>> Hi.

I'm Lewis Howes, New York Times best-selling author and entrepreneur.

And welcome to "The School of Greatness," where we interview the most influential minds and leaders in the world to inspire you to live your best life today.

In this episode, we sit down with the inspiring Jason Redman.

He's a retired U.S. Navy SEAL lieutenant, author, and speaker.

In 2007, while serving in Iraq, he was severely wounded and nearly killed when his assault team came under heavy machine-gun and small-arms fire during an enemy ambush.

And today he shares his heroic story of how he mentally overcame this tragic injury, knowing his life was about to be forever changed.

Plus, how to develop a mission statement for your life, how to not fall into victim mentality when life gets tough, and how to become a stronger leader in all areas of your life.

I'm so glad you're here today.

So, let's dive in and let the class begin.

♪ ♪ You have this incredible story where you got shot many times in war and came out the other side with a positive attitude.

>> Yeah.

>> Can you share what happened that really transformed your life with this -- this, um -- this injury and this accident that happened and how you decided to not be a victim after it happened?

>> So, we were at the end of our deployment in Iraq in 2007, and -- >> And you'd been a Navy SEAL for how long now?

>> I'd been 15 years.

>> 15 years.

>> 15 years, but 2 years as an officer.

And we were coming up on the end of the deployment.

We were literally one week from going home.

I was getting ready to step up in the next level of leadership.

I was getting ready to screen for our next tier of SEAL team.

And we had been hunting the number-one leader for Al-Qaeda in the Anbar Province the entire deployment, a guy who had been responsible for the death of a fellow SEAL and the very first mission of our deployment... >> Wow.

>> ...Petty Officer Clark Schwedler, responsible for the deaths of Marines in other coalition forces, ran IED cells, ran sniper cells, just a really violent guy.

We knew that the stakes were high.

We also had been told that this Al-Qaeda leader had rule with a very heavy, well-trained security detail, that every one of his guys wore suicide vests, and they had been trained, if we got too close to him, that, as part of their defense, they would clack themselves off to prevent us from getting to him.

>> That's crazy.

>> Needless to say, pretty high stress that night as we launched on this mission.

So, we took down the initial target building, and nobody was there.

We could tell that there had been activity there.

We could tell that somebody had been there recently.

So, about that time, my boss came up to me and said, "Hey, man, we got a whole bunch of activity on another house about 150 yards away.

We just watched five individuals flee out of there and run across the street into a field, and they're hiding in the vegetation."

So, my boss said, "Hey, why don't you take your team?

Let's walk these guys down.

Let's find out who they are and what they know."

And I said, "Okay, roger that."

But as I started to push into that vegetation -- and super thick, you know -- and they were probably 50 yards in front of us at this point, or maybe even a 100 yards in front of us -- This densely vegetated field was probably 100 yards thick.

And I remember, like, my Spidey-Sense was going crazy.

So, as we were moving out, I had now moved up closer to the front with my interpreter, and our medic literally stepped on an enemy fighter.

>> He Stepped on... >> Correct.

>> ...one of them.

>> So, what we didn't know was that our leader was in that house.

>> The one you were trying to get was in that house?

>> Correct.

>> So, this was his protection.

>> Correct.

And they had set up an ambush line in that field, and we had walked up behind it.

>> Oh, my gosh.

>> The guy rolled over, and our medic initially immediately shot him.

All of a sudden, the world erupted because when our medic shot that guy, it tripped the ambush and the ambush went live.

So, our medic was initially shot.

He was hit below the knee.

That severed both bones, dropped him and anchored him on that that corner.

One of our other guys ran forward to grab him and was stitched up the body, two rounds in the leg and one in the arm.

But a big beast of a guy, a guy about your size who grabbed our medic and started dragging him back.

So, it became us and this, at that time, unknown enemy force.

But they had two PKM machine guns, which is a large, belt-fed machine gun that shoots big bullets.

>> In the -- >> In the vegetation.

>> Just like, "Brrrr," just like unloading.

>> But I could feel it all -- >> How far away from the gun were you?

>> 45 feet.

>> 45 feet.

Wow.

>> Yeah.

So -- And immediately I was stitched across the body armor, and I took two rounds in the left elbow, but I only thought it was one.

I didn't know it was two until later, but I thought my arm had been shot off.

>> You thought it was gone.

>> Yeah.

>> Just because of the pain or you just felt -- you couldn't feel it or -- >> I couldn't feel it.

>> Dang.

>> It was like an 800-pound gorilla hit me in the elbow with a bat and then I was struck by a lightning bolt that traveled up my arm and slammed me in the back of the head.

And then I couldn't feel my arm.

>> Oh, my gosh.

>> So, I remember reaching over, and I guess it caught on my gear, but when I reached over, I couldn't feel it.

I felt nothing, so I thought my arm had been shot off.

>> Oh, my gosh.

>> But I'm taking all this gunfire.

So, I kept shooting and yelling at our guys.

And at this point then, both guns turned on me and I took rounds off my helmet.

I was taking -- I took rounds off my gun.

I took -- My left night-vision tube was shot off.

And I turned to move back to where the guys were, towards that tractor tire.

And that's when I caught a round from behind that hit me right in front of the ear.

It traveled through my face, exited the right side of my nose, took off most of my nose.

It blew out my right cheekbone, broke my cheekbone, kicked it out to the right... >> Ugh!

>> ...vaporized the orbital floor, broke all the bones above the eye, broke the head of my jaw, and shattered my jaw to my chin.

>> In a moment.

>> And it knocked me out.

>> One bullet did that.

>> One bullet.

>> Holy cow.

>> And so at this point, this gunfight is happening directly over me.

The guys are shooting.

The enemy's shooting back, and I'm unconscious on the ground as bullets are flying directly over me.

So, when I came to, I was laying flat on my back and definitely out of it.

I know you've had your bell rung really good, and it takes -- >> I didn't get shot in the head, but, yeah, I mean, I've -- Yeah.

So, the impact -- Yeah.

>> Yeah, and I mean where it takes a couple of minutes to, like, get clarity back to the world and, like, "Where am I?

What happened?"

And I remember there was kind of a lull in fire and I yelled out to my team leader, "How long to the medevac?"

And he was like, "Red?"

And I think at that point they realized I was still alive.

My team leader took over.

I owe my life to him.

And he did an amazing job.

He came forward and grabbed me at some point and dragged me back.

But at some point, my thoughts shifted to, "I'm dying."

>> "I got to save my life."

>> Well, I actually thought that I was -- I realized that I was probably not going to make it, was my -- I came to grips with that decision, and it made me -- And I'll be honest.

At first, it made me angry.

It made me angry that I was in charge and I led us into this situation.

So, that made me angry.

It made me angry that the enemy would get the satisfaction of knowing that they had killed a SEAL.

That made me angry.

>> Wow.

>> And then my thoughts drifted to my family, you know?

So, it's September 13th at this point.

And we were real big into Halloween, my wife and the kids.

And at that point, my son was 8, my older daughter was 5, and the youngest was 2.

And we had already talked.

I mean, I was supposed to be home, you know -- >> In a week.

>> Two weeks.

Well, our first wave of guys were going home in a week.

I was in the second wave.

>> Yeah.

>> So, two weeks I should have been home.

And we were talking about Halloween and everything.

I remember thinking, like, "I'm not gonna --" >> Ugh.

>> "I'm not gonna be there for Halloween this year and I'm not gonna be there for Christmas and I'm not gonna raise my son."

And then I thought about, "I'm not gonna walk my daughters down the aisle."

>> Ugh.

>> And that's, like, hard.

And at that point, I called out to God, and I said, "I need help.

Like, I need strength to come home."

And like that.

A miracle moment.

But I suddenly had strength.

And I don't know how long from that moment until the end of the gunfight, but over that period of time, guys continued to fight.

My team leader got a tourniquet on me, and we ended up calling in what we call fire missions, rounds from an aircraft, munitions basically... >> To give you some time.

>> Yeah, and to take the enemy out, which -- That fire mission was the closest fire mission ever brought in the Iraq war.

We literally called rounds directly on our position, which the aircraft didn't want to do.

They were like, "We will kill you guys."

And my team leader was like, "Hey, man, there ain't gonna be anybody left, so, you know, bring it."

>> Wow.

So, what, do you just try to not do it within 100 yards of where you're at or... >> Yeah, he just -- He did certain things, and very smart on him how he basically called those rounds in.

But I remember literally watching those rounds impact in front of us and blow up over us as it took the enemy out.

>> That's crazy.

>> And then -- And then all I focused on was, "Stay awake to stay alive."

>> Yeah, 'cause if you fall asleep, you're dead.

>> And that's what I -- And I wanted to.

I've never felt a fatigue like that.

>> So tired, right?

>> Yeah.

And I lost -- The doctors estimate I lost 40% of my blood volume, and they said, "It's a miracle you survived."

They said, "Your fitness was, you know --" They said, "Your fitness was the only thing that kept you alive."

I think the big man helped.

>> Wow.

So, how did you -- I mean, how did you overcome this devastation?

I mean, physical devastation, emotional trauma, loss.

You know, you're unable to be fit for service now.

How did you -- When you kind of come through in the hospital, I guess, what happens next?

>> So, in the very beginning, I'll tell you, it was elation.

Like, I was so... >> Happy to be alive.

>> ...happy to be alive.

>> "I'm here.

I'm alive."

>> Yes.

>> "I'm gonna see my family."

>> Exactly.

And I was just so thankful to be alive.

So, the first thing I really remember is, one, I tried to talk, and I couldn't.

I was just pushing air, which was really weird.

And I remember the nurse said, "Lieutenant, you've been shot in the face.

You are trached.

You're wired shut.

You're not gonna be able to talk."

I was like, "Okay."

So I motioned and they brought me a piece of pen and paper, and I asked -- My first questions were, "Are the guys okay?"

>> Mm.

>> I said, "Has my wife been notified?"

and, "Do I still look pretty?"

>> [ Laughs ] >> And -- >> They were like -- >> And that's -- I don't know, man.

It's that positive -- I think it was, all those lessons had come back together.

Like, I did not care what happened in that moment.

I wanted to know that they were okay, the guys were okay -- like, nobody had died -- and that my wife was aware.

And then -- I don't know -- just trying to be funny.

And so that was kind of the first thought.

And then it was just elation.

And I was on super heavy drugs, which -- I've never done drugs, so... >> Sure.

>> So -- But as that timeline progressed, by the time -- 96 hours later, from the time I was wounded, I was in Bethesda, which is a testament to our medevac system.

Like, in four days I went from Baghdad to Balad, where they treat head injuries and they stabilized me, and then they moved me to Germany, where they had more stabilization surgeries, and then they flew me to Bethesda, Maryland.

So, that was 96 hours, I was back.

>> Back in the U.S. >> Yep.

>> Wow.

>> And I remember the nurse coming in, and I said, "Hey, how long is it gonna take to put me back together?

Because, one, I need to get back to my guys, two, I got to go to my sister's wedding."

And -- Yeah, and she was like -- She was just incredulous, like, looking at me like, "Lieutenant, like, it's gonna take years to put you back together."

>> You're done.

Yeah.

>> And that was, like, such a shock to me.

>> I know.

>> And depressing.

And I remember thinking to myself, like, "So, my special operations career is over, I'm gonna be permanently disfigured, and I'm gonna be forever disabled."

>> Wow.

>> 'Cause they were also talking to me about amputating my arm.

>> Amputating it?

>> Because I had no use of -- Yeah, at this point, they knew I had taken two rounds and it effectively destroyed my elbow.

The only reason I still have an arm is the head of orthopedics at Bethesda at that time was a former SEAL.

And he said to me, "I'm gonna do everything I can to save your arm."

And I think if anybody else -- they would have taken my arm.

>> Wow.

Really?

And he was like, "I'm gonna do whatever it takes."

>> This is where this journey of failure, redemption, really coming to understand what it is, a leader finally -- not finally, but kind of came to an intersection.

And there were several things that happened.

The one last thing that kind of made me come to this -- this pinnacle or this -- this intersection was, about all that time, I had somebody else that had come into the room and they were -- They were having a conversation with me, and then I started to drift off.

But I was hearing what they were saying, and they started having a conversation, thinking I was asleep... >> Like you had already passed out or -- Yeah.

>> ...about how overwhelming the hospital was and how terrible it was for all these wounded warriors and how, you know, they were never gonna be the same, they were gonna be broken, they were -- >> Ugh.

>> It was a victim mindset.

And I was hearing it, and they left.

They were kind of walking out as they were having this conversation.

And when my wife came back in -- Like, the more I thought about it, the angrier I got.

Like, I woke up and was just angry.

And when she came back in, I wrote to her and I said, "Never again."

I said, "That is not gonna happen again.

Nobody's gonna come into this room and feel sorry for me."

And this was where, like, this moment occurred, where I was like, "This is bigger than you.

Like, this is -- You've been -- For two years, you've been walking this path of lead yourself, lead others, lead always."

And around me in that hospital were wounded -- other wounded guys, guys that had been shot up, guys missing limbs, you know, individuals burned.

In the room next to me, there was a young Army kid who had a penetrating brain trauma.

So, he had a severe traumatic brain injury.

And his wife -- I remember watching his wife, and they had a brand-new baby.

And she was dealing with this husband who no longer could cognitively function.

And I thought to myself, "Dude, like, this sucks, but like, you've been through worse.

You've been through BUD/S.

You've been through Ranger School.

You've been through the hardest journey you've ever been through, this leadership failure, and fought back.

And now you need to live everything that you've talked about.

Like, you have to --" These guys look up to us, and I already knew it.

I had had guys that wanted to come into the room and meet me.

And this was -- I recognized this is what leading all -- You can lead from any position, even a hospital bed.

And all it is, is choosing positivity in the face of negativity.

And it was in that moment -- And that's what I tell everybody.

In this life, the greatest gift you have as a human is choice.

You have a choice.

Nobody makes you a victim.

Nobody holds a gun to your head and tells you, "Well, it's not fair," and, "I can't do it because of X, Y, or Z."

That's B.S.

There may be more adversity or obstacles in your path, but you control whether you get up and drive forward or not.

And that is the power of choice.

That is the power of positivity, to drive forward despite whatever adversity stands in your path.

And that was kind of the epiphany moment.

And when my wife walked back in, I was like, "Never again.

Nobody's allowed to come in my room with that mindset, and I refuse to have it."

And I wrote out that sign, and it said, "Attention, all who enter here.

If you're coming into this room with sadness or sorrow, don't bother.

The wounds that I received I got in a job that I love doing it for people that I love, defending the freedom of a country that I deeply love.

I will make a full recovery.

What is full?

That is the absolute, utmost physically I have the ability to recover, and then I'm gonna push that about 20% further through sheer mental tenacity.

This room you're about to enter is room of fun, optimism, and intense rapid regrowth.

If you're not prepared for that, go elsewhere."

>> Wow.

>> And we signed it "The Management."

>> That's cool.

That's cool.

>> And it took on a life of its own.

I put it on the door -- or I had my wife put it on the door, and I said, "Nobody's allowed in the room until they read this," and never having any idea of the impact that it would have on others.

Because I'll be honest, in the moment, I really kind of wrote it for myself, like, "Hey, man, here's my new mission statement that I'm going to live by."

And it became that.

And that's something I talk to a lot of people about, is having a mission statement that guides you in the dark, in the dark times, having that light in the darkness, because there were some hard moments over the next four years.

But that sign kept me on track.

"This is who I am.

This is what I stand for.

You're the overcome guy.

Like, let's go.

Set that example.

Lead always.

You know, this is how -- this is how we do it."

That's the power of choice.

So, anybody who is like, "I don't know if I can do this," or, you know, "Well, you're a Navy SEAL," or this or that, that's B.S.

You -- In this life, you can lay on the X and be a victim, or you can just get up and be a victor.

And it doesn't guarantee success.

It doesn't guarantee that there's not going to be pain.

It doesn't guarantee that it's not gonna be hard.

It's going to be.

But you will be better for it.

And that's how you lead and that's how you drive forward and that's how you make a difference.

>> Right.

I mean, what would you say would be the biggest lessons you learned from being a SEAL then, that -- just about life in general, from your entire time there?

>> So, I'll summarize that in one phrase -- "Get off the X."

>> "Get off the X."

>> Yeah, so -- And the X is any point of attack, any point of crisis, any -- And now that's one of the big things I talk about to companies and individuals.

It is the sticking point.

In SEAL training and special operations lingo, the X was the point of the attack.

It was the ambush point.

So, for one side of my career, I had trained to try and put the enemy on the X, and that X is a specific point that usually we pick ahead of time that will channelize them into an area that it makes it very difficult for them to get out of, and then we rain as much firepower and explosives to try and, A, destroy their will to fight, and, B, destroy them or equipment or whatever else.

And what I had learned also was that if you're ever on the X, you have to get off the X as quickly as possible, because the longer you sit on it, the harder it is to get out of an ambush.

So, 2007, my gunfight, we survived because my teammates fought back and we were able to get off that X. I mean, it took a little while.

We had to use the air assets, my teammates fought back, but that's what enabled me to be successful.

When we got to the hospital -- or when I got to the hospital -- I kind of realized that I had stepped out of the one ambush into another ambush.

>> An emotional, psychological ambush.

>> Absolutely.

And this journey that I was facing.

And I remember when the doctors were telling me, you know, "We're thinking about amputating your arm, and it's gonna take years to put you together," I felt like, man, it's no longer the bombs and bullets of battle, it's the bombs and bullets of life.

>> Wow.

>> And everybody gets hit by those bombs and bullets.

So it took a couple of years for that all to come into clarity, but it made me realize everybody gets ambushed in life.

Everyone.

And everyone gets stuck on that X.

And that X is insidious.

It's like quicksand.

And the more you want to feel sorry for yourself -- and that's what happens.

When people get on the X, three things happen.

Number one, we will look back at what we've lost, and we waste a lot of time at, well, you know, I mean, a little bit like I did.

"Well, what if I had moved this way, or what if I had moved that way?"

Or, "I want back my life before I got wounded because it was so much better."

And we waste a lot of time doing that.

We also look forward.

"Well, I was supposed to be this, or I was supposed to be that, and this was supposed to be my most successful year."

You know?

"I was gonna play in the NFL.

This was my launch point."

And we get better about that.

And then the last one is we look for someone or something to blame.

You know, "It was their fault.

They did this or they didn't do this."

And that is the victim mindset that pins us to the X, and what happens is -- I mean, in a gunfight you literally can physically die, but in life I watch people who mentally and emotionally die.

>> Yes.

>> And there are people who that life ambush that hits them becomes the excuse for everything in their life.

>> For decades.

>> And they become lesser individuals than they ever were before.

Like, alcohol, drugs, whatever it is, every bad behavior is justified because of what happened to them, and they just lay on the X and they're just a dead person walking.

>> How do we learn to develop discipline and structure ourselves?

What are ways we can develop it when we don't have a team, we don't have -- maybe the family didn't give us the structure we wanted, maybe we're not in the military.

>> Start very small.

>> Yeah.

>> So this becomes the rule of three P's that I teach.

>> Yes.

>> Do one thing "physical."

You don't -- not everybody has to be a CrossFit athlete or the cover of Muscle & Fitness.

Everybody thinks that, "This is what I have to look like."

No, you don't.

just be healthy, man.

Like, it's good for you.

It'll help you.

Even if that's going outside and walking for like 20 minutes.

>> Yep.

>> One thing "personal," because, as -- especially in Western culture, we typically define our jobs with who we are, so that becomes our primary focus, and usually the personal side of our lives get puts to the waypoint, and we deal with it on a weekend or we just don't deal with it.

So do one thing personal.

>> Yep.

>> You know, have dinner with your family.

You know, take your wife out, or spouse out.

Or do your budget or clean out that closet.

Just take five minutes a day to clean out -- you know, just move one thing out of that closet that's threatening to throw up all over your house that you're afraid to open the door every time you walk by.

>> Yes, yes.

>> Yeah.

And then one thing "professional."

And this isn't within the normal realm of day-to-day activities.

It's, what is something that's going to help you or your business in the long run that maybe you don't have the time to do every day.

Maybe it's an online course to get another qualification.

Maybe it's, "I want to expand my product line into this new thing, but I don't have time to do it."

Well, you know what?

If I take 10 minutes to work on what this is gonna look like, every day, that's structure and progress.

>> Right.

>> I know you're familiar with this term -- the Japanese call it the Kaizen principle.

So, small gains lead to big success.

>> Yes, yes.

>> This is a question I ask everyone toward the end, called the Three Truths.

>> Okay.

>> So I'd like you to imagine a hypothetical scenario.

It's your last day on Earth, many years away from now.

And you get to accomplish all your dreams and goals and live the life you want to live for the rest of your life.

For whatever reason, you've got to take all of your work, your books, your messages, all the content you've put out in the world has to go with you or go somewhere else, but it's not here in the world.

But you get to leave behind three lessons that you'd share with the world.

>> Okay.

>> What would you say would be those Three Truths for you to leave behind?

>> I would say recognize in this life you have a choice.

You know, adversity's coming to all of us, so choose positivity over negativity.

I would say get off the X.

You know, we're all gonna hit these moments where we're stuck, of negativity.

And then focus on leading yourself.

That's, I think, the most critical thing.

Everything else will fall into play.

>> Ooh.

Yeah, got to lead yourself.

My final question for you is, what's your definition of greatness?

>> I think it's the legacy you leave behind.

>> Yeah.

>> And mine is that I hope that everybody I come in contact with will walk away and say, "That guy made me better."

In some way.

In some small way.

You know, maybe -- and that's my goal.

I mean, I'm living a second chance at life.

So many of my friends didn't get that chance.

I mean, I'm definitely not perfect.

I screw up at times.

But that's my goal, to get back on track, and hopefully that that would be my greatness.

That would be my definition of greatness.

>> All right, Jason.

Thanks, man.

Appreciate you.

>> Yeah.

Thank you, man.

>> We hope you enjoyed this episode and found it valuable.

Make sure to stay tuned for more from "The School of Greatness" coming soon on public television.

Again, I'm Lewis Howes, and if no one has told you lately, I want to remind you that you are loved, you are worthy, and you matter.

And now it's time to go out there and do something great.

If you'd like to continue on the journey of greatness with me, please check out my website, lewishowes.com, where you'll find over 1,000 episodes of "The School of Greatness" show, as well as tools and resources to support you in living your best life.

>> The online course, Find Your Greatness, is available for $19.

Drawn from the lessons Lewis Howes shares in "The School of Greatness," this interactive course will guide you through a step-by-step process to discover your strengths, connect to your passion and purpose, and help create your own blueprint for greatness.

To order, go to lewishowes.com/tv.

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