Back in basic training for the Royal Marines, instructors would repeatedly tell us: “Remember where you are.” It was a reminder that we had chosen to be there. You might have been wet, tired and cold, but being at the Commando Training Centre was a privilege. It was a call to stop mentally escaping. You chose to be here—so be here. You can apply that principle to almost anything. Wherever you physically are, that environment is the only environment that matters in that moment. If your feet are in the gym, you train. If your feet are at your desk, you work. If your feet are at home, you are at home. Here. Now. This. Being where your feet are is the discipline of containment. It means deliberately closing one mental loop before entering the next. You pause, reset and arrive before you engage. This takes training. Do the reps. ——— If stress and overwhelm are costing your business, I’ve created a free 90-second reset you can use today. The Chaos Drill is a tactical reset from Special Forces to put you back in control. It’s free – click ‘view my website’ at the top of this post. Video credit: Royal Marines
The best of the best do such a training since approx. 40 years. The French Foreign Legion's Equatorial Forest Training Center (CEFE – Centre d'Entraînement à la Forêt Équatoriale) in French Guiana has operated in its current form since 1987. It is run by the 3rd Foreign Infantry Regiment (3e REI) and is widely regarded as one of the world's most demanding jungle warfare training centers. The CEFE prepares soldiers to operate in one of the harshest environments on Earth. The curriculum includes: - Jungle survival and fieldcraft - Land navigation without GPS - Small-unit jungle tactics and patrol operations - River crossings and obstacle negotiation - Camouflage, concealment, and close-quarters combat - Live-fire exercises under tropical conditions - Leadership and decision-making under extreme physical and environmental stress Today, the CEFE is widely recognized alongside the Brazilian Jungle Warfare Training Center in Manaus as one of the premier jungle warfare schools in the world. Its graduates include members of the French Armed Forces, allied militaries, and elite special operations units from many countries.
You can’t beat the beautiful River Exe in the summer. PMPT.
As always...it's the admin aspect that kills you!
What a great point, thanks Simon, “Remember where you are.” Very insightful. One day you may look back on this moment or that as crucial. Many will be forgotten. Sometimes my old RAF pilot’s logbook helps refresh those memories.
I remember this test day one of the AACC it certainly got us in the right frame of mind
The ultimate leveller …
Ah fun times still brings back such memories 🤣. No wonder I still feel sick whenever I’ve been back to CTC 🤣
As an entrepreneur, you’re constantly changing context. You might go from a client call to a creative brief, then into a financial spreadsheet before picking up your children—all in the same afternoon. A lot of the friction you experience isn’t caused by the workload itself. It comes from the mental residue you carry from one thing into the next. You never fully arrive anywhere because you never fully leave the last place.