“Pain is weakness leaving the body” -- A Navy SEAL Mental Toughness is an elusive concept easy to talk about it, but difficult to exhibit. Either you have it or you don’t. There are many pretenders in our society where the standards are so lax that one could feel tough for gutting it through a pick-up basketball game.

Training Mental Toughness

We believe that Mental Toughness is a human capacity that needs to be trained or it doesn’t develop. On the other hand, it can also go soft if not trained. Our work with SEAL candidates and Industrial Athletes has shown us that hard physical training over long time domains, with work that causes suffering, develops self confidence and fortitude. The Greeks understood this well. Suffering was doled out to young Spartan Agoge trainees daily in high doses until they forged minds of steel.

"Pain is Weakness Leaving the Body" means that the pain of a training session is making you stronger mentally, not just physically. When the mind is weak, the body will fail. When strong, there is almost no end to what the human body can endure. Characteristics of the mentally tough include:

•Discipline

•Clarity of thought while under duress

•Calmness amidst chaos

•Suffering in silence

•Familiarity with pain and discomfort (pain is your friend!)

Quitting is not an option. Intriguingly, this is the ONE character trait that defines who succeeds in SEAL training, and who rings out.

Also it defines who survives a survival situation or a terminal illness. It is mental toughness, that Failure to take NO for an answer, to Never, Never, Never Ever quit (Teddy Roosevelt) that makes the difference between life and death, success and failure.

Interestingly, mental toughness is also almost impossible to measure with a simple fitness test or psych evaluation. Even after rigorous psychological testing, and fitness screening taking up to a year to prepare a Navy SEAL candidate for the BUD/s program, some 80% will fail. They simply were mentally weak.

Some of the principles we live by at SEAL FIT to build mental fortitude include:

•Hard physical training is one of the best ways to do this. But it is not natural for most people.

•Good coaching is very helpful to train mental toughness

•Unfamiliarity of a situation, and lack of confidence can weaken someone who is proven "tough" in a different domain. I have seen SEALs considered mentally hard shake in their boots while staring at the abyss from 20,000 ft wondering if they will survive their first HALO jump. In other words you must train specifically in a domain to be mentally tough in that arena. A warrior must train like a warrior, a diver like a diver, a smoke jumper like a smoke jumper.

• Being functionally fit makes a big difference. The fitter you are, the less you suffer, the less prone to injury, the stronger the mind is. It is an upward spiral.

Some tips for training mental toughness using fitness:

• Watch your thoughts! Pay attention to what is going through your mind. Try to create a space, a moment, between when a thought arises, and the immediate judgment of that thought. This practice is called "Mindfulness," and allows us to avoid poisonous thoughts and instead direct our thoughts in powerful directions. A weak thought is "I can't finish this, I am dying here!" A powerful thought is "This is frigging hard - I love it!" At our SEAL FIT Kokoro (warrior spirit) camps, we provide some strong metaphors and mental images to help keep your mind focused on powerful concepts.

Use a mantra. During BUD/s I would sing a little powerful ditty to myself on long runs which would keep my mind focused on something other than the pain of the moment. Counting also works well. Count to 10, then start at 1 again. The mantra and counting are concentration techniques that closely resemble Zen meditation, a form of focusing meditation used by warrior monks and martial artists to focus their concentration at "one point." This "one pointed-ness" keep the mind clear of weak thoughts that can divert you from your goal or mission accomplishment. This sounds like a simple practice, but as usual, the simple is not easy.

• Focus on short term goals. At BUD/s we went one training event at a time and looked forward to meals. Worked like magic! It takes some time to shorten your focus if you are used to "living in the future," but there is a hidden secret here and it is called "presence." Living in presence is like being in a perpetual "zone." Difficult to achieve, but the practice of moving toward this goal is the key.

• Don't bring a knife to a gunfight. Be prepared for the known and unknown. If you think the world is going to "fight fair" then think again. Prepare for the worst and hope for the best.

• Develop faith - in yourself, others or a higher power. Faith can be an unstoppable motivator.

• Be enthusiastic. Be the light bulb in the darkness for the rest of the team. Your energy will uplift those around you, and you as well. Embrace the suck and channel it in a positive direction. Negative energy can drain you very fast.

• Use humor liberally. I thought BUD/s was the funniest time of my life. I have never laughed as hard as I did at the crazy antics and tricks of the training cadre. Banter with your team and try to outdo one-another with dumb jokes.

• Think like a survivor. Author Laurence Gonzales studied survival, and interestingly his analysis looks a lot like what our view of mental toughness is, to whit:

1. Perceive your situation accurately (ie: not in denial) and believe that you can survive.

2. Stay calm. Use your anger to focus your energy. Manage your pain.

3. Analyze and plan. Get organized, set a routine and be disciplined.

4. Be decisive in action. Don’t freeze and wait for someone else to solve your dilemma.

5. Find small successes to cheer you up

6. Believe – have faith

7. Surrender to the reality of the situation and work

within it. Forget about rescue, focus on survival.

8. Find some way to enjoy the survival journey: singing, playing mind games, mantras, etc.

9. Take your eyes off yourself and help the other person, if there is one.

10. Be open to and observe the sublime beauty of nature

11. Do whatever is necessary (Aron Ralston)

12. Never give up.