A Navy SEAL Shows Lifelong Success Comes Down to Embracing the 1-Second Decision

I was assigned to a project where three-person teams were each tasked with developing a major cost-saving initiative. We had four weeks to choose an idea, justify it, create an implementation plan, and present our idea to executives who would then decide which of the projects would get funded.

Being selected to a team was, as with most big assignments, a double-edged sword. Perform well, and the right people would know; do poorly, and the right people would know. 

Three weeks in, we had several solid ideas on the board, but none of them felt right. We knew we could do better. But we were running out of time. More to the point, we were running out of “oomph.” We were tired of analyzing. We were tired of following ideas that led to dead ends. We were tired of, well, all of it, and just wanted it to be over. 

I still remember the moment — that moment — when we looked at one another and realized we had come to the same conclusion: We just needed to pick an idea and move on. So we did. It was such a relief.

Until the day we presented our idea. Our presentation was good. (Our project even got funded.) But it wasn’t great. It was obvious, if only to us, that we had given up too soon.

But it was too late to get that decision — that moment — back.

The 40 Percent Rule

The 40 percent rule is a concept popularized by Dave Goggins in Jesse Itzler’s book Living With a SEAL. 

When your mind says you’re exhausted, fried, totally tapped out, you’re really only 40 percent done. You still have 60 percent left in your tank. 

So why do we stop? In part, the problem lies with motivation: It’s hard to keep going indefinitely when, if you’re doing something physical, your heart is pounding and your legs are screaming. It’s hard to keep going when a cognitive challenge makes you feel totally mentally and emotionally drained.

Another reason is the lack of a clear finish line. Not knowing when we would come up with a better idea, if ever? That further drained us, especially emotionally.

Add it all up, and it can be incredibly hard to keep pushing past what you perceive to be your limit, even if you do have 60 percent left in your tank.

Which leads to that moment.

The 1-Second Decision

Goggins calls “that” moment, the moment when you decide to quit (or go on), the 1-second decision, because it really does happen that quickly.

Here’s Goggins:

Let me use [SEAL training] Hell Week as an example. Hell Week is 130 hours. One hundred thirty hours is a lot of seconds. Let’s say you win every second but one. You lost. It only takes one second for you to lose the whole thing.

The 1-second decision is just that. You’re in a situation where life is sucking. You’re in Hell Week, and you’re in hour two of 130 hours. You lie back (in surf torture) and that first wave hits you. Your mind goes straight from hour two all the way to hour 130. You can’t process five days of this [stuff]. It’s cold. You can’t be cold this long. 

That’s where the 1-second decision comes in. You forgot every reason you wanted to be there. You don’t care about SEALs. You don’t care about fighting for your country. You don’t care about that gaudy gold trident they put on your chest. All you want to do is go back home. You want the warmth. You want something to eat. All those things of comfort are there, in that one second.

And that’s where people lose.

I’ve never done anything remotely as difficult as Hell Week, but I still recognize that moment. When the pain feels too great. When the suffering feels too hard. When I’ve decided, in an instant, to quit.

Like when the idea of forging ahead to find a better idea seemed too difficult. In that moment, the three of us just wanted to quit struggling and go back “home.”

So what does Goggins do to “win” that one second? First, embrace the fact those moments will occur. 

We all think about quitting when things get hard. We can’t help it: Our bodies and minds instinctively self-protect. Your mind struggles to process information, much less make rational decisions, when you feel physical, mental, or emotional pain. Pain takes over. It’s fight or flight time, and running away, running “home,” to save yourself is almost instinctive.

That’s why, as Goggins says, “Most people fail in that one second.”

To win that moment, Goggins physically stays in, for example, the water — because getting out means quitting — but he mentally he puts himself on the beach with the instructors. The instructors are warm. They’re wearing parkas. They’re drinking hot coffee. 

As Goggins says:

Mentally, I’m back with them chilling. And now I’m thinking logically, because I’m warm now. Mentally I’m warm. I’ve taken that one second to say, “Let’s not quit yet. Let’s think about your options. Where are you going to end up if you quit on this? Where are you going to go? What are you going to say to yourself? Because you know you’re going to get warm the second you get out of this water. I calm my brain down, because my brain just wants to get out. 

If I fail at one of those seconds, I will not be a SEAL. I will not be a doctor. I will not be a lawyer. I will not be whatever the [heck] it is. That’s how important that one second is.

The 1-second decision is about gaining control of your mind, putting things back in proper perspective, and then saying, “I really do want to be here.”

Wherever your “here” may be. For my team, our “here” was coming up with a brilliant idea, justifying it, and crafting a comprehensive implementation plan that all but ensured success. Had we taken that one second to maintain perspective by imagining ourselves on presentation day, we would have stuck with it. We would have won that second.

Bottom line? When you think you’re exhausted, when you think you’re fried, when you think you’ve done all you can, you can always find a little more in you. You are always capable of more than you think. 

The key is to take a step back, in those moments when you want to quit, and regain control of your mind. Find a little perspective. Remember the reasons you started whatever task or journey you are on.

Think about how you will feel — not just about the relief of the moment, but later — if you give up. 

Because that’s when you’ll achieve the success you want. 

And will have earned.