Most people never even come close to their real potential.
They stay safe. They stay comfortable. They repeat the same routine every day and wonder why nothing changes.
But deep down, they know there is more in the tank.
That is where the 20X Factor comes in.
The idea was recently popularized by Navy SEAL Mark Divine through SEALFIT training. The concept is simple: you are capable of far more than you think. Your mind puts limits on you long before your body quits.
I have seen this firsthand for years. Athletes show up thinking they are average. Then they complete a brutal GORUCK event, finish a mountain ultra run, survive a hard sandbag workout, or conquer a SEALFIT challenge and suddenly realize:
“I had way more inside me than I believed.”
That moment changes everything.
What Is the 20X Factor?
The 20X Factor is the ability to perform at a level far beyond what you once thought possible.
Not 2% better.
Not 10% better.
Twenty times more focused. More disciplined. More resilient. More dangerous mentally.
It happens when you push beyond comfort and discover your true limits are much farther away than you imagined.
The problem is most people never test themselves.
Most people avoid:
hard workouts
difficult conversations
fear
discomfort
failure
uncertainty
And because of that, they never uncover what is truly possible.
In Navy SEAL training, you learn quickly that the body can handle much more than the mind thinks. During BUD/S, candidates are cold, wet, sandy, exhausted, and under constant pressure. Yet the men who succeed are not always the strongest physically.
The winners are the ones who refuse to quit mentally.
That is the beginning of the 20X mindset.
My First Lesson in the 20X Factor
I learned this the hard way.
The first time I went through BUD/S I failed.
That hit me hard.
I had already survived brutal physical training, Hell Week, and endless punishment. Then I got knocked out by academics. I felt embarrassed and crushed mentally.
But failure taught me something powerful:
You can get knocked down and still come back stronger.
I spent the next year rebuilding myself physically and mentally. I trained harder. I read books constantly. I improved my weaknesses. I attacked my mindset every single day.
Then I went back and graduated.
That experience taught me the same lesson we teach athletes at SGPT today:
Failure is not the end. It is feedback.
The Comfort Zone Is Killing Your Growth
Your comfort zone feels safe.
But it slowly weakens you.
The modern world makes it easy to become soft:
endless scrolling
junk food
excuses
comfort
distraction
entertainment overload
A warrior mindset requires friction.
You need challenge to grow.
That is why hard training matters.
When you:
carry a sandbag for miles
climb mountains
train in the rain
push through exhaustion
wake up early
finish what you started
…you build mental armor.
Every hard evolution teaches you that you can survive discomfort.
That confidence carries over into work, family, business, and life.
5 Ways to Develop the 20X Factor
1. Step Outside Your Comfort Zone
Growth never happens in comfort.
Sign up for the hard event.
Train for the ultramarathon.
Do the GORUCK challenge.
Take the martial arts class.
Join the mountain bike race.
Most people talk themselves out of difficult things before they even begin.
Warriors lean into the challenge.
As we have seen repeatedly at SGPT and SEALFIT events, athletes often discover their greatest breakthroughs happen when they are tired, uncomfortable, and ready to quit.
- Build a Positive Internal Voice
Negative self-talk destroys performance.
Elite athletes, military operators, and successful leaders learn to control their thoughts under stress.
Instead of:
“I can’t”
“I’m too old”
“I’m not ready”
Replace it with:
“Stay in the fight.”
“One evolution at a time.”
“Keep moving.”
“I can do hard things.”
Research on elite athletes has shown that positive mental skills improve performance under pressure.
Your mind is always listening.
Train it carefully.
- Use Micro Goals
In tough events, looking too far ahead crushes people mentally.
At BUD/S you do not think about finishing six months.
You focus on:
making it to breakfast
finishing the next run
surviving the next surf torture
getting through the next evolution
That is how you handle overwhelming situations.
One step.
One rep.
One hill.
One breath.
Micro goals keep you alive in the fight.
- Train With a Team
You can push harder with good people around you.
One thing we have learned from years of GORUCK, SEALFIT, endurance racing, and team training is this:
The team carries you when you are weak.
And later, you carry them.
Hardship creates bonds.
That is why SGPT athletes who train together often perform beyond what they thought possible.
Iron sharpens iron.
- Embrace Failure as Training
Failure is part of growth.
Not sometimes.
Always.
Every elite athlete, Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, fighter, or mountain athlete has failed repeatedly.
The difference is they kept going.
The 20X Factor is developed through adversity.
Pressure reveals character.
The 20X Lifestyle
The 20X mindset is not just about workouts.
It becomes how you live.
What Happens Inside of YOU:
wake up with purpose
attack the day
stop making excuses
choose discipline over comfort
train your body and mind together
become harder to kill mentally
That is what separates average people from uncommon people.
CHALLENGE
For the next 30 days:
wake up earlier
train harder
read 10 pages daily
take cold showers
write your goals
eat cleaner
do something uncomfortable every day
You will be shocked at how much stronger you become physically and mentally.
That is the beginning of developing your 20X Factor.
There is another level inside you.
A harder level.
A stronger level.
A more disciplined level.
But you will never find it sitting on the couch.
You discover the 20X Factor when you willingly walk into hardship and refuse to quit.
Stay in the fight.
Train hard.
For more than 15 years, Brad served as a coach and cadre member at SEALFIT 20X and Kokoro events, helping thousands of athletes develop the physical fitness, mental toughness, and leadership skills required to perform under pressure. Through long days, sleepless nights, team challenges, and endurance evolutions, he witnessed firsthand what separates those who quit from those who succeed. These experiences helped shape his belief in the “20X Factor”—the idea that most people are capable of far more than they think when they learn to push beyond self-imposed limits.
Today, Brad coaches athletes through SEALgrinderPT, leading functional fitness programs, endurance challenges, mountain expeditions, GORUCK events, and mindset development courses. His mission is simple: help ordinary people discover extraordinary levels of resilience, discipline, and purpose through hard training, teamwork, and a never-quit attitude.
SGPT is a proud sponsor of the Navy SEAL Foundation, the UDT/SEAL Museum Charity and Honor Flight San Diego
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