I knew of David Goggins for over ten years now, thanks to how I used to be into ultrarunning myself (any distance longer than 26.2 miles). He was a legend back then before this book came out.
What I like about this book is: 1) his life story is simply inspiring, 2) the language (while crass to some) I find inspiring and love how similar his 'No Excuses' attitude is to mine... I feel like he would be a GREAT Explorer, and 3) the specific terms/philosophy he uses that I really like (see what follows)
Some of my favorite themes from this book have been:
Callous the Mind
The Path of MOST Resistance
The Cookie Jar
Gain from Failure
Even i+1 Ideas
Change Your Identity
“In a society where mediocrity is too often the standard and too often rewarded,” he said, “there is intense fascination with men who detest mediocrity, who refuse to define themselves in conventional terms, and who seek to transcend traditionally recognized human capabilities. This is exactly the type of person BUD/S is meant to find. The man who finds a way to complete each and every task to the best of his ability. The man who will adapt and overcome any and all obstacles.”
Callous the Mind
Goggins had a very rough childhood. Instead of letting it break him, he let it Callous the Mind, giving him thicker skin, making him unbreakable. This is also related to putting those events/memories away into a "Cookie Jar" that can be used later when you need it most. Also ties into gaining from failure and changing your identity.
The Path of MOST Resistance
If I had to pick 1 phrase that best defines this book and David Goggins for me, this would be it! As a trained scientist, I am quite familiar with the literal phrase: take the path of LEAST resistance. It is what the universe does naturally. Finding the lowest energy point and going there. It explains all natural phenomena from lightning to why crystals form!
Yet Goggins bucks this trend and says no. Sometimes, oftentimes, it is worth it to SEEK OUT what is difficult and do it anyway! This reminded me of when I used to be hardcore into Zen Meditation and Zen Philosophy in general. Which has a certain attraction towards stern discipline and ignoring any pain that may come as a result. Meditation for 6 hours, cold showers, limited food and sleep, etc.
And when I used to be into such a lifestyle, I was also into ultrarunning, so I can see how the two go hand in hand. But I just love how this is phrased. Find the path of MOST resistance and do that one!
The Cookie Jar
Callous the Mind seems to be in general, and mostly related to 'toughing it out' and overcoming difficult/negative experiences. However, such events can be also added to the proverbial "Cookie Jar" that you can 'take from' later in times when you need inspiration.
The Cookie Jar though also allows for accomplishments and positive events/memories to be added to. stored, and used when needed! So really, it is just this idea of having a mental storage space for inspirational events that you can use at a later date.
Makes me want to add an Anki Deck for this!
Gain from Failure
Related to Callousing the Mind, but in a more practical sense. Instead of just hardening your personality, this is more about results. The idea is similar to have good bad days, or have an i day or i-1 day instead of an i-2 or i-100 day.
But this could be also tied into the Cookie Jar (to be used at a later date, during the heat of an endurance race when you want to quit, for example). However, it is also about changing how you view a certain incident and trying to use it and re-frame it positively.
Even i+1 Ideas
He doesn't go MUCH into the idea of small improvements DAILY lead to big changes over time BUT he does break down into baby steps a lot of what he does, especially in the middle of a race. Just take one more step. Just get to that next hill. Etc. Chunking, using time, distance, or breaking down bigger goals into smaller ones, its all revolving around our i+1 philosophy.
Change Your Identity
Identity, as we work on with our 3 Layers of Change, is crucial. With the right why, you can overcome any what or how.. Goggins makes this quite clear in many different passages.
Callous the Mind
Life experience, especially negative experiences, help callous the mind. But it’s up to you where that callous lines up. If you choose to see yourself as a victim of circumstance into adulthood, that callous will become resentment that protects you from the unfamiliar.
The Path of MOST ResistanceSimilar to using an opponent’s energy to gain an advantage, leaning on your calloused mind in the heat of battle can shift your thinking as well. Remembering what you’ve been through and how that has strengthened your mindset can lift you out of a negative brain loop and help you bypass those weak, one-second impulses to give in so you can power through obstacles.
I knew right then that if I didn’t make a stand and start walking the path of most resistance, I would end up in this mental hell forever.
Physical training is the perfect crucible to learn how to manage your thought process because when you’re working out, your focus is more likely to be single pointed, and your response to stress and pain is immediate and measurable. Do you hammer hard and snag that personal best like you said you would, or do you crumble?
The Cookie JarHell Week is designed to show you that a human is capable of much more than you know. It opens your mind to the true possibilities of human potential, and with that comes a change in your mentality. You no longer fear cold water or doing push-ups all day. You realize that no matter what they do to you, they will never break you, so you
1637-1640
The feeling of being that kid, locked in a moment of gratitude for a simple gift like a cookie, came back to me. I felt it viscerally, and I used that concept to stuff a new kind of Cookie Jar. Inside it were all my past victories.
Then those incidents can be used more efficiently as fuel to become better and grow stronger.
Gain from FailureThe engine in a rocket ship does not fire without a small spark first. We all need small sparks, small accomplishments in our lives to fuel the big ones. Think of your small accomplishments as kindling. When you want a bonfire, you don’t start by lighting a big log. You collect some witch’s hair—a small pile of hay or some dry, dead grass.
Even i+1 IdeasMaybe you are tackling a hundred-question test and know that you’ve bricked the first fifty. At that point, it’s extremely difficult to maintain the necessary discipline to force yourself to keep taking the test seriously. It’s also imperative that you find it because in every failure there is something to be gained, even if it’s only practice for the next test you’ll have to take. Because that next test is coming. That’s a guarantee.
Change Your IdentityI just wanted to quit, but by moving a little bit further I’d reset my brain. I’d calmed down and realized I could chunk the race down to size, and staying in the game like that gave me hope, and hope is addictive. I chunked the race out that way, collecting 5 percent chips, unlocking more energy, then burning it up as time bled into the wee hours.
and when it comes to endurance sports like ultra running, everyone can achieve feats they once thought impossible. In order to do that we must change our minds, be willing to scrap our identity, and make the extra effort to always find more in order to become more. We must remove our governor.
If you want to be one of the few to defy those trends in our ever-softening society, you will have to be willing to go to war with yourself and create a whole new identity, which requires an open mind. It’s funny, being open minded is often tagged as new age or soft. Fuck that. Being open minded enough to find a way is old school. It’s what knuckle draggers do. And that’s exactly what I did.