this technique when he sought to re-organize the SEAL
force with his NSW 21 initiative before 9-11. On his own time he went around the entire Naval Special
Warfare organization inviting leaders and teams to a visual brief of his concept. He got the entire
community to see the vision as individuals and as a collective team of operators. To say that McRaven
was a visionary is an understatement!
When I embarked on launching the Coronado Brewing Company I envisioned the business as a
profitable and thriving venture, then I built a business plan with as much visual imagery as I could. I had
an artist do a rendering of what the finished establishment would look like replete with logo, drink
coasters and 5-cent beer coupons in the business plan. Rather than go through the numbers with
prospective investors, I painted a picture in their minds of an inviting social establishment that would
bring them not only enjoyment but esteem for being part of it. I briefed them in a visual and casual
manner, not asking for their money, but getting them excited about what they were seeing and feeling
until they asked if they could be part of it. I sold the vision to 45 investors and raised $1.5 million for the

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venture with this approach. The investors all earned a solid return in spite of the later partner difficulties.
The vision and foundation of the business withstood the later onslaught of negativity surrounding the
partnership breakdown.

Preparing for Rapid Change

The next step in integrating the principle of Front Sight Focus is to learn to be a changeling.
Changelings are fictional beings from Star Trek who could morph them into any form that suited them.
Pretty cool feature. I am suggesting that you become a changeling for your business and life. The world
is in constant change, and if we stay static in mind, body and spirit, then we lose the ability to ebb and
flow with this change. We become fixed as the world blazes by. When I went back to my College
reunion I was pleasantly surprised to see how many of my fellow fraternity brothers had embraced this
principle. These guys were very smart top of the class guys. However, when I went back to my high
school reunion in the rural upstate New York town I where I grew up I was stunned to find the opposite.
Many of my high school peers had never left high school. They were stuck in a cryogenic deep freeze.
Needless to say the College reunion was a fun while the High School reunion was downright depressing.
How do we become a changeling? We start by habituating flexibility of thought and action. The
SEALs exemplify this principle by planning and training for rapid change. They utilize a rapid planning
process that expects the plan to hit a speed bump as soon as they step out of the door into the night. They
build flexibility into the plan. Also they allow flexible thinking at the ground level. In other words the
higher up leaders dont try to micro-manage things from the rear when the shit hits the fan. I had a classic
SEAL moment when I was a watch officer for the SEAL Battle Watch back on the strand in Coronado. A
call came in from Iraq that the SEAL Team Three Task Unit had gotten ambushed and a member of the
team took a bullet in the head. I started to take action, ready to manage from the rear when the phone
rang a second time. It was an officer I had gone through BUD/s with. The call went like this:

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Naval Special Warfare Battle Watch, this is Commander Divine speaking.


Oh hi Cyborg, this is Chris Dhey I was the guy shot in the head.
Jesus are you ok? Why are you talking to me - shouldnt you be dead or unconscious?
The bullet just went around the inside of my helmet and lodged just under my scalp. I am fine
hey can you do me a favor?
Surewhat?
Dont tell my wife I dont want her to worry!

Needless to say I let the whole thing drop at that moment. Seriously, there was no reason to
micro-manage this drill from the rear even though the official process for a wounded in action situation
was clear. Chris was obviously fine and his Task Unit had it under control. Of course his wife found out.
The rapid planning process is an 80% solution, which relies on standard operating procedures to
fill in the blanks. The SOPs cover things that happen in every mission, thus they are not unique and can
be trained for routinely. For instance, what happens if your communication plan breaks down should be
an SOP, not a spelled out contingency plan. It happens too often to not train for it. Same thing if a leader
is wounded (in the corporate world this could be realistic as well). What is the SOP for picking up the
slack and continuing on with the mission if a project leader has an accident, serious illness or goes
missing while travelling to Bangkok? Though this sounds like a contingency plan it could also be an SOP
if your company is big enough and there is a lot of travel involved.
Creating standard operating procedures starts with analyzing the critical nodes, which are the
potential failure points of your primary mission sets. Once identified, we would break down the node into
the routine and non-routine tasks required to maintain that process. The routine tasks are then trained
until several members of the team have a level of mastery in them, creating a redundancy in the process.
The non-routine tasks are noted, and a contingency is set for when and if the failure occurs there. For
instance one of the critical nodes of a direct action capture-kill mission is the house entry. How a SEAL
unit enters a structure and engages with the enemy must be done the same way every time therefor it is
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trained as a standard operating procedure. This is not to say that every house entry is the same, rather the
routine tasks never change, such as what order the men stack on the door, who breaches the door, which
way the men move in the structure and the command and control within. The nuances of a particular
structure or operation that are unique require additional planning considerations. A business example
would be the product launch we introduced earlier. The basics, such as project management,
copyrighting, creating web pages and SEM campaigns are the same every time and can be trained to be
executed as standard operating procedures, but the nuances of the offer and campaign must be planned
and executed as a one-off. This is why it is always easier the second and third time around assuming the
organization is a learning organization and not re-creating the wheel every time.
With SOPs training must become a core competency. We train using the crawl - walk - run
model. This means we seek accuracy in the task one time initially, followed by consistent and accurate
delivery, finally the ability to execute at a high velocity with consistency. At this level we witness
virtuosity in the act, an almost effortless and unconscious competence. What are your critical nodes and
failure points? How can you train them into SOPs? This level of contingency planning and training is
critical to executing a mission with confidence and maintaining a front sight focus in a fast changing
environment when reality starts to collide with the plan.

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Front Sight Focus in action


My former SEAL Team THREE Commanding Officer, Admiral Bill McRaven is now head of all U.S. Special Operations
forces as Commander of the Special Operations Command (SOCOM). His role in capturing Osama Bin Laden stemmed
directly from his long term and relentless front sight focus on his goalsfirst to create a new dynamic structure for
the entire SEAL community, and later to bring Americas number one enemy to justice.
In his book Theory of Spec Ops, McRaven identified six elements common to the most effective, high profile missions:
simplicity, security, repetition, surprise, speed, and purpose. These elements are related to winning first in the mind
(i.e. preparation and training). Perhaps more importantly, he insisted all six elements must be in place and executed
within an appropriate timeline for mission success. If they arent, the team will not gain relative superiority and the
mission will fail.
In 1993 while leading SEAL Team 3 as Commanding Officer (I was a Lieutenant there at the time), McRaven
determined the growing threat in the Middle East would require a dedicated SEAL presence, which we unfortunately
didnt have there. But McRaven couldnt unilaterally shift SEAL Team 3. His solution was to champion the formation of
a Naval Special Warfare Unit 3 in Bahrain as a staging point for regional operations. This was a prescient move.
Once hed accomplished that, McRaven was successful in repositioning SEAL Team 3 as the Middle East experts. We
began deploying to Bahrain, staging out of the new Unit. McRaven arranged for each team member to undergo
language training in either Farsi or Arabic through a civilian school, which was an innovative move for the time. This
grounded SEAL Team 3 with the cultural and environmental sensitivity they would need to become the SEALs go-to
force in Afghanistan and Iraq when those conflicts arose, leading the way for the rest of the SEAL community.
Several years later, as the Commodore of Naval Special Warfare Group One (the parent organization of the West
Coast SEAL Teams and where I served as a Lieutenant Commander on a one-year recall), McRaven pitched an idea to
restructure the entire SEAL numbered teams along the lines of SEAL Team 6. This was a dramatic shift, with plenty of
supporters and detractors. But McRaven was passionate about the reorganization, which he deemed necessary for
keeping pace with evolving warfare trends. Again, his proposal prevailed.
9-11-01 found now Rear Admiral McRaven as Deputy Commander of the Joint Special Operations Command. Over a
period of eight years as deputy then Commanding Officer of this unit, McRaven ensured they stayed front sight focused
on their primary objective: Bin Laden. Though they captured or killed many of the top Al Qaeda leaders, Bin Laden
remained elusive.
Finally, after years of hunting, they were able to fix Bin Ladens location. Operational security was solid; few people
knew the mission details. The team built a mock house and compound and practiced for months until shooting,
moving, and communicating in the structure was second nature to all the operators. Patience and preparation were
instrumental. Thanks to the tight security and a simple plan based on good intelligence and innovative ideas, the team
executed with total speed and surprise. The result was a near perfect op that has captured the worlds attention.
McRaven achieved his personal vision for the SEALs one step at a time, maintaining his front sight focus on the global
threat of terrorism. His persistence resulted in better positioning the SEALs to fight the as-yet non-existent war on
terror. And his ability to eliminate distractions and win first in the mind (following his theory of spec ops to plan and
practice a successful mission) ultimately allowed him and his team to hold Bin Laden accountable for his assault on
the U.S. Had he waivered, the mission would not have gone off in my opinion.
Mastering front sight focus will give you the ability to tackle every other tool and technique described in this book.
Without it, youre bound to get derailed and end up mired in common, day-to-day activities and thinking. Whether you
face serious immediate risk or just need long-term strategic persistence, you can overcome any obstacle and achieve
any goal you set your sights on if you practice front sight focus. And that can be accomplished through a four-pronged
approach:
simplify
the battlefield;
define the mission; envision the mission; and prepare for rapid change.
Winning
on Game
Day

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The Habits of Masters

We talk a lot about Self Mastery in Unbeatable Mind. It is one of the two primary disciplines of
the Warrior-leader, and a driving force once we experience the impact of integrating the principles of Five
Mountain training and Front Sight Focus in our lives. We introduced the habits of the Master in the
companion book to the Foundation Course, and I would like to review them one last time now that you
have travelled to Lesson Twelve with me. I think you will understand them at a much deeper level now,
after a year of training.

Masters are unflappable, unfazed and dead certain in the midst of the most intense, chaotic and
grim circumstances - thus appear larger than life. They are so in control. What you have now learned
is that they are not in control of the events, but rather, of themselves. I was clearly impacted in a very
strong and positive manner by my first mentor, the Karate Master Tadashi Nakamura, founder of Seido
Karate. I continue to be positively influenced by this Masters example of stoicism, beginners mind, and
effortless perfection in his disciplined approach to all aspects of his life. Mr. Nakamura achieved Mastery
simply by following the principles outlined in the Foundation Course, and not wavering from this path.
There are many unknown warriors who possess these same traits. They are the quiet professionals like
Glen Doherty and Ty Woods who have stepped up to the plate to live the warriors life and stepped into
the shit to take the bull by the horns in Libya. They did not wait around to be told what to do, but strode
forth with courage and confidence to be the subject of the story, and not the object of their enemys story.
They sought to create the reality and move the outcome to one they were satisfied with. They exhibited
single point focus, uncommon resolve, a positive mind, discernment, high pain tolerance, unflappability,
heightened awareness, focused on the welfare of others and humbly accepting of their responsibility.
These habits we will continue to cultivate in the Unbeatable Mind Mastery Course. At first they will
seem hard to achieve, but will accrue to us naturally as we polish the mirror of our minds and spirits daily.
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Single Point Focus

Masters practice KISS with passion and able to reduce their mental attention to a single point
focus regardless of what is going on around them. This is the single point focus required to survive a
parachute accident, to dominate an opponent in a sparring match, or to succeed time and again with
business ventures. Deal making the way Warren Buffet and Charlie Munger do it requires incredible
single point focus, and they are the wealthiest men in the world for it. Developing the still water that
runs deep in our minds allows us to clear the clutter in our minds and focus with intensity on the task
that must be done right now. This does not mean that we lose awareness of our surroundings. On the
contrary, single point focus also includes an expanded field of awareness so you are taking it all in while
focusing on the task. It seems contradictory but it is natural when we learn it.

Uncommon Resolve

Why will warriors such as Glen and Ty, or the Spartans at Thermopole, fight to the death for a
cause they believe in? This habit or trait is true of all warrior traditions. How can one develop this
uncommon resolve to persevere in spite of the odds against us?

Masters develop this resolve by

developing confidence through training, and courage through a faith-based humility. Faith is a loaded
term. I am not necessarily referring to faith in God, rather faith that there is an intelligent order and that
we are part of that order. If our actions are aligned and in integrity with our purpose (as our belief tells
us), then we know we are doing the right thing, regardless of the outcome. Stepping into the breach to
save teammates in grave danger is in complete alignment with the warriors code; therefore the warrior
exhibits uncommon resolve born of the courage, backed by their faith that this action is the right action to
take. The potential loss of life is given consideration but does not deter the warrior from taking action.
This is where the honor is displayed. Any purpose worth living for is also worth dying for. A warrior is
spiritual aligned and willing to live and die for a worthy cause.
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Positive Attitude

The Master maintains a positive mind and attitude no matter how bad things get. He or she
understands the corrosiveness of negative thinking, feeling and talking. They know things only get worse
when negative thinking rears its ugly head. They maintain a vigilant watch over their mental state,
controlling their minds and channeling their thoughts to positive and purposeful things. When things go
wrong, they dont blame and wallow in self-pity, rather they immediately seek the lesson, the silver
lining, and act on it. The Master finds victory where it is at. No negativity is allowed.

Discernment

The Master learns the art of discernment. This means that they avoid faulty thinking and
cultivate right thinking. The mind has five ways it thinks:

Direct perception - induction

Accessing stored memory

Analysis deduction

Creating

Dreaming

The Master will work on all five of these. Enhancing our direct perception is done through
concentration and meditation exercises. Intuition and expanded awareness is the fruit of this labor.
Accessing stored memory accurately is done by practicing and drilling memory such as the Keep in
Memory Games, practicing to remember names, etc. Strengthening analytical abilities come through
focused use of the mind in problem solving, and the use of mental models such as OODA loop, GROW,
SMEAC. Also it is important to study thinking processes to and avoid mental trickery, so brilliantly

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described by Charlie Munger in the last chapter of Poor Charlies Almanac, the Wit and Wisdom of
Charlie Munger, and in other great research such as we found in The Tipping Point.

Creating is a

skill that we hope you have started to learn in this course. Creating is done in the subconscious and is a
visual process. It requires us to see in our mind new patterns, new ideas and new distinctions, then to
bring these out into the world in a form that makes sense. Entrepreneurs, artists, musicians all see their
work in their minds before putting them to paper or canvas. Finally, though dreaming is thought of as
random and uncontrollable, Masters also learn to use this powerful mental state to solve problems and
see things that they cannot see clearly. All this leads to greater discernment, greater ability to ascertain
the truth, and to apply wisdom in our lives.

Heightened Awareness

One of the more unique habits of the Master is to be super aware.

Being super aware means the

Master cultivates a unique sensitivity to:

His own thoughts and emotions

His teammates or enemys thoughts and emotions

The environment around him

Natural laws and principles guiding human behavior

At SEAL Team THREE I was privileged to do work with some of the same guys for over 3 years.
Much of this time was spent in the field on very quiet missions. I developed an uncanny 6th sense of the
environment and what my teammates were thinking during this time. I noticed that this skill waned when
I left the operating environment and went back into an office environment. It re-surfaced when I started
my yoga practice and began to practice visualization and meditation daily.

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Special ops missions required long durations of silence. That silent time serves the same purpose as
sitting in meditation. When in the field as our minds settled down we would actively seek to see and hear
things in the dark, to get any indicators of impending danger. I found that images would flash in my head
of a route or something that my teammates were thinking. Or I would just know what they were going
to do. Intuition and heightened awareness are cultivated through many hours training and by observing
human behavior. The Master does not shy from these skills but relies on them as essential tools to be
used to accomplish the mission and maintain a front sight focus.

Unflappability

Masters are calm and unflappable while under extreme pressure. It is this quality that followers
or those caught up in a crisis are drawn to when the Master naturally takes control of a bad situation.
How is the unflappable attitude developed? Perhaps the most valuable skill is breath control. Breath
control is a core practice of Unbeatable Mind. Masters learn this early and practice it often. Tim Miller is
my Yoga teacher I have studied for 200 hours under this Master. He is the first American certified in
the ancient Ashtanga Yoga system, believed to be over 4,000 years old. Tim meets a few die-hard
students at 6am daily to practice breath control for one hour. That is a serious practice, and I am again
humbled by the discipline and service attitude Tim has. I practice breath control daily also, sometimes
with Tim but most of the time with my SEALFIT HQ team. We do it before each training session, before
Warrior Yoga, and often at other times throughout the day. It has proven to be crucial to developing the
calm and focused mental state that allows me to remain unflappable as well. Through deep, controlled
and rhythmic breathing, we are able to slow the brains conscious activity, develop a relaxed but alert
mental start, and regulate the heart rate as well as other bodily functions. The stress response is brought
under control, and we turn stress into success!

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High Pain Tolerance

Masters have an embrace the suck attitude and they suffer in silence. This habit is trained
through the deliberate internalization of any expression of pain and discomfort. Whining or wincing
projects weakness and undermines trust, especially if displayed by a leader. People want to follow those
who can bite their lips and turn their attention to helping others. Nobody wants to participate in your pity
party. Start by putting a smile on your face in the middle of challenging workouts. You will find this
difficult, but the action will give you strength and train your pain tolerance.

Say to yourself pain is

weakness leaving my body! You will begin to grow tolerant of pain, and then even embrace it as a
necessary aspect of developing self-mastery.

Other Focused

The Master focuses on the team and not himself.

Early on they realize that they are much

stronger and safer if they serve their team rather than remain selfishly focused on their own needs. This is
not easy to do. The human is typically a self-centered being and a large effort is required to grow out of
this to truly enjoy serving others. In any challenging circumstance, those who survive and who come out
of it with their dignity are those who put others needs before their own. Avoid the natural urge to be first
in line, to grab the good stuff, or to recuse you from others to avoid their troubles. Dive in and be helpful.
Be part of the solution, rather than a casual observer or taker. Imagine if everyone in New Orleans had
this habit during Katrina. When the towers were taken down on 911, as everyone was leaving New York,
a couple SEALs I knew immediately jumped in their cars and drove to the city to see how they could
help. They were welcomed with open arms by the first responders and helped comb the wreckage for
survivors. Imagine getting caught up in the next natural or man-made disaster how will you be other
focused and serve?

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Humble Acceptance

The Master shows grace and humility in the face of their obligations, especially when things
dont go their way. Sometimes we win, and sometimes the win is a bitter pill we must swallow to learn a
valuable lesson. Resisting these lessons and shying from challenges because we are afraid to experience
the blowback of failure is not the Masters course of action. Accept that you cannot control the situation,
or your teammates, or your enemy.

In fact you cant control anything but your minds reaction to

external stimuli. Humble acceptance starts by acknowledging that most things are out of our control, and
that temporary pain of discipline and overcoming a failure is better than the permanent pain of regret for
not having taken the chance, of living your life to your fullest. Humble acceptance keeps us focused on
our responsibilities and commitments, and allows us to leave this world with no regrets.

Shibumi the Art of Effortless Perfection


Though it may seem to be an elusive goal, mastery of unbeatable mind will lead to a permanent
state of presence. In this state we flow with seemingly effortless perfection. The Native Apaches
Sacred Silence and the Samurais Shibumi are concepts that describe acting out of this presence.
Though the concept is simple, I dont believe this state arrives easily. It requires many years of
disciplined practice and patience. However, the journey of daily discipline will lead to shibumi and it is a
worthy journey to take!
Self-Mastery leads to integration of body, mind and spirit, or the Five Mountains if you will.
With integration we truly merge our witness with our mental concept of self, and act with a rare presence
whether we are sitting in silence or in the arena performing a SEALFIT WOD or, like Glen and Ty, find
yourself in a fight for your lives.

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The joy lies in the journey, not the destination. The destination requires Alignment and Front
Sight Focus so you avoid wasting precious time going in the wrong direction, focused on the wrong
things. The sign-posts on the path that indicate you are reaching destination Shibumi include:

Experiencing increasing moments of total peace

Sensing an expanding field of awareness

Being able to perceive better cutting through the non-sense and lies of our world

Feeling more love for our fellow humans, and for all sentient beings

Feeling a sense of urgency to become a steward or our Earth, from which all things come
and all things go

Finding that you can accomplish any worthy task with ease

Tapping into your intuition and gut feelings and using this skill to make wise decisions

Finding beauty and grace everywhere even in mundane or dismal situations

Experiencing true selflessness and enjoying serving your teammates and others

Interestingly these concepts ring true from the viewpoint of most perennial spiritual traditions in
some form or another, shoring our Unbeatable Mind philosophy as compared to the worlds bestintentioned sources. The big distinction is that we believe that we can all achieve this level of human
performance and mastery. It is not reserved for the pious, the wealthy or those of exalted birth. The
warriors throughout history have proven that the Unbeatable Mind principles and Shibumi are our
birthright.
Developing an Unbeatable Mind, Body and Spirit is a lifetime process. Physical strength, mental
toughness, emotional control, intuitional insight and warrior spirit are all perishable skills. If you dont
constantly challenge yourself, push yourself to new limits, and test youre grit daily, weekly, monthly
and yearly, then you can backslide and get weak. It is important for you to stay in the arena of hard work

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and adventure.

By setting challenging goals for yourself and working to knock them down, you will

continue to grow your unbeatable mind, body and warrior spirit. Please dont let your guard down. Dare
to be uncommon. Dare to be someone special. Dare to be Unbeatable!

Hooyah! Train hard, stay present and have fun. --Mark Divine

Please join me in the Mastery Course starting the month after you complete Lesson Twelve of the Foundations
Course. All you will need to do is select from one of the options in the email we send to you or from the Mastery
Course tab in the UM member site. We will need your physical address as we have some special gifts to send you.

About the Mastery Course:

The Mastery Course will be the continuation of your journey with Unbeatable Mind. As you are now aware,
Self-Mastery is a lifetime pursuit. In the Mastery Course we will serve as your guide and accountability system. You will
train alongside me, my coaches and the SEALFIT HQ team as we work on our five mountains and cultivating the warrior
disciplines weekly. The format will be different than the Foundation Course. In Mastery we will focus on a weekly
training plan which relies heavily on a video training format. Additionally we will be adding some new modules including
self-defense and other specialty seminars from SEALFIT HQ.

I hope to see you in the Mastery Course next month!

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