Brian Johnson (Optimize) recounts visiting Navy SEAL facilities with his son Emerson after being invited through Mark Devine while reading a book on courage. He shares an anecdote from Mark Devine about a "break glass" frogman used as a metaphor for keeping one’s best, most courageous self in reserve for extreme challenges; he urges listeners to have that reserve available for their families and communities.
Chapters
Hi, this is Brian. Welcome back to another Optimize plus one. We've spent the last week or so exploring courage. As it turns out, as I was reading that book on the science of courage, Emerson and I got to hang out with some of the most courageous humans on the planet. Navy SEALs. Super quick, top secret context. Apparently a couple of guys who help run the SEAL training are fans of our work. Mark Devine connected us and they invited me down to talk to a small mental performance working group. Of course, I said I'd be honored to come down. And I said that my only zero pressure request would be a chance for Emerson to see the seal facilities as SEALs are his heroes. And well, we were blessed to get a tour. It was truly a lifetime memory. Hoo yah. Emerson brought down gifts for Captain Bob and Mags, who are two of the coolest, most humble heroes out there. Custom built Lego versions of the seals Mark V special operations craft. Check out the pic in the one. But that's not quite the point of today's plus one. Today I want to talk about one of the things on that base we didn't actually get a chance to see it. But in his great book Staring down the Wolf, former SEAL commander Mark Devine tells us about it. You know those fire alarms that say, in case of fire, break glass? Well, imagine one of those with a frogman inside it. Seals are known as frogmen. You know what the seals have around that frogman in the glass? In case of war, Break glass. Yep. In case of war, these the seals say break the glass. We're here to serve and protect, just like the heroes we train to be. I say we need to have the optimist, best version of ourselves hanging out inside some glass. In case of extreme challenges, Break glass. Life super challenging. Our families and communities need to know, Break the glass. We're here to serve today.
