Mark Divine > Quotes

“Always meet your commitments. Do more than is expected of you. Do things faster than expected. Achieve better results than expected. Do all of the above with integrity and with little fanfare.”
― Mark Divine, Unbeatable Mind: Forge Resiliency and Mental Toughness to Succeed at an Elite Level

“Slow Is Smooth, Smooth Is Fast”
― Mark Divine, 8 Weeks to SEALFIT: A Navy SEAL's Guide to Unconventional Training for Physical and Mental Toughness-Revised Edition

“to live an uncommon life, one needs learn uncommon disciplines.”
― Mark Divine, Unbeatable Mind: Forge Resiliency and Mental Toughness to Succeed at an Elite Level

“When a man is beaten, tormented and defeated…He is ready to learn something. —Emerson”
― Mark Divine, Unbeatable Mind: Forge Resiliency and Mental Toughness to Succeed at an Elite Level

“When you bring your full attention to each moment, a day is a complete lifetime of living and learning,”
― Mark Divine, The WAY OF THE SEAL UPDATED AND EXPANDED EDITION: Think Like an Elite Warrior to Lead and Succeed

“It takes discipline to focus only on high-value targets instead of giving in to the temptation of the low-hanging fruit life serves up daily.”
― Mark Divine, The Way of the SEAL: Think Like an Elite Soldier to Lead and Succeed

“Breathing is free medicine, and the daily practice of breath control leads to optimal health and”
― Mark Divine, Unbeatable Mind: Forge Resiliency and Mental Toughness to Succeed at an Elite Level

“An embrace of simplicity offers another potent and liberating opportunity. It allows you to reduce the number of commitments, material possessions, and unsupportive relationships we burden ourselves with. These tend to clutter the mind and weigh you down.”
― Mark Divine, Unbeatable Mind: Forge Resiliency and Mental Toughness to Succeed at an Elite Level

“Victorious warriors win first and then go to war, while defeated warriors go to war first and then seek to win. —Sun Tzu”
― Mark Divine, Unbeatable Mind: Forge Resiliency and Mental Toughness to Succeed at an Elite Level

“To achieve SEAL-worthy success, you must: • establish your set point, turning a deep sense of values and purpose into a touchstone that will keep your feet in the sand and your eyes on the goal • develop front-sight focus so nothing can derail you on your way to victory • bulletproof your mission to inoculate your efforts against failure • do today what others won’t so you can achieve tomorrow what others can’t • get mentally and emotionally tough, and eliminate the “quit” option from your subconscious • break things and remake them, improving them through innovation and adaptation • build your intuition to utilize the full range of your innate wisdom and intelligence • think offense, all the time, to surprise your competition and dominate the field • train for life to develop mastery of your physical, mental, emotional, intuitional, and spiritual selves Though many of the”
― Mark Divine, The WAY OF THE SEAL UPDATED AND EXPANDED EDITION: Think Like an Elite Warrior to Lead and Succeed

“What would you do differently if you knew you had one year to live?”
― Mark Divine, Unbeatable Mind: Forge Resiliency and Mental Toughness to Succeed at an Elite Level

“The hardest challenge is to be yourself in a world where everyone is trying to make you be somebody else. —E. E. CUMMINGS, POET (1894–1962)”
― Mark Divine, The WAY OF THE SEAL UPDATED AND EXPANDED EDITION: Think Like an Elite Warrior to Lead and Succeed

“Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake in the day to find that it was vanity: but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act their dream with open eyes, to make it possible.”
― Mark Divine, The Way of the SEAL: Think Like an Elite Soldier to Lead and Succeed

“Even though mastery seems like a goal or destination—and to a certain extent, it is—true masters know that a warrior will never stop learning, never stop pushing boundaries, and never stop growing. So masters focus on mastering the details of the journey every day, rather than the end-state.”
― Mark Divine, Unbeatable Mind: Forge Resiliency and Mental Toughness to Succeed at an Elite Level

“It’s simple: success is defined by choice, and it’s the small choices, not the major ones, that make the difference between good and excellent.”
― Mark Divine, Unbeatable Mind: Forge Resiliency and Mental Toughness to Succeed at an Elite Level

“A SEAL mentor of mine,  Captain Jim O’Connell, used to say that a way to “gut check” for leadership integrity was to ask if you’d be thrilled to read about you’re pending action in the next edition of the New York Times.”
― Mark Divine, Unbeatable Mind: Forge Resiliency and Mental Toughness to Succeed at an Elite Level

“won’t; do tomorrow what others can’t.”
― Mark Divine, The Way of the SEAL: Think Like an Elite Soldier to Lead and Succeed

“threat condition state. Although Sheepdogs operate in “yellow,” they’re prepared to escalate to “orange” or “red” in a moment’s notice. Though the warrior trains for violence and can withstand the psychological impact of violence, he/ she abhors violence. Identifying and diffusing a threat is the largest segment of the Unbeatable Mind warrior training. Only when all else fails will the warrior engage in a violence to end the threat. When this happens, he/he terrifies their opponent with an offensive mind. Exercise Think about a violent and vicious animal - wolverine, lion, or bear. Sit in silence and begin your breath control. Count backwards from 100. At 50, invoke the image and psychological energy of your chosen animal. Feel the animal’s ferocious attack energy. Feel the animal’s emotions as it seeks to protect its offspring. Imagine yourself fighting a violent criminal with the same psychic animal. Now, practice turning this energy on and off, like a light switch. Repeat this exercise daily for a month. This will cultivate an offensive mind-set and provide an enormous amount of psychological energy to be used in the event of a violent encounter.”
― Mark Divine, Unbeatable Mind: Forge Resiliency and Mental Toughness to Succeed at an Elite Level

“chapter. To be disciplined is literally to be a “disciple” to something bigger than you.”
― Mark Divine, Unbeatable Mind: Forge Resiliency and Mental Toughness to Succeed at an Elite Level

“a wolf of fear resides in our minds ready to pounce at the slightest danger.”
― Mark Divine, Unbeatable Mind: Forge Resiliency and Mental Toughness to Succeed at an Elite Level

“The moment you say “I know everything” is the end of your growth. —SHARON LEE, AMERICAN AUTHOR (1952”
― Mark Divine, The WAY OF THE SEAL UPDATED AND EXPANDED EDITION: Think Like an Elite Warrior to Lead and Succeed

“For every mountain you climb and plateau you rest at, there will be another and more interesting view ahead.”
― Mark Divine, Unbeatable Mind: Forge Resiliency and Mental Toughness to Succeed at an Elite Level

“two is one; one is none”
― Mark Divine, Unbeatable Mind: Forge Resiliency and Mental Toughness to Succeed at an Elite Level

“WAY OF THE SEAL DRILL Making Variety a Habit Make a list of all the routines in your daily and weekly life. What time do you wake? Do you brush your teeth before or after taking a shower? Do you check your e-mail before brushing your teeth? What ritual patterns of thought can you detect? We are good self-deceivers, so why don’t you ask your best friend or spouse what your routine habits and thoughts are? Armed with the list, make a parallel list of ways you will break these routines. Get up at a different time every day. Take a different route to work. Do not check e-mail first thing, but only twice a day. Fast for a day or do a juice cleanse. Make a new routine out of shaking things up. This will forge new pathways in your brain, help you to avoid blind spots and rutted thinking, and spice up your life in general. You can easily apply this drill at a team level, also.”
― Mark Divine, The Way of the SEAL: Think Like an Elite Soldier to Lead and Succeed

“Breath control training will change your body and mind in remarkably positive ways. It will tune your nervous system and allow you to activate the parasympathetic or sympathetic nervous systems at will, helping you to perform in a stressful environment or to excel in competition.”
― Mark Divine, Kokoro Yoga: Maximize Your Human Potential and Develop the Spirit of a Warrior--the SEALfit Way

“(My purpose is to master myself so I can serve humanity as a warrior, leader and teacher).”
― Mark Divine, Unbeatable Mind: Forge Resiliency and Mental Toughness to Succeed at an Elite Level

“Consistency is the omnipotent force behind change.”
― Mark Divine, Unbeatable Mind: Forge Resiliency and Mental Toughness to Succeed at an Elite Level

“What great behavior to model: Just do your job well without any expectation of fame of fortune, and move on.”
― Mark Divine, Unbeatable Mind: Forge Resiliency and Mental Toughness to Succeed at an Elite Level

“What am I passionate about and how can I do more of that? What do I value, and how can I develop these principles, so they define my character for the rest of my life? What is my purpose? Who am I and what am I here for?”
― Mark Divine, Unbeatable Mind: Forge Resiliency and Mental Toughness to Succeed at an Elite Level

“Notice I have not used the word vulnerable to describe Olson or McRaven. The concept of vulnerability has been made popular by the talented author Brené Brown. This has become a buzzword in corporate training as of late. But telling SEALs or any military operators to be vulnerable is like advising them to expose their back to the enemy. It makes far more sense to me that leaders be authentic—open to being wrong, open to other people’s ideas and perspectives, and courageous in connecting to their heart and connecting at a heart level with their teammates.”
― Mark Divine, Staring Down the Wolf: 7 Leadership Commitments That Forge Elite Teams