In the past few years David Goggins has taken the media by storm. From social media clips to his best-selling book, his story and aura has spread like wildfire. If you don’t know who he is, he’s a former 300lb bug exterminator, turned navy seal, ultra marathon runner, pull-up record holder, paramedic, and more. He spends his days doing what he calls “staying hard” and “grinding” because he does not want to regress into his former self, even if he will never look like it again.

For many, Goggins is a crazy person that pushes his body to unnecessary limits or, like others, uses social media to promote motivational content for a revenue stream. I find that his mindset tends to be disregarded because it is too intense for people with busy lives. While I listen, I repurpose his ideas for applicable use in a balanced personal and professional life.

Goggins has two best-selling books that explain the many hardships in his life and some outlines for how he defeated his inner demons. I am not going to reinforce these methods or ideologies; you will have to go read his books for that. In this blog post I want to share two ideas I formed outside of the typical athletic “grinding” rhetoric that I believe are essential to a meaningful life: Self-Awareness and Embracing Crazy.

Self-Awareness

There were many points in David Goggins’ life that required introspection for personal development. He grew up in an abusive household and struggled with ADHD in school, which ultimately plagued his long-term goals in adulthood. Recognizing that as a root of his mental demons was very powerful for him to ultimately reach his goals. However, what resonates with me is his continued implementation of self-awareness in his late 40s. He recognizes that he is a multi-millionaire with no need to continue his grind, but he knows that the work he puts in is where he finds peace, not in the reward of his achievements. Goggins explains his new form of grinding on the Huberman Lab Podcast which manifests in the form of being a top-tier paramedic. He knows he cannot be a navy seal or ultramarathon runner forever, so he turns to the books and learns human biology to fill the gap. Work for him now looks like several hours of studying after a couple hours of training and recovery. Still difficult, but not what the mind associates with Goggins’ legacy.

Everyone could use this lesson in their personal and professional lives. I think that learning or trying new things every year is absolutely necessary to find peace or so-called happiness in life. What I mean by this is not the typical “gain financial freedom” spiel, but rather a means for mental clarity. When people become stagnate in their job, or personal life, it becomes very difficult to open new doors to escape. Our conscience becomes clouded with doubts and fears. But if we continue to find new activities, or knowledge, we are more apt to develop new skills, new relationships, and new ideas and therefore be more likely to achieve new heights. You will discover the truth of the cliché “it’s not about the destination, it’s about the journey.” In my experience, trying new things is always beneficial. This blog is even an example, I started writing because I wanted to share my knowledge of fly-fishing and in the process, I thought “why not add other disciplines too?” And in the blink of an eye, I am doing something that a few years ago would never have been a thought. Even though I have no income from a blog post, I continue to polish writing skills, share knowledge, evoke memories, and more. It may look different for you but if you have an idea, why not try it.

The Word “Crazy”

One of the most disliked professors by my peers was one of my favorites and I could not pinpoint the reason. Recently, I discovered some insight behind why I enjoyed his class when I likened his teachings to David Goggins’ mindset. My professor taught marketing, a fairly benign college subject. But he would disparage students for their lack of effort, or lack of specificity in their answers. He had an eccentric way of teaching the subject that can be off putting, just like Goggins is. Both used the word “crazy” when explaining success in two very different areas of expertise. The professor referred to crazy while teaching branding and what I understood as “thinking outside the box.” While Goggins references crazy because that’s how people label him and his training message.

Often, the word crazy has a negative connotation and therefore the underlying messages are disregarded by listeners of the crazy professor and the crazy athlete. However, if we replace the word crazy with other language, we can find a simpler truth in their message. What I believe they mean by crazy is the external profile one creates when others become uncomfortable with your actions.

In marketing, I imagine new ideas that get shrugged off by others. There’s plenty of examples of a lag in marketing due to new trends. Implementing something new is more difficult than continuing the status quo, and often requires losses to profit, therefore integration is disregarded. Social media marketing, for one, was met with skepticism throughout the 2000s and 2010s and now it has become one of fastest growing platforms for marketers. By 2030, it is expected to be a $1.5 trillion-dollar market. The newest social media platform, Tik Tok actually outperformed all others by raking in $305 million in revenue in Q4 of 2022. It is a market where crazy ideas are tried and tested every day. Even today we can see the skepticism reformed. There are doubts about the role of AI in marketing material and I think the misunderstanding of the technology will create the discomfort that I touched on earlier. In my opinion, this will form a gap between the companies that integrate quickly vs. the companies that disregard technology.

To further my point on macro-scale, I look at the R&D spend of many Fortune 500 companies. These companies spend massive amount of money to one up their competition, often through innovation. Innovation is inherently uncomfortable and accomplished by few. Apple and Steve Jobs are a great example of embracing the uncomfortable. Many employees of Steve Jobs found his leadership harsh and demanding. His perfectionist mindset could have easily been labeled crazy, and probably was by many. However, what this created was a group of individuals that created one of the most powerful companies the world has ever seen.

 For Goggin’s, it’s the folks who disregard his messages because he’s insane or “1 of 1” when in reality he is not an alien, he actually did what others are afraid of doing. Being closed off to someone that achieved so much cannot be the right thing to do.

What this means for you or anyone else is that embracing your own crazy is necessary. If you want to push yourself in the gym, or in the board room, it’s okay to be an outlier if your ideas are well-prepared and thought out. After all, failing is usually the first step towards success.

Using Goggins as a Role Model

 All in all, I think using David Goggins as a role model is a beneficial thing to do. For many people his mindset is very intense and hard to follow. Therefore, I advise using his messages in a reformed manner like I do in this post. One of the best pieces of advice I ever received was along the lines of this “always listen carefully to a speaker even if you disagree with their main message because there can be helpful points within their message that you can use in the future.” There is so much we can learn from Goggins and tuning him out because he runs at 4am until his legs hurt, or his lack of empathy, prevents us from learning and implementing some of his traits that created success.

References

Huberman A. (2023). David Goggins: How to Build Immense Inner Strength [Video]. YouTube. David Goggins: How to Build Immense Inner Strength – Huberman Lab

Wong, B. (2023). “Top Social Media Statistics and Trends of 2024.” Forbes, Forbes Magazine, http://www.forbes.com/advisor/business/social-media-statistics/.