Victor Fabry

Admiral McRaven: "If you can't do the little things right, you'll never do the big things right" "Basic SEAL training is six months of long, torturous runs in the soft sand, midnight swims in the cold water off San Diego, days without sleep, and always being cold, wet, and miserable. It is six months of being constantly harassed by professionally trained warriors who seek to find the weak of mind and body and eliminate them. But the training also seeks to find those who can lead in an environment of constant stress, chaos, failure, and hardship." Here are the 10 lessons: 1. Make your bed. "Every morning we were required to make our bed to perfection. It seemed ridiculous, particularly since we were aspiring to be real warriors. But if you make your bed every morning, you will have accomplished the first task of the day. It will give you a small sense of pride and encourage you to do another task, and another. Making your bed will also reinforce the fact that the little things in life matter. If you can't do the little things right, you will never do the big things right." 2. Find someone to help you paddle. "Every day your boat crew paddles through the surf. In winter, the surf can get 8 to 10 feet high. It is exceedingly difficult to paddle unless everyone digs in. Every paddle must be synchronized. Everyone must exert equal effort or the boat will turn against the wave. You can't change the world alone; you will need some help." 3. Measure a person by the size of their heart. "The best boat crew we had was made up of the little guys, the 'munchkin crew.' No one was over 5'5". They out-paddled, out-ran, and out-swam all the other boat crews. SEAL training was a great equalizer. Nothing mattered but your will to succeed. Not your color, not your ethnic background, not your education, not your social status." 4. Get over being a sugar cookie. "No matter how much effort you put into starching your hat or pressing your uniform, it just wasn't good enough. For failing inspection, you had to run into the surf fully clothed, then roll around on the beach until every part of your body was covered with sand. The effect was known as a 'sugar cookie.' Some students couldn't accept that all their efforts were in vain. Those students didn't make it through training. Sometimes, no matter how well you prepare or perform, you still end up as a sugar cookie. It's just the way life is sometimes." 5. Don't be afraid of the circuses. "A 'circus' was two hours of additional calisthenics designed to wear you down, break your spirit, force you to quit. But an interesting thing happened to those who were constantly on the list. Over time, those students got stronger and stronger. The pain of the circuses built inner strength and physical resiliency. Life is filled with circuses. You will fail. You will likely fail often. It will be painful. It will be discouraging. At times it will test you to your very core." 6. Sometimes you have to slide head first. "The most challenging obstacle was the slide for life, a 200-foot rope between two towers. The record had stood for years. Until one day, a student decided to go down head first. Instead of inching his way down, he mounted the top of the rope and thrust himself forward. It was dangerous, seemingly foolish, fraught with risk. But he broke the record. Sometimes you have to take risks." 7. Don't back down from the sharks. "The waters off San Clemente are a breeding ground for great white sharks. We were taught that if a shark begins to circle your position, stand your ground. Do not swim away. Do not act afraid. And if the shark darts towards you, summon all your strength and punch him in the snout. There are a lot of sharks in the world. If you hope to complete the swim, you will have to deal with them." 8. Be your best in the darkest moments. "To be successful in your mission, you have to swim under the ship and find the keel, the centerline and the deepest part of the ship. But the keel is also the darkest part, where you cannot see your hand in front of your face. Every SEAL knows that at the darkest moment of the mission is the time when you must be calm, when you must be composed, when all your tactical skills, physical power, and inner strength must be brought to bear." 9. Start singing when you're up to your neck in mud. "During Hell Week, we were ordered into the mud flats. The mud consumed each man until there was nothing visible but our heads. The instructors said we could leave if only five men would quit. It was still over eight hours until the sun came up. And then, one voice began to echo through the night, one voice raised in song. Terribly out of tune, but sung with great enthusiasm. One voice became two, and two became three, and before long everyone was singing. Somehow the mud seemed a little warmer, the wind a little tamer, and the dawn not so far away." 10. Don't ever, ever ring the bell. "In SEAL training, there is a brass bell that hangs in the center of the compound. All you have to do to quit is ring the bell. Ring the bell and you no longer have to wake up at 5 o'clock. Ring the bell and you no longer have to be in the freezing cold swims. All you have to do is ring the bell to get out. If you want to change the world, don't ever, ever ring the bell." Admiral McRaven concludes: "Start each day with a task completed. Find someone to help you through life. Respect everyone. Know that life is not fair and that you will fail often. But if you take some risks, step up when the times are toughest, face down the bullies, lift up the downtrodden, and never, ever give up, the next generation will live in a world far better than the one we have today."