Building the Elite Podcast

Dr. Krista Scott-Dixon is a trained counselor specializing in the psychology of behavior change, with certifications including motivational interviewing, solution-focused therapy, DBT, CBT, and trauma counseling.She’s the author of numerous books and accredited nutrition, sleep, stress, and recovery courses. She’s our go-to performance psych for special operations candidates and active operators, and works one-on-one with many of our clients to help them excel in selection and stay mentally and emotionally resilient throughout their careers. This is part of an ongoing series with KSD, where we’ll be talking with her about the specific tools and concepts that come up regularly in her work with special operators, and how you can apply them in your own life. Work with KSD: https://www.buildingtheelite.com/performance-psych-coaching/Timestamps:00:23 Introduction to Krista Scott Dixon01:07 Helping Candidates Assess the "Am I Good Enough" Question08:03 The Mistake of Only Looking at PT Test Scores13:34 The Struggle of Getting Stuck in Your Head21:28 The Way People Quit29:36 Being Good at Working Through Any Conditions34:27 Preparing for Anything and Everything in Skills Assessment42:02 "I'll Figure it Out" and Fuzzy Trace Theory47:23 Tolerating Suffering in Crappy Jobs52:03 Military Barracks Full of Broken Washing Machines58:17 How to Access the Variables that Matter1:05:35 Outro

Steve House serves as the managing director, coach, and official mascot of Uphill Athlete, which he co-founded in 2016. He lives in a remote and mountainous corner of Austria with his wife and two sons.Steve’s biggest coaching challenge was coaching himself. Which was successful enough for him to be called “The greatest climber of his generation” by none other than Reinhold Messner. He was inspired to write down what he learned and originally recruited two other coaches to help him write Training for the New Alpinism while recovering from a near-life-ending fall in 2010. He then co-authored  Training for the Uphill Athlete (2018) to fulfill his personal mission to “Teach conventional endurance training theory and practice to mountain athletes.” He retired from professional climbing at the end of 2020 to dedicate himself to family and work full-time on Uphill Athlete.Steve’s most famous ascent is the 4,500-meter-high Rupal Face, the world's biggest mountain wall, which culminates at the summit of the world's deadliest and 9th-highest mountain: Nanga Parbat. In this episode, we talk with Steve about his career, Uphill Athlete’s approach to coaching, and the overlap between mountain athletes and special operators. More about Steve and Uphill Athlete:You can learn more about Uphill Athlete at their website, uphillathlete.com. And you can follow them on social media here:Uphill Athlete Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/uphill_athlete/Steve’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stevehouse10/Timestamps:00:00:22 Introduction to Steve House 00:01:47 What is Significant about Nanga Parbat, "The Naked Mountain"00:06:51 Grading the Technical Difficulty of Climbing00:11:18 The "American Certified International Federation of Mountain Guides Associations" Guide 00:15:23 Overlap Between Climbing and Special Operations Communities00:18:00 Similarities and Differences Between the Communities00:30:32 Uphill Athlete Training Mistake 00:40:37 Base Building Meaning and Development00:42:44 Aerobic Threshold to Regulate Training00:51:00 Building Aerobic Volume00:58:59 What to Prioritize During Training01:02:09 Misunderstanding V02 Max in Training01:09:13 Ventilatory Threshold Breakpoint01:15:10 Ten Athletes, Ten Results01:18:03 What's Next for Uphill Athlete?01:21:23 Best and Worst Advice Ever Received01:23:44 Book Recommendations01:24:59 Outro

Dr. David Walton, retired Army Special Forces officer and SFAS subject-matter expert who now instructs at JSOC and writes prep books. He discusses major shifts at SFAS, the crackdown on land navigation and how rule enforcement changed selection rates. He covers practical prep: land-nav fixes, journaling and coaching, the Sandman apparatus, and timelines through the pipeline.

Brad Stulberg is a bestselling author of the new book The Way of Excellence, a performance coach, faculty member at the University of Michigan, and a husband and father.The Way of Excellence comes out tomorrow, and you can pick up a copy at any major bookseller like Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Audible.com, or Bookshop.org. You can learn more about Brad and follow his work at his website, (https://www.bradstulberg.com/) and on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bradstulberg/

Nick has over 12 years of military experience, including 4 years as an Australian Commando and 6 years as an SAS operator. His operational service included deployments throughout the Middle East and Southeast Asia, including Iraq and East Timor.Since leaving the Army, Nick has established two companies as a founding Director, The Mill Gym and Omni GeoX; as well as a new fitness competition, the Tier 1 Games.Nick has provided risk management, leadership, and elite-level performance consulting in austere environments worldwide, including with professional sports teams, multinational corporations, government, and non-governmental organisations.Nick's charter is to build real-world resilience within individuals and foster a no-compromise culture of excellence. He’s driven by a deep passion for building elite-level soldiers and athletes through an uncompromising culture, mindset, and mental toughness. His philosophy is simple: hard work beats talent, and resilience is the decisive advantage in high-pressure environments. By drawing from years of operational experience and an 18-year coaching career, Nick develops training systems that forge discipline, sharpen decision-making under stress, and cultivate the mental edge required to excel when it matters most.Learn more about Nick and The Mill Gym:Email: nick@themillgym.comInstagram: @themillgymLinkedIn: @nickcaldwellWebsite: themillgym.comTimestamps:0:00:22 Introduction to Nick Caldwell0:01:45 Career in the Aussie Special Air Service 0:05:32 Training in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu0:07:10 Gaining the Confidence to Enlist0:14:49 Nick's Goals that Pushed His Career Forward0:17:50 Recovering from Burnout0:21:23 Helping Someone Understand Their Recovery and Readiness0:26:48 Training with HRP and Other Monitoring Devices0:38:28 What Camps Does Nick Caldwell Run?0:44:43 Not a 36 Hour Exercise Competition0:49:55 Standard Pre-Screening0:57:50 Woman in Courses of Self-Defense1:02:11 "Keeping Yourself Safe in a Parking Garage" Scenario 1:10:04 Books that Nick Believes Everyone Should Read1:18:37 Outro

Dr. Krista Scott-Dixon, a performance psychologist and counselor who coaches special operations candidates, discusses mental and emotional preparation for intense selection. She covers how anxiety signals deeper issues, the harm of perfectionism, practical self-coaching and self-compassion techniques, using play to learn under stress, and recognizing and supporting neurodivergent learners.

SOF selection is a proving ground, where your physical, mental, and emotional raw material will be laid bare, with nothing to hide behind. It's a place where you voluntarily walk into a brutal challenge to find out if who you think you are matches who you are. It's a way of answering a question that few people are willing to ask. Mo Anthoine, a British mountaineer, referred to this as "feeding the rat." Think of the "rat" as that gnawing part of you that needs challenge, risk, and uncertainty. You feel better when it's been fed. As Anthoine put it, "I think it's because there is always a question mark about how you would perform. You have an idea of yourself and it can be quite a shock when you don't come up to your own expectations. If you just tootle along you can think you're a pretty slick bloke until things go wrong and you find you're nothing like you imagined yourself to be. But if you deliberately put yourself in difficult situations, then you get a pretty good idea of how you're going. That's why I like feeding the rat."Everyone has a rat to feed. You only choose how you feed it. 

Dr. Daniel Cooper, former Australian Special Operations operator and human performance researcher with a PhD, blends real-world combat experience and academic insight. He discusses planning an unsupported Antarctic ski traverse. He explores how instructors shape performance, why realistic training beats pretending, the harms of shame, and reframing mental toughness as exposure plus recovery.

Elias Kfoury was born in Beirut, Lebanon, and immigrated to the United States at an early age in search of a brighter, safer future. After college, he enlisted in the U.S. Navy, serving 21½ years before his medical retirement. Beginning as a Hospital Corpsman supporting the U.S. Marine Corps, he soon entered the Special Operations community as a Deep Sea Diving Medical Technician and completed advanced medical training to support Naval Special Warfare units. Following his service in Little Creek, Virginia, he successfully screened for Naval Special Warfare Development Group, where he spent the majority of his career as a Squadron Medic in multiple roles. After retiring, Elias transitioned into the business world, but soon recognized the deeper need to heal himself and his family. Today, he dedicates his life to supporting others on their own journeys while cherishing time with his family.Eli's Book Recommendations for special operations candidates (aside from Building the Elite):Breath – James NestorThe Way of the SEAL – Mark DivinePeak Performance – Brad Stulberg & Steve MagnessThe Talent Code – Daniel CoyleThe Obstacle Is the Way – Ryan HolidayWith Winning in Mind – Lanny BasshamDeep Survival – Laurence GonzalesCall Sign Chaos – Jim Mattis & Bing WestLegacy – James KerrTimestamps:00:00:21 Introduction to Eli Khoury00:00:52 Where Did Eli Khoury Grow Up?00:01:36 Experience of Growing Up in a War Zone00:05:54 How "Real Mortal Danger" Shapes Your Mental Health00:08:59 How Many Children Currently Don't Have Physical "Third Spaces"00:12:05 Formative Moments That Clarified "Who Eli Is"00:18:20 Eli's Educational Background00:24:43 The Goal of Coaching00:27:48 Common Things People Struggle to Let Go of00:29:43 Improving the Coaching Process for the Future00:32:04 Coaching Families00:34:04 Utilizing Tools like Psychedelics00:36:18 Teaching How to Give Up Control While Using Psychedelics00:40:40 Teaching How to Let Go Without Psychedelics00:48:20 The Skill of "Sitting With Stillness"00:52:48 What Military Skills Transfer to the Rest of the World?00:58:04 Teaching Resilience to People Early in Their Career01:13:45 Advice for Someone Trying to Enter BUDS01:14:49 Advice for Someone in a Special Operations Medical Path01:16:33 Advice for Someone Who Wants to Screen for a Tier 1 Unit01:18:20 One Book that Everyone Should Read01:18:37 Sponsor Note - Our Book, "Building the Elite"01:19:05 Best and Worst Advice Ever Received 01:21:48 Outro

If your selection will be held in a hot environment, it’s important to acclimate to the heat before heading out. Any SOF selection will push you to your physical limits, and not being acclimated to the heat can significantly increase your risk of failure. Heat injuries in SOF selection are fairly common, and they can be sneaky. The workload is so intense that even moderately warm, humid days can produce conditions that encourage heat injuries, particularly for people who are coming from cooler, drier climates who aren’t habituated to the weather. Like any adaptation, how you stress your body changes your rate and degree of adaptation. Randomly doing hard things in hot conditions isn’t the best strategy. In this episode, we’ll outline our recommendations based on practical experience and the most current research. ------------Hot Box Sauna: https://www.thehotboxsauna.com/?ref=BTEFor 5% off, use the code BTE5------------Timestamps: