Kind: captions
Language: en
hey everybody you are about to watch an
amazing episode of impact Theory with
David goggin I love this episode more
than I can tell you I absolutely am
blown away by David Goggins himself but
I want to give a full disclaimer first
of all this man swears a lot and when I
say that you know it's an issue so if
you have kids around you now would be
the time to get them out also his
worldview is ultra Hardcore I'm not
recommending that everybody uh do what
he does which is pretty extreme um but I
just wanted to give everybody a full
warning ahead of time but I think this
man is incredible but let it be said you
have been warned and now welcome to
impact Theory with David
gogins everybody Welcome to impact
Theory you are here my friends because
you believe that human potential is
nearly Limitless but you know that
having potential is not the same as
actually doing something with it so our
goal with this show and Company is to
introduce you to the people and ideas
that will help you actually execute on
your
dreams all right today's guest is widely
considered to be the toughest man on the
planet and one of the greatest endurance
athletes of all time but if you're
tempted to dismiss him as the product of
amazing genetics great parenting or even
performance-enhancing drugs think again
he grew up in an abusive household spent
his high school years as one of only a
small number of black kids in a tiny
Indiana Town roughly 20 mi from where
the KKK was founded he had to endure
Relentless bullying and he barely
managed to graduate with a 1.6 GPA he
struggled with obesity twice in his life
weighing in at over 300 lb had severe
allergies sickle cell trait and A
congenital heart disease that left him
with a hole in his heart the size of a
poker chip he grew up feeling soft and
weak with no self esteem but despite all
of that one day he decided he was going
to stop saying woe is me and start
kicking some ass that set him on a path
to transforming himself into the hardest
man alive did he do it well he's the
only member of the US Armed Forces to
complete SEAL training the US Army
Ranger school and the Air Force tactical
air controller training he's completed
the infamous destroyer of men known as
hell week three times including two in a
single year and one that he started and
finished with multiple stress fractures
and a hernia he served in combat in Iraq
was The Bodyguard for the Iraqi prime
minister he once held the Guinness world
record for most pull-ups in 24 hours at
4,030 he's run eight eight consecutive
100 mile races over eight back-to-back
weekends he ran over 7,000 miles in a
single year and that that is the
equivalent of running
marathons I think it is abundantly clear
that this man is a self-made Beast so
please help me in welcoming the man who
once ran an ultra marathon with
pneumonia the king of No Excuses David
gogin thank you so much for coming on
apprciate man thank you thank for having
me my pleasure I assure
you the things you've done are
absolutely incredible but what I find
fascinating is if you just read your
Litany of things that you've
accomplished you do just assume oh you
must be really gifted you're shredded
you're in great shape but when you see
the before picture it's pretty startling
right so what was that moment like
looking in the mirror the day you decide
okay wait enough is enough well it was
pretty crazy for me it um it it took a
while to get to that point where enough
was enough um what happened that I I
came home one night from work spraying
for
cockroaches and um long story short I
turned on the um Discovery Channel I saw
some guys going through Navy SEAL
training and they were going through
hell week and they were getting their
ass just beat you know in and out of the
water guys ringing the bell um they were
just suffering and I was weighting like
297 lbs and I had to make a change in my
life you know I was at all-time low
and I wasn't going anywhere and I was
exactly what everybody said I was going
to be which was nothing so I had to make
a change what was it about seeing
suffering that's that's really
interesting and I actually get it but I
want to hear you explain it why
suffering was the thing that triggered
that thought well for me growing up I
came from a horrible background I got
called a [ __ ] every day of my life
growing up um lived in a small town the
clan headquarters at that time was about
um 20 minutes from where I lived the uh
one of the high UPS in the KKK son sat
behind me in two classes so he called me
[ __ ] all the time got my first car
they spray print [ __ ] we're going to
kill you on it so I was just an insecure
scared kid and the only way I could find
myself was through putting myself
through the worst thing possible how did
you have the insight though like that's
so counterintuitive like most people
that's precisely what they're trying to
eat away from
so what was it in you at that moment
you're overweight you've been bullied
essentially your entire life up to that
point what makes you go all right
[ __ ] like that that's what I've
got to do well no one was helping me out
so my mom my dad made my mom kind of
irregular so she worked three jobs went
to College full-time so she was never
around one time this this person drew a
picture of me and you know said we're
going to kill you [ __ ] on my Spanish
notebook Jesus and I took it to my
principal and my principal said they
spelled [ __ ] Niger that was the best
advice he can give me so long story
short what I realized was no one was
here to help me and the feeling I had
every morning I started shaving my head
when I was 16 years old and the feeling
I had every morning when I looked in the
mirror was horrible and I didn't want to
feel like that anymore and how I felt
was a a kid going nowhere a kid that was
scared and most kids will accept that
and look for help but the best thing
that happened to me no one helped me no
one felt sorry for me no one looked at
me and said like this day and age
they'll they'll take you in and they'll
tell everybody stop picking on this
person back then they didn't care the
KKK marched in our fourth July
parades they had to stay a 100 yards
back but they marched in it wow that's
how this town was and my mom cared about
me but my dad took our soul and she you
know did the best she could I had to
figure out I wasn't going to be a punk
kid all my life
so the only way I could turn around was
to suffer I had to build calluses in my
brain the same way I built calluses on
my hand so I broke the Ginsburg Royals
record for pullups a long time ago but I
failed at it twice and I did 67,000
pull-ups in trying to break this record
so to do 4,030 pull-ups I had to do
67,000 for training for that wow and so
what I realized is for me to become the
man I wanted want to become I saw myself
as the weakest person God ever created
but I never blamed God for anything he
did to me so I wanted to
change that to be the hardest man ever
created am I that I don't know but you
had to have a goal right and my goal
when I was sitting there not going to
school being bullied being having no
self-esteem my goal was the only person
that's could turn this person around is
me and the only way I can turn around is
put myself through the worst things
possible a human being can ever endure
and that' be the only way that I can
build this brain to handle anything that
comes in front of it callousing my mind
through pain and suffering that's so
powerful it's such an amazing Insight so
obviously listening to some of the stuff
that you're talking about and one thing
that you say often is you know it's it's
hard to stay hard or get hard when
you're living in you know like you even
said at one point in a big mansion in
Beverly Hills right so I was sitting
there thinking you're absolutely right
but what I find so interesting is how we
as a species run from pain we run from
suffering and one of the reasons I've
talked about this before but one of the
reasons my wife and I don't have kids is
I firmly believe that you need something
that is brutal is difficult is hardship
it knocks you off center it makes you
feel bad because in the process of
rebuilding and clawing back from that
climbing up then you can become
something but you unless you've been
tested unless you've gone through the
ringer you've got no hope so how do you
take somebody that you love and force
them through that and I think that what
you've done is maybe the ultimate
expression of that which is how do you
put yourself through it right you didn't
have to do any of that
so in the end like what would your
advice be to that 16-year-old kid who
staring in the mirror does not like what
he sees but is still running from
adversity well my biggest advice to him
is that first of all he won't like what
I say to him because I'm going to say
the exact opposite of what the world
today's world is saying so we read a
bunch of books nowadays as as humans we
we want to find out how to be someone
else what we don't do is we don't go
inside so literally turn yourself Inside
Out read the book that's like like we're
writing a book every day of Our Lives
but we never read that book so what I
would challenge this young man or or or
young woman to do is you have to look
inside of yourself see what you really
want what what are you passionate about
we use these words and these little
phrases of Only the Strong Survive and
all this other crap they're all just
[ __ ] words I get so tired of hearing
people just talking like right now
someone may think goggin's just talking
you don't know me so when I speak I
speak from Passion I speak from
experience I I speak from suffering I
have to tell this young man and woman
that the only way I believe this is this
my experience in life the only way
you're ever going going to get to the
other side of this journey is you have
got to suffer to grow to grow you must
suffer
and some people will get it and some
people won't but they have to see what
their journey is to start their Journey
several people live to be hundred years
old and they have great lives and they
have great kids their kids go to college
and all sort of stuff but somewhere in
their life there was a point where they
had a decision to make they can go left
or right on this path left was the easy
route right was the hard route a lot of
people take the easy route and they had
a good life that way but the better life
was going to the right side and you may
have 20 years of pain and suffering to
get past it but a lot of us died never
truly starting our journey and I would
tell this young person you got to start
your journey it may suck but it will it
will come out the other side where we
coasting so it's really I want to go
back to what you're saying about that we
write our own book writing it every day
but we actually don't take the time to
read it so what do you as you were
saying that here's what I was seeing you
tell me if this is where you were going
that basically you're you're writing
down these things that are sort of re
becoming your identity about being weak
about avoiding suffering about um being
soft essentially I mean all like all the
things sort of by default there're in
that camp and as you were saying that I
was imagining you sort of taking that
pen and beginning to write your own
story and writing things that you knew
looking back on that you would be proud
of like going through the military and
doing the hardest training some of the
ultra endurance stuff that you've done
which is UN I'm broken feet I mean it's
like so crazy in fact one is that what
you meant by writing that story so what
I meant by that is like every day we're
seeing who we are as people when I was
growing up I I lied for people to accept
me because I didn't accept myself so I
would make up story so so then you would
accept me into your world I would uh
everything I did was for someone else to
like me it wasn't until I started
reading my own book about how pathetic I
was as a human being I can blame my dad
I can blame kids at school I could blame
having health issues add my mom not
being around great mom but she was doing
her thing right I could blame a lot of
people and that's the book I was reading
and I put it off on everybody else it
was until I say you know what for me to
fix this I got to read what the hell
what the [ __ ] is wrong with David
Goggins not not blame anybody read my
book and say okay I'm afraid of my
shadow how can I overcome that go in the
military get your ass kicked do things
you hate to do be uncomfortable every
[ __ ] day of your life Roger that I'm
not the smartest kid in the world okay
instead of somebody saying Oh no you're
smart no no don't say that to yourself I
said to myself no I'm a dumb
[ __ ] Okay Roger that how do you
get smarter educate yourself so the
things that we run from we running from
the truth we're running from the truth
man so the only way I became successful
was going towards the truth as painful
and as brutal as it is it changed me it
it allowed me to become in my own right
who I am
today one of the most powerful things I
think anybody can do and this so I used
to struggle with self-esteem and my
thing was I focused on being smart and I
just wasn't that smart I focused on
being right and I was wrong a lot and so
it created this weird um thing in my
life where I would constantly try to put
myself around people who are less and
less intelligent so that I could feel
good about myself and the bad news is
it's actually a really good strategy for
that being around people that were less
intelligent than me really did make me
feel good like I felt good about myself
but I literally referred to myself at
the time as the king of remedial jobs
because that those were the only jobs
that I could really shine at right and
it wasn't until I realized I can
actually change what I build my
self-esteem around and I can start
building my self-esteem around instead
of being right or being smart being a
learner and being willing to admit when
I'm wrong and so the thing that I began
to build my self-esteem around was being
willing and able to stare at my
inadequacies right what you said like I
fully understand like how this um this
interview is going to be and you warned
me ahead of time this interview is going
to be bifurcating people are going to
love it and some people are going to
hate it and but dude I so believe in the
notion of looking at yourself and if you
are pathetic owning it right and saying
cuz my thing is you can change it right
which you have proven in no uncertain
terms but if you don't admit it you're
never going to be on the path to
changing it exactly walk us through
because this is one of those crazy
stories I I can't imagine how you pulled
this off your first ultramarathon which
you got into like really fast and one
why you did it cuz I think that's
incredible it so this the first Ultram
Marathon wasn't smart at all at all um
just so basically what happened was I
was at military freef fall school with
Morgan Latrell Marcus Latrell if you
guys don't know is the Lone Survivor the
guy he um was in a bad op op went bad he
was the only Navy s that lived long
story short you got to get the book read
Lo Survivor great story Morgan is Marcus
Charles twin brother and I was there
with Marcus so what happened was myself
and Morgan were in freef Fall school at
the same exact time Marcus was in the
worst incident in still history
so I knew that Marcus might be dead he
wasn't dead everybody else was dead so I
actually brought more you know I
actually told Morgan hey man your
brother was in a bad incident I don't
know if he's alive I don't know what's
going on long story short Marcus is
alive and I go on to want to raise money
for families all these guys died they
all had kids I want to raise money for
the Special Operations Warrior
Foundation it's a foundation where 100%
tuition goes to these kids to go to
college College you know full tuition
whatever so I found this great
Foundation I'm going to raise money for
it so I say you know what I have to
Google something that's that's evil
something very hard I knew nothing about
Ultra marathons I hadn't even run a
marathon I knew nothing about this world
so I Googled that you know the top 10
hardest races in the world and what
comes up is a badwater 135 it's 135 mile
race through Death Valley in the
summertime I thought it was a stage race
I thought it was a race where you run
like 20 miles set up camp you know
barbecue outside and then go run some
more the next day so I called the race
director up at the race and said hey
Chris his name is Chris Cosman I want to
do your race so we had a long
conversation you know I was I was much
heavier then and I hadn't put running
shoes on over a year how heavy are you
at this point I'm around between 240 to
270 whoa I'm in there I'm in that range
I've my my weight has buied a lot
through the sealed teams and out of the
Seal team so I was a heavy guy but the
long and short of it all was I had put
running shoes on in over a year I was a
big-time powerlifter I lifted weights
heavy that's what I did I got back home
from Iraq went straight to freef fall
school and then this happened so I
called Chris Cosman up on a Wednesday he
says look man the only way you can
qualify for my race is to run 100 miles
at one time in 24 hours or less there
happened to be a race that Saturday so 4
days later and and he said if you
qualify by running 100 miles or less in
24 hours I will consider you my race I'm
going cut to the chase I signed up for
this race it was called the San Diego
one day where you run around a one mile
track for 24 hours to see many miles you
can get my goal was 100 miles
so um I got to M 70 and I cleared 70
miles in like 12 13 hours pretty quickly
but I was done my feet were broken I was
fractur shin splints muscles were
tearing I was in bad shape I was eating
Rich crackers and drinking mlex that's
all I had no water didn't know what the
hell I was doing out there had on some
tube socks it was just ridiculous it was
it was a clown show so I sat down at
Mile 70 and at this time I was married
and I I look at my wife and I was like
um I'm I'm messed up bad so I literally
start to turn white and when a black guy
turns white you're pretty [ __ ] up so
here I am I'm all [ __ ] up in this
chair I'm at mile 7 they got 30 [ __ ]
miles to go I'm jacked up I got to go to
the bathroom the bathroom's like 20 feet
from me it's a porta potty I can't get
out the [ __ ] chair so I'm peeing
blood down my leg whoa pooping up my
[ __ ] back and I got 30 miles to go
and I'm I can't stand up because my my
blood pressure is all messed up I've
been in three hell weeks Ranger school
overcome so many obstacles in my life
this last 30 miles of this race is when
I
realized a human being is not so human
anymore we have the ability to go in
such a space if you're willing to suffer
and I mean suffer your brain and your
body once connected together can do
anything and this 30 miles was the
lifechanging moment I was out of it I
was in the worst pain in my entire life
I was to me on the brink of
death and I was able to chunk this 30
damn miles into small pieces I was so
driven and I'm I'm not going to say
motivated because motivation is crap
motivation comes and goes when you're
driven whatever's in front of you will
get
destroyed so I sat in this chair and I
was so driven to succeed in race and and
at this time everybody goes were you
thinking about the guys that died and
I'm not going to lie to you I wasn't
this became a personal thing this became
me against this race me against the kids
that call me [ __ ] me against me it it
it it just became something that I took
so so violently
personal and I broke this thing down
into small pieces I said okay I got to
get nutrition I got to be able to stand
up before I can get off this curb and
get off this chair and be able to go 30
miles so I went through all these small
steps and I I was able to stand up and
then from standing up I was literally
walking around with my wife at the time
and she goes you're not going to make
the time she goes you're run I mean
you're you're walking like 30 some
minute
miles I got to mile 81 and the second
she said that I'm not going to make the
time I ran the last 19 miles nonstop and
I can show you right now when we get
done with this matter of fact I'm going
to show you right now this was years a
go and I had to put compression tape on
my ankle and I had so this was years ago
I had literally the size of half
dollars I had to get compression tape
and I taped up my ankles and I taped up
my feet and that's how I got through
that race was it like a hematoma I mean
what do we what no what happened was
like my shins hurt so bad from having
stretch fractures that the only way I
can continue on was I taped it so I
wasn't doing the flexor motion that that
activates your your shins so I taped my
ankles and my shins up and I got that
from because in my third hell week they
weren't going to let me go back through
you know train anymore right so I
literally went through all the buds my
last SEAL training with stretch fractur
and shin splints and how I did it was I
would take my ankles all the way up to
my calf every morning so for the first
hour the pain was excu cruciating but
what happened is my feet would go numb
and I did that every single day for six
months whoa and that's how I got through
my third hell week because I was so
broken from the first two that the
commander said hey the co said this your
last time are send you through so that's
how I got the idea to do that so with
the right and and people may listen to
this and say this guy is sadistic he's
crazy he's no if you know how I came up
you realize I was just a scared kid that
found drive and passion to be something
much better than what he thought he was
that's all it is God I'm going to ask
the question I H I don't know if you
have a good answer for this I don't know
if there is a good answer for this but
even I want to
know how do you find and cultivate that
drive like there is a kid right now
watching this man and they feel like you
felt they feel lost alone broken stupid
lazy like they're never going to amount
to anything and what you're talking
about is the closest thing to a [ __ ]
superpower that this kid has ever heard
and right now he is on the edge of his
seat how does he how does he like force
himself to take that first step I'm very
fortunate that I grew up at a time when
there was no phones and there was no
social
media and I suggest yes I'm on social
media on a very limited basis because I
have a story to tell and it's a great
platform use it as a platform don't use
it as your life my biggest advice to
give everybody in the world is like I
say we live in an external world
everything is is you got to see it touch
it it's it's external if you can for the
rest of your life live inside of
yourself stop listening to people who
are calling you fat gay transsexual
[ __ ] everything that is makes no sense
all these insecure people putting their
insecurities on you you got to flush it
out you got to just be whoever the hell
God or whatever the hell you believe in
if you believe in nothing but yourself I
don't care what it is you got to take
everything and throw it
away you have to believe in one thing
and that is
yourself and and I'm not saying don't
believe in God or what you believe in
but right now for you to find greatness
in yourself you're not going to find it
by looking in a book or by even hearing
me I may give you the spark but you've
got to go inside yourself to find it and
that means you got to be quiet shut the
[ __ ] up go in a room
stop talking search your soul search
your mind search your abilities and
you'll find it but if you're not looking
for it you won't find it so you got to
go start your journey and the journey
starts with you finding why the hell am
I here on this planet Earth why am I
here and if you don't know that you will
live the rest of your life searching
always asking the question
why so on that last 19 miles mhm feet
are broken ankles are taped shin splints
stress
fractures what are the words that are
going through your mind are you in the
cookie
jar I'm I'm deep in the cookie jar and
the cookie jar is something that I've
made up of all the failures of my life
all the things that I was I failed and I
went back I failed and I went back and I
finally succeeded all the things that
kicked my ass I put them all in the
cookie jar cuz at times of hell even the
hardest men in times of suffering what
we do is we forget how hard we really
are because that's what suffering is
suffering is a test that's all it is
suffering is the true test of life and
so that cookie jar travels in my brain
so whenever I get put in a situation
where I have poopy pants the what was me
mentality of oh my God life sucks I take
a second I take the one second decision
I step out of my life for one second go
in the cookie jar pull up oh
[ __ ] you went you were in three
hell weeks and finished too one of those
H weeks a guy died in because it was so
bad oh you are a [ __ ]
badass you are I put it back in the
cookie jar and I remember who the [ __ ] I
really am I'm not the kid that got that
was called n I'm not the scared kid this
is who I am it's a reminder of who you
truly are at the core of yourself but
what I was saying to myself the whole
time around that track and it and this
is what I say to myself selft talk and
visualization are the two keys to my
success
I believed for that last time 19 miles I
was indestructible cuz I took myself in
that chair crapping up my back peeing
blood down my leg Shin splin stress
fractures I use all that for motivation
versus negativity I use it for
motivation I I said to myself who on
this [ __ ]
Earth would still be going right now you
are you are you got to be the hardest
[ __ ] on the planet is it true I
don't give a [ __ ] at that time right it
got me to the finish line of that
[ __ ] race I believed it I believe it
today I believed it enough to where my
body said he's not going to stop and
that's I took all the negative things I
need to go to the hospital this and that
and I use all who the hell could even
get out that chair you did who the hell
would even think about taping stress
fractures up you
did all those things I use for
motivation I'm going to use them for
motivation I mean that's like that's so
[ __ ] powerful talk to me about the
dark side it's something that I'm sure
you take a lot of heat for it's
something that I think a lot about um I
believe people should intentionally be
motivated by Beauty and rage and so many
people are afraid of the negative what
power have you found in the darkness
first I before I answer that question I
want to say everybody listen to this um
I'm the happiest man on the planet Earth
so people may take this and as so many
people do we live in a very weakened
Society so when they hear a throwback
guy like me from back in the ancient
days of of G animals they often think
this guy is just whatever so if you
think that some unhappy guy you're wrong
having lived the life I've lived and
seeing the other side not being afraid
to attack what was in front of me has
made me happy say that again and in fact
let me make sure I understood it getting
to the point where you're not afraid to
face the thing on the other side of the
door that wants to attack you has made
you happy right right it's really
powerful I hope people heard that right
that made me very happy so basically I
just don't walk around with a going to
smile my face all the damn time so you
know Merry Christmas but um but
basically what the dark side is is we
all have a cookie jar and we all have a
jar of
[ __ ] that's it's official name it's a
jar of [ __ ] man where [ __ ] just is just
ain't going right and in hell week what
they do in hell week CU this is where I
really went to the dark
side what they do in hell week is they
design hell week to find your
flaws and they do a really good job of
that it's 13 hours of continuous
training you make get two hours of sleep
and they beat the [ __ ] out of you and
find everything wrong with your
mentality and then they start hell week
and that's the beauty of it and for me
I'm not some n you know nasty guy giving
guy you know I don't have a great bit of
talent in anything so what got me
through horrible times was the dark side
was I created my name is David goggin I
created
Goggins Goggins is the guy that can take
anything you put in front of him you
want to break my [ __ ] legs so
be it I have a way of going to a place
like I did in that race where all the
pain and suffering that they put on top
of me in hell week I will reverse that
pain and suffering and will take your
soul so every instructor that put me
through buds my job what drove me was I
wanted you to go home that night after
you beat the living [ __ ] out of me and I
smiled in your face I wanted you to feel
worse than I did and you were going home
to a nice warm bed with your wife or
your kids and a nice meal and I was
still out there in the grip suffering
for another 100 hours I wanted you to
think about me knowing that I'm
comfortable being very
for
Kryptonite no it's power pillars for me
I'm I'm using it for strength I just
flip negative into positive it's all it
is I heard you doing an interview one
time and the person was trying to like
see the sort of empowerment the the
beauty in that and you were like no no
no it's Darkness MH and one of the
reasons that I'm so I'm utterly
fascinated with comic books and one of
the reasons that I'm so intrigued by
Batman is he literally uses the darkness
sickness that he has over what happened
to him and his family to propel him
forward for decades to to keep driving
and it's most people are broken by the
bad things that happen to them but every
now and then there's a goggin there's
somebody who understands how to use that
power to understands how as a human
being it [ __ ] drives you revenge is
powerful like to be able to tap into
that in a way that's controlled right
but to be able to bring it in to use it
to feed feel the energy there is an
intoxication to rage and I don't think
people are honest about it when they
talk about it there's a [ __ ]
intoxication to that and if you can tap
into it and leverage it not get lost to
it which is why I know you always caveat
out by saying look I'm a [ __ ] happy
guy like that's not what we're talking
about right now right but I'm a happy
guy right so you can't get overtaken by
it but it's there and it is so [ __ ]
powerful it's real that's why when I
when you said before this whole thing
started you said I can be me the second
you said can cuss and be me and cussing
people are say man you cuss all the
[ __ ] time why well I hate to say it
the best way for me to get how I feel
across I can't sit and say you know what
I went through hell week and man it was
it was really
hard no that [ __ ] takes your
damn Soul rips it inside out and then
they say now we're going to [ __ ]
start it it it allows me to express
right where I was at at a point of my
life if I don't give you all of me why
the hell am I here why how will you
learn from me people take so much
offense to me you will never learn from
people if we always tap dance around the
truth oh God I love that we tap dance
around the truth by finding the right
words so I don't hurt you because you
have thin skin no tighten up people it's
okay trust me it's okay you might be
called [ __ ] one day it's okay you
might be called some Jewish word or some
[ __ ] or gay word it's okay let them
call you that what are you going to do
now they don't own your life how are you
going to control that now how are you
going to flip it upside down and say
Roger that now I'm going to harness this
[ __ ] and you'll read about me years from
now how that's the question how are you
going to do that thicken your skin
become more of a human being don't be
afraid of the reflection in the mirror
because that's all you can be afraid of
once you overcome the reflection in the
mirror you've done
it I love that man you once said that if
you were growing up in this generation
that you would have a field day because
you would take their souls what did you
mean by that the the younger generation
quits not everybody so I got to I gotta
put that people get their butt hurt so
not everybody most of this generation
quits the second they get talk to you
did this wrong you did this wrong or or
they get yelled at it's so easy to you
know mean to to be great nowadays cuz
everybody else is most people are weak
this this is a softened generation so if
you have any mental toughness any any
ability if you have any fraction of
self-discipline the ability to not want
to do it but still do it people have a a
hard thing understand I hate to run and
and what makes me so crazy it doesn't
need more people go well why do you run
if you hate it what are you talking
about I don't want to take showers and
eat either I hate that too the whole
that's life man that and and and and it
wasn't until I changed that mentality
that I became somebody I hated going to
school so guess what I was dumb as [ __ ]
that's what 1 plus one is two but if you
can get through to doing things that you
hate to do on the other side is
greatness that's what people understand
by me running I am callous in my mind
I'm not training for a race I'm training
for life I'm training for the time when
I get that 2 o'clock in the morning call
that my mom is dead or something happens
tragic in life I don't fall apart I'm
training my mind in my body my spirit so
it's all one so I can handle what life
is going to throw at me because the life
I've lived
it throws a whole bunch at you and if
you're not physically and mentally
prepared for that you're just going to
crumble and you're good for nobody talk
to me about what it takes to be on one
side of a door in Iraq or anywhere
knowing on the other side of the door
people who are not afraid of you they're
ready for you to come in and you still
have and they have guns and you still
have to breach that door that's that's a
great question it
it that's a very scary situation when
you are
on one side of the door and your mind is
racing because on the other side of that
door it could be no one it could be four
guys with four
AK-47s that that door you're about to
open could be booby trapped so once you
open it boom your legs are gone so
there's a thousand things you think
about when you're the first guy second
guy third guy getting ready to go in a
room and flood it and that's why I talk
about the warrior mentality and that's
why so many people are lost when I start
talking you
have the right you're lucky that you
don't have to think like Warriors think
you're very privileged I chose this
world to be a warrior and I and I would
choose it again if I came back to this
world but the mentality of a warrior is
very different than the normal mentality
you must be that person on that door
getting ready to open it thinking to
yourself if if I die so be
it the only way you can go in that door
is knowing there's a great chance you're
going to die like being a seal you train
with live ammo you jump out of airplane
every every everything you do you could
die so to be a warrior why people don't
understand me I'm glad you don't
understand me Merry Christmas good on
you because being a warrior takes a
whole different
mindset a whole different mindset to
know that there's a a great chance I may
not being in like I was in for 21 years
I'm lucky I'm very lucky that I'm alive
able to talk to you able to still run
but when you sign up on that DT line to
be a like a seal your mentality changes
I may not live you got to accept that
and that's the mentality you have and
that's what makes you a warrior if
you're scared to die you're a bad
Warrior and so what do you use to push
through is that is that a goggin's
moment is that uh finding the Darkness
I'm going through hell I'll become the
devil if I have to like what what is
that moment what are you pulling up
inside I'm pulling up a lot of the the
uh dark side of me but I'm also looking
at the guys to my left and to my right
realizing that um we're here together
man and I have to uh I have to be strong
for them and they got to be strong for
me a lot of people either you like me or
you don't even in the SEAL Teams but
when you get to that door or you get on
that mission or you get in that op all
that shit's out the door man you know
you you do it honestly I mean people say
all the time in these movies and [ __ ]
you you really out there fighting for
that guy beside you and you can't be a
coward because you know what this how
look at everything I do now in life and
this sums it
up I hated jumping out of airplanes I
hated shooting guns I hated it the job
as a Navy SEAL but I did it because I
wanted to change my
myself everything I do I'm not really
comfortable doing but if you choose to
go that route to go be a Navy
SEAL you might as well go be the hardest
[ __ ] in the world because if
you're choosing to do something you have
two routes you can go there and be a
little a little weak person and get
through barely and that's your
reputation or you can go
through the hardest guy you can possibly
be in that's your reputation so my whole
thing is if you're going to choose to
open that [ __ ] door in Iraq or
Afghanistan open the [ __ ] and go
in hard because they're going to
Remember You by slowly opening it and
peeking in so if you're going to open it
and you made the mind to open it don't
crack it open open the [ __ ] door go
in that's what life if you Choo to do if
you're choosing to do something attack
it because they're going to remember you
is not attacking it so I want to be
remembered you can hate me but one thing
you can't say about me
I didn't attack it so that's the
mentality you have if you're going to do
something you might as well attack it
because you can do it anyway right do
you use that in civilian life like do
you still employ that I'm going to
attack it I'm going to take their souls
like how does that play out in a non um
combat zone it still works for me in in
life as far as attacking things because
uh no matter what I want to you know no
matter what Avenue I choose I want to be
the very best and the very best may not
be be I'm number one the very best is
that I leave everything inside of me out
there so attacking is not like oh I want
to win this or win that or be the best
the best is I'm I'm I'm running against
myself and everything I do and and
that's and that's what I attack I attack
myself I'm always questioning myself I'm
always holding myself accountable talk
to me about the accountability mirror so
the accountability mirror is something
that I
kind of came up with in high school like
I said I started shaving my head when I
was 16 and I got caught up in trying to
impress so many people because no one
liked me so I developed so many
different identities let me Sag My Pants
you know let me okay let me pull my
pants up let me let me talk this way or
act this way or be this way or whatever
the hell it may be God dog so many
different things I did to try to fit in
with so many different
groups that when you look in the mirror
that's the one person you can't lie to
so every morning I would shave my head
thanking God I would reflect back on
some of the lies I may have told
somebody or some of the ways I acted I
didn't feel comfortable doing and I did
it to impress other normal people the
key where there as normal everyday
people I was trying to make other people
like me how pathetic is that so I this
mirror would always tell me my like my
reflection would say God you are a
pathetic man
how does that feel every day to be this
way so I would just start having myself
accountable how how did I attack today
how did I attack yesterday and if I
didn't do something I was proud of I
write down a sticky note and I would fix
it so then my senior year in high school
it was a totally different David Goggins
can you give an example of something
that you wrote down and fixed all right
there was a lunch table that I you know
I wanted to sit the cool guy lunch table
man I want you know even though
everybody's calling me a [ __ ] all the
time I wanted to to try to act like
somebody I wasn't so I could fit in and
I sold my soul to the devil you know
trying to act like no I'm I'm David
[ __ ] Goggins that's who I am and so I
wrote down on a piece of paper [ __ ] the
table sit by your [ __ ]
self and that's what I did and guess
what
happened my table became a table people
started sitting at because a whole bunch
of people in that lunchroom felt exactly
like I did I I I had a laundry list of
things that I just I write down and this
fix so I write it down and fix it were
there things that you look to for
um Role Models people that you were like
taking ideas from like why pull your
pants up if that's the popular style
like what was giving either you were the
single most insightful person I've ever
met which by the way is entirely
possible having listened to enough of
your material or like you had a treasure
Trove of people that gave you great
ideas even if they were like fictional
or movie or you know athletes or
whatever but it was funny man one one
movie I watched all the time was Rocky
great choice Rocky
one and I related to Rocky a lot because
of uh kind of you know one of a smart
guy just tried real hard and the one
scene that I related a lot of my life to
still to this day was Rocky one round 14
and this is where I got taken Souls from
if you look at round 14 of Rocky one
Apollo is beating the [ __ ] out of rocky
rocky falls down in his Corner Mickey
saying stay down stay down Rocky do hear
a [ __ ] soul Apollo after he knocked
him down turns around hands in the air
like I finally knocked down this animal
right Apollo doesn't know it but Rocky
is getting up Apollo turns around the
second Rocky gets up and Apollo looks at
Rocky and he Apollo looks at him with
the look of like Rocky just took his
soul he he Apollo shakes his head and
Rocky has his gloves and emotions
towards Apollo come on [ __ ] I'm
still here and this song comes on that I
played so when I brought the [ __ ] the
Ginsburg of Royals records it took me 17
hours to do 430 pull-ups I listened to
one one song for 17 hours 2 minutes and
seconds I listen to that song for 17
hours wow non-stop on
repeat so the image in my mind of a man
was not one that
had earrings sagged his pants I I I had
this image in my head and I was going to
fulfill that and I I I didn't do any
Trends I stopped trending I stopped
being this guy who whatever was new [ __ ]
it that's not what I believe in I'm
doing this this is what I want to be
this is what I'm going to be so it's
incredible um how do you experience
Beauty and joy in your life what
situations do you put yourself in what
makes you laugh what uh what's the fun
stuff for
you it's funny you say that um I I just
retired from the military November 2015
and I was going and going and going and
going and I never really I was a a happy
guy but I'm never in the moment of like
sitting back and I want to travel here
to have fun or do this do that I've
never been that person but the first
time I really got a chance to experience
true happiness and true peace was I was
like so what I did to myself to become
who I am today it it takes a great toll
on your body so I believe God gave me
time to rest and he took me out of
commission not even the mind of goggin
could get me back up so I had about a
good six seven months where I was out
and when I was out I had time to reflect
on all I had accomplished and that was
the first time in my life where I sat
back and said wow cuz only I I may be
telling you some of the story I know the
exact
truth of how bral my life was and how I
shouldn't be on this show today and how
the mind and how beautiful it is so what
brings me joy and happiness is knowing
how beautiful the mind
is and I'm one of the few
people that didn't read about it didn't
experience it through some some drug I
got to experience the beauty of true
[ __ ]
willpower true [ __ ] you I'm going to
fail I'm going to [ __ ] fail I'm going
to [ __ ] fail I'm going to [ __ ]
fail and I will
succeed just me talking about that gives
me a feeling I know what I
did and I don't need to travel somewhere
or to have this or have that I have it
all here in my
mind the beauty is remembering this
young dumb what people called
[ __ ] is now where I'm at today and
that is when you finally get to that
point for me it's for Everlasting peace
I do need I I could die right now on
this show and I'll be happy
Ma so that's that's my happiness is is
is my reflection on the suffering of my
journey knowing I never quit nor was I
guided by anybody on this
Earth I was Guided by something much
more powerful and I listened and I chose
the path of most resistance Talent not
required love that you've said that you
live the life of a monk mhm what does
what does that mean what does that look
like why do you do that um so I stretch
out every day for least two hours I
don't drink I don't go out my regimen is
I wake up have oatmeal Run come back hit
the weights um I'm a big Sports guy I
don't leave the house if at all but to
do stuff like this and I stress out at
night time I
find people I trust which is a very
small group of people people who are
honest and true to me people who will
die for me and I'll die for them which
is a [ __ ] small sure and everybody
else man you know do you and I stay to
myself and I let you do you I don't
judge people I don't criticize you you
want to be a douchebag and being ass and
not love this country do whatever you
want to do I don't care man I I fought
for this country for you to do you and I
am all about you doing you cuz I'm going
to [ __ ] do me and I'm going to do me
until I'm [ __ ] dead and I believe I I
earned the right A lot of people haven't
earned the right just because you live
in this country I mean you earned the
right you got to you got to live a
little bit live and then have something
to say or shut the [ __ ] up you
know so if you had this may be
impossible to answer but if you had um
that same kid from earlier he wants to
take that first step you want him to go
experience some life what one specific
thing would you tell him to go do I
first asked the kid who are you at the
core of your soul and if he can can't
answer that question our conversation's
over I can't say [ __ ] to them right if
you don't know who you are if you don't
know who you are I can't tell you who
you are what's the next phase of your
life look like I I you can't imagine how
intrigued I am to watch you over the
next 5 to 10
years well honestly I've I'm blessed
enough to have survived the life I lived
and to come out the other side with a
bunch of knowledge so hopefully I can
help people that believe that they're
much less than what they truly
are help them find greatness in
themselves and greatness isn't running
200 miles at a time or doing 4,000
pullups or being a seal greatness is
whatever the hell you dreamed of in your
own mind you got to first see it you got
to First create this Vision in your mind
and then that's when I come into play
once you create this Vision in your
mind it's how am I going to get there
now and that's when I come into play But
first you got to create your own vision
and then it's not
external it's the the vision created is
inside of you so until you create that
I'm I'm I'm nobody to you are you
writing a
book I'm slowly writing a book right now
it's taking me four or five years cuz
I've so many things to talk about it's G
to be several probably several books but
um the first book will probably about my
life story how I came up and um a few
Lessons Learned along the way but you
know I have so much to talk about so
much to say just to give people a lot
more than hope
so all right before my last question
where can these guys find you online
David goins.com you know um Instagram is
David gogin or Facebook's David goggin
David goggin you know you'll find me go
on there look for David Goggins Google
me they will find you there's so much
amazing stuff on you all right so last
question what is the impact that you
want to have on the world the impact I
want to have on the world
is it's a great question man and it's a
question that I've been asked many times
and I have several answers for it but
the biggest one is we're all we are all
great no matter if if you think
[Applause]
literally felt like I should be doing
this in a bucket of ice water or
something and I'm actually only mean
that sort of tongue and cheek it um I
fasted through most of my prep because
it felt right to put myself in a more
difficult situation while I was doing
that uh it really makes me want to find
more ways to go through hardship and
that's one of the things I really hope
you guys take away from him is how you
can totally create yourself and I
experienced him in Reverse so I saw all
of the amazing things that he had done
all of the that he had won going through
hell week three times the um succeeding
in three different branches of the
military nobody ever doing that before
the pull-up record all of it and then
found out that he had struggled through
everything and you realize how
insidiously and how quietly the idea
that somebody is just better than you
they're more genetically gifted than you
slips into your mind as a way of letting
you off the hook not as a way of making
them more extraordinary but you make
them extraordinary as a way of letting
you off the hook and so hearing all the
things that he had to go through and one
thing that didn't even come up in the
show he did most of the amazing
endurance stuff before he had his heart
fixed so his heart was literally
existing at 60% capacity he still did
all of that this is a man who peed blood
and got up and kept running for 30 more
miles if that kind of thing doesn't
inspire you to look Inward and to really
take control of your own story to
realize that you can sculpt yourself
into anything you
want it doesn't have to be
goggin but to see in that the power of
both Beauty and rage to see in that the
malleability of the human Spirit to see
in that the power of the human Spirit to
turn you into anyone that you want to
become that is this man's story and I
hope that you guys heard it there was so
many incredible things so many times
that I got the chills so many times that
I saw another tool that I could take and
use in my own life and I hope you guys
got that much out of it as I did all
right if you haven't already be sure to
subscribe and until next time my friends
be legendary take
care hey everybody thanks so much for
joining us for another episode of impact
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[Music]
friends