This week One Week One Book (OWOB) series is on “Unbeatable Mind“ by Mark Divine. He is also the author of two other great books; Way of the SEAL and 8 weeks to SEALFIT. As you can guess, he must be with SEAL background. Yes, at 26, he graduated as Honor Man (#1-ranked trainee) of his SEAL Bud/S class number 170. Mark served for 9 years total on active duty and 11 as a Reserve and retiring as Commander in 2011. He has so much of certifications, experience and honors for me to list here.
I categorize this book under Mental Toughness. If you are looking for great books on this subject, this book is a must for your list! This 184-pages book is packed with actionable ideas.
The praise for this book;
“As you probably know, you’re running a world-class program and by far the Best I’ve seen of what else is out there- there is nothing comparable or close to what you have” – Paul Tharp, Command Maser Chief, SEAL Basic Underwater Demolition / SEAL Training.
The key take away for me is this; “The Big 4 Of Mental Toughness are : Goal Setting, Visualize Success, Mental Control and Breath Control.
Let’s go through very briefly on each of the Big 4.
Goal Setting
It all starts with Goal. What is the point of having mental toughness if you do not even know what you want to achieve?! The idea of SMART goal is explained in this big idea. All of us are familiar with this. SMART goal. But the author also include F.I.T.S and Micro Goals in this idea which expand the goal setting further. FITS stands for Fit, Importance, Timing and Simplicity. ..and I love the idea of Micro Goals; break your big goal into a small portion. The micro-goal process is whereby your goals is chunked to a very short-time-frame achievable goal. Example, during the day of the Hell Week, his goal is to get the next meal!
Visualize Success
We heard a lot about visualization. Two key elements is Mental Projection and Mental Rehearsal. Mental projection is about seeing the victories that you want to have. Hold the images in your mind. Mental Rehearsal is practicing in your mind. Make these two elements part of your daily rituals as a strategy to achieve your goals.
Mental Control.
It about how you manage your mental state when your mind reacts negatively to a certain situation / thing. So, what the steps? First, you have to aware the state and acknowledge it. Find the source and why you feel that way..? Stop exaggerating it. Second, change that negative emotion to its opposite…Then shower your brain with positive self-talks.. take action that help to eliminate that negative state. Make it about serving others.
Breath Control
When we under tremendous stress, we forget to breath properly. Our breathing is so shallow and hence very little oxygen goes to our brain. Imagine what happen to your brain when there is not enough oxygen? Therefore, this skill or idea that we need imprint in our mind to breath well and properly…especially in the critical situation. I love the Box Breathing method shared by the author. 5x5x5x5 which is inhale, hold, exhale, hold ; 5 seconds each and repeat minimum 5 times.
There you have it… Tools for great Mental Toughness from the SEAL.
Call For Action
Spend 5 minutes every morning to do the visualization strategy on one of your key goals for this month.
Visit the author : http://www.unbeatablemind.com