Jeff Depatie is a former sniper with Canada’s tier-one unit, JTF-2. He has vast experience in tactical shooting, elite team selection, and human optimization. He was part of the sniper team holding the world record for the longest confirmed kill at 3.5 km and has trained incoming tier-1 operators in shooting and tactics.

After his military career, Jeff turned his focus to addressing PTSD and transforming adversity into growth. He is producing a documentary, “Dark Night of Our Soul,” about post-traumatic growth and how life’s challenges can lead to personal development.

He co-founded The Special Forces Experience (SFE), an organization dedicated to facilitating profound personal transformations through meticulously designed challenges and experiences. As the Chief Course Architect of SFE, Jeff has been instrumental in creating programs like “The Process,” which pushes participants to their physical, mental, and emotional limits to foster growth and resilience.

In this episode, we’ll discuss Jeff’s ideas on managing life’s difficulties, a concept he calls the “Art of Adversity.” We’ll explore how adversity can be understood through science and personal experience and how it can lead to growth.

About Jeff:

You can learn more about Jeff and The Special Forces Experience at www.thespecialforcesexperience.com

He’s on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/jeffdepatie_

Timestamps:

00:00:22 Intro to Jeff Depatie

00:01:38 Jeff Depatie’s Career

00:07:09 “Show of Force” Story

00:09:05 Fallout from the “Show of Force”

00:10:49 What Does Post-Traumatic Growth Mean to Jeff?

00:18:36 How Your Environment Shapes You

00:20:00 Equilibrium is Death in a Complex System

00:21:33 “The Process” Jeff Has Modeled is Based on Exposure to Trauma

00:24:26 Replicating the Results of “The Process” with Love Instead of Fear

00:28:57 Why SF Operators Often Are Honest with Their Feelings

00:35:47 Consequences of Making Decisions by Ignoring Emotional Intuition

00:37:51 Comparing Elite Tennis Player’s Nervous Systems to Other’s

00:40:05 Sponsor Note - Coaching Mentorship Program

00:40:30 “The Art of Adversity”

00:43:15 “Special Forces Experience” Events and Time Frame

00:45:14 Sign Up for Jeff Depatie’s Courses

00:45:55 Advice for Someone Going to JTF-2 Selection

00:46:45 Jeff’s Favorite Off-Road Vehicles

00:47:46 Best and Worst Advice Ever Given

00:49:02 Outro

Dwell #40: Freedom Stories - Vera Schmitz