Developing A Special Forces Mindset - Jay Morton - #246

**Chris Williamson** (0:00)
Oh, hello, people in Podcast Land. Welcome back. My guest today is none other than Jay Morton, former SAS operator and two-time Everest summity. Got him on today to talk about his new book, Soldier. Becoming a soldier means dealing with fear, coping with pressure and performing with excellence. The SAS is the best of the best. And today we learn the key lessons from Jay's 14-year career. So expect to learn how humor can help with fear, whether climbing Everest is harder than the SAS selection process, the coolest operation Jay was a part of, how to take advantage of opportunity like a soldier and much more in other news. This episode of the podcast is brought to you by Surfshark VPN. I am currently using Surfshark VPN because who knew Skype and FaceTime and WhatsApp calls are all banned in Dubai. So I'm getting around that with Surfshark. On top of that, you can secure your browsing and get access to the entire world's Netflix library for less than the price of a cup of coffee per month. Simply download Surfshark within a couple of minutes, you will be up and running. It sounds like something that you would require a degree in computer science to do. It is just as easy as setting up a Facebook account. Once you've downloaded it, you will be able to set your location to America and view all of the Marvel films and all of the cartoons and fantastic series that they've got on their Netflix. And if you're in America, you can find out what Dubai's got on Netflix, perhaps. I have no idea what they have, but it might be interesting. Also, it stops sites from price matching you and split testing you on higher costs for the things that you're already buying. And it stops hackers from seeing your information for less than the price of a cup of coffee per month. Simply head to surfshark.deals slash modern wisdom for 83% off free months free and a 30-day money back guarantee. Surfshark.deals slash modern wisdom, three months free, 83% off, and a 30-day money back guarantee. Try it, watch all of the Netflix that you want, and then if you don't like it, you just give it back after 30 days. But for now, it's time for the wise and wonderful Jay Morton.
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back. I'm joined by Jay Morton. Jay, welcome to the show.

**Jay Morton** (2:38)
How's it going, Chris? You good?

**Chris Williamson** (2:40)
Very well. I'm in Dubai. How could I not be well? I do need to hold my hands up for everyone that is watching on YouTube. Yes, I'm wearing a vest. Yes, I caught a little bit of sun today. Tiny little bit, just a bit flush, right? But I haven't seen sunshine for like six months. So give me a break. I've also got you currently, Jay. You're balanced on an upturned bin in my hotel room, and I'm doing this after tethering to my phone on roaming data. So God knows how much this is going to cost, but it's more than worth it. So thank you very much for coming on, man.

**Jay Morton** (3:10)
Too easy. Yeah, you never see what's in the background, do you, of what you've got? I've done it the same way. Where you've just got to balance your phone and whatever's going on in the background.

**Chris Williamson** (3:19)
So yeah. Absolute chaos, mate. It's just...

**Jay Morton** (3:21)
And you're a northerner, too. You're a fellow northerner, so don't do well in the sun.

**Chris Williamson** (3:26)
Look, I've got two ginger parents, but thankfully I don't think I've fully inherited their skin, but you're totally right, man. When you're from Winterfell, you don't tan. Don't tan massively well.

**Jay Morton** (3:36)
You go white, you just seem to go white.

**Chris Williamson** (3:38)
Yeah. That leads me quite nicely into... Talking about the temperature leads me quite nicely into something I wanted to ask, which is which is more difficult, the selection process for special forces or climbing Everest twice?

**Jay Morton** (3:53)
I'd have to say climbing Everest.
Selection, you know, six months, SAS selection just seems to... It's drawn out over six months, right? And when you start, you're already a seasoned soldier. Like for me, I've done one tour of Iraq and two tours of Afghanistan. So you almost get to that stage where you want to prove yourself as a soldier. And I was 24 years old, like full of testosterone.
So like you go on selection with a bunch of other lads and you're all, you've got this unified kind of cause that you're all trying to, that you're all going for at the same time. And I actually enjoyed selection for that reason. Because you meet, you end up, all that, you start with maybe 150, 170 people. After the first three weeks, you're kind of down to 50 And then after the next six weeks, you're kind of down to maybe 20, 25 people. And these 20, 25 people have been through absolute shit. So you end up forming this like super tight bond where you're all really close and all really clicky. And then you get to the end of selection after that six months, you get given your stable belt and your beret, and you get like a picture took next to clock tower. But you shake everyone's hand and then you disappear into whatever regiment and squadrons that you go to. And then the next day, you're kind of big boys rules into the mix.