Cybersecurity is mostly seen as a purely technical field. However, beyond technical competence it involves many more parameters. Many of these new parameters arise from considering cybersecurity within the framework of “cyber combat.” Because when you think of it as a process with an open-ended nature, with a past, a present, and a future, it’s clear that it must be evaluated from a perspective different from merely “security” or “war.”

Of course, one of the main elements in any struggle is the combat expert. Whether working individually or as part of a team, in order for the expert to achieve ideal performance, alongside their technical skills one of the most important elements is the mental factor. In reaching success, it is not sufficient for the combat specialist merely to develop technical knowledge.

During the struggle, being part of a team is critically important; also, the combat specialist is under psychological burden brought by the purpose of completing their mission. When you add the importance of the mission itself, pressure increases significantly.

Why do some specialists perform better on certain days and worse on others? Why is consistency so difficult to attain? Why can’t they reach their own ideal performance state?

Exhibiting high performance and manifesting one’s intrinsic aptitudes entails two primary factors for a combat specialist: first, possessing the required technical skill; second, possessing the necessary mental and psychological capacities. If either is deficient, one cannot attain the ideal performance state.

Being strong mentally and psychologically, and exhibiting excellent performance, is not participatory—it is a learned behaviour. (Dr. Loehr, Mental Toughness Training)

Herein the situation described is in fact the ideal performance state itself, and it depends on certain conditions. Dr. Loehr enumerates these conditions as follows:

  • Self-Motivation and Self-Direction
  • Being Positive and Realistic
  • Self-Confidence
  • Willingness and Preparedness
  • Concentration and Sensitivity

Motivation and Direction

The habits of motivation and direction, and tendencies toward these habits, are of key importance in achieving ideal performance and maintaining continuity. An ideal combat specialist defines their goals and takes the necessary steps accordingly. A goal is the fundamental component of motivation. Enduring motivation can only be realized in pursuit of defined goals.

In another way, purpose is meaning. Victor E. Frankl, in Man’s Search for Meaning, tried to demonstrate through striking examples how critical goal and meaning are:

Frankl was a psychiatrist who survived for six years in one of the largest concentration camps in Nazi Germany; naturally, during that time he had a chance to observe closely. In the camp it was known that everyone carried the malaria parasite. Frankl observed that people who traded away their bread for a cigarette were dead the next day from malaria, while those who held on to their bread survived—even though they also carried the parasite.

In his conversations with these people, Frankl determined that each had a goal and a meaning in their lives. Those whose lives had meaning developed stomach, survival reflexes and showed high performance. Despite carrying the malaria parasite, the parasite did not become active in their bodies. In contrast, those who relegated or destroyed their goals, who pursued momentary pleasure, suffered a breakdown of their body’s protective reflexes.

Given all this, to sustain mental continuity and be able to attain ideal performance, the combat specialist must have a goal and meaning. Goals may be organizational, individual, or team-oriented.

Being Positive and Realistic

An ideal combat specialist never denies reality, never makes excuses, never distorts facts. They are extremely realistic and positive. They always channel toward what is true.

It must be understood that the negative emotions often arising from work or career anxieties directly harm the core of the struggle. It is vital to engage with the process in its full, unvarnished form, and to make appropriate analogies and correlations. Individual or collective anxieties are not more important than the struggle and its constituent duties. At this point, persistence in pursuit of truth is among the defining factors in the struggle process.

Self-Confidence

An ideal combat specialist does not avoid pressure. They must show resilience to high stress; conversely, difficulties should bind them more strongly to the mission and the ideal. They must always strive to reach their internal potential.

Michael Jordan, who said “Limits are like fears, often just an illusion,” when asked about his career said:

I have missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times I was trusted to take the game-winning shot, and I missed. I succeeded because of all of those failures.

Willingness and Readiness

The combat specialist should be ready for anything: calm, full of energy and continuously positive. No matter how bad the conditions, being solution-focused is a driving force both for the individual combat process and for team motivation. It is important that the specialist continue the struggle in a determined and strong manner.

Concentration and Sensitivity

An ideal combat specialist should have stable concentration. At the same time, they must discern what is important and what is not; be able to shoulder responsibility for particular moments. They should perceive, analyse, and correctly guide people, events, and situations around them with an appropriate approach.

Furthermore, a combat specialist should understand what it means to be part of a team. They should be sensitive inside and outside the unit; they should positively affect people’s lives. In alignment with career goals and limbic-system reflexes, they should not operate at the expense of others. They should act with a principle of leaving no one behind and share their success with the group.

Dr. Loehr focused on these five conditions especially in physical and mentally intense individual and team situations. Although these traits are ones a cyber combat specialist must have, they alone are necessary but not sufficient.

Since a cyber combat specialist can also be part of corporate life, in addition to these conditions, they must possess additional equipment that includes the dynamics of their environment.

From this perspective, in addition to the five conditions listed above, one can actually speak of three more conditions. The three conditions emphasized below will be beneficial not only for the cyber combat specialist but also for all personnel working in that context.

EGO

The first thing to understand is: what is ego. A child is born with no awareness or knowledge about themselves, and the first thing they become aware of is not themselves but the “other.” This is natural, because eyes are outward-facing, hands touch others, ears hear others, the palate tastes food, and the nose smells the outside. All senses are oriented outward. The meaning of birth is this—entering into the world of others.

At first the child becomes aware of their mother. Then slowly they begin to become aware of their own body; but this body is referenced to the other, belonging to the world. Because when their need is satisfied they forget about their body. A child first becomes aware of the other, and then slowly, by comparing with the other, becomes aware of themselves. This awareness is a reflected awareness. They are not conscious of who they are.

They are only aware of the mother and what she thinks about them.

Ego is an accrued phenomenon, a by-product of living with others. In a sense, it is the way society reflects back to you who you are. Gradually everyone adds something to your ego. And the realities of the outside world teach you that there are rules to attaining pleasure.

Ego is a tool to balance the realities of the outer world and the pleasure of the inner world. Today, with the quasi-illusions created by a pathological competitive environment, and the degeneration of humane values, the ego is elevated to a different level.

A combat specialist does not display narcissistic behaviours. They are aware of their position, their deficiencies, and their strength. An ideal combat specialist competes not with people but with their goals. They try to raise their own bar and standard.

No one attempts to clear a wall of 2 meters if they are going to jump over a 1 meter wall.

At this point, the combat specialist always sets the target higher, and proceeds along their goals without detaching from reality. They dismiss narcissistic behaviours—those who call even the smallest thing they do an achievement, whose love of self blinds them, who constantly degrade others, who empathize little, who are merciless, who are always demanding—and when exposed to such behaviours, they are strong enough not to allow these feelings to steer their life. They are goal-focused.

Limbic System

The limbic system is the area of the brain that regulates defence/avoidance (fight or flight), emotional response, sexual behaviors, fear, hatred, etc. Individuals governed by the limbic system always act on base impulses. They make instant decisions and have high narcissistic tendencies.

An ideal combat specialist, instead of being led by the limbic system, foregrounds their prefrontal cortex. They produce strategies that will lead the struggle to success in the long term. In response to sudden or stressful moments, they respond by analyzing the event and choosing the correct decision. They do not panic. They can control their emotions. That said, they are not unfeeling toward unfairness, mobbing, or other negative situations. They are idealists.

They do not only keep their own limbic system under control, but also develop resistance to behaviors in their environment that are limbic system-oriented, which might affect ideal performance, knowing how to manage them for the benefit of the struggle.

Also, individuals exposed to the limbic system tend to show apathy, constant complaint, motivation problems. At this point, the combat specialist, while staying distanced from these feelings themselves, also manages motivation and willingness within the team, always radiating positive energy. They take initiative.

Elephants in the Brain

In addition to all of the above conditions, the final condition to be ensured is “taking care of the elephants in the brain.” By “elephants” in the brain is meant when a person constructs narratives in their own mind, filling themselves toward something that is not real. For example, one employee speaks with another about a topic; the manager hears this, combines it with a few other events in the mind, and arrives at certain judgment. These judgments are often false.

Also, the career ambitions or other ambitions of people that put their teammates into difficult situations can be examples of this.

A combat specialist is entirely in competition with themselves. They tend to support others and to be part of a unit. In that regard, they are far from mental constructions; information is filtered through the cortex. They do not nurture ill intent. They focus on their ideal performance state and their internal potential. They refrain from anything that may damage the struggle.

They know very clearly that the path to success is not by destroying others. On the contrary, they allow their teammates to excel and star; they support them.

Overcoming Yourself

The world’s leading athletes (experts of intense physical and mental activity) believe that their hardest opponent is themselves. Recognizing that your hardest adversary is you, realizing the thoughts and behaviours that prevent you from being who you want to be, and transforming these negative emotions into positive emotions and behaviors is very important. That is why the critical thing is not to adopt a pragmatic approach focused on outcomes but to concentrate on delivering perfect performance, doing what you can do at best.

The result will come at the end of this process.

Focusing intensely on winning or losing is the wrong strategy. It forces one to err. Muscles tighten, anxiety and worry increase, composure is lost, and ultimately poor performance emerges. While emphasizing that the hardest thing is fighting with oneself, one must accept that this struggle is harder and more exhausting than tiring an opponent.

Thus, one must first want it, then strengthen mentally and technically. Accordingly, certain belief patterns that lead a combat specialist toward success can be listed as follows:

  • I always do the best I can at every moment
  • No matter what the conditions are, I remain positive and solution-oriented
  • I have full responsibility for my thoughts, feelings and behaviors. I do not rely on cheap excuses. I make amends

Throughout this process, the main purpose can be seen as the development of the combat specialist, achieving ideal performance, and making a positive contribution to the struggle. However, there is another responsibility of the ideal specialist, and from the perspective of ideal performance this is part of the process. The two cannot be separated.

The combat specialist must touch the lives of those around them, of their teammates or of those they mentor. In addition to what Michael Jordan said about success and trying, it has actually been observed that the primary motivation preserved in those who have reached their ideal performance and achieved success in any form of struggle is as follows:

I hope that the millions of people whose senses I have managed to touch are themselves willing and positive enough to share their goals, efforts, and the determination they show

A common attitude seen in people who have attained their ideal performance and been successful in any shape of struggle is that each, at some point in the process, assumes responsibility toward their environment, and shapes their perspective accordingly.

The cyber struggle process is mostly carried out within a group. For the continuity of the process and internal peace, the awareness of responsibility is very important in reaching internal potential both technically and mentally.

All of the Cyber Struggle Specialization Courses do not merely equip trainees technically. With their extraordinary methodology and practices they reveal their internal potential, change perspectives, and provide them with the habits and equipment necessary to reach the ideal performance state. From this viewpoint, they have adopted a special forces structure.