NAVY SEAL Explains The MINDSET To SUCCEED AT ANY GOAL | Chadd Wright & Lewis Howes

remember when that dimethyl officer told me basically no you cannot be a CEO you will never be able to be a CEO like I'm gonna find a way over under around I'm going to do something to fix this so I can move forward with my dreams oh man oh man all right Chad Wright is in the house welcome to the school greatness podcast excited you're here man we met was it three weeks ago when was the mountain what was the date date I don't know it's back there somewhere we met at a an event that Jesse is their host called 2902 9 it's climbing a mountain 17 times in Vermont the equivalent of Mount Everest challenging you smoked through it pretty quickly on a lot of a lot of the hills I was keeping a slow pace but we got to have an amazing conversation on the last Hill which I was excited about and we talked I made you stop much longer to share your story and we said let's do a let's do a longer interview and talk about this first thing when I asked about is what is three of seven you've got it on your hand on their shirt what is it what is it what does it mean okay yeah so I guess to start with kind of how it was born and I'll tell you kind of the meaning that goes along with it so my brother and I we run ultra marathons together and obviously with my time in the SEAL Teams it's it's it's been a lot of physical mental challenges and we really enjoyed that so we we asked ourselves like what are we trying to do with these crazy hard things that we always go out and do we're essentially we were trying to we're trying to complete ourselves from like a body soul and spirit aspect so that's what three of seven is all about so the 3 and 3 of 7 is representative of the three aspects of us as humans our body soul and speed and the seven is the universal number for completion so complete yourself is essentially the tagline for three of seven okay so what we're doing ever complete your no so it's it's a journey it's a it's a journey for sure but you know I think I feel like we're all on that journey to kind of find that complete and wholesome existence in life so yeah we have a little podcast we're having a lot of fun with that we have guests on anybody from ultrarunners to we had Jesse its LaRon the other day and you know even just your normal everyday people that have went through some type of severe adversity in their lives whether it's in their control or out out of their control and we talk through them about what they learn from those adverse situations and moving forward what do they do on a day-to-day basis to master nourish and maintain their body soul and spirit cool so now you uh you're a Navy SEAL for how many years twelve years 12 years and the story of how you became a Navy SEAL is pretty crazy can you share how you didn't get accepted and then the process you had to go through in order to become the chance of going to be a Navy SEAL can you tell us that story yeah brother yeah so yeah my story's a little bit different it took me a while to just get on the start line of SEAL training background on me I was born and raised in North Georgia never played sports was never ran never swam in a swimming pool and I ran no never ran I mean you know other than you know just running through the woods right fun you know nothing for fitness notice where we never swam in a swimming pool till I went took the physical standards test to get a seal contract so that's kind of where I was coming from but I had this goal all of a sudden that I wanted to be a Navy SEAL and that was kind of born through when I graduated high school I was working in the construction industry and I just kind of had this revelation one day that if I didn't go like step outside of that and do something what that I considered special or different that kind of that was going to be my law in life I was never going to have any more than what that little construction job in my hometown could offer and that's fine for a lot of people like I know a bunch of dudes that are still working at that exact same place to this day and they're totally happy with their lives but for me I just wasn't happy with the place that I was in so I was browsing the internet saw this flier hardest military training in the free world Navy SEALs and for some reason it clicked and that's what I decided I wanted to go do your researching you saw this is like the hardest thing to do you need of the elites and it hits you in your core you're 18 years old up to 19 at the time it hits you in your heart you're like okay this is my mission this is my dream my goal that's it man yeah so that became that became kind of mine that's the overall thing dude so yeah I went and took the the PST to get a seal contract I failed that multiple multiple times est-ce it's a physical standards testing it's a it's a run swim push up pull up kind of test so I failed it multiple times finally got to where I learned how to swim learn how to run a mile and a half all that good stuff and how many times we tell you about yes you can take it as many times as you want yeah so I took it once a week and it really took me it I'd go and take it once a week it probably took me four months to finally pass it so some nothing dude is this ace it's just like a standard test with the government or the you know the Navy like in your local town or says yes you want to stopwatch testing yourself no the Navy has contracted mentor SEAL mentors that administer the tests and they have one in every you know they have multiple on each state and you are in Georgia so you were driving with the nearest and you'd do it there yeah exactly okay so finally pass that get this contract yeah every week but you saw growth you saw what you were getting better oh yeah for sure man yeah and it was really the skills I didn't have I didn't have the skills to that I needed to pass I mean I didn't know how to do a combat swimmer side stroke I so I like I could dog paddle when I first thought about you know so were you teaching yourself in between the testing every week like yeah you were swimming every day you're running you're teaching yourself that's right that's right so yeah that that progressed slowly but it over time I finally got it down pat and so I went into the Navy and with my seal contract finally so the seal contract basically means you get a shot at seal training you can go to training camp yep that means you they guarantee you a spot on the start line at Budds it's called basic underwater demolition SEAL training and but you have to go to navy boot camp first so I went to navy boot camp I made it all the way through boot camp and it was our last day of boot camp and we had this big final training exercise and we got that done and and all my other classmates were going off to graduation the ceremony and you know they were going to move on with their dreams and aspirations to go to SEAL training and my drill instructor pulls me aside after this final training exercise and he says hey Chad you got to go to medical man they they found something on your physical that they need to talk to you about so while everybody else is going off to graduation I'm walking over to medical and I walk in to the you know the medical officer and he says Chad you have a pericardial cyst on your heart and it's asymptomatic but we're afraid that when you go down to depth diving that it will burst the cyst on your heart so he said we can't let you be a seal man oh wow so in that last moment as I was about to move forward with everything that I had invested my myself into it was all taken from me and did you try to say it's okay I'll sign a waiver like I'll do whatever it takes or were you accepting of it right away like he didn't give me a choice so there was no choice in the matter there's nothing like a white this is a no you're that's it that's it no I did try to say you know okay well I'm in the Navy now like can't you guys take can't you guys perform a surgery to take one thing off my heart right and and of course he said no this is asymptomatic it's a very rare condition we're not willing to risk the surgery just so you can go to seal training and and if they perform the surgery there was no guarantee that they that it would be successful and I would be able to move forward anyways so you could still be in the Navy exactly and work on someone a job just not going under why exactly yeah yeah so that's what they basically did they tried to send me out to the fleet and but that wasn't where I had set my goal man so I was able to pull some strings and get out of the Navy on an administrative discharge and said well I don't want to go work any more for you then if I can't do what I want to do yeah I mean and and but the thing is Lois it's weird dude because when he told me like I can remember when that dialogue sir told me basically no you cannot be a CEO you will never be able to be a CEO like for some reason I don't know if it was because I was young and naive but I never let go of that goal I got even after he gave me a definitive answer I still had in my mind I'm gonna find a way over under around I'm going to do something to fix this so I can move forward with my dreams so maybe that's you know why I had so much confidence to get out of the Navy you know completely out I cut all ties with the Navy show back up to my hometown and of course everybody looks at me and oh it's a small town so everybody knew where I was going and what my aspirations were and they look at me and of course they all say well what are you doing back here bro you obviously quit right because that's what everybody does is quit something that very few people make it through so yeah that was something I had to deal with when I got home that was pretty tough how long was that time for so when I got home I started immediately trying to find a surgeon that would take this thing off my heart right away you were like right away can help me totally man Yeah right right off the bat and I've went to like three or four different heart surgeons there in Atlanta and nobody would touch it they said the same thing that the dive medical officer in the Navy told me finally I found a surgeon that would take this thing off my heart his name was dr. Cooper and he was a army surgeon he had served time on the battlefield active duty so he understood what I wanted to go do and then I wanted to serve my country he understood my my dream you know more so than somebody that hadn't served their country could so dr. Cooper was willing to accept the risk of performing this surgery on my behalf to do a pro bono did you have to pay a premium what was this surance cover this that's an interesting thing we were not sure so I didn't have health insurance at the time we were not sure how we were going to pay for it you know Alex I had my family was supportive of me and we were just as a group we decided we're just gonna go have this surgery done and and then we'll get the bill and we'll pay payments on it for the rest of the road as if we need to you know so when in dr. Cooper performed the surgery I only remember one moment of doubt it was the morning of the surgery we were driving to the hospital and I was about to like lay there and let him cut my chest open because you have to do open well he went he actually they actually detached my pectoral muscle peeled it up and then broke my ribs and went oh my god yeah so they didn't open the middle of your chest no they didn't split my my star-nosed that's crazy yeah so he cuts you here detecting some metal yeah pulls a muscle up and then breaks river just like bands they actually had to break the ribs to get in to I guess to create a cavity big enough to this the cyst was seven centimeters so it was a pretty large coming compared to your heart that's a fairly large cyst you know yeah how do they how does the bones heal back dude I have no I have no clue dude I didn't ask questions about like how are you gonna do this surgery how long is it gonna take me to recover yeah yeah like it didn't matter I was just I was so thankful I had someone that was willing to perform the surgery I didn't ask those questions you know Wow okay so you were you had a moment of doubt going to the hospital what was that fear yeah so the fear was I think it was just the reality set in the reality of the risk I was about to take to gamble upon my dreams basically and the risk being I might die I might die that's right so I look over at my dad it's like 5:00 in the morning we're riding in the hospital and I say dad do you really think I should do this man and he just looked back at me stone cold and he said um chat if you want to be a sealed you don't have any choice and I was like Roger that man and we rolled laid out on the operating table to poor Roger that my surgery was successful woke up first thing I remember coming out of anesthesia my grandmother was standing beside my hospital bed and I grabbed your hand and I said I got my dreams back and so like from that point forward grow nothing was going to stop me nothing because I had you I took that that adversity and I used it as a tool from that point forward I was so invested at that point that furnace of adversity had stripped me down and purified me down to the core doom of why did I want to do this you know it was just a hundred percent from that point when why did you want to do it did you ask yourself and it recheck in like it's this really worth opening my chest and doing this and it's actually dying the best way I can answer that Louis and that's a good question man because I guess a lot of people would expect me to say because I wanted to serve my country or I wanted to go to war or this but at that time in my life it wasn't it wasn't that the only way I can answer that question about why did I want to do it is because that is what my goal was that was my that was what my goal was and I was told when I was told no it made me run it a hundredfold Wow you know what I mean Wow do you think if you would have had that surgery you would have completed being a Navy SEAL he went through the testing and made it through and yeah you think you would have made it though so there's I mean there's no way I can answer that a hundred percent with a hundred percent certainty my honest opinion is no I wouldn't have made it through training honestly why do you think you wouldn't have if he didn't have that adversity because I for one I don't think that I was prepared mentally or physically prior to that adversity so like I said that that that moment of adversity of with the heart condition all that not only did it purify my intentions in my will and all that but also I had to recover after that surgery so how long is that I was I was back in the Navy standing in front of the same dive medical officer that had disqualified me less than a year after the surgery Wow so I I so I had that that block after the surgery to really hunker down and train with the right mindset so I had the right mindset then for that training blog so that training block was so much more effective than any of the training that I had done prior to that adversity right you know what I mean because it took you probably 3 to 6 months to heal to a point where you could start running and start moving effectively I'm assuming yeah and then you have maybe a six for six-month runway to train hard that's it yeah and train line the whole time yeah yeah so you stand in front of the guy who said no it's not possible what was that like it was pretty wild man I remember walking in his office and he remember you yeah oh yeah I totally did I mean it was this is such a rare condition and and this all this is written in medical journals this is public information that you can if you research Navy SEAL pericardial cyst you can read the medical journals on this so it was so rare they had never seen it in a sealed candidate before so he remembered me definitely you know but yeah I remember walking in his office and and of course he still had to give me the go-ahead you know I I didn't walk in there all cocky like screw you dude you know but but I went in there and I remember he looked at me dude and he he said what are you doing back here and I had the paperwork from my civilian surgeon that performed the surgery and I just said hey man will you take a look at this set it down in front of him and he went over the documents right there and pretty much gave me the go-ahead I said I did the surgery here's a little document that's it here's the medical release here's the right that's it brother yes he said all right good to go yeah it in yet he said you got it you know you got it now and I think he respected I think he understood better than anyone else what I had done the amount of commitment that you had to you exactly that you were all in this isn't he was like okay that's not a you know I'm gonna stitch up something some wound you have surgery this is life-threatening surgery as you did just for this one thing that's that brother and I think he understood that better than anybody else could have you know what I mean and how old are you at this time to 1912 in 19 well so that he gives you the clear where did that feel like when he just said you know signed off or whatever he said that you can go into now budge training but you were not gonna seal it didn't even say you're a Celia he also still passed the six-month test that's it yeah so how is that feeling when he said you're good to go that's crazy Louis nobody's ever asked me that question but I can remember it you know bringing it up in my mind now that you asked me like screaming inside we need to hug him we're not crying were you calling someone well it was definitely you know no hugging or nothing I mean it was a professional relationship I was a seaman and he was in a but but yeah it was just just that I mean like like I've never experienced before either before that or even now after that in my life just this this welling up of like passion and drive within me when he signed the dotted line and I knew I was like I got I got this and you're watching him side I said it yourself like I just be so emotionally overwhelming probably it is dude a year everything you sacrificed yep why was it was amazing it was an amazing moment and I thank you for asking that question because I never reflect on that moment never reflected on that moment in the last 13 years of my life it's cool cool to go back and think about that's powerful who was the first person you called or what was the first thing you did after you left that room it would have been my mother my mother has always been my biggest supporter man and what did you say and what did she say oh my gosh I can't I can't remember the exact words of that conversation but I'm sure she was crying because she was as invested as I was into this you know what I mean okay so so you go off into Bloods training it's called right mm-hm and this is the six-month intensive where you see on you know Discovery Channel of all the seals in the ocean holding up the the rafts together just getting crashed on waves just no sleep all that type of stuff right that's it that's what it called freezing cold water 50 degree watt whatever it is and this goes on for tell us the process of what this training is like and you know a couple of minutes like from the first couple months to the last couple months because you told me that the last couple months it's not as tough physically it's more mentally than right yeah yeah so yeah and a lot of people know about buds now but I'll just give you a quick rundown on it this first phase is the selection phase it's about six or eight weeks long and that's where hell week is hell weeks the block where you're up for I think it's like five days and six nights with no sleep and you're just getting hammered the whole time so that's where we lose a lot of guys as in first phase when you move on to second phase that's combat diving we do lose quite a few guys in one evolution they're called pool competency and it's basically where you get just beat all to pieces underwater you just try to drown your system basically yeah so yeah we lose a lot of guys there but other than that in second phase you know after you get past pool comp and second phase you're you're you're gonna be there you know for the duration of the training and in third phase is land warfare it's you know learning you know patrol formations and you know your your land warfare stuff shooting the whole the whole nine yards and you you had told me I don't know if this is your a lot of sales for not speaking at it if so but you told me that there was a day where the most people I'm not remember saying this what you told me yeah yeah quite a bit when they played a movie you said that most people I quit on this one day - oh yeah man yeah I mean I've never shared that publicly before but I mean I don't I don't guess this any secret but yeah yeah the one day that I remember the most guys quitting was they set the class down in front of a big projector screen and played a video of of al-qaeda operatives sawing the head off of an American and you know basically told all the class guys in the class that hey this is who you're going to war against like this is no game we're not here to do push-ups you're not gonna be running with a boat on your head for the rest of your career it's not about going out to the bar with a tripe tried in on your chest or any of that this is about these are the people you're going to fight and destroy and so it's very graphic and we had to watch it multiple times with instructors staff around us basically yelling really in our faces and so you know a good portion of the class got afraid and then you had a small group that it made them angry mm-hmm and then I think there was probably some in between that didn't really know how to feel about it you know they had to go sleep on it you know what I mean so I remember after them showing that we went straight from there to eat lunch yeah imagine that big crazy and we're standing in the chow line and like guys to start falling out of the formation just like by the tens and doesn't know yeah and they're just all going to ring the bell and they already went through hell week this was prior to hell we yeah this was prior to hell week so they didn't even go through any physically demanding stuff at this point nah man with no sleep they just were psychologically out that's it and that's the whole point the whole thing with this with this training or really anything in life Louis's it could be running an ultramarathon it could be starting a business it could could be seal training so other than that day and that day was all mental the biggest reason that people quit any of those things we just I just talked about is because they look at the whole they're looking at the big picture man so like with seal training there's no single evolution that that's that that's that difficult yeah really I mean it's four mile runs and you know two mile swims and it's nothing that you couldn't get up from this table and go do right now but guys the guys that quit they couldn't break it down like into digestible pieces one hour at a time one more time one day at a time yeah one step at a time one breath at a time yeah it seems so overwhelming you're like if I can't do this right now if I'm struggling this moment how many take on all this right six months about three months and so we become overwhelmed and in fear as opposed to just one step but I said brother I remember an evolution during hell week all it was was a one-mile repeat the instructors just got everybody together and said all you got to do is run one mile over and over again until we tell you to stop there's no time standards there's no good walk if you could walk I mean you you had to look like you're running shorts you couldn't walk so I'm out here like heck yeah dude all I gotta do is run one mile at my own pace on a sunny beach on Coronado Island like this is amazing smoke days no tiring me vacation yeah yeah but that was the single evolution during hell week where we lost the most guys and it was because of what we just talked about they could not certain people just can't could not focus on that mile dude they they all they could think about was all the miles in front of them which they didn't know if this was the last one or not so they looked at it as a big picture and they just couldn't handle it and and and really it was the easiest evolution that we did in all of hell week you remember how many miles you actually ran dude I have no clue and what the instructors do they they just keep it going until enough people quit and then I go and then they call it yeah really yeah and just sit there like okay we're gonna then 10 miles 15 20 miles whatever and tell me people quit that's right yeah Wow yeah so that's the biggest thing data about and I take that now into like ultra running and and even 3:07 you know the business model for three of seven and all that we have going on with that it's just like you know conquer which like right in front of you mm-hmm and if you can if you can stay in that mindset you know on an ultra race when I when I'm 95 miles deep into a race and I've got to climb a 2,000 foot Mountain how do you think I'd do it bro once there buddy yeah I mean I pick a tree 20 yards ahead of me and I get to that tree and then I pick another tree and then eventually I'm at the summit you know how do you manage your mind and the thoughts of man I've got five more miles or however many more miles to go my how many more hours to go days to go and this is freaking hard how do you manage the mind that wants to tell you to stop when it seems like there's so much ahead of you but you're just going ten feet at a time how do you how do you do that when you're tired when it's hurting when you're exhausted or you just don't get tired no no that's a mantra we use right yeah we can talk about that later but uh but for me bro it's like if you will push yourself hard if you will push yourself hard enough you you reach this place I call it the steady state and it's where it's not gonna hurt any worse and and it's not gonna get any harder it's the steady state man stay hard it's gonna just stay just like that that's exactly right and it's it's almost like a for me it's almost like a primal feeling like everything else is stripped away and all I have to deal with is this is this pain physical pain that I'm feeling and it's a beaut it's up for me it's a beautiful thing man so I don't feel a pain well want to reach that steady state to where everything's just boiled down and it's just so simple yeah you're not stressing about who's calling you what's happening at home friends that's it well yeah you're not stressed about that stuff you're focused on one thing yeah and so how one I guess out one way that I that I'm managed that I like getting to that point in the first place but but some way that I guess you could say that I manage that pain is as I stopped fighting against it I literally just tell my I literally just tell myself I accept this Wow and and I almost just like in my mind's eye I see it passing through me the pain the pain and you can use this with all different types of things that are uncomfortable like cold mm-hmm if if you stop we'll stop fighting against it it it diminishes its power but as long as long as you're fighting against the pain or you're using your energy to fight against the cold it's going to continue to gain traction and power over your mind yeah so it's just forcing yourself to let go and stop fighting against that discomfort and just rock and roll man so for the everyday human being who is does a five-mile run or maybe there's someone going extreme into an ice tub for two minutes and they feel pain after a few miles or that first minute in the ice tub how would you process that mentally or in your mind's eye when you're entering the ice when you're going to that five mile run when it starts to hurt you get the cramps you get the heart aches sweating what would you do in that moment obviously for you that like 50 to 100 miles but for the everyday human how would you approach that mentally like a process we could understand I understand of like surrendering and letting go through you but what is it what's a strategy we could implement you things well I mean I think I think the strategy to implement that particular thing about not fighting against it I think is that you could speak it out loud I talked to myself all the time and that's something I'm so adamant about is the spoken word so you know if you so it's starting to feel painful I'm on my third mile I feel like wanting to slow down what would I say to myself well I mean you can you can counter punch that with with any number of statements or mantras whatever works best for you you know what I mean of course I have some that I use on my own but that's for me that that would be the number one tool to kind of to kind of manage that pain a spoken mantra out loud yeah the spoken word not an internal mantra or a whisper but actually saying anything yeah totally man yeah yeah yeah it has to be said out loud okay what's the we're gonna say someone else no I'm good what's the the killer of getting through hard challenges in your mind what's the thing that kills most individuals once it starts to get hard and they stop negativity man yeah the thought process is Lorde's it's it's not necessarily the negative thought because we can't control our thoughts obviously all the time we're gonna have thoughts in our head that pop up that we don't want to be there but it's it's it's when you give those thoughts power through the things that you say so I give you an example one of my best friends going through SEAL training he came to me one morning and he said he said he had been think I could tell he had been in a bad place mentally but he was doing fine progressing through training but he came to me one morning and he said out loud for the first time I don't think I'm good enough to make it through this training anymore which was a lie he was completely physically capable of doing every single thing that we had to do that day and every other day but when he came and said that it gave those thoughts that he had that that what do you call it like lack of confidence or you know there's there's thoughts that he was having that he wasn't good enough they didn't they didn't have enough traction to stop him until he came and told me that out loud spoken into he spoke it out loud yeah they might be thinking am I good enough to do this can I make it through maybe I'm not as strong as these guys these guys are more talented but once you start saying it to someone else out loud that's when your body starts to believe it even stronger and it gets harder and harder to go back into a confident place I'm assuming that's it brother yes so like when he told me that it was just like seconds later he was going to ring the bell really yeah and there was nothing that I could do to stop him like it's like he finally believed it 100% and he was out yeah yeah just don't say it and you're have to half the way there right if you like just don't say your you have a chance I said brother that's it and and so your tongue your tongue is the is the thing I I compared it to a rudder a rudder is the main control surface that steers a ship steers the direction on the ship your tongue is your rudder it's going to steer the direction of your life and the outcomes of your situations 98% of the time so what you say is pretty important yeah it's it's it's paramount to me bro I mean that's like I take this to such an extreme that I don't curse I'm a Christian but I don't not cursing is not a Christian thing it's because none of those words in and of themselves have a positive meaning so why am I going to use them so for me it's it is paramount dude the things that we say yes did you ever come to a place where you started saying negative things to yourself during buds training or as a seal where you had to catch yourself or have you always been clear with your words to yourself I have not always been clear with my words to myself I I became more conscious about the power of my words throughout life and doing really really hard stuff to where you know I've put myself in in enough situations with other people around me to see the power of the spoken word actually work not only in my own situations but in the men around me or women around me and racing you know yeah so as every time I see it work I'm like holy smokes this is powerful this is powerful well then finally I started going on some podcasts and telling people that it works and then I now get hundreds of messages a month of people saying oh my gosh this works what one of the words we should never say to ourselves and what should we say to ourselves every day you know I think that's really I think that's really individualized the man I mean as far as the words that that you should never say to yourself it's gonna be dependent on the situation you're in you know what I mean and then the things that you're saying to yourself you know a big one for me is I will not die in the chair that's a huge mantra you know that I use I won't die in the chair and that has a whole meaning and story behind it what's the brief meeting so that was that was born out of that Last Man Standing race that I did a few months well no it was back in May where I was running you know we had to run for point one six miles every hour on the hour each one of those hours I would dedicate to a fallen brother the SEAL Teams and their actual names yeah I had a wrist coach that I was wearing and I would have their you know index card with their face name their family's names or data sacrifice and so holy cow I mean I probably gave you a lot more power and it is man but but it gave me a lot more pressure to dude because each one of these laps was was for this guy and and some of those guys were guys that I had spent a lot of time with you know what I mean so the way that race worked there was no definitive finish line you just kept running until the only one runner was left standing so I could not promise my brothers that I would win I couldn't promise them victory because I didn't know if my body would break or you know I was I didn't know I didn't know where the race was going to end so but but I could promise them that if I died in death meaning death within a situation not physical death but death in this scenario would be of my race if that time came I would die out on the race course battling for every step that I took sat on the chair I won't die in the chair that's around waiting yeah so at the end of each one of these laps there was a chair so if I came in off the lap in 55 minutes I could sit down for five minutes and it was hard a lot of people died in the chair that day I jumped on because it was hard to rise back up man for sure so did you win the race no I was the I think I was the third man standing I ran a hundred and sixteen point five miles and my last lap dude was actually for my last lap was for a good friend of mine named Blake Marston and we lost Blake in a skydiving accident not long ago and dude I remember looking down at I went out on that lap and so it was muddy I had tied my shoes too tight and so my shoelaces were sawing through that large ten in the front of my ankles painful yeah so it got to the point that I could no longer flex my toes toward my shin anymore so every step was like I was dragging my feet like lead weights so I went out on that lap and I pretty much I was broken dude yeah your whole body no one going down chair do you around the lap though I was out riding the lap or you didn't make it back again I'm in your life I got out there dude and I remember looking down at Blake and dude I just start I started crying Wow because I knew I knew at a certain point that I could not make it back in time oh my gosh and I thought you know house what does Blake think of me right now you know and and and then I just had the sense of peace come over me dude and I just could see I could see his face in my mind's eye laughing at my poor physical state because we always find a suit I mean team guys do we always find humor in adversity I mean no matter how miserable that god we would be joking and laughing at each other so I saw him laughing at me you know and then I found the stick on the ground and hobbled my way back to the yeah made it through wasn't the time allotted it was after the time it was after the time so what is 16 miles miles yeah but you know you can apply I apply that now that don't die in the chair to all aspects of my life man whether it's business or personal relationships or marriages or you name it dude so you have a mantra and you'll say this mantra out loud or internally every day when you feel it gets tough yeah yeah it's a it uses a counter punch dude to those negative thoughts it's funny like mantras general are talked about a lot in kind of the spiritual meditation communities but you're this hard core Navy SEAL guy who's saying the power of the spoken word the power of a mantra positive mantra is what gets you through adversity that's it right and that's the secret that's your rudder man so it's not there's not three samui spirituality meditation on type of thought process this is tactical real life strategies that get you through war actual war that's it brother a war in your mind the war for the day physical war wherever you are deployed that's what this does when you were out in you deployed how many times I was deployed I did four different deployments but they were all over and it never had one deployment that was like one location the whole time okay you're going out and different yeah for different times twelve years yeah what was this one of the scariest times that you're allowed to talk about or moments or situations where you had back to that moment of doubt when you were driving to the surgery table did you have lots of those moments over twelve years of doubt or insecurity or uncertainty or did you have this positive mindset every time you went into a scary situation I've never really had doubts per se like like like I had that morning of the surgery where you know everything hinged on that one decision I know one one crazy thing I guess doubt that I had I think I share with you on the mountain was one of the first times that I went out with with my platoon you know I was out on a blocking position so I wasn't part of the main assault force but which for people that don't know what's that mean that's basically they you're in charge of of keeping anybody from the outside coming in to the actual target complex so you get your assault force that handles the actual direct action and then you've got blocking positions on four corners around that complex but they can be pushed out you know quite a ways to where you don't have direct contact not even walk he talk to your I mean you can have comms but you don't you know you don't necessarily you're alone yeah you don't have a buddy next to you well it depends and it all depends is all mission dependent man you know it could be it could be two brand-new guys out on a blocking position it could be you whoever you need there so its mission dependent but yeah I was out way out here on this blocking position as a brand-new frog man and frog man means Navy SEAL okay yeah I don't know it's all good and so the assault forces is taking care of the main target complex and we get us I get a secondary contact out here on my corner my blocking position and I remember like thinking in my head like oh my gosh like III hesitated like waiting for is someone gonna tell me what to do you know can I shoot can I shoot back you know waiting for a call or some advice and then I had this epiphany that no one's gonna tell me what to do right now I have to handle the situation on my own yeah and so that was a grand moment for me like realizing that in life there going to be a lot of situations whether it's business deals or your own personal life that you're not gonna have time to sit around and wait for someone to come and tell you what to do man you've got to react in that moment with the tools that you have and you've got to make the best decision that you can within that moment and I learned I learned that lesson and that for some reason that was just such an awesome lesson for me because now like with with three of seven I'm not a businessman dude yeah I'm a warrior bro I don't know nothing about business and there's things that come up all the time that I'm like you know what am I supposed to do about this and yeah I could sit around and wait for you know or or pay somebody else to figure it out but no I make the best decision that that I that I can come up with her and I rock and roll with it man it's not always the prettiest it but I always learn from it if it's not the prettiest you know what I mean that's the way I live my life now yeah yeah and can you tell us what you did was your main job or main role as a Navy SEAL yeah my main role within a platoon was a breacher so it's an explosives expert if we need to get into a door that's locked or say there's a walled compound or something yeah I you make a bomb I make a bomb and from scratch or with whatever you have maybe you have the tools on you or you got to make a bomb yeah chemically right yeah we're together yeah and then you shut that set the bomb off yep we set it off and you know wherever the primary entry might be and you have to calculate it all out and make sure it's gonna penetrate the barrier that you're trying to get through right so I have enough firepower and I said blow it up to driver competent knock the wall down or that didn't open the hole baby dude it's over build my bomb man that's probably why it's like you blew up the whole thing not just the wall yeah no doubt and that's I guess that's part of the reason why the Navy considers me disabled now ever built my bombs a lot and um yeah the the blast wave the shock wave as it passes through your skull actually tears away at the fibers within your brain we know that from playing ball that of course yeah it's just like a mini concussion every time every time yeah for thousands I mean no telling how many mom really because you feel it and he just you feel it rally your brain a little bit oh yeah it goes through your body your chest everything it's probably like uh it's a shock wave yeah I mean it hit you you can feel it and you didn't have sometimes a hundred yards to go behind a nice big wall to block it you're looking for a barrel a rocket my little hill something within 40 yards you might be well dude you might be in this house I mean you might be in a house I mean you're talking about you've got probably or you've got ten doors in here dude and if you know if I needed to get into any of these doors I'd be breaching right here in in an enclosed space so Wyatt why use a bomb on a door and suppose a life I have you know Ram it through it kicking the door down is it just like it's so that's fun using bombs do I'm just guessing oh damn man save your brain well yeah we weren't thinking about that matter so that was just protocol that awareness is building about brain injury there they're implementing a lot of new really good stuff that's good for guys I'm so thankful that that's happening so yeah just five or six years ago that nobody thought I mean we calculated a minimum safe distance for every bomb but no you couldn't always get that you know what I mean yeah yeah okay so thousands of bombs I mean how long does it take you to make a bomb I feel like we got to get through this door Harlan to take you mm-hmm well you would have some on you pre-rigged mom that's a breach ready to go so yes mounting that's our bomb yep one minute to minute whatever yeah you build them back at the shop you know and then you'd have them with you okay cool what is a Navy SEALs guide to eliminating self-doubt what are the things that you saw other guys do really well or that you did to learn how to overcome being insecure lacking the confidence of something and just overall doubting yourself that everyday human beings could apply on a daily basis bro I think that we all need to come to the realization that we're all made of the same stuff man freaking dirt mm-hmm that's all we are all made of the same stuff so Louis you are a awesome dude you have accomplished so much man but you know why you have done you have used your tools properly yeah you don't have anything that I don't and I hope you don't mind me using us as a directors after you don't have anything you that I don't have from a physical I have a strong healthy body and a strong healthy mind we're made of the exact same stuff you have utilized your tools your time the pee pull around you your speech your relationships all these Universal tools that we all have access to we all have access to time we all have access to to people around us resources the reasonable yeah those are and and you you can't you can't use the argument that all will say take time for example say time is a tool that helps you accomplish your mission well yeah you may have more time than me but take take and look at it in in the natural world I say we both had a hammer the hammer represents time we need to drive a nail through this table right here yeah your hammer is bigger than mine so obviously you're gonna drive the nail faster than me but I have a hammer too even though it's smaller I can still drive that nail flush with this table right here so it's not an excuse to say whoa Louis has so much more resources than I have it doesn't matter dude we're made of the same stuff yeah job done we can still get the job done so for me that that's you know that's essential is to stop looking at each other like you know somebody you know and look at me for example bro I'm some old country dude from North Georgia how could how could I have ever dreamed to go and serve at the tip of the spear with the best men America has to offer hmm in the you know United States fighting forces how could I have ever dreamed of going to do that it makes no logical sense but even back in those days I had the same viewpoint we're all made of the same stuff bro how do we what can we do on a daily basis besides having that understanding of the tools the time to again overcome that doubt that we have overcome insecurities or the fear or the the judgment we put on ourselves in order to have more belief in ourselves to a our mission is it you should have a set of routines and habits that you honor your word to everyday and your are your word to yourself of what you say or to do is it doing hard things every day that builds more belief is it the words you use as well like what's the common what's the ingredients that's an excellent combination though well it sounds like you answered that question right but is there anything else that I can I mean in so I'm very I'm very hesitant you know to give advice I never give advice I can tell you what I do yeah based around those things that you just said I have a routine I get up every morning at about 6:00 in the morning the first part of my day I dedicate to my god so I give him the firstfruits of my day I'm honor him mmm in that way because I feel like he expects that of me but through prayer or through prayer or reading a reading for me it's the Bible yeah so that's what I do it could be for five minutes it could be for 45 minutes but that's how I start my day every single day if I don't do that I'm screwed up really yeah so you know I do that then I spend four hours a day training that may sound crazy but I trained for four hours a day and that right there that's where all my perspective comes from that's where my outlook on life comes from during that four hour block I am honing my body and my soul my mind will and emotions that's where that's where the battle is is in the soul what do you want to do what do you think you want to do how do you feel about something those are the things that we have need to get a hold of right but when you're out doing something hard self-inflicted adversity it hones that soul portion of us down at the same time that it's training our body so the two are very intertwined giving you energy keeping you healthy keeping you lean sharp that it provides that for the body it provides that for the body and the soul in the mind the soul being the mind will and emotions it makes you it makes you force your your mind your will what do you want to do and your emotions how do you feel about this activity in this pain because you don't want to do it exactly but but you when you go out and do it you're honing that portion of you as a human and then moving forward from there so that's every day seven days a week because if five days a week training four hours a day is its yeah I got trained everything that I set that block now the intensity may vary I mean it may just be a four hour hike in the woods you know what I mean it's not a ultramarathon every no no totally I mean I mean I may only cover ten miles in that in that four in at four hours I may cover thirty miles it's always a run is it something else I swear it could be a combination it could be weight training I do I would do weight training you know strength training twice a week at least but why four hours why not one three five is there a number with four because there's no there's no number that means not amazing life or I feel like that's what I need personally to perform on the level that I want to perform and to maintain the perspective that I have on life powerful okay so after that after that it's my work time from from so from noon to the rest of the day up into five six sometimes seven o'clock that's my that's my work time and so I take all that perspective and all that energy and all that good stuff that I get out there on that run or that weightlifting or whatever and then I transfer that over into my work time that's probably powerful yeah it's so much clarity I sit brother then you get all your best ideas from that's four hours you probably let go of all the pain or frustration or anger or whatever you got in your head that's festering from the day before if you have anything that clears out purge that stuff you get back to a peaceful place yep so I took care of my spirit yeah in that first 30 minutes take care of my body soul and that next 4 hours the rest of the day man I can hammer some stuff that I can put down some so that's the one thing you know that's my biggest fear well as things grow my biggest fear is is that this telephone and this funk text messages and and social media my biggest fear is that that stuff would it's one day going to maybe tarnish the clarity of my perspective is going to take away from that that four-hour block of time because if I don't put the time in to myself all that Instagram all that stuff none of that - because if I don't put that four hours into myself the stuff that I put out on the back half the day is not going to be as pure as it should be mm-hmm so my biggest fear is losing that purity man mm-hm and and and I just shouldn't say I fear it I'm very conscious of it mm-hmm so you finished around five six seven and then what's the evening look like that's my wife's town man no see I love her more than anything else in the world yeah how long you been together Brook and I been together for seven years now mm-hmm she got married while you're in the Navy yeah and was that challenging for her to be with someone who's often war every day oh I wish you could ask her that question I mean I feel like it was more challenging for her than it was for me you know and as a seal you're gone on average I'd say 300 days out of the year I mean you're not at war that whole time it's training but you know it's it's a mix of both and yeah it's extremely difficult man yeah for sure and she you know she suffered from it you know and but but luckily we're still together and again because of the adversity we went through in our marriage it's the same thing brother mm-hmm the adversity we went through in our marriage my wife had a very dangerous disease called addiction she you know she got wrapped up in that for a while and we had to go through the process I shouldn't say wrapped up she was you know she in it yeah and it was bad dude and that's a whole nother story man but we had to go through that adversity together and now we have the best freaking marriage on earth you know so what's the greatest lesson she's taught you while you're a active Navy SEAL and since your retirement humility humility found for a hundred percent she she's she keeps me grounded man yeah she did that although you know because as a team got man you're hanging out with active duty you know pipe hitting alpha males all day long and you need somebody to pull you back down to earth sometimes and and even with ultrarunning you know I'm really competitive there and I'm not a cocky person dude but if I start to get a little lofty with you know my speech or something like that man she snatched me right back down to where I need to be okay so so humility has been the biggest lesson what's something she that you've learned about her since you've left the Navy that has surprised you that's different than when you were together in the Navy because you've had more time with that assuming I would say I would say how talented she is like I didn't get to pay enough attention to her talents when I was active duty and now that I get to spend more time with her and she's getting to pursue some of her passions it just has blown me away with how talented she is so she loves photography she's awesome cook and and just her people skills man so that doesn't biggest thing what's the if you have any regrets from anything in the 12 years or wish you could have gone longer cuz you had good to retire essentially because of the the hearing loss from all the bombs and yeah it was a cop yeah it was a whole combination of stuff what are the things they're pretty much since I was medically retired yeah would you have stayed in it had you have been perfectly healthy 100% yeah yeah I would have definitely sigh me know would have stayed in the teams and as long as they would have let me I mean you get to go to work with heroes every single day bro now why would you ever want to leave that you know do I have any regrets nothing that really stands out man I would I really wouldn't I really wouldn't change a thing you wish would have found a few more walls to get behind a couple more rocks man because it's all it's all brought me to where I am now yeah I'm sitting here talking to Louis house man I mean I'm in my opinion I don't deserve to be here brother but the the whole chain of events have brought me to where I am now oh yeah yeah and I'm not trying to put you on a pedestal I'm just using you as an example because we're sitting right here ensure face to face you know what were some of the coolest moments that you got to experience where you're actually in the moment thinking man I'm just a kid from this town in Georgia and now I'm I don't want to speak at a lottery of what you've told me in the past but now I'm doing this and now I'm doing this and this is crazy did you ever have any of those moments to read just the coolest moments that I've had in my life have been since I retired this past January really they have totally man so much stuff has happened dude just like the vision I told you about and being able to let go and move forward into this awesome future you're not holding on to the identity of the pack exactly that's who I was this is my dream this is my whole life now it's over I said really onto like the glory days yeah so the coolest moments have definitely been in this last eight ten months the coolest moments of my life really yeah Miami you know and not to take away from what we did and the teams but that was a job it it got to the point and I think all guys get that it's just it's no different than you know you going to do what you do with your group every day it was a job did we had a mission we went and did it skydiving diving that was all the job but now it's fun and it's like all these exciting things that have have happened and just the network getting to know people like you like like like Jesse you know Scott Worthington out in New Zealand getting a note create this network of just awesome individuals and it's been amazing bro well don't so those are those are I know that didn't directly answer your question but yeah it's all good what what's the thing you're most proud of that you did that maybe not a lot of people know about but it's something that you know you did that you're like man I'm really proud that I did this thing or things as an active duty member maybe no one ever saw you do it but what's something that you know like wow I'm proud that I did that thing or two that I don't think we need to do that but I did this thing or there was a kid that was out of there you you just won't be the answer that you anticipate it's all good I am proud that when my when my wife was battling addiction that I had the courage to go to my team and tell them that I needed to take a knee and help my wife get better mm-hmm I'm proud that I didn't give up on the person that I love the most for the job because the job went away and now I still have the person that I love the most well so that's what I'm most proud of so taking an emailing taking a break from the team or from the Navy or was no it was just yeah I went to to being instructor for a little while so I didn't have to travel near as much I could help my could help my wife in the battle that she was fighting as a husband I could be a husband for once but that was hard it was hard to have courage to go we had just come back off deployment it was hard to have courage to go to my team because I know what they were gonna do dude I mean were they gonna attack me were they gonna look down upon me but they didn't they embraced me and gave me the tools that I needed so they said so essentially you weren't with the team going out on missions yep you come back with work that's stable yeah place yeah near your wife that's right you could stay with you could stay at home I guess yeah and until until she had won that battle how long did that take until you went back out that was that was about two years Wow yeah pretty powerful so that's yeah that's what I'm most proud of man that's great I love that never been asked that question before I hope it's a I like that good answer sir length with great answer man okay if you could give three lessons to any civilian who might be just going through some challenges in their own mind whatever whether they're valid challenges or big challenges are small but someone's just going through a hard time they're struggling in their relationship they're struggling with their health something is off the career they don't know what their mission or purpose is they don't know why they're here if you could give three lessons or three things that they could start doing on a daily basis where you think it would start the process of healing or clarity or peace what do you think those three things could be from where you learned and all your lessons well direct that is a deep question bro and there's a lot of work people need to do on a lot of things but it's not really so this isn't a fix-all way that I can answer that question Louis is when I talk about when I talk about body soul and spirit we can all use that as humans as a diagnostic yeah so what's up what's off you're talking about people that are that are struggling with their purpose that are struggling with you know their day to day maybe their relationship their marriage I can guarantee you if you take those three aspects whether you're Christian Muslim atheist it doesn't matter you still are composed of a body soul and spirit if you take those three aspects and you break them each down and you say okay what am i doing and each one of these lanes to nourish this part of my humanity you're going to find the holes yeah maybe you don't know how to nurture your spirit maybe you don't know how to nurture your soul or your body go find a way or surround surround yourself with people that that can help you with either three of those aspects yeah that would be I mean that would be my biggest piece of advice for somebody in that situation ii would have to be definitely utilize the spoken word keep control of your rudder man that's made a tremendous impact on my life my relationships every aspect of my life and then third I would say go out and put yourself in some adverse situations whether it's whether it's with ultrarunning whether it's with a marathon or a 5k the distance doesn't matter as far as a race goes if it's weight training at a gym put yourself into some adverse situations and and let and let yourself grow there because that's where we grow don't be afraid of that stuff dude it's it's that's how we as humans were meant to be in those situations I mean in back you know a couple thousand years ago it was a day-to-day thing you know we don't get that anymore do ya so inflict adversity self-inflicted adversity might say this all the time that maybe this is my sports background but I would I tell people like find something that's causes you pain every single day and for me it doesn't like it doesn't even need four hours you know it's like doing a three-mile run this morning is painful because in the last half a mile I turned the frickin thing up when I didn't because I was in a comfortable pace at a seven and a half on the treadmill and I'm like okay I could keep this up and have a normal heart rate I was like I need to push it so I'm burning mm-hmm I don't want to what I'm going to I love that so even if it's an extra five minutes that I don't want to do to feel a pain and be out of breath and sweating and hurting I know now that I did something hard maybe it's not a hundred miles or what at four out it's something hard for me and I think when people inflict pain in a not a broke not break your arm pain but in a container that is safe you build a sense of belief and confidence and you you start to have more clarity like you said that's why I love that you're doing that four hours a day yeah and with what you said to Lois with um we're doing it every day that's that's so important because you have to continue to earn it you can't bottle it you got to continue to earn it every day I say that's it do you have any doubts currently in your life or do you feel pretty doubtless want a there basis I mean I don't really look it I I don't know I don't have any doubts again because I don't look at life as like any more as as I see the design in life if that makes any sense so it takes out it takes out the whole doubt portion of it because I see it I see the design what does that mean you see the design so so for me it's it's I'm being guided by something bigger than myself and it just goes back to that moment that I was really able to just let go and and recognize the design within my purpose in life so even guided by God yeah by my god I'm being God and and it's the and I see this through na I see this through actual events that happen in my life that if I've told you about him you think I was freaking crazy yeah but I see that design in my life and I and I tell people that are close to me about the things that happen not that I'm special I don't know why God's put me where I am today I don't I don't deserve it but that just removes all the doubt yeah for me car shot oh that's helpful yeah that's beautiful connection of being guidance you understand the context of life and you trust the process we trust your path such a gift brother yeah when you start to trust the uncertainty trust the breakdown trust the heart the pain trust the addiction that mm-hmm and you know it's a part of a bigger design and you can get through it totally brother you get it loose your peace yeah I get it okay cool I'm still learning every day you know this question is called the three truths so imagine it's your last day on earth many years from now and you've achieved everything you want at every stage of your life you accomplished your first dream of being in the Navy SEAL now you're in your next phase of your life you're gonna take on amazing things and you're to conquer mountains and then there's going to be multiple decades where you do that in different ways and you've done everything you can imagine you want to do but for whatever reason you've got to take all the content and the awards and the accomplishments and the business businesses you built and anything you've created you've got to take it with you to the next place when the lights go off but you get to leave behind three things you know to be true the lessons you would leave behind the world and these are only three things that they would have to remember you buy hypothetical question let's just play with me on it if you could have three truths that you would share with the world what do you think would be those three for you three truths I can just tell you what he comes to my mind okay faith hope and love are all good things but the greatest is love so those are my thank you man I like it I mean that's just what came to my mom will you answer that question well II I don't acknowledge God for for for how you've shown up consistently I've only known you for a little bit of time but the way that you handled yourself to achieve your dream of being a Navy SEAL and serve our country the way you showed up with your team the way you showed up to serve without asking questions without you know being resistant and just being of service I want to acknowledge you for that I want to acknowledge you also for your ability to shift your identity quickly and not hold on to the past where a lot of athletes I've seen who lived in the glory days of the past four years and I'm sure people in the military I can only assume probably hold on to something from the past as well when they retired totally bro so acknowledge it for your ability to transition and serve at a different level you're serving a lot of people in you know the ultra endurance races and experiences you're serving business leaders now you're serving my audience you're serving other people now and I think that's amazing that you're using your life as a channel to give and serve the people with the tools and the gifts to you huh Thank You Louis so I acknowledge you for that and for for being a great human being being a great husband and showing up in a powerful way I really acknowledge appreciate from up for all that man what is the thing that you're most excited about right now and how can we support you you're on Instagram which you try to limit your time phone but you're they're sharing wisdom you've got a podcast where can we support follow along get more of Chad yeah so instagrams Devlin the main that's the hall like the only social media platform that I can handle so I try to be interactive on there as you know as much as I possibly can and that's just at chad CH a 1 d CH ad w IG HT 2 7 8 so yeah and then a podcast it's just 3 of 7 podcast you guys can listen in any time it's on Apple and you know the whole noise just look rear 7 parking where you have 7 podcasts and that's spelled out and then also probably the best place to really dig into what 307 is and what it has to offer is as the website 3 of 7 project com ok cool so everything as everything unfolds and we add new new stuff to the project and you know new products or whatever it may be it'll all be there yeah so 307 project com.com yep did you have any questions for me I don't brother I just want to thank you Louis I really I really genuinely appreciate your friendship yeah man I appreciate the time that we spent on the mountain together out for you impacted me in a tremendous way thank you um so and that's from the bottom of my heart Linux but appreciate excited the other act more and learn more and hopefully push myself more when I'm around you and the physical challenges final question I have for you is what's your definition of greatness bro it's so relative right I love that you asked this question because there's a infinite number of definitions your definition me for me it is just simply about happiness and fulfillment that is greatness that's like there's guys that I told you about that they're still working at that on that construction job where I was when I was 18 and they're happy I've known men I've known great men that have wore a pair of overalls every day of their lives and worked in a farm field and never left their hometown and they are in my book they're great men because they're happy they're whole they're complete they've raised a beautiful family and they're fulfilled with their life mmm so for me that's the definition of greatness well man hey buddy brother I appreciate it you

Channel: Lewis Howes

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Keywords: lewishowes, the school of greatness, self help, motivation, Chadd Wright, Navy Seal Mindset, control the situation, strengthen your mind, inspiration, daily habits, SEAL instructor, Master Training Specialist, Ultrarunner, mindset, goals, chadd wright, navy seal, rich roll, lewis howes, self improvement, navy seal mindset, jocko willink, self development, success habits, lewis howes interview, self-improvement podcasts, navy seals, motivational videos, rich roll podcast

Id: T1Nj_lGDAsg

Length: 81min 36sec (4896 seconds)

Published: Wed Nov 20 2019