Navy Seal Training Principals That Will Change Your Life
4/1/2016
Navy SEAL Training Principals that will Change Your Life
What starts here will change the world — for the better.
During this time of year, there are a multitude of graduations for family, friends or perhaps even yourselves. Commencement addresses delivered at these festivities pose direction and challenges to graduates as they begin new chapters in their lives.
One delivered in 2014 by Admiral William McRaven to graduates of the University of Texas at Austin was of particular interest to me. Admiral McRaven shared 10 lessons from basic Navy SEAL training that are applicable for everyone no matter what life stages we are in the midst of:
“What starts here changes the world.”
1. Make your bed every morning – If you can't do the little things right, you will never do the big things right. Start each day with a task completed.
2. Find someone to help you paddle – You can't change the world alone; you will need some help and to truly get from your starting point to your destination takes friends, colleagues, the goodwill of strangers and a strong person to guide them.
3. Measure a person by the size of their heart and not the size of their flippers – Respect everyone.
4. Keep moving forward knowing that life is not fair – It is just the way life is sometimes.
5. You will likely fail often; it is a part of life – It will be discouraging and at times will test you to your very core.
6. Slide down the obstacle head first – Take some risks.
7. Don't back down from bullies – Face them head on.
8. Step up when times are toughest – There are a lot of sharks in the world. If you hope to complete the swim you will have to deal with them.
9. Start singing when you are up to your neck in mud – If you want to change the world, you must be your very best in the darkest moment.
10. NEVER, EVER give up!In sharing his thoughts, Admiral McRaven relayed: “If every one of you changed the lives of just ten people and each one of those folks changed the lives of another ten people, just ten, then in five generations, 125 years, the class of 2014 (8,000 UT graduates) will have changed the lives of 800 million people; over twice the population of the United States.
If you think it is hard to change the lives of ten people; you're wrong. I saw it happen every day in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Do these things and the next generation, and the generations that follow, will live in a world far better than the one we have today and what started here will indeed have changed the world for the better.”
You can hear the full context of Admiral McRaven's commencement speech in this video:
Becky Winters is the Grant Coordinator at Navicore Solutions. As a result of her work in seeking funding support for our agency's critical service provisions and networking with partner organizations that help consumers nationwide, she has a keen understanding of the impact that financial education and counseling makes in the lives of those our organization assists.
If you have an interest in supporting or collaborating with Navicore Solutions, contact Becky at OLM@navicoresolutions.org