Matt Brady, Retired U.S. Army Major

Matt Brady (0:00)

So, I'm thinking, okay, I've got a brand new wife, brand new child at home.

These other guys on this helicopter who I've been getting to know, intimately over the last few months, they've all got families too. This could potentially be a one-way ticket. And so, we talk about that very, very briefly, not to dwell on it because then people won't go. But I decide, okay, we got to do this right now, we've got to launch.

Michael Gervais (0:29)

All right, welcome back or welcome to the Finding Mastery podcast. I'm Michael Gervais. And by trade and training, a sport and performance psychologist, as well as a co-founder of Compete to Create. And the whole idea behind these conversations, behind this podcast, is to learn from people who are committed to the path of mastery. We want to understand their psychological framework. How do they make sense of themselves? How do they organize their internal life, as well as their external world, to line their arrows up in a particular direction to pursue mastery? And then we also want to dig to understand the mental skills that they use to build and refine their craft.

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Now, this week's conversation is with retired US. Army Major Matt Brady. And Matt is a graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point World Class, where he was ranked number one of 940 cadets in leadership for seven consecutive semesters. And then he went on to graduate in the top 5% of his class. So that speaks something to the way that he organizes his craft and the preparation for his craft.

Matt deployed 12 times to both Iraq and Afghanistan and commanded forces during multiple high stakes and pressure conflicts, including the 3rd Infantry Division charge into Baghdad back in 2003 and then Operation Red Wing. And you might remember that name and that was the really intense seal mission depicted in the movie Lone Survivor.