Living with a SEAL: 31 Days Training with the Toughest Man on the Planet

by Jesse Itzler

I believe the best ideas are the ones you don’t spend too much time thinking through.

Most of my successes in life have come from learning how to be comfortable with being uncomfortable.

Every day do something that makes you uncomfortable.

I like to sit back and enjoy the pain. I earned it. —SEAL

I’m the surprise-or. Not the surprise-ee. —SEAL

some days a run can fly by and be enjoyable. And sometimes that same exact run on the same exact path feels like torture and is excruciatingly slow.

You need to feel the pace. —SEAL

I don’t do shit for applauses. I don’t do shit for fanfare. I do shit for me. —SEAL

I don’t think about yesterday. I think about today and getting better. —SEAL

It doesn’t have to be fun. It has to be effective. —SEAL

“When you think you’re done, you’re only at forty percent of what your body is capable of doing. That’s just the limit that we put on ourselves.”

I don’t need new friends. I like to keep my shit lean and tight. —SEAL

SEAL is teaching me that we can all do so much more.

It’s really not that complicated. —SEAL

we use more energy for digestion than all other bodily functions combined. That’s why we are usually tired after a big meal. That said, the average American will eat seventy tons of food in their lifetime. Imagine how hard the body has to work to process and break down all of that food. The more efficiently we can digest all this food and the less stress we put on the digestive process, the more energy we will have for everything else.

fruit is the perfect food because on top of being sweet and delicious, it’s super-easy to digest.

Any success I have ever had in my life usually occurred when I was not chasing the money but was doing things out of passion.

If it doesn’t suck, we don’t do it. —SEAL

Train for the unexpected. —SEAL

If you want to be pushed to your limits, you have to train to your limits. —SEAL

imagine I’m a hard guy to have a relationship with. —SEAL

I earned it. Now I’m going to enjoy it. —SEAL

Every day is a challenge, otherwise it’s not a regular day. —SEAL

If you can’t do the basics, you can’t do shit. —SEAL

If you’re gonna do ’em, do ’em right. —SEAL

You can get through any workout because everything ends. —SEAL

Don’t get too comfortable. Ever. —SEAL

You can always keep going. —SEAL

You can be fit without being healthy, but you can’t be healthy without being fit.

I can sit still for hours. Waiting. —SEAL

I don’t like to talk to strangers. Actually, I don’t like to talk, period. —SEAL

the dude has mastered the art of being present.

Now I finish the first thing on my list with 100 percent focus and then attack the next.

Be ready for anything at any time. —SEAL

The tougher the conditions, the more I like my odds. —SEAL

Know what’s important to you and protect it at all costs. —SEAL

I don’t celebrate victories but I learn from failures. —SEAL

if you push the body, the body will respond.

he never celebrates an accomplishment. Once his goal is done, it’s time for his next goal.

A thousand push-ups is something I could never have imagined doing. It just shows that repetition and consistency equal results.

If you don’t challenge yourself, you don’t know yourself. —SEAL

I don’t stop when I’m tired. I stop when I’m done. —SEAL

I don’t want what you guys have. —SEAL

If you can see yourself doing something, you can do it. If you can’t see yourself doing something, usually you can’t achieve it. —SEAL

Our minds sometimes tell us little lies about ourselves, and we believe them. We think we can’t do this or that. It’s not true.

He just wants to get better tomorrow. That’s what I want now too.

The only easy day was yesterday. —SEAL

The simplicity that SEAL has is one of the most important things in life. He gets to do what he loves every day. He lives stress-free.

focusing on the little things.

The harder the training, the more courage it took to do and the more satisfaction was derived from it.