Comfort is the enemy of growth. Navy SEALS know that, and they’re teaching it to U.S. Olympians.

“We’re going to re-set your baseline today,” a SEAL tells a group of athletes as they embark on a grueling session to test and expand their limits.

Olympians and SEALS are just like the rest of us. They have limits to their ability to endure discomfort, pain and frustration. The difference comes in the way they handle those limits. Their life is a struggle to re-set boundaries.

That’s what brought them to SEALS training, with its freezing water, rolls in the dirt, and heavy loads to lift, as detailed in this article from USA Today.

“We push in our training,” says Zack Railey, a 2008 Olympic silver medalist in sailing, “but this was just a totally different type of physical and mental exhaustion.”

Olympic gold medalist Garrett Weber-Gale went through the training with Michael Phelps and other swimmers in 2009. “I guess what I took away from that was the human body can always achieve more than we believe,” she said. “And that’s controlled purely by our minds.”

You may never play in the Olympics, but you can compete against the most important foe of all — yourself. You can become a SEAL or an Olympian in the way you struggle with the things that are holding you back.

As peak performance expert Dave Cross has written, all the things you want lie outside your comfort zone.

“You must break out of your current comfort zone and become comfortable with the unfamiliar and the unknown,” said Denis Waitley.
Don’t wait for a Navy SEAL to re-set your limits. Start doing it yourself today!

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