Embrace the Suck by Brent Gleeson

Author:Brent Gleeson [GLEESON, BRENT]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Hachette Books
Published: 2020-12-22T00:00:00+00:00

Ability x Motivation = Performance

Obviously, you can break ability and motivation down into many elements but overall, this is it. We use this model to help leaders better understand how to coach and mentor those on their team. If, for example, you have a direct report with high levels of ability and motivation in a given role, and then promote them into a new position, things might change in the near term. In a new role, they may be tackling challenges they have not faced, so their ability is lower. Sometimes people simply burn out regardless of ability and subject matter expertise, so motivation lessens as does performance. You get the idea.

Why is this a multiplication formula and not an addition formula? I’ll pause for you to consider your answer.…

Okay, time’s up. Because if one factor is zero, performance equals zero. Also, known as failure. Most candidates arriving at BUD/S show up with both high levels of ability and motivation. That is, until they are put in situations they’ve never dealt with and placed in the most physically and mentally adverse scenarios of their lives. That’s what makes the training program a very level playing field. Sure, some students are rock star runners or swim like dolphins. High ability and motivation results in high performance in those specific evolutions. But when tested in other areas, that’s often not the case. Meanwhile, others seem to be totally averse to pain and stress, but struggle in various pass-fail evolutions that require focus and technical ability.

Each phase in BUD/S has pass-fail evolutions. In most, the student is only given one or two chances. If failure is the result, they’re packing their bags—“haze gray and underway”—off to the fleet. The first evolution is the fifty-meter underwater swim. The students line up along the side of the Olympic-size swimming pool at the Naval Amphibious Base across the street from the Naval Special Warfare Center. They jump in feet first, do an underwater somersault (which can cause you to blow too much precious air from your lungs), and without pushing off the wall, swim down and back for a total of fifty meters. Sometimes heads break the surface early gasping for air or students pass out before reaching the wall. Fail! Devastation soon follows.

Another wonderful evolution is called drownproofing. The student’s arms are tied behind his back and his ankles are tethered together. He must then perform a series of exercises like swimming multiple laps for hundreds of meters, bobbing up and down in the deep end, and swimming down five meters to pick up a swim mask off the bottom of the pool with his teeth. This goes on for a long time. If you aren’t very comfortable in the water or motivated enough to find the resilience to dig deep, failure is imminent.

Some students who have dreamed of these moments their whole lives have those dreams shattered in a matter of minutes. And there are no participation trophies handed out. Some can try again months or years later and succeed.

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