Winter is Coming
Why do you grind? Why put yourself through torture and push yourself so hard? Why not take it easy? Relax, they all say.
I’ve been listening to this interview with David Goggins, a former Navy SEAL.
His story is gut wrenching. He endured a horrible childhood and witnessed many atrocities that no doubt left an imprint on him. His stepfather was a violent drunk who beat him and his mother badly. He was threatened at school and the authorities offered no help. He had no power to change all this, all he could do was watch and hope to survive. Later, he tells us that he had no special abilities or advantages. In fact, for many years he barely got by. As a young adult, he had an uninspiring job spraying for cockroaches, accepting mediocrity in every arena of his life.
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It’s remarkable how he transformed himself from a 300 pound slob to the toughest man alive. When he got the call to report for school, he had less than 90 days to make the cut. The weight needed for acceptance into the SEAL class was under 200, which he somehow was able to do. He has completed many ultra marathons, which are each over 100 miles in length. He set the world pull-up record of over 4000 pull-ups in 24 hours, an enormous test of strength and perseverance.
He demonstrates daily his willingness to “do things that suck”. He demonstrates his willingness to endure suffering daily on his channel, with short video clips of his workouts. Yet he stays humble. He shares these clips because he wants to show others what is possible when you set your mind to a task and are resolved to overcome it. He lives what he speaks — it’s a willingness to accept pain and suffering to serve a higher purpose.
When you see yourself as competing with yourself, constantly striving to improve, to do 10% better than you did last week, you unlock new depths of potential. You do not know what you are capable of unless you train. You must practice and get in the game. There is meaning that can be inherently found in suffering. The reward, the payoff is the knowledge that he can overcome any obstacle put in front of him. He is unleashing the savage within. He cannot be broken. He feeds the indomitable spirit, facing grueling conditions that would break most. He can sit in a room with suffering and deal with it. He reaches new heights of accomplishment by refusing to quit.
You don’t need much. No special equipment, training or program is necessary. Excuses are the only thing you need to demolish. The act of doing, and repeatedly doing what is hard is what forges your capability.
The mindset of making preparations for a harder season of life (winter) builds us into a stronger person. He talks about the willingness to wage war on yourself. He shows you that you must be willing to transform your body and mind to overcome challenges. Beliefs can be built. Once you commit to a decision, you become unstoppable. You deal with obstacles one at a time, as they come, and do not relent until the mission is met.
Winter is coming. Have you prepared?
