Intense pressure will reveal the truth about who you really are.

Do you have what it takes to cut it in life?

Under pressure, you will either thrive, or you will stumble.

In the history of humanity, nothing has been as big a test as warfare.

In today's book of the day, "No Hero", Mark Owen explains what he learned as a Navy SEAL special forces fighter.

To become a Navy SEAL, you are forced through the most intense pressures possible. 18-hour workouts, forced near-drownings, psychological trauma, and near-death experiences.

The lessons in this book are profound.

What are the most important takeaways in this book for you?

1. You have to earn it:

"The only easy day was yesterday was our motto. We used to joke, Everyone wants to be a SEAL on Friday. It was easy to be a SEAL at the bar or when you’re out with friends relaxing. But being excited about being a SEAL in the middle of winter in Afghanistan, when you know you have a long, crazy, cold night in front of you, is a different story."

You live in a world full of people who want. 

Everybody wants. But not everybody gets. Because not everybody's willing to do the things required to get what you want.

One of my mentors Al Howell told me, "Tai, i've spent my whole career around millionaires and highly successful people. The only difference between millionaires and everybody else is the millionaires did the things everybody knew they should do but never actually did."

2. Learn to stay in your three-foot world under pressure:

Mark Owen talks about when he was in Boot Camp to become a Navy SEAL and he was doing rock climbing training in the Las Vegas desert and he looked down and saw how high he was and froze under the pressure. The instructor had to climb up next to him and save him.

The book tells the story of what the trainer told him: "Hey, man,” the trainer said said in a lazy, raspy voice. “Just stay in your three-foot world.”

I was a couple of hundred feet up the rock face and I could barely think, let alone decipher his cryptic advice. “What the hell are you talking about, bro?” “Only focus on your three-foot world,” he said."

Focus on what you can affect. You keep looking around, and none of that can help you right now, can it?” I shook my head no.

“You’re calculating how far you’re going to fall,” the instructor said.

“You’re looking down at Jeff, but he’s not going to come up and help. You’re looking out at the Strip. What are you going to do, gamble your way to the top? Don’t look at me. I’m not going to help you either. This is up to you. You’re climbing this rock. Stay in your three-foot world.”

This is similar advice to "7 Habits of Highly Successful People" by Stephen Covey where he says to focus on the things that you can affect the things that you have control over.

Remember, in the world as complex as the one you and I live in, you continue to be bombarded by things outside of your control.

Just stay in your three-foot world.

Focus on taking one step ahead to your goal. 

Don't overthink it and freeze up. 

Like Charlie Munger says, "Spend each day trying to be a little wiser than you were when you woke up. Discharge your duties faithfully and well. Step by step you get ahead, but not necessarily in fast spurts. But you build discipline by preparing for fast spurts. Slug it out one inch at a time, day by day. At the end of the day – if you live long enough – most people get what they deserve."

Stay strong,

Tai