In Pursuit of Goggins
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In today's video, we will discuss something that I find important. We're going to be talking about none other than David Goggins today.
This is from a conversation I had with a friend. His perception Goggins the character, so we'll dive into that. I wanted to make this video in, with that, to try. I don't think he needs to be repackaged, but it is to give my spin and how I internalize what David Goggins represents and how we could use his example to forge ourselves into something.
So with that, we're going to dive right in.
What is the distance between you and greatness for David Goggins? The way he goes about it is the difference between David and Goggins. And that's the thing that people miss.
Most of the time, when you see him on videos on Instagram or whatever, he plays the character of Goggins because that is the savage. But then there's still David, who is very much like you or me. He wants to be comfortable. He's probably cool with that, but there's the other part that of him wants to achieve.
Greatness, whatever it looks like. It's not greatness that you make a million dollars or anything. This level of greatness is entirely internal. Goggins must overcome mind, body, and soul for his sake to find out what he can do.
That is where the spark is because when you can take a step back from your perspective and what you want to achieve, you stop and say, what matters to me? Not in the sense of looking at your life story and saying, how did I fall short or what circumstances you wish could have been different.
Because comparing yourself to others will always lead to pitfalls and problems. No matter where you start in life, some things will suck. There are demons that you have to deal with, and there are always going to be mistakes that are made. But the core point is to take stock of your life and be despite everything I wish didn't happen.
How do I make the most of the cards I've been dealt with and effectively turn this piece of coal into a diamond?
We all can do that. It doesn't matter who we are.
Over the last couple of weeks, listening to Goggins on podcasts, he was only on two. One was Joe Rogan, and the second was earlier this week when recording this video on the Modern Wisdom Podcast. So those are the only two podcasts we're going to get in relation to this new book that he just posted, which is Never Finished.
I was listening to the audiobook, which I highly recommend because he does something that no other audiobook has done. Between every chapter, they do podcasts with his co-author and cover extra material not written in the book.
It's amazing to hear from David because he adds a lot more color and flavor in his unique way. It's touching at times. In this book, he interviews his mom and gets honest about what it was like for them to grow up or live in an abusive household.
Some people get hung up on directness, and it's not about being abrasive, the brashness that I think comes from military training and like the take, take no shit, or don't feel sorry for yourself. But taking accountability for yourself can rub people the wrong way with how Goggins presents themself to me; I get that.
I get supercharged by people who will get after it, and they're just going to stand up and say, all right, time just to show up. If I care about this thing, whatever the thing may be, then I ultimately control how I present myself in that thing you choose to do. For David Goggins, it was becoming a Navy Seal, and even after that, it became an ultra athlete.
I'm not comparing myself to what he's achieved, but instead, comparing myself to who I could be, making sure that I become who I think I could be. I'm probably not going to get all the way there, but I may be able to. And that is the mental step most of us don't dare to dream audaciously or dare to take action or take the risk. Betting on yourself so much that if you fail, it sucks, but it's better to fail to try to do the crazy thing. Then it is to live with the regret that you never tried to do that crazy thing.
I will end it with my distilled points on what I came up with in David's message.
So we can acknowledge our life sucks and how much it sucks, but then we can get after it despite how much our life sucks. You can perform without purpose. We all search for meaning in life, and it's core to who we are, but most days, you don't feel that purpose. When you look at your life, spanned over decades, you see the purpose there.
But at the moment, toiling away, getting good grades, going to school, going to a job, doing anything, the purpose feels very minimum. And so in yourself, you need to find a way to perform at your highest level every day, no matter how much meaning you have. Because at the end of the day, the person paying attention is you, and it's not you right here this minute. No, this is the version that wishes you would've tried 1% harder.
One of the things that he talked about in the Modern Wisdom Podcast that I resonated with is overcoming the things you were most ashamed of about yourself.
Because in many ways, when you are younger, the things you're ashamed of that make you feel like you didn't fit in, become the very reason you succeed as an adult. I can relate to that. This podcast exists partly because I would rather stay inside, read books, play video games, and explore other worlds.
I was never an athlete; through all of that, I couldn't care less. And I was ashamed for many years and picked on and bullied because I felt different. I internalized that. It wasn't until I let go of that shame and leaned into my interest in science. I turned the thing I was very much ashamed of, like, I'm too nerdy, whatever that means. So instead, I took it as a call to action. Well, I'm going to turn this into a science. I will learn how to use biomechanics and apply that to bodybuilding to make it interesting.
And there it is; it's like, how do you become a version of yourself regardless of what you were ashamed of or the things you had to overcome? How can you be proud of who you are and will become?
Do you have to make the change to choose to live by your mission? Whatever that means. It will change and mold itself depending on where you are at different times. And it should, like for me, I didn't know what I wanted to do even when I was in my early twenties. And now it's completely different than I expected nine years later at 29.
Continually have something you are aiming for, whatever that might be. If you don't make up your mind, someone else will make up your mind for you.
When you take your last breath, will you be satisfied with everything you accomplish? Can you look back on your life and say, yeah, I did everything I absolutely could in this life, and it's not superficial? At least not for me. I don't think it is for David either, but it's measuring you against you at the very end of your life and saying did I take ownership of what I could have taken ownership for and create something that arguably shouldn't have been possible?
And if you can say yes to that, then you're clearly on the right path, and again, aspirational here. But, again, I don't know if it's true, but at the end of the day, if you can stand for something that is wholly yours, something that you can get behind 110%, and you can scream it from the rooftops and say that with pride, I think that's what it means to be in pursuit of Goggins.
Not just Goggins. Pursuit into the best version of yourself. And if we can get more of us behind that, we can make a change.
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