Sublime

You need to be able to dodge bullets out there. Your awareness has to be keen enough that you can anticipate exactly what’s going to happen next. You just can’t do that if you’re thinking about the broken dishwasher or the rash on your kid’s arse. It was much more important that I came back alive.

As the U.S. Naval hero of the American Revolution and Father of the U.S. Navy, John Paul Jones, said: “Those who will not risk cannot win.”

Kelly has done standing backflips at a lean 230 pounds. At the same weight, he completed an ultra-marathon with no training runs longer than 5K, courtesy of Brian MacKenzie (page 92). Kelly has also power cleaned 365 pounds, but he has a bum wrist and catches the weight with one arm bent across his chest like a salute.

We learned that leadership requires belief in the mission and unyielding perseverance to achieve victory, particularly when doubters question whether victory is even possible.

If you met Lewis in the street, you might guess that he was a lawyer or a kindly geography teacher. In fact, he was one of the most efficiently deadly men in the British services.

Discipline in such a situation started with the little things: high-and-tight haircuts, a clean shave every day, and uniforms maintained. With that, the more important things fell into place: body armor and helmets worn outdoors at all times, and weapons cleaned and ready for use at a moment’s notice. Discipline created vigilance and operational re

— If an undertaking was easy, someone else already would have done it. — If you follow in another’s footsteps, you miss the problems really worth solving. — Excellence is born of preparation, dedication, focus, and tenacity; compromise on any of these and you become average. — Every so often, life presents a great moment of decision, an intersectio