I’ll give you hint: it’s easy to talk about, but much harder to do.

My BUD/S (Navy SEAL Training) Class started training with 338 students. By the time we’d finished, there were only 42 men left standing.

We 42 were not physically superior to the 296 who quit or got dropped: many of my strongest, most talented classmates quit in the first few weeks.

The difference: Those of us who finished did not give ourselves a way out.

Once I decided to enter SEAL training I would not allow myself to reevaluate until after I graduated and earned my Trident. Every time the training made me question whether it was “worth it” or whether I “wanted this” still, I told myself that my misgivings were irrelevant because the next decision point wasn’t until training was over. I could quit once I made it, but not a second before.

What does this have to do with Jeff Bezos and Amazon?

In his 2016 Letter to Shareholders, Bezos talks about one of the company’s leadership principles, “Disagree and Commit”. If you haven’t read the letter or the principles, I can’t recommend them highly enough, but the core of “Disagree and Commit” is this: “Once a decision is determined, [Amazon leaders] commit wholly.”

In his Letter, Bezos specifically references his email regarding some Amazon Original content his team wants to make, where he writes “I disagree and commit and hope it becomes the most watched thing we’ve ever made.” He does this because he knows it’s difficult to make high-velocity decisions, particularly when the results are unknowable.

The SEAL Teams do something similar in combat. We empower every man in the platoon to be a tactical leader, because sometimes even the junior man is in the best position to see the right tactical decision. Because of this a tactical call can be made that seems wrong to some guys, but the moment the call is made there is no longer a question: stalling or debating simply leaves you exposed and confuses everyone. So, whether you agree or disagree with the decision, you execute as aggressively as you can - because your lives depend on it and a 70% solution executed with 100% effort is still probably good enough.

While Bezos is referring to disagreement between team members, the principle applies just as well to disagreement between your past, current, and future selves.

In the middle of a bloody, sandy, never-ended Log PT, I would have profanely disagreed with my past self, who thought SEAL training would be a good idea. I disagreed, but I was committed, and that’s why I succeeded.

Other guys, stronger guys, who allowed themselves to reevaluate in the heat of things?

They quit.

We all faced the same obstacles. We were all exhausted, cold, and in pain. We all faced similar doubts about ourselves and our abilities.

The difference was only our in willingness to disagree and stay committed. In the heat of battle we trusted our past selves more than our current, suffering selves.

Have you ever had to face down debilitating self-doubt? How did you do it? Share it with us so we can learn from one another.

Authored By: David Madden, Former Navy SEAL Officer

Click Here to View David’s Bio.

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