Lucky for you, we’re here to help! In this OA guide, we’ll introduce three mental exercises that SOF operators use daily to stay sharp and mentally unbreakable. Perform these exercises regularly, and you’ll soon see a significant improvement in how you approach challenges and bounce back from failures! Let’s begin.

Preparation and repetition is the key to success. But what can you do if you are experiencing an unfamiliar challenge for the first time? Whether you’re moving into a new position of authority at work, speaking at a public event, or taking on a new physical challenge, you’ll likely feel inadequately prepared to face the challenge ahead of you. The solution? Visualization exercises. 

By repeatedly visualizing your future challenge, you effectively perform mental training reps. Imagine you are briefing your team on a mission for the first time. In the days and weeks leading up to the presentation, take the time to visualize your briefing as vividly as possible. What will you be wearing? What will the room look like? Who will be there? What are you going to do when your presentation software glitches and fails?

Going through all of these hypothetical situations in your mind allows you to predict potential problems and find solutions in advance. As you get more experienced and effective with visualization, you’ll be able to play through entire elaborate scenarios in your mind. Preparing for challenges with visualization is common among professional athletes – with UFC double-champ, Conor McGregor, being a notable user of this mind exercise technique.

Success isn’t about never failing. It’s about being able to bounce back from your mistakes. There’s only one problem: it’s challenging not to let your past errors discourage and negatively impact your future performance. That’s what this next mental exercise is all about.

Programming a “reset button” is a way to clear your mind after a mistake and return to operating at peak performance. To program a mental reset, you must create a physical pattern to mentally put your head back in the game after an error. This can be anything from an entire routine to a discreet movement with your hand. This physical pattern serves as a cue to let your brain know it’s time to recompose.

As you perform this pattern, answer these three questions to reset your mind:

• What did I do wrong?
• How can I fix it?
• What’s important now? (Stop thinking about your error and start taking action in the present.)

If you consistently perform this mental pattern when you make a mistake, you will get to the point where you automatically reset and return to peak performance after failures. Thus, decreasing the impact that your previous failures have on your future performance.

Calm seas have never made a skilled sailor. That is to say: improvement requires getting comfortable with discomfort. If the first time you face adversity is when you’re in a real-life situation, you’ll be unprepared to face the challenge to your full potential.

In other words, you must simulate discomfort and get used to struggling by using discomfort immersion. Simply put, do something every day that makes you uncomfortable. Over time, you’ll find that activities that previously put you in distress now feel natural. This means your mind and body are adapting to discomfort and becoming harder.

To get started with discomfort immersion, start waking up before sunrise, taking cold showers, and challenging yourself physically every day. This can include anything from weightlifting to swimming, but the most effective form of physical discomfort immersion is to train martial arts (Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu specifically). Few situations will prepare you for combat better than regularly fighting a capable and motivated adversary.

No matter what you do in life, mental toughness makes you a more effective, adaptable, and resilient individual. After following this short guide for a few weeks, you will find that you are more willing to act in difficult situations and better able to relax under stress. If you become an operator, your improved mentality will put you far ahead of the other candidates during selection.

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