Why Navy SEALs Aren't Scared Like Everyone Else | Rich Diviney

The Dr. Gabrielle Lyon Show

Dr. Gabrielle Lyon

Medicine, Science, Health & Fitness, Life Sciences

4.6 • 911 Ratings

🗓️ 16 September 2025

⏱️ 79 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

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In this powerful episode, Dr. Gabrielle Lyon sits down with former Navy SEAL Commander and author, Rich Diviney, to break down what it takes to thrive under extreme pressure. Rich, author of "The Attributes and Mastering Uncertainty", reveals the psychology of elite performance, explaining why true toughness has less to do with physical strength and more to do with your mental attributes.

He shares candid insights into the realities of SEAL training, the mental tools used in combat, and why the "little tragedies" of everyday life are your training ground for resilience. This is a must-watch for anyone who wants to build the mental fortitude to overcome anxiety, step outside their comfort zone, and reach their full potential.

Who is Rich Diviney:

Rich Diviney is a bestselling author, leadership and human performance expert, and retired Navy SEAL commander. During his career in the US Military, spanning more than twenty years, Rich has completed more than thirteen deployments overseas.

Chapters

0:00 - What makes a Navy SEAL not normal?

1:13 - Introduction to Rich Diviney

2:27 - The difference between SEALs, Delta, and CIA

3:35 - The "best at what" question

5:10 - Are SEALs knuckle-draggers?

7:47 - The dark side of deployment

10:45 - The sacrifice of military families

13:51 - Marriage in the special operations community

15:19 - Why empathy can be a challenge for a "team guy"

17:40 - The evolution of empathy

19:34 - Rich's mission: From SEALs to humans

20:58 - Stepping outside your comfort zone

24:08 - The Attributes Test & Compatibility

26:29 - The truth about BUD/S and athleticism

29:21 - Why athleticism is not a predictor of success

30:43 - The dopamine reward of hard things

33:57 - The challenge of mentally hard things

36:34 - Mastering the "little tragedies"

37:25 - The psychology of fear (uncertainty + anxiety)

41:56 - The Horizon Shifting technique

47:25 - The problem of free-floating anxiety

48:51 - How to reframe anxiety

51:08 - How to combine a physiological sigh with horizon shifting

53:41 - The "nail the exit" story

56:12 - Identity and its role in uncertainty

1:00:54 - Leading alpha types

1:01:52 - The power of hard things

1:03:50 - The subjectivity of failure

1:04:15 - A particular set of attributes

1:04:47 - Living a civilian life

1:07:37 - The edge

1:08:44 - The next horizon

1:09:50 - My dad's story

1:10:52 - What are the top two attributes of success?

1:14:13 - The courage switch

1:15:23 - The neurology of anxiety

1:16:46 - What advice would you give to someone who wants to be tougher?

1:18:13 - Closing remarks

1:21:18 - A funny story

1:24:00 - The Five Remembrances

1:25:01 - A moment of meditation

1:31:16 - Closing remarks

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Find Rich Diviney at:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rich_diviney
X: https://x.com/richdiviney
Website: https://theattributes.com/
Buy His Book Masters of Uncertainty: https://theattributes.com/buy/book-masters-of-uncertainty

Find Dr. Gabrielle Lyon at:

Instagram:@drgabriellelyon
TikTok: @drgabriellelyon
Facebook: facebook.com/doctorgabriellelyon

Transcript

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0:00.0	People have asked me before, were you ever in a situation where you were really afraid, like in combat or something?
0:04.8	And I answered them quite honestly, no.
0:07.8	What makes a Navy SEAL not normal?
0:11.2	One of the biggest reasons why guys like us don't suffer from anxiety is because...
0:16.1	What is paramilitary?
0:18.5	You're talking about operations that are less overt, usually done secretly in areas that perhaps the public isn't as much aware of.
0:26.6	That would be the vanilla definition of that.
0:28.6	To go any more precise, I'd be concerned about saying too much.
0:33.6	The sacrifice that our military families make is as big than the actual member because they're the ones who have to sit home and hold the bag.
0:42.3	Courage is impossible in the absence of fear.
0:44.3	You can have a group of Navy SEALs in a gunfight with Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan who are in that moment feeling less fear than the eight-year-old.
0:52.3	You just have to step in front of the class and introduce
0:54.2	himself. Fear is entirely subjective to the human being. If you gave people one piece of advice,
1:00.0	they want to become tougher. What would that piece of advice be? That's a great question. And I would say,
1:05.3	I would say, uh, rich Chavini, welcome to the show.
1:15.0	Thank you.
1:15.5	Thank you for having me.
1:16.5	I'm really excited.
1:17.6	You and I are friends.
1:18.8	You came to spoke at our event.
1:20.6	And you floored everyone as a former commander, Navy SEAL.
1:24.4	Yeah.
	...

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