107: Jason Redman: 20 years as a Navy Seal & shot 8 times including one to the face on enemy front lines. No bad days, only good days for this hero…

Jason Redman

Jason Redman was never one to let his diminutive size as a child prevent him from playing aggressive sports. When he told his father he wanted to play football, his dad’s response was simply, “No. You’ll just get hurt.” Hearing the restrictive word ‘no’ became a source of inspiration in Jason’s life, not only playing football anyway, but also moving onto wrestling as well. Jason explains, “If you tell me I can’t do something. I’m going to do it.” Coming from a military family, the lifestyle of defending his country in the United States military proved to be an influence. “Set my sights on the seals teams around the age 14 or 15, and never looked back,” says Jason. Even at his current build of 5’8” tall and 170lbs, Jason Redman still has the full-speed-ahead mentality and durable strength to never give up. It is this dedication to beating the odds against him and overcoming adversity that has set Jason Redman on his adult journey to teach others how to do the same in their own lives.

On this episode of Finding Your Summit Podcast, we talk with former navy seal of 20 years and motivational speaker, Jason Redman. During his rigorous career as a navy seal, he was deployed to dangerous situations in South America, Iraq, and Afghanistan. One of those military missions proved to not only be dangerous, but also almost led to the end of his life. During a fight against al-Qaida in Iraq, Jason Redman found himself pinned to the ground during a vicious ambush. His medic was shot through the leg, Jason was stitched across the body and he took eight ammunition rounds throughout his body, including catching a bad one in front of his right ear that zipped through his face and exited out his nose, blowing out his right cheek bone. For approximately the next 40 minutes there was a fire fight happening only 8 inches above him while he was down on the ground. Even after losing over half of his blood, Jason Redman remembers thinking to himself, “Stay awake to stay alive.” Jason knew that the military medics he could later have access to had a success rate of 90% when it came to saving the life of soldiers. It was this unprecedented survival that his new season of life as an author, speaker, coach, and consultant would be built upon.

What You Will Learn:

Jason Redman talks about what it means to push his body beyond its perceived limitations, bringing to life a quote that he lives by, “The mark of a man is not found in his past, but how he overcomes adversity and builds his future. Quitting is not an option.” But, how does Jason go about teaching people to overcome adversity and achieve their goals? He mentions his concept of The 3 Rules of Leadership. In fact, leadership becomes a theme during Jason Redman’s time on Finding Your Summit Podcast, with Jason Redman proclaiming, “80% of leadership, I tell people, is your ability to lead their self.” He shares his belief that what it takes to be a great leader starts within.

Jason believes in learning things hands-on and not waiting for miracles to happen to him. Before he had his life-threatening experience in battle, he already had graduated from Old Dominion with his MBA in Business. This strong mental attitude is summarized by the host of Finding Your Summit Podcast Mark Pattison, who said, “If you are not learning and growing, you are dying.” Jason Redman certainly seems to agree that the physical and the mental feed each other when they work together.

You will also get a deeper understanding of how to cope with conflict, obstacles, and the ambushes that we experience in our everyday lives that don’t necessarily have to happen on deadly battlefields. Jason Redman breaks down his theory of the three “life ambushes” that we are typically confronted with. The least intense level is referred to as micro level, the second chamber is the minor life ambushes, then Jason labels our toughest challenges as major life ambushes.

Listen to Jason Redman as he utilizes the military concept of “the X,” a space where a target for termination is trapped and bombarded with weaponry. Jason feels that everyday people get pinned down at the X of their own personal obstacles instead of moving forward. Jason states, “if you are suffering from some sort of major setback, adversity, failure, crisis, you got to get off the X. Most people sit on the X way too long and they get stuck there.”

Even after 40 surgeries to withstand the damage done due to his injuries, does Jason Redman have any regrets of signing up with the navy seals? Absolutely not! It taught him about team work, leadership, and the power of having an overcome mindset. Jason has been decorated with the prestigious purple heart and the bronze star and was brought with his family to the White House, spending time talking to then president George W. Bush. In fact, when describing the impact of the navy seals on his life, Jason Redman said, “I would say the Seals team taught me everything about who I am. The good. The bad, and the ugly.”

The Trident:

Now anyone that feels physically, mentally, and emotionally trapped by trauma and bodily injuries will have their own superhero to receive strength from. In 2014, Jason Redman released his military memoir book, The Trident: The Forging and Reforging of a Navy SEAL Leader, documenting the gritty details of being critically wounded in 2007 while leading a mission against an al-Qaida commander. Jason puts into perspective how high the standards of the seal’s program is, stating that during the training process known as Hell Week, trainees spend an entire week without sleep, which often contributes to the 80-85% attrition rate of people quitting the navy seals.

The Overcome Mindset:

Jason Redman firmly believe that chasing comfort doesn’t make us better people. True building of our selves comes from pushing our limits. Jason remains committed to what he calls, The Overcome Mindset, the point of view that no matter what difficulties take place, we must grind through them to the end. Aside from his book The Trident: The Forging and Reforging of a Navy SEAL Leader, and another book to follow called Overcome, Jason Redman offers multiple resources to help us achieve our own versions of The Overcome Mindset. JR Overcome Show is Redman’s podcast for leaders and overcomers who are in search of maximum performance in themselves. There is also his website JasonRedman.com where you can connect to hire him for speaking, coaching, consulting, and to buy signed copies of his books.

Links to Additional Resources:

• JasonRedman.com
• instagram.com/jasonredmanww
• JROvercomeShow.com
• Laird Superfood – Code: Markp20 [Sponsor]
• Cascade Mountain Tech [Sponsor]