This is my conversation with combat veteran and Appalachian Trail Thru-Hiker, Trey Free. Among many other things, Trey reminds us in this conversation that "Quitting is a mindset, not a decision!"

*A reminder that anything Trey says here are his thoughts, and his thoughts alone. He is not representing his former or current organization.*

Trey is a veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps, then Air Force special operations Combat Controller, a guy I consider an expert in selection, assessment, and training. Trey's a huge part of the MCTI community. He's a dad, a husband, an Appalachian Trail through-hiker, and great American.

In this conversation, we discuss selecting and training chess players rather than those who play checkers.

- building the race car we need today, rather than fighting the last fight

- when Trey realized he needed to change his thinking around professional development, and how to select and train Tier 1 operators effectively

- we discuss how challenging it is when as instructors and trainers we try to push/progress training when the only experience we have (the only experience anyone has) is our own.

- we talk about moving away from selecting only on tactics and skills, but selecting and training to "Characteristics" such as:

- Problem Solving

- Interpersonal Effectiveness

- Communication

- Drive

- Stress Tolerance (cognitive overload)

We also discuss why training is for certainty and education is for uncertainty

- we discuss mental toughness and Trey tells us his 15 categories of what he believes you can control, and need to keep front-sight-focused upon

- we talk about peak performance and getting over perceived failures

- as it pertains to quitting hard things, Trey talks about "quitting" as a mindset, not a decision.

- we talk about residue and transition from the military

You can find Trey on YouTube at EarlyRiser71, and see his book release promo at It's Time to Choose.