Retired Navy SEAL and entrepreneur DJ Shipley sat down for an interview with the top podcast, Mulligan Brothers. During more than three hours of interview footage, Shipley had a wide-ranging discussion sharing his early life experiences, his path into the SEALs and his transition into civilian life and success as an entrepreneur.
After serving seventeen years as a US Navy SEAL during the height of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Shipley was medically retired from the military in 2019 due to combat and training injuries. He is now co-founder of tier one tactical training company GBRS Group among other ventures and also has a large following on social media.
The Strategy That Changed His Life
During the interview, Shipley described the mental conditioning and extreme levels of focus that many SEALs and elite soldiers employ to master their craft. The level of focus, he says, is akin to a switch that, once flipped, causes a soldier to compartmentalize and block out every aspect of their life except for the mission in front of them. Shipley explained that the extreme level of focus can also become detrimental to one’s life, particularly after one leaves the service.
Later in his life, Shipley introduced the concept of dials instead of switches when conditioning himself to perform at a high level in the new and multi-faceted aspects of his civilian life, from being a husband and father to being a business leader. Better yet, he explained that a panel of dials, such as one for being a dad, another for being a husband, and another as a CEO, allows someone to show up in the most present way possible for each responsibility in your life.
In practice, the concept of a dial allows for a more nuanced level of intensity around each area of life without shutting out or compartmentalizing to the detriment of the other areas. Shipley has developed an ability to mentally control those dials, turning up the intensity of the one for whichever task is in front of him at the moment. The difference from the concept of the switch, however, is that the other dials are still at a lower simmer rather than being completely shut out.
Shipley pointed out that the rare moment of his day when he has all of his dials powered down is during his morning routine, which is time he carves out purely for himself in order to get into the right state to take on his day. During that time, which he spends working out and visualizing his day, he remains totally focused on nothing else except that practice.
During the interview he also shared a deep dive into his early life experiences that led to his joining the military, the mental health challenges faced by himself and other SEALs and also his struggles adapting to military life and the transformative experiences with plant medicine that helped him rebuild himself after his service.
Now, as the CEO of GBRS Group, Shipley and his co-founder, retired Navy SEAL Cole Fackler, have built one of the nation’s leading tier-one tactical training companies. Their organization provides elite tactical training to federal, state, and local special operations units.
