10 Lessons From a NAVY SEAL

Commencement Address to University of Texas Class of 2014, abridged

By: Admiral William H. McRaven, Commander, Navy Seal

The average American will meet 10,000 people in their lifetime. If we each change the lives of 10 people, and they change the lives of 10 people, and they all change the lives of 10 people, and so on, in 5 generations, the 30 people in our family will have changed the lives of 300,000 people. Lives can be changed anywhere, and by anyone. The Navy SEALs seek to find individuals that can lead in an environment of constant stress, hardships, chaos, and failure. While the stakes are not the same, do we not perform in an environment of stress, hardships, chaos, and failure? We need to develop the same qualities in our Family as that of highly trained military personnel.

10 Lessons From Navy SEAL Training to Help Us Change the World

1. Make your bed, and make it well. If you accomplish a small task to begin your day, you will have completed one task well, and it will encourage you to complete another task, then another, and another. Reinforce the fact that THE LITTLE THINGS MATTER. If we can’t do the little things, we will never do the big things. If you want to change the world, make your bed.

2. Every morning, trainees would paddle their boat through the San Diego surf, and then swim to their final destination. They had to all paddle, in unison, at the coxswain’s direction. In life, we cannot change the world alone. We need the help of family, friends, colleagues, and complete strangers, and a strong coxswain to lead us. If you want to change the world, find someone to help you paddle.

3. During Admiral McRaven’s training, the strongest boat crew was a group of men, all under 5-foot 5. The crew was an American Indian, African American, Polish American, Greek American, Italian American, and two tough kids from the Midwest. They outpaddled, outswam, and outran all the other boat crews, while being mocked for their “tiny little flippers”. Nothing matters but your will to succeed. Not your size, your ethnic background, or your socioeconomic status. If you want to change the world, measure a person by the size of their heart, not the size of their flippers.

4. Trainees have routine uniform inspections. No matter how hard they tried to have a perfect uniform, instructors found imperfections. They were not going to let trainees succeed. An imperfect uniform meant jumping into the freezing cold ocean, clothes on, and rolling around in the sand, until their entire body was covered. They earned the name “sugar cookie”. Sometimes, no matter how hard you work, how hard you prepare, you won’t succeed. If you want to change the world, get over being a sugar cookie, and keep moving forward.

5. Trainees had routine fitness challenge tests. If they didn’t make their times, they would get 2 extra hours of calisthenics, called “circuses”. Guys who had a lot of circuses, but didn’t quit, and kept working hard, got stronger, faster, and built inner toughness. You will find you will fail. You will fail often. It will be painful. It will be discouraging. At times, it will test you to your very core. If you want to change the world, don’t be afraid of the circuses.

6. They had an obstacle course that they kept times on, and a record that had stood for years. One obstacle required you to hang from all fours from a rope and ease yourself down, hand over hand, from one tower to another. One trainee, determined to break the record, went down the rope head first, doing it in half the time as everyone else. It was a dangerous move that could have resulted in serious injury. He broke the record. If you want to change the world, sometimes you have to slide down obstacles head first.

7. During night swims they had to swim in an area known to have high shark activity. If they were circled by a shark, they were instructed to remain calm, don’t get scared, and if the shark came at them, punch it in the snout and it would swim away. There are a lot of sharks in the world. You will have to deal with them. If you want to change the world, don’t back down from the sharks.

8. One of their missions involved swimming underwater for 2 miles, to find the keel of a large ship. Once they got under the ship, all light was blocked out. They couldn’t see their hand in front of their face. The noise from the ship’s machinery was deafening. It was easy to become disoriented and panic. During times of great tension around you, you must remain calm. If you want to change the world, you must be your very best in the darkest moments.

9. During Hell Week, on a Wednesday, they were taken out to the mud flats. After a minor violation, they were all ordered into the flats, literally up to their neck in freezing mud. They had to remain in the mud overnight. They were told if 5 people quit, they could get out. The sound of chattering teeth was loud around them. All of a sudden, one trainee began to sing. Then another, and another, until the whole group was singing. The mud didn’t seem as cold anymore. Give people hope. The power of hope, the power of one person, can change the world by giving people hope. If you want to change the world, start singing if you’re up to your neck in mud.

10. There was a large bell in the center of the SEAL training compound. If a recruit wanted to quit, they would ring the bell and leave. If you want to change the world, don’t ever, EVER, ring the bell.

Start each day with a task completed, find someone to help you through each season, respect everyone, know basketball is not fair and you will fail often. But, if you take some risks, step up when times are toughest, face down the bullies, lift up the downtrodden, and never, ever give up, then our program will be far better when you leave than it was when you got here.