Mark Divine

Most people have heard of Hell Week. Hell Week is the one week during the nine months of SEAL, you know, in-doc training or basic training called BUDS and then SQT. And so, there's one week that's kind of famous and that's the week called Hell Week where we train from, you know, Sunday afternoon until Friday, the following Friday around the clock without any sleep.

Actually, they give us four hours just to mess with us on Thursday, but... So, it's kind of legendary, you know, and it really is, it's multi-purposed, but I would say the dominant purpose is to teach those that make it through it that they're capable of practically anything that they put their mind to. As I was preparing myself for my own Hell Week, you know, I kind of, I had some unique rituals.

My teammates were all sitting and messing with their gear and, you know, we had this big tent set up outside of Bud's and they're kind of like, anxiously awaiting what we call breakout, which is the start.

And I had kind of wandered off over the berm and just sat and looked at the ocean and just began my breathing and kind of meditation practice, what I now call winning in my mind before the battle. And as I was sitting there, one of the instructors came up to me and he kind of smiled.

He looked at me and I don't know what was going through his head, but he must've been thinking, okay, this guy is a little bit different And he's doing something different and I get it. And he came to me and he goes, Mark, you got nothing to worry about because you're capable 20 times more than you think you are. Have fun.

You know, basically have fun with this one because he knew for some reason that I was going to make it through. And when the training started, you know, again, the first like five, 50 some odd hours are the hardest because that's the like the new reality of this. Your life circumstances setting in your body is all of a sudden saying, I am exhausted. I haven't slept. I'm freezing cold. I'm chafed.

I'm bleeding. You know, I just ache all over the place. But your mind says, OK, that's all fine and good. But you're not quitting. you got three and a half more days. And so, that was what was going through my mind. In the meantime, my teammates were quitting left and right. You know, we started my class with 185 students, all, you know, highly qualified super studs.

By the time we got to hell week, we were probably down to like 120 or something like that. And then, By the end of 50 hours a hell of a week, we were down to like 60. So, they're just dropping like flies. And I was just telling myself, can't quit. Just keep going one front in front of the other, you know, words to that effect. My body started to get stronger.

So, you know, after days without sleep, you know, around the clock physical training, most people conventional wisdom would be that you'd be breaking down and, you know, you'd be almost catatonic. And my body started to build muscle mass. And it started to get stronger and I started to get more alert.

And I was still probably, you know, if you were to give me some sort of test, I would probably have, you know, failed any higher cognitive functions or skills, you know. But I was able to stay focused on the tasks that they were giving to me and to stay focused on my team and to, you know, to drive through. And I was getting stronger and feeling stronger.

And so, that was really profound to me because I realized, you know, afterwards that that instructor was right. Like I truly was...

capable 20 times more than i thought and hell we proved it to me and so that's become kind of essential tenet of my my teaching today is that you know you are capable 20 times more and then 20 times again but you got to prove it to yourself in order to believe it at a really gut heart level you know i mean it's not a cognitive thing you can't just think yourself that you're capable that much more because that's that's not enough you know you've got to you've got to know it deeply

So in the seals, it's just through these intense experiences that you like crack open your body mind system and reorganize it in ways that I don't even think anyone really understands. I don't even think the seals understand it. They just know it works.

You walk up to the door and the first thing you're doing is you're breathing deep in a deep cyclical pattern. And you've trained yourself to do this through our box breathing. Deep cycle, four count in, four count out. Or four count in, hold briefly to a count of two and four count out. That's the first skill. While you're doing that breathing, you're saying to yourself, easy day. I got this.

You walk up to the door and the first thing you're doing is you're breathing deep in a deep cyclical pattern. And you've trained yourself to do this through our box breathing. Deep cycle, four count in, four count out. Or four count in, hold briefly to a count of two and four count out. That's the first skill. While you're doing that breathing, you're saying to yourself, easy day. I got this.

I'm going to nail this one. This is a piece of cake. This guy's going to love me, whatever. Find your own dialogue. It's got to be your words and it's got to be meaningful. And then the, you know, when you train this every day, the emotions line up. So you feel energetically like a winner, like you're, you're going to get this sale.

I'm going to nail this one. This is a piece of cake. This guy's going to love me, whatever. Find your own dialogue. It's got to be your words and it's got to be meaningful. And then the, you know, when you train this every day, the emotions line up. So you feel energetically like a winner, like you're, you're going to get this sale.

Now, you know, in a practical sense, you're not going to get them all, but you're going to get this one, right? Then connected to that, again, because you practice this every day, is an image of you closing this deal, of you as your best self, confident, poised, positively energized, adding value to whoever is going to open that door so that this situation is a win-win situation.

Now, you know, in a practical sense, you're not going to get them all, but you're going to get this one, right? Then connected to that, again, because you practice this every day, is an image of you closing this deal, of you as your best self, confident, poised, positively energized, adding value to whoever is going to open that door so that this situation is a win-win situation.

And it is beneficial to all involved that you show up on this doorstep, knock on or ring the doorbell and that whoever answers, their life is enriched with your presence. You have that image, right? You believe it. And then your task is to open that door, smile and add value to this person, right?