Mark Divine - Unbeatable Mind: Forge Resiliency and Mental Toughness to Succeed at an Elite Level

Forge Resiliency and Mental Toughness to Succeed at an Elite Level

Mark Divine

Third Edition, 2015

20112015 Mark D. Divine

www.unbeatablemind.com

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. This book contains material protected under International and Federal Copyright Laws and Treaties. Any unauthorized reprint or use of this material is prohibited. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system without express written permission from the author/publisher.

Copyright 2015 Authored By Mark Divine

All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-0-9861311-0-3

Dedicated to my son Devon

The Body Is the Feeler of Emotions and Sensations

The Mind Is the Thinker of Thoughts

The Witness Is the Observer of All

Sensei Shane Phelps

When a man is beaten, tormented and defeatedHe is ready to learn something. Emerson

Over the years I see the same remarkable situation and state of being, again and again, in the thousands who have who have joined my SEALFIT and Unbeatable Mind Programs. These individuals are exceptionally accomplished by societys standards, with fine careers and ample success to report in their professional and personal lives. But from my discussions with the new trainees, its long become apparent to me that regardless of their success, they feel stuck in a low gear. They feel incomplete, half-empty, conscious that they could be giving far more, but unable to break out of an ingrained pattern of mediocrity.

For some in the world, an existential threat, like a fight with cancer, will shatter their complacency and free them from such a rut onto a higher level of thought and action. But my trainees dont wait for an accident of fate to spur their change. They seek to take charge and drill down into their full potential so that they have the power to make a difference in the world.

I bet you feel the same way. The good news is that you now have a tool in your hands that will guide you forward in solving this frustrating puzzle of the human experience.

The "big idea" of this book is that you are capable of far more than you think you aremore accomplishment, more productivity, more successbut you have been kept in the dark about this potential your entire life. I call this potential your 20X Factor, in that you are capable of accelerating you daily achievement by twenty times what your current paradigm allows you to believe is possible. It is not as though your family, or our culture, purposely kept you in the dark about this important fact. Rather, they were ignorant about it as well and can't be held to blame. We cannot ignore this truth any longer. Not only do you deserve to unleash your full potential for your own success and happiness, society needs your optimal output to confront the grave problems that mire modern civilization. These problems are of such a complex and deep-rooted nature I believe our collective minds are needed to sync up like a global crowd-sourced network of solution finders to pull us out of the mess we have created. This book isn't an exploration of the various messes, thoughthere are plenty of authors reporting about the perils we face on our abused planet. This book is about how you can begin to open a channel to that vast potential lying dormant inside of youso that you can achieve your fullest expression of yourself, help those around you, and send positive ripples throughout the world.

A Foundation of Silence

Let me back up now and give you an idea of where Im coming from and how I got here.

In my early childhood, I learned to find solace in the peace and silence of nature. And growing up in the mountains and valleys of the Adirondacks in Upstate New York (Upstate, as we call it, covers 95 percent of the real estate of New Yorkthe other 5 percent is squeezed into the New York Metro area.), all I had to do was step out the back door to find it. My father's love for the trails, combined with my mother's athleticism, kept us outdoors. Twice a week during the summer I would find myself navigating the Adirondack peaks with my dad and Brad, my brother. I cherished these expeditions. They struck me with a sense of awe for the natural beauty and excitement of always finding something new around the next bend in the trail.

I became comfortable with the silence. I had no idea at the time, but this would prove to become a bedrock theme in my life. Nature never argued with me and, as long as I respected her, made no significant demands. Often I would just sit in absorption, not thinking or striving for anything in particular, and allow the peace to settle in.

On the home front, things were loud and often confusing as my parents fought routinely. For reasons I did not understand at the time, I was shut down and unsettled, locked in a prison constructed of my own conflicting emotions. I craved the contentment and connection that I felt so keenly when alone in nature, but I had no luck finding it in relationships. So my relationship with nature was a friendship I would turn to often, through solitude and silence tuning into that awesome power, and I can tell you now that this was the mentor relationship that prepared me most for what was to be my future as a warrior.

In high school, I made lettering in sports a pastime that carried into my college years as well. Though I enjoyed the camaraderie of team sports, I was drawn to the simplicity and psychological challenge of endurance athletics. Endless laps in the pool and running track were predominantly mental endeavors. Through these sports I learned the importance of proper breathing and the basics of managing the mind. My high school swim times earned me a slot on the Colgate University team, and off I went in 1981.

I settled on a major in economics, thinking that it would help when I landed back at Divine Brothers, Inc., a legacy family business in manufacturing started in 1898. Socially, my world burst wide open as I began a love affair with beer and women (prioritized in that order, its fair to mention). After a semester of unhinged craziness, I knew I needed to settle down and anchor myself or I would drift off even further, or altogether drown, so I recommitted to the drill I knew best: nature and sports The rigor of my daily schedule kept me focused and less prone to participate in the nonstop party.

Id by lying if I didnt admit those were great times, and I have some great friends from that era. However, I was clueless as to what I wanted to do when I grew up besides the family business, which was my default plan. And as to the measure of when I was grown up, I was running out of room even by the most liberal of definitions. As senior year ground to a close, though, I found myself with a unique job offer from a Big 8 CPA firm in Manhattan. The firm, Coopers & Lybrand (now PricewaterhouseCoopers), somehow figured it a sound investment to sponsor me to attend the NYU Stern School of Business as part of a work-study program. I would work as an auditor for two years, during which time I would get a master's and pass the CPA exam.

So within five weeks of graduating Colgate, I found myself back in summer school at NYU. For a few months, the newness of the challenge motivated me, but it wasn't long before I dreaded the monotony of the "real world. Was this really what I was going to do for the rest of my life? Completely on my own now, I was overwrought as the educational bills piled up and my options for escape dwindled. I started to openly question whether I had made a disastrous mistake from which there was no turning back.