So, If you want to change the world, don’t back down from the sharks.

Another lesson learned by William McRaven in his Navy SEAL training.

Sharks and bullies are a fact of life. At some point, we all will be faced with the decision of whether or not to stand up to them.

And each of us will have a moment when we need to summon up all the courage we can muster and decide not to back down.

Not just for our own sake, but because it is the right thing to do.

It doesn’t have to be the traditional bully from the playground.

It could be a disease and you could be supporting a local chapter of an organization to fund research and search for a cure.

It could be a political issue you feel strongly about and you could be making your voice heard.

It could be supporting our troops as they stand up to the bullies all over the world for us.

It could be any kind of wrong that requires that the forces of good stand up.

Make it a great day.

Jake

Here is the text from the speech:

During the land warfare phase of training, the students are flown out to San Clemente Island which lies off the coast of San Diego.

The waters off San Clemente are a breeding ground for the great white sharks. To pass SEAL training there are a series of long swims that must be completed. One is the night swim.

Before the swim the instructors joyfully brief the trainees on all the species of sharks that inhabit the waters off San Clemente.

They assure you, however, that no student has ever been eaten by a shark — at least not recently.

But, you are also 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, hungry for a midnight snack, darts towards you, then summon up all your strength and punch him in the snout and he will turn and swim away.

There are a lot of sharks in the world. If you hope to complete the swim you will have to deal with them.

So, If you want to change the world, don’t back down from the sharks. ​

If you want to change the world sometimes you have to slide down the obstacle head first.

Risk. In order to experience the best of life, we all must take some risks.

The price we pay for anything of value in our lives is a combination of the time and risk involved.

Weigh carefully the price of those things you are pursuing in your life to make sure they are worth it.

And then go for it. If it’s worth it, it’s worth it. Don’t let anything hold you back.

Is there an obstacle you need to slide down head first in your life?

Decide today to take the plunge.

Make it a great day.

Jake

Here is the text of this section of his speech:

At least twice a week, the trainees were required to run the obstacle course. The obstacle course contained 25 obstacles including a 10-foot high wall, a 30-foot cargo net, and a barbed wire crawl to name a few.

But the most challenging obstacle was the slide for life. It had a three level 30 foot tower at one end and a one level tower at the other. In between was a 200-foot long rope.

You had to climb the three tiered tower and once at the top, you grabbed the rope, swung underneath the rope and pulled yourself hand over hand until you got to the other end.

The record for the obstacle course had stood for years when my class began training in 1977.

The record seemed unbeatable, until one day, a student decided to go down the slide for life head first.

Instead of swinging his body underneath the rope and inching his way down, he bravely mounted the TOP of the rope and thrust himself forward.

It was a dangerous move — seemingly foolish, and fraught with risk. Failure could mean injury and being dropped from the training.

Without hesitation the student slid down the rope perilously fast, instead of several minutes, it only took him half that time and by the end of the course he had broken the record.

If you want to change the world sometimes you have to slide down the obstacle head first.
​

JW – No matter how slow you go, you’re still lapping everybody on the couch.

JW – We sleep safely at night because rough men stand ready to visit violence on those who would harm us. – Winston Churchill

BAD – Nothing will work, unless you do. – Maya Angelou

MS – Integrate your vocation and your identity by thinking of your life as a journey rather than a destination. – Rabbi Daniel Lapin

EB – With thumb in the air Rowen says, "Wook, mommy, at my bugah, it has a wadybug in it!"

MS – For the Present is the point at which time touches eternity. – CS Lewis

BAD – We run things, things don’t run we. – Miley Cyrus

EB – Age wrinkles the body. Quitting wrinkles the soul. – Douglas MacArthur

JD – Getting knocked down in life is a given. Getting up and moving forward is a choice. – Zig Ziglar

JD – The price of hating other human beings is loving oneself less. – Eldridge Cleaver

Doubled up on the quotes this week.

It is amazing the impact a little insight can have in your life.

It’s like dialing the numbers into a lock, maybe you just need that last number.

And maybe a short quote could do it.

Make it a great day.

Jake

http://youtu.be/7m-1ba0N2N0

Here today and gone tomorrow.

Life is short, even at the longest.

Let’s take advantage of it.

Does this remind you of something that you need to get started on?

Get going. Today.

Make it a great day.

Jake

​

If you want to change the world, don’t be afraid of the circuses.

A circus was an extra two hours of workouts a SEAL trainee would have to do if they didn’t meet standards on their daily tests.

McRaven talks of how those who consistently had to go through the extra circuses ended up being stronger and better. As long as they didn’t quit.

The lesson comes through clear as a bell. Embrace the extra work and lessons that come from failure.

We will all fail at one point or another. The question is what will you learn from it?

Maybe you are overweight and are now going to have to diet and exercise much harder to make up for poor choices in the past.

Maybe your in debt and behind on your bills and your budget isn’t going to be much fun until you pay off the debts.

Maybe your marriage isn’t doing so well and it is going to take a lot of hard work to rebuild trust and love in that relationship.

Whatever your challenge, use it to make you stronger.

We all will face adversity. Successful people use those moments to build inner strength and experience.

Make it a great day.

Jake

Here is the text of this section of his speech:

Every day during training you were challenged with multiple physical events-long runs, long swims, obstacle courses, hours of calisthenics-something designed to test your mettle.

Every event had standards — times you had to meet. If you failed to meet those standards your name was posted on a list and at the end of the day those on the list were invited to-a "circus."

A circus was two hours of additional calisthenics — designed to wear you down, to break your spirit, to force you to quit.

No one wanted a circus.

A circus meant that for that day you didn’t measure up. A circus meant more fatigue — and more fatigue meant that the following day would be more difficult-and more circuses were likely.

But at some time during SEAL training, everyone — everyone-made the circus list.

But an interesting thing happened to those who were constantly on the list. Over time those students — who did two hours of extra calisthenics — got stronger and stronger.

The pain of the circuses built inner strength — built 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.

But if you want to change the world, don’t be afraid of the circuses.
​

If you want to change the world get over being a sugar cookie and keep moving forward.

You will have to read the text below to get his reference to a sugar cookie.

His point is that no matter how hard you try, sometimes things just don’t work out. You have to make the conscious decision to move forward anyway.

Life is full of little setbacks. Things that don’t go the way you want them to.

Each setback comes with a choice: give up or keep going.

These are the choices that separate success from failure.

Failure doesn’t come from not being perfect, it comes from giving up.

Which will you choose?

Make it a great day.

Jake

Here is the text from his speech:

Several times a week, the instructors would line up the class and do a uniform inspection. It was exceptionally thorough.

Your hat had to be perfectly starched, your uniform immaculately pressed and your belt buckle shiny and void of any smudges.

But it seemed that no matter how much effort you put into starching your hat, or pressing your uniform or polishing your belt buckle — it just wasn’t good enough.

The instructors would find "something" wrong.

For failing the uniform inspection, the student had to run, fully clothed into the surfzone and then, wet from head to toe, roll around on the beach until every part of your body was covered with sand.

The effect was known as a "sugar cookie." You stayed in that uniform the rest of the day — cold, wet and sandy.

There were many a student who just couldn’t accept the fact that all their effort was in vain. That no matter how hard they tried to get the uniform right — it was unappreciated.

Those students didn’t make it through training.

Those students didn’t understand the purpose of the drill. You were never going to succeed. You were never going to have a perfect uniform.

Sometimes no matter how well you prepare or how well you perform you still end up as a sugar cookie.

It’s just the way life is sometimes.

If you want to change the world get over being a sugar cookie and keep moving forward. ​

If you want to change the world, measure a person by the size of their heart, not the size of their flippers.

This was the third lesson offered by William McRaven as he made a commencement speech based on his time as a Navy SEAL.

We all make assumptions and judgments about others as we go about our day. It is a necessary part of interacting in so many ways at the pace at which we move today.

McRaven has an important point to make about those assumptions and those judgments we make: don’t judge a book by its cover.

I know I often make these assumptions only to be proven wrong in the end.

But we must learn a new way of doing things – judging others by their hearts.

This is harder, to be sure, but I think it is worth it in the end.

Who in your life do you need to spend time looking at their heart instead of their flippers?

Is there a situation or a group of people who deserve a closer look?

How could you build more empathy for others into your daily interactions?

Make it a great day.

Jake

Here is the text from this section of the speech:

Over a few weeks of difficult training my SEAL class which started with 150 men was down to just 35. There were now six boat crews of seven men each.

I was in the boat with the tall guys, but the best boat crew we had was made up of the little guys — the munchkin crew we called them — no one was over about 5-foot five.

The munchkin boat crew had one American Indian, one African American, one Polish America, one Greek American, one Italian American, and two tough kids from the mid-west.

They out paddled, out-ran, and out swam all the other boat crews.

The big men in the other boat crews would always make good natured fun of the tiny little flippers the munchkins put on their tiny little feet prior to every swim.

But somehow these little guys, from every corner of the Nation and the world, always had the last laugh — swimming faster than everyone and reaching the shore long before the rest of us.

SEAL training was a great equalizer. Nothing mattered but your will to succeed. Not your color, not your ethnic background, not your education and not your social status.

If you want to change the world, measure a person by the size of their heart, not the size of their flippers. ​

If you want to change the world, find someone to help you paddle.

This is lesson number two from William McRaven that he recently shared in a commencement speech.

It truly is amazing what human beings can do when they work together.

Think of any major feat accomplished and each time there were a group of people working together to make it happen.

In the SEAL training it sounds like they get a lot of very specific experience working as a team. His speech is so good because it shows you how something simple like paddling together is the difference.

Working in unison great things can be accomplished.

Think about the teams you are on.

Are you rowing in unison?

What part of getting back into unison do you own?

What is the next thing to do to get back in unison?

Make it a great day.

Jake

Below is the text for this section of his speech:

During SEAL training the students are broken down into boat crews. Each crew is seven students — three on each side of a small rubber boat and one coxswain to help guide the dingy.

Every day your boat crew forms up on the beach and is instructed to get through the surfzone and paddle several miles down the coast.

In the winter, the surf off San Diego can get to be 8 to 10 feet high and it is exceedingly difficult to paddle through the plunging surf unless everyone digs in.

Every paddle must be synchronized to the stroke count of the coxswain. Everyone must exert equal effort or the boat will turn against the wave and be unceremoniously tossed back on the beach.

For the boat to make it to its destination, everyone must paddle.

You can’t change the world alone

http://youtu.be/cJqjlFGZxtE

I have been thinking of this one a lot lately.

Something about these mornings where the sun is up and isn’t cold any more makes me think just how beautiful the morning really can be.

I know it can be difficult to wake up with a positive attitude and have your first thoughts of the day be around what will go right, instead of what might go wrong.

Something that helps me is to look for the beauty in the morning sun and the sound of the birds chirping.

Make it a great day.

Jake

​

Someone recently shared with me the commencement speech given by William McRaven where he shares the top 10 things he learned in Navy Seal basic training.

Here is the video:

http://youtu.be/pxBQLFLei70

I thought I would break down and share each of those lessons over the next week or so.

First lesson: If you want to change the world, start off by making your bed.

He explains that making your bed starts your day off with a task accomplished and reminds you to take pride in getting the little things right.

Do you make the bed every day?

Do you have some positive task that you do every morning, first thing?

If not, find one. And do it.

Make it a great day.

Jake