How Navy SEALs apply The Backwards Law to develop skill

How Navy SEALs apply The Backwards Law to develop skill

Josh Gessner is a Ex Professional Baseball Player | His goal is to ‘Becoming the best athlete, entrepreneur and thinker I can be’  He is on a mission to impact 1 million athletes with http://TheAthletter.com

Here he writes about how Navy SEALS apply ‘The Backwards Law (how to get what you want by letting go) to develop terrific skillset.

Navy SEALs are the most elite warriors on Earth. Here’s one thing their taught early on… The Backwards Law (how to get what you want by letting go):

In NAVY SEALs training, there’s a thing called Drown Proofing. The instructors tie your hands and feet… And throw you into a 9 feet pool. The objective is to survive for 5 minutes.

Some – panic, and need to get lifted out. They’ve even been some who’ve died. But many pass, because they know the secrets behind the test:

The first – the more you try to keep your head above the water: The more likely you are to sink. With both your hands and feet tied… It’s impossible to keep yourself afloat for 5 minutes.

The second – the more you panic, the more oxygen you burn. The paradox is brutal: The more you try to live, the less likely you are to stay alive.

What you wanna do is completely relax, and let yourself sink. When you reach the bottom, kick yourself back up to catch air. Repeat.

This story perfectly summarizes the backwards law. The Backwards Law: When more effort means less reward. An example with athletes:

Throughout my career I thought that more effort = more reward. And that’s true for most part, in the physical domains. The more you lift, the stronger you become. The more you practice a skill, the better you become. The more mobility work you do, the more mobile you become.

The area where the Backwards Law kicks in… The mental side.

When I was struggling to throw strikes as a pitcher: I tried even harder to throw strikes. The result? Less strikes. During my best outings, I was trying less and performing better.

So… this sounds nice and all, but what can we do about it?

As an athlete – the best way to take advantage of the backwards law: Give. Less. Fucks. Yup.

A saying from a coach that’s always stuck with me: “The best players I’ve seen don’t care as much when they compete” WTF?

When I asked him about it, he explained: It means they’re less worried about failure or the outcome. They try less by caring less. And by caring less, they’re able to take risks, play freely and to their potential.

This ties in perfectly with the Failure Paradox: The more you’re afraid of failing, the more likely you are to fail. And from what I’ve seen in sports, this is absolutely true.

Ok… so I know that telling you to care less doesn’t do anything. I got told that way too many times and didn’t have a clue what to do with that information. So I’m going to give you something actionable.

Whatever you’re a little bit worried will happen, or care too much about… Do it. Do that embarrassing thing, on Purpose. Why?

It shows you that it isn’t that bad… Most people didn’t even notice. And if they did – they forget about it in 5 minutes.

Main Lesson: Take advantage of the Backwards Law by giving less f*cks. Give less f*cks by exposing yourself to thing you’re worried about.