“You get in there and fight, Carl. Don’t take promises. Bust their rules if you have to. And when it gets hard, and it will, don’t quit on me, ever.” 

Mac Brashear 

This past weekend, for Mental Toughness Movie Night, we watched “Men of Honor”, with Cuba Gooding Jr, and Robert De Niro.  It’s the story of Master Chief Petty Officer Carl Brashear, the first black-American master diver in the United States Navy.

It’s a Mental Toughness Manual.  Carl overcomes ridiculous odds, a culture and system that’s rigged against him, little education, but he knew what his emotional driver was, and tapped into it over and over again, in order to succeed.  Oh, and to achieve success, he had to do it better than perfect.

As Carl is getting on the bus, to report to Navy boot camp, in 1948, his father tells him, “You get in there and fight, Carl. Don’t take promises. Bust their rules if you have to. And when it gets hard, and it will, don’t quit on me, ever.” 

Carl’s nemesis, Chief Billy Sunday, played by Robert De Niro, (a composite character), in the end, demonstrates the perfect example of a Mental Toughness Coach.  He knows exactly what to say to Carl to cut through the pain and difficulties, to push on that emotional driver and get one more step out of him.  Then one more step, and one more, until the goal is achieved, one step at a time.  Let’s just say he’s not coddling him and go watch the movie, it’s worth the investment of time.

Ask yourself, “What is driving me? Why am I in this fight?”   

If you don’t know what you are willing to fight for and why, the chances are pretty high (100%), that you will quit fighting when it gets hard, and the discomfort levels turn into pain.  As a Mental Toughness Coach, my main function is to identify your emotional driver, and then remind you of it when the going gets rough.  Without a Mental Toughness Coach, most people quit at the first sign of discomfort, and never stay in the fight long enough to experience pain.  That “pain experience” is often the price for the ticket to success.

Boo Yah!!