Navy Seals Philosophy: Earn Your Trident Every Day
Introduction
The Navy SEALs is one of the highest-performing organizations in the world. During training, and during operations, SEAL team members are faced hardship, challenges, and obstacles. With so much on the line, they have to deliver and perform, every time. Numerous stories and inspiring anecdotes revolve around the myth of Navy SEALs and their rigorous training programs, including the notorious hell week. One concept that stuck with me (from reading books, I’m no Navy SEAL…) was “Earn Your Trident Every Day”.
The Trident is a pin they wear on their uniform. It represent their grit, strength, professionalism, discipline, the training they endured, and a commitment to excellence. It is encapsulates their warrior spirit. Everyone in the military recognizes this symbol, and what it means about its bearer. It is a seal, excuse the pun, of excellence. To attain this level of ability, you must be committed to sharpening your mind and body everyday. And to maintain this level of performance, you must show up, every day, for every mission, no matter the past and future. So, to me, “earn your trident everyday” means several things, that all come from showing up every day:
If you want to reap the rewards of excellence down the line
Because nobody cares that you did good yesterday, and tomorrow will never come - you have to do good today.
If you want to maintain your level of excellence (Use It Or Lose It)
WORK DAILY on your goals
It's a common topic discussed on various self-help platforms. If you want to make progress, you have invest time, effort, thought and maybe sweat, into your dream - every day. It can be in small doses on some days, and bigger bites in other days. But there is something almost magical about showing up every day. You are training your nervous system and brain to deeply care about this project. You are making it a part of your core.
It’s easy to get hyper-motivated, and go all-out, once a month. And it might be an interesting experience, going well beyond your comfort zone, stretching your very limits. But without an infrastructure of daily progress, you won’t gain much in the grand scheme of things.
You can see this in most areas of life:
Fitness (e.g., article demonstrating how daily sprint bouts increase aerobic fitness)
Learning new motor skills (like juggling, or playing a musical instrument)
Learning a new language
Meditating
Nutrition
In these areas, and many more, daily effort and attention are vital to making long lasting and meaningful progress. You don’t have to start out by running 10Km every day. But training 2-3 times a week, and filling your other days with more low-key exercises - like mobility, breathing, stretching - is the key to making the most out of your new fitness routine.
For me personally, there is also the benefit of finding out I can actually maintain a daily habit, through fire and rain. Two years ago, give or take, I committed to 30 days of at least 10-minutes of physical training every day. Two years later, and I am still going. Some days I did 3-4 hours of vigorous training. On other days, I focused on mobility work and stretching for 10 minutes. I kept on going, no matter what the world threw at me. Sometimes at 2am, sometimes in hospital hallways, sometimes while tragedies were unfolding all around. Even in my darkest times, when my wife and I went through a special kind of hell, I found time to do some kind of movement, for 10 minutes. It makes me feel more powerful, knowing I can commit to a daily practice.
REFRAME WINNING
It’s also about rewiring your idea of success. Would you agree the small wins improve your day? When things go right, even small things, it seems to improve your overall state of being, right? Well, if you reframe your idea of “winning” from end-goal-oriented, to effort-put-oriented, you could be having many more wins. Just by showing up, and making an effort, you win that day.
LUCKY STRIKE
Sometimes, life is about showing up again, and again, and again. Grinding. The more you try, the more you learn, and the better the chances to get lucky and strike gold. Making a daily effort is not only about accumulating progress. It’s also about improving your chances of doing something extremely good. It can be related to your craft - art, YouTube videos, code, etc. Or it can also be about the skill you are building. When you are starting out with a new skill, like I am doing with the harmonica these days, you don’t really know what you are doing. By repeating and grinding, you increase the chances of accidentally doing something right, like bending those bluesy harmonic notes! When you experience that stroke of luck, you get a taste of what it feels like to succeed in your new skill, and this is both motivating and informative for how to continue improving.
NOBODY CARES ABOUT YESTERDAY
Yep, your read that right.
I love basking in past successes. Every time I fail, and receive harsh feedback, I fall back on memories of being 'good' yesterday, and the day before that, and so on. Maybe it’s the little kid in me, still trying to please someone, or maybe it’s that kid trying to find excuses of why is actually a good boy. Either way, it’s not work - objectively. When the chips are down, and you fail - nobody cares how good you did yesterday. Yesterday is gone. Tomorrow is just a dream. Today, you have to put out the fire. Today, you have to do your best to win against chaos. Maybe you will still lose, maybe chaos will be stronger today. But it’s definitely on you if you just fail to put in the effort.
It’s lovely that I was patient and kind with my kids yesterday. But it’s no excuse to lose my temper today, and yell or offend them in any way.
Becoming complacent based on past achievements is a dangerous game. You risk anything from stalling progress, to regressing into something you really don’t want to become. Every day is an opportunity to prove yourself, and an opportunity to do what’s right.
NOBODY IS GOING TO DO IT FOR YOU
At the end of the day, you are the only one in your head, facing your wins and failures. As your body rests in that comfy modern bed, maybe a spouse in your left, and the toddlers in their small beds, your are left to face the echos of your day. People can support you, or they can suppress you. But nobody else will put in the effort for you. Teachers and mentors can show you unimaginable doors, but you are the only one who can take the step through these doors.
Structure and frameworks can help. Organized classes, schools, training groups, can make it easier to show up again and again. But ultimately it’s up to you, and only you, to keep caring and keep pushing.
Conclusion
Earn your trident everyday.
It’s is a compass.
The Navy SEALs use it to becoming and being some of the most highly trained and performing operators in the world.
In a larger context of life, we can use it to guide us every day, towards the best versions of ourselves.
No matter where you are in life, how stressed our depressed you are, how badly you want to cry sometimes.
Inside of you hides what you can truly become.
Earn your trident everyday.