Why did I choose this book to read?
I chose to pick up this book simply because I was curious about what David Goggins had to say. I’ve heard of him before and knew he was a hard motherf****r who ran ultramarathons and set a pull-up world record in 24 hours - 4030, which is a number that my mind can’t even grasp. Then I’ve heard a podcast episode, where he talked about his mindset and challenges, and I became curious what else he had to say. Also after my second year at Tiimiakatemia Prague / Inovativní podnikání I was kinda lost, I thought I had my goals set, but in my 2nd year I explored more areas than just photo business, like leadership, event organisation and more. I expanded my abilities but it left me with a very difficult question: What now? Which way do I want to go? And this question kinda got to me and I needed to set my mind to more work minded and motivated state to workout the answer, or at minimum start doing something again!
Notes and Findings
The book is David’s life story. From his harsh upbringing, teen years as the only black person in his class, his dream to join the US Marines, failures along the way to his ultramarathon success and defeat. I listened to it as an audiobook and it contained his commentary and conversations with the narrator Adam Skolnick which was very interesting because it clarified some aspects of his story and challenges (I recommend you listen to it this way as well).
The book Is divided into 10 challenges (chapters). Each representing a technique that David used or developed to overcome some obstacle or achieve some goal he set for himself and reprogram his mind to be able to fulfil those objectives.
Challenge 1: Inventory of Excuses
What do you say to yourself when you fail? When you don’t do something? First step to achieving anything is to admit when you make excuses and what exactly is challenging you. Create a list of all the things you say to yourself to justify not overcoming problems. It is imperative that you are brutally honest with yourself. Don’t hold back and don’t be nice to yourself, being nice won’t help you realise this stuff.
What I did:
I had to be honest with myself. I didn’t do anything really productive since the end of the semester. I was lazy, procrastinated constantly, telling myself that I needed a break and always put back any work towards working out what I want to do next year. I added couple more regarding my physical abilities, that I haven’t been working out because of my busy schedule, which was not true. You get the picture.
Challenge 2: Accountability Mirror
„If you look into the mirror and see someone who is obviously overweight, that means you’re fucking fat!“
Harsh but true. Most of us start our morning before a mirror and in this mirror we see ourselves for who we truly are. David talked about how he needed to lose weight to join the US Marines, that was his big dream. He was massively overweight and had no work ethic. So he started to write his weightless goals on Post-Its and put them on the mirror, where they were visible every morning. It reminded him of his objectives while he could look himself in the eye and asses if he is getting closer to those goals.
This principle can be used in every area you want to grow in. The honesty of a mirror helps you realise what you have to do to achieve your goals. Write objectives for like week, when you achieve them, write a new one and stick it to your mirror. When you fail, you have to look at yourself and try again until that sticker is replaced.
What I did:
I created my version of accountability mirror. Not with post-its but a google spreadsheet with couple challenges that I have to fulfil every day until the start of September. It worked quite well so far, apart from one week when I got sick and was not able to do some of the challenges because of my health. It helped me to create habits and somewhat good work ethic, but there is room for improvement. I also set a few funny punishments, that get me out of my comfort zone so it is a win win even if I fail my challenge. My friends have access to this spreadsheet, so they keep me in check.
Challenge 3: Step outside your comfort cone
I don’t think, that I have to explain the principle of this challenge to anyone in Tiimiaktemia. It is one of our core values. You won’t grow inside your comfort zone.
Technique in the book goes as follows: Write a list of all things you don’t like to do or make you uncomfortable in your journal and than do one each day. Our mind works the same as calluses on our hands while climbing or working out - you get used to it and adjust.
What I did:
I started to take a cold shower every morning to create discomfort and stress early in the day so anything that comes at me later won’t throw me off too much. I started to exercise on a daily basis alone - I always played a team sport and most workouts we did in a group so working-out on my own is a bigger mental battle for me. I haven’t adjusted to it yet and I have to still push myself to do all sets. After I will overcome this I would like to find some work area in which I will challenge myself. So somewhere in September I hope to start with a new comfort zone expansion.
Challenge 4: Taking souls
David was in marines training and already failed two times. His third time was his last attempt, he struggled, the supervisors noticed and tried to push him into quitting. But he set his mind not just to complete the course, but do it in unseen fashion. He and his boat squat had to carry boats and logs while running a long routes. On those runs they pushed themselves to show the higher position officers a middle finger by outrunning them (they did not carry anything) and then asking for more. The officers thought they were crazy and weren’t able to break them so they gave up. David Goggins and his company took their souls.
You can do similar thing in any competitive event you attend. When you have doubters, perform better than aver before so they will not believe their eyes, do something they would never be able to. The look on their faces is priceless.
What I did:
Unfortunately I haven’t found an opportunity to take any souls yet. But when it comes in an area I want to excel at I will be ready.
Challenge 5: Visualise your Goals
You know what your goal is. Do you know how it is going to look like, when you achieve it? How are you going to feel? Who will be there? Where will you be? What obstacles you had to overcome? How it feels pushing thru them? Imagine all those things to cement your mind in the fact, that if you will do everything you can. You are very likely to achieve your objective.
What I did:
I am trying to use visualisation in my decision process of what to do now.
I imagine the world where I succeed in building a proper media production house I am busy, the work of our company and the team within it is on billboards and movies, our company structure is very flat and agile and there are good vibes.
In the other scenario I go on to become a team leader in a large company with stable revenue and with a mission and vision that I completely support. Me and my team are very efficient and the achievements are celebrated. People in this firm want to experiment, grow and fail even tough it is a large establishment.
I have not made my decision yet, but I realised that no matter which way I’ll go (could be completely different) in the end, I know how to make it work and give all my efforts towards success.
Challenge 6: The Cookie Jar
The cookie jar is interesting metaphor. When you take a cookie from a real cookie jar and eat it, your body gets an energy boost. This cookie jar is for your mind. Write down all failures and challenges, that you overcame on your life. No matter how small. Remember how it felt to overcome those struggels, opponents and obsticles? Good, right? Chase that feeling, you are capable of pushing thru while it didn’t went your way, so you can do that again. Challenges and failures are important for your growth.
What I did:
I don’t want to share all my cookies. But the most influential one for me is the struggles on my Pyrenees thru-hike with my friends. The physical and mental toll and battles that it took to complete our „from ocean to sea“ journey were immense. This experienced made me realise, that to win and achieve your goal takes time, consistency, pushing beyond the limits you thought you had and not forgetting people around you. We completed our goal of hiking 800km from the Atlantic to the Mediterranean with over 30km vertical and it was incredible feeling. I cherish this memory because it reminds me, that I am capable of things I previously thought were impossible for me.
Challenge 7: Remove the Governor
David states, that for the most part we don’t push ourselves and operate on a maximum of 40% of our capabilities. These capabilities are behind this lock, that is our mind. He experienced this while he ran ultramarathons. He felt horrible, struggled and thought he was going to die on one of the courses, but pushed thru and caught a „second wind“ and finished the race among the very best. It was a constant mental battle. But it was only that - mental battle. Most people are not willing to suffer and push their minds. That is what made him different.
How to do it safely and methodically? Increase your repetition of any action that you want to master each week by 5 - 10%. You did 200 push-ups, next week do 220. You red 15 pages today? Read 17 tomorrow. By continuously increasing your efforts you will go beyond what you thought you were capable of.
What I did:
I am slowly starting to increase my exercises. But more relevantly I am increasing the amount of pages read each week, because I am a bit behind schedule on my book points.
Challenge 8: Scheduling
I already wrote an essay on time-management so this is very condensed version of a few good rules to follow. David recommends three week challenge. Week 1 - monitor and journal your day and routines. Week 2 - Build a schedule to optimize your time. Use 15–30 minute block intervals. When you work, only focus on one thing at a time. Week 3 - Your schedule should be optimised.
What I did:
Honestly I do not use the 15 minute blocks technique. I stick to the time-management methods I know work for me - every day I have 3 biggest tasks written down, anything that can be done in five minutes I do instantly and properly plan my day in my Moleskine notebook.
Challenge 9: Be Uncommon against Uncommon
How do you stand out? What is your story? Who are the people around you?
Everyone is different, but all of us want to be great, perhaps the greatest at something. To stand out you have to be willing to do more than the next guy. Surround yourself with people who are uncommon and special. Inspire each other to develop and sustain greatness in your chosen field.
What I did:
This one I did kind of randomly and not knowingly. I joined Tiimiakatemia Prague almost two years ago and by doing that I am now around people that challenge me. They are relentless and will be the top of their respective fields one day.
Challenge 10: After Action Reports
As student of Tiimiakatemia I am familiar with a lot of different forms of reflection. This one is probably one of the more straight forward ones.
When you fail at something, write down what you did, your mistakes and positives. From this, make a list of things you can fix and how. Than schedule your next attempt.
When you succeed, write down what went well and save it. Learn from your previous mistakes and accomplishments.
What I did:
AARs are something very familiar to me. We did one when we decided to dissolve Fluego and I took quite a lot from that and now I am working on fixing the mistakes and missteps we did.
Ending
I really recommend this book to anyone, who wants to change mindsets. David Goggins’s story is incredible. From where he came from to what he does now made me realise lots of things beyond what I describe here and what is appropriate and relevant for this essay. It is really inspiring, but also contains practical and usable info and techniques. The man who’s story I heard is extreme, but I needed extreme.
