Fearlessness 3 things you can learn from special ops and Navy SEALS

Fearlessness 3 things you can learn from special ops and Navy SEALSFearlessness 3 things you can learn from special ops and Navy SEALSOne-man army.Its a phrase that gets thrown around lightly. But for 7 hours, Hector Cafferata was exactly that.On November 28, 1950 during the Korean war, the then 21-year-old took on an entire regiment of Chinese soldiers, defending his group of badly wounded friends.He did it in 30 degrees-below-zero-weatherwhile in his socks.He had only his eight shot M1 Garand and when grenades were thrown at him he batted them away with a shovel.Im going to repeat thatHe batted grenades away with a shovel.ViaNerve Poise Under Pressure, Serenity Under Stress, and the Brave New Science of Fear and CoolFor the next seven hours, Cafferata became a one-man fighting force.With moonlight and flares providing illumination, he hustled up and down the wash, taking out advancing Chinese troops.In his left hand, Cafferata carried an entrenching tool, which he used to bat away any Chinese grenades that flew in.I was the worlds worst baseball player, so I dont know how I hit them, he told meCafferata fired his rifle so much that night that the barrel began to blacken and catch fire he had to cool it down with snow. Late in the battle,he tried to fling a grenade back manually but it blew too soon, badly damaging his nearly frozen left hand. He kept fighting.Sometime after dawn, marine reinforcements arrived to finda single man holding off an entire enemy unit, as if possessed by supernatural energy.It wasnt until this point, when he could relax a little, thatCafferata discovered that hed fought all night in his socks, and without his parka.At 85 years old, Cafferata, who was awarded the Medal of Honor,offered a succinct statement on his perspective toward such challenging scenarios.ViaNerve Poise Under Pressure, Serenity Under Stress, and the Brave New Science of Fear and CoolI always felt that if you wanted my ass, you better bring your lunch.What produces this level of fearlessness?Yes, some people are different. As Taylor Clark points out inNerve, twin studies show about 30% of fear response is genetically determined.But that only begs the questionwhat about the other 70%?The research points to three things that can help you develop fearlessness.1) Training And PreparationGary Klein received a grant from the U.S. Army to study decision-making under stress in firefighters. His research showed that firefighters generated a set of options in their head, compared them and picked the best one.Then he talked to firefighters and realized he was 100% wrong about everything.ViaNerve Poise Under Pressure, Serenity Under Stress, and the Brave New Science of Fear and CoolIn one of the first interviews he conducted, Klein asked a seasoned firefighter commander to describe a few examples of how he made difficult decisions under stress in the past, and the man replied with a jaw-dropperI dont make decisions. I dont remember when Ive ever made a d ecision.They didnt think.Years of training and experience had finely tuned their instincts, and in these situations, instinct is all you have time for.ViaNerve Poise Under Pressure, Serenity Under Stress, and the Brave New Science of Fear and Coolthe elite firefighters had seen so many fires over the years that a web of patterns had been etched into their subconscious minds, lending them incredibly solid instinctsWhen a fire commander sees a building with a billboard affixed to the side go up in flames, for example, experience immediately reminds him of the times hes seen billboards suddenly plummet to the ground below, and he gives orders to clear out the area without having to think.The Navy SEAL team that killed Bin Laden trained for weeks inside a full scale replica of the compound they would be attackingso that when they arrived, it would be like theyd already been there.Via Daniel Coyles excellent bookThe Little Book of Talent 52 Tips for Improving Your SkillsWhen U.S. Navy SE AL Team 6 mounted its May 2011 raid on Osama bin Ladens compound in Pakistan, it prepared by constructing full-scale replicas of the compound in North Carolina and Nevada, and rehearsing for three weeks.Dozens of times the SEALs simulated the operation. Dozens of times, they created various conditions they might encounter. They used the power of repetition to build the circuitry needed for the job.And this is true in general.Who survives catastrophic scenarios? The people who have prepared.Via David McRaneysYou Are Not So Smart Why You Have Too Many Friends on Facebook, Why Your Memory Is Mostly Fiction, and 46 Other Ways Youre Deluding YourselfAccording to Johnson and Leach, the sort of people who survive are the sort of people who prepare for the worst and practice ahead of time.Theyve done the research, or built the shelter, or run the drills. They look for the exits and imagine what they will do. They were in a fire as a child or survived a typhoon.These people dont deliberate d uring calamity because theyve already done the deliberation the other people around them are just now going through.2) A Feeling Of ControlYou can tell a Special Forces soldier by a blood test.ViaNerve Poise Under Pressure, Serenity Under Stress, and the Brave New Science of Fear and CoolThe effect of neuropeptide Y is so pronounced, Morgan says that he can tell if a soldier is Special Forces or not simply by taking a look at a blood test.Yale Psychiatrist Andy Morgan has studied Special Forces soldiers for over a decade. He saysthe training creates stress levels in the human body higher than what is measured during open heart surgery.But Morgan says what is equally important ishow you talk to yourself in stressful situations.ViaNerve Poise Under Pressure, Serenity Under Stress, and the Brave New Science of Fear and CoolHow you frame something in your head has a great deal to do with your neurobiological response to itwhen you say to yourself,I know what to do here, or see things as a challenge, then that turns into a much mora positive response.This isone of the techniques the Navy SEALS used to increase passing rates. Whats notable about all of the techniques is they all involve increasinga feeling of control.It makes intuitive senseWhat creates a sense of fearlessness?Ive got this covered. Ive done this before. Im incontrol.And that word feeling is key. While training produces more of the ability to actually control a situation,even an illusory feeling of control can reduce stress and thereby increase performance.In fact, the illusion of control is so powerful thatoverconfidence is an asset, not a liability, during disaster scenarios.Via Oliver BurkemansHelp How to be slightly happier and get a bit more doneIts largely a matter of beliefssurvivors are those who think they have some control over external circumstances, and who see how even a negative experience might lead to growth. Overconfident people, who overestimate their powers, do particularly well.Th e top tier bomb disposals experts are so confident thatas they approach the explosives their heart rates actually godownViaThe Wisdom of Psychopaths What Saints, Spies, and Serial Killers Can Teach Us About SuccessWhereas the heart rates of all the operatives remained stable, something quite incredible happened with the ones whod been decorated. Their heart rates actually went down.As soon as they entered the danger zone (or the launch pad, as one guy I spoke with put it), they assumed a state of cold, meditative focus a mezzanine level of consciousness in which they became one with the device they were working on.Follow-up analysis probed deeper, and revealed the cause of the disparity confidence.The operatives whod been decorated scoredhigher on tests of core self-belief than their non-decorated colleagues.3) HumorDuring his five years as a POW, Colonel Gerald Venanzi had an imaginary chimpanzee friend named Barney Google.ViaNerve Poise Under Pressure, Serenity Under Stress, and t he Brave New Science of Fear and CoolBarney liked to accompany Venanzi to interrogations wherein Venanzi staged debates with the animal - I cant tell them that Theyll beat the hell out of me - as his questioners looked on in shock.(Once, the camp commander tried to mollify the discord by offering Barney tea, but Venanzi had to relay a polite no Barney didnt like tea.) Venanzis Barney Google stories provided limitless amusement to the Americans. Ultimately, the guards summoned Venanzi once more and told him hed have to release his chimp into the wild he was getting new roommates, and Barneys presence might upset them.He wasnt insane.Humor provides a powerful buffer against stress and fear.ViaNerve Poise Under Pressure, Serenity Under Stress, and the Brave New Science of Fear and CoolIn tense moments, explains the clinical psychologist Rod Martin, the purpose of pranks like Venanzis isnt merely to elicit a chuckle joking actually reformats your perception of a stressor.Humor is abou t playing with ideas and concepts, said Martin, who teaches at the University of Western Ontario. So whenever we see something as funny were looking at it from a different perspective.When people are trapped in a stressful situation and feeling overwhelmed, theyre stuck in one way of thinkingThis is terrible. Ive got to get out of here.But if you can take a humorous perspective, then by definition youre looking at it differently - youre breaking out of that rigid mind-set.When Iinterviewed Army RangerJoe Asher, he emphasized the importance of humor in getting through the punishing months of Ranger trainingIt occurred to me, I said You know what? If I can laugh once a day, every day Im in Ranger School, Ill make it through. That was one of the things that Id say to myself and I make sure I can laugh.Theres always humor around. Given that the root of all comedy is misery theres plenty of humor in Ranger School because people are constantly miserable.The other thing I would tell mysel f in Ranger School, they say this a lot The only easy day was yesterday.My Ranger Buddy and I always said if tomorrow yesterday looks as bad as it does right now then well quit. But by tomorrow, looking back on yesterday, it was over. We survived it, we can go one more day, so, we would continue on. That was another method we used to sort of help us limp along.Next StepsYou dont need to be preparing for war to make all this useful. Keep in mindPreparationFeeling in controlHumorAnd for help in more common scenarios you may want to check outWays to make sure you dont choke under pressure arehereandhere.And heres more onhow to be more courageous in any situation.Join more than 300,000 readers.Get a free weekly update via emailhere.Related postsNew Harvard Research Reveals A Fun Way To Be More SuccessfulThe 8 Things The Happiest People Do Every DayHow To Stop Being Lazy And Get More Done 5 Expert TipsThis article originally appeared at Barking Up the Wrong Tree.