FORCE YOURSELF TO SUFFER: The Ultimate Willpower Guide - David Goggins Motivational Speech

I'm going to share a little Neuroscience tidbit but I think it's one that you'll appreciate um most people don't know this but there's a brain structure called the anterior mid singulate cortex but what's interesting about this brain area is there now a lot of data mhm in humans showing that when people do something they don't want to do like add 3 hours of exercise per day or per week or when people who are trying to diet and lose weight resist eating something right when people do anything that they don't want to do it's not about

adding more work it's about adding more work that you don't want to do yes this brain area gets bigger yep now here's what's especially interesting about this brain area to me and by the way I'm only learning this recently MH because it's new data but there's a lot of it the anterior mid singulate cortex is smaller in obese people it gets bigger when they diet it's larger in athlet it's especially large or grows larger in people that see themselves as challenged and overcome some challenge right and in people that live a very long time mhm

this area keeps its size in many ways scientists are starting to think of the anterior mid singulate cortex not just as one of the seats of willpower right but perhaps actually the seat of of the will to live and when I learned about the anterior mid singulate cortex I was like almost out of my seat and I've been in the Neuroscience game since I was 20 you're the same age and I was so pumped cuz I've heard of the amydala fear prefrontal cortex it's planning and action I could tell you every brain area and every

I teach neuro Anatomy to magical students but when I started seeing the data on the anter mid singulate cortex I was like whoa this is interesting Y and all the data point to the fact that we can build this area up y but that as quickly as we build it up if we don't continue to invest in things that are hard for us that we don't want to do that's the part that feels so gogin esque sir to me that we don't want to do like if you love the ice bath yeah I love the

ice bath you go from 1 minute to 10 minutes guess what your anterior mid singulate cortex did not grow none but if you hate the cold water if you're afraid of drowning and you get into water and put your head on Y and survive then the ENT mid singulate cortex gets bigger but if you don't do it the next day or if you do it the next day and you enjoy it cuz hey hey I did it yesterday woohoo happy me Merry Christmas as you say Merry Christmas guess what the an mid singulate cortex shrinks

again yep to me this is one of the most important discoveries that Neuroscience has ever made mhm because it's that I don't want to do something but do it anyway that's right that grows this area and it's almost like I have a a friend he's been sober 30 years from alcohol and he always says you know the amazing thing about addiction is there's a cure the problem is it only works one day at a time yep and so you have to renew it every day that's right so the an mid singulate cortex to me when

I learned about it two two things went off in my head whoa this is super interesting and two I got to tell David Goggins about this and I waited until now to tell you because I felt like I well for obvious reasons I wanted to tell you and I wanted to tell you here well I love that because that's how I've lived my entire life I don't know anything about that but people go man you have such a strong will it's something that you build like I never forgot I was on a podcast one time

and this dude goes you were blessed with a strong mind like the hell you talking about it's blessed with a strong mind you that's something that you have to develop you develop that over years decades of suffering and going back into the suffer that's why a lot of people who graduate Navy SE training they want know like in my I talk about very openly all the time a lot of guys don't go don't want to go back into that water don't want to go back into the hard stuff maybe not in anything hard anything hard

in life once you get through it it's like you become a p like how many PS you know want to go back to p camp none when something sucks so bad in life this is on this that we're talking about now very few people want to go back they're happy they graduated I realized I'm the same way I don't want to go back I have to go back I must go back because that is exactly where all the knowledge of my life is exists was back there and what you're exactly what you're talking about well

I I didn't know anything about this but how I grew a will was constantly doing these things to now it's just life I wake up while I still sucks it's just life you don't sit back and like oh my God like I have days I don't want to do but I know I'm going to do it I know from years of just doing it so that that that's that's beautiful and this is why I came on here with you today and I'm I'm glad you're talking about this because human beings need to hear this they

need to stop hearing these hacks on this and that there's noing hack bro there's noing hack yeah you may this and that and saunas and all this that they yeah it's great there is noing life hack to grow that thing how do you grow it do it and do it and do it and do it that's the hack the hack is going toing suck and that's what I realized that's what I realized life that's why I wanted to come on here today I didn't want to come on here and talk about noing passion and purpose

and how to get the out of bed and how to hit a [ __ ] alarm clock and all this catchphrase [ __ ] cuz that wasn't how I lived it wasn't how I lived I lived I woke up like every human being does and goes man I'm a [ __ ] piece of [ __ ] today how the hell is this going to work work out for me and you fight that and you fight that you don't override it it's no override button it's the conversation in your in your head so how do you

do that we don't have enough these conversations about the real conversation that every human being is having and they have no idea how to get out of it but they do it's that right there man you got to build your will how do you build your will exactly what you said man exactly what you he said your knee looks pretty bad Goggins no [ __ ] [ __ ] doc with two days to go in walk week I'd come by medical for a followup the doctor rolled up my camo pants and when he gave my

right kneecap a gentle squeeze pain seized my brain but I couldn't show it I was playing a role I was the beat up but otherwise healthy Bud student ready for the fight and I couldn't so much as Grimace to pull it off I already knew the knee wased and that the odds of getting through another five months of training on one leg Rel low but accepting another roll back meant enduring another hell week and that was way too much to process the swelling hasn't gone down much how's it feel the doctor was playing a role

too seal candidates had a don't ask don't tell agreement with most of the medical staff at Naval special Warfare command I wasn't about to make the doctor's job easier by revealing anything to him and he wasn't going to take caution side and pull the rip cord on a man's dream he lifted his hand and my pain faded I coughed and pneumonia once again rattled in my lungs until I felt the cold truth of his stethoscope on my skin ever since hell week was called I've been coughing up brown knots of mucus for the first two

days I lay in bed day and night spitting them into a Gade bottle where I stored them like so many nickels I could barely breathe and couldn't move much either I may have been a bad [ __ ] in hell week but that [ __ ] was over and I had to deal with the fact of the devil and those instructors branded me too it's all right doc I said a little stiff is all time is what I needed I knew how to push through pain and my body had almost always responded with performance I

wasn't going to quit just because my knee was barking it would come around eventually the doc prescribed medicine to reduce the congestion in my lungs and sinuses and gave me some Motrin for my knee within two days my breathing improved but I still couldn't bend my right leg this would be a problem of all the moments and buds that I thought could break me a not Ty exercise never registered on my radar then again this wasn't theing Boy Scouts this was an underwater not time drill held in the 15 foot section of the pool and

while the pool didn't strike mortal fear into me like it once did being negatively buoyant I knew that any pool Evolution could be my undoing especially those that demanded Treading Water even before hell week we've been tested in the pool we had to perform mock rescues on the instructors and do a 50 your underwater swim without fins on a single breath that swim started with a giant stride into the water followed by a full somersault to sien off any moment whatsoever then without kicking off the side we swam along the lane lines to the end

of our 25 met pool on the far side we were allowed to kick off the wall then swim back when I arrived at the 50m Mark I rose up and gasped for air my heart hammered until my breath smoothed and I grasped that I'd actually passed the first of a series of complicated underwater Evolutions that were supposed to teach us to be calm cool and collected underwater on a breath hoold the not tying Evolution was next in the series and it wasn't about our ability to tie various knots or a way to time our Max

breath hold sure both skills come in handy on amphibian operations but this drill was more about our capacity to juggle multiple stressors in an environment that's not sustainable for human life despite my health I was heading into the drill with some confidence things changed when I started Treading Water that's how the drill began with eight students strung out across the pool moving our hands and legs like egg beers that's hard enough for me on two good legs but because my right knee didn't work I was forced to tread water with just my left that spiked

the degree of difficulty and my heart rate which sa my energy each student had an instructor assigned to them for this Evolution and psychop Pete specifically requested me it was obvious I was struggling and psycho and his bruised Pride were hungry for a little payback with each revolution of my right leg shock WS of pain exploded like fireworks even with psycho eyeballing me I couldn't hide it when I grimaced he smiled like a kid on Christmas morning tie a square knot then a bow line he shouted I was working so hard it was difficult to

catch my breath but psycho didn't give two FS now damn it I gulped air bent from the waist and kicked down there were five knots in the drill all together and each student was told to grab their 8 in slic of rope and tie them off one at a time at the bottom of the pool we were all out of the breath in between but could do as many as all five knots on a single breath the instructor called out the knots but the pacing was up to each student we weren't allowed to use a

mask or goggles to complete the evolution and the instructor had to approve each knot with a thumbs up before we were permitted to surface if they flashed a thumbs down instead we had to retie that knot correctly and if we surfaced before a given knot was approved that meant failure in a ticket home once back at the surface there was no resting or relaxing between tasks treading water was the constant refrain which meant soaring heart rates and the continual burning up of oxygen in the bloodstream for the one-legged man translation the Dives were uncomfortable as

hell and blacking out was a real possibility psycho glared at me through his mask as I worked my knots after about 30 seconds he'd approve both and we surfaced he breathed free and easy but I was gasping and panting like a wet tired dog the pain in my knee was so bad I felt sweat beat up on my forehead when you're sweating in an unheated pool you know sh up I was breathless low on energy and wanted to quit but quitting this Evolution meant quitting butts all together and that wasn't happening oh no are you

hurt Goggins did you get some sand in your [ __ ] psycho [Music] asked I'll bet you can't do the last three knots on one breath he said it with a smirk like he was daring me I knew the rules I didn't have to accept this challenge but that would have made psycho just a little too happy and I couldn't allow that I nodded and kept Treading Water delaying my dive until my pulse evened out and I could score one deep nourishing breath psycho wasn't having it whenever I opened my mouth he splashed water in

my face to stress me out even more a tactic used when trainee started to panic that made breathing impossible go under now or you fail I'd run out of time I tried to gulp some air before my duck dive and tasted a mouth full of psycho Splash Water instead as I dove to the bottom of the pool on a negative breath hold my lungs were damn near empty which meant I was in pain from the jump but I knocked the first one out in a few seconds psycho took his sweet time examining my work my

heart was thrumming like high alert Morse code I felt it flip-flop in my chest like it was trying to break through my rib cage and fly to Freedom psycho stared at the twine flipped it over and perused it with his eyes and fingers before offering a thumbs up in slow motion I shook my head untied the rope and hit the next one again he gave it a close inspection while my chest burned and diaphragm contracted trying to force air into my empty lungs the pain level in my knee was at a 10 Stars gathered in

my peripheral vision those multiple stressors had me teetering like a Jinga Tower and I felt like I was about to black out if that happened I'd have to depend on psycho to swim me to the surface and bring me around did I really trust this man to do that he hated me what if he failed to execute what if my body was too burned out that even a rescue breath couldn't Rouse me my mind was spun with those simple toxic questions that never go away why was I here why suffer when I could quit and

be comfortable again why risk passing out or even death for a fing notot drill I knew that if I succumbed and bolted to the surface my seal career would have ended then and there but in that moment I couldn't figure out why I ever gave a I looked over at psycho he held both thumbs up and sported a big goofy smile on his face like he was watching a damn comedy show his Split Second of pleasure in my pain reminded me of all the bullying and taunts I felt as a teenager but instead of playing

the victim and letting negative emotions sap my energy and force me to the surface a failure it was as if a new light blazed in my brain that allowed me to flip that script time Stood Still as I realized for the first time that I'd always looked at my entire life everything i' been through from the wrong perspective yes all the abuse I'd experienced and the negativity I had to put push through challenged me to the core but in that moment I stopped seeing myself as the victim of bad circumstance and saw my life as

the ultimate training ground instead my disadvantages had been callousing my mind all along and had prepared me for that moment in that pool with psychop Pete I remember my very first day in the gym back in Indiana my Palms were soft and quickly got torn up on the bars because they weren't accustomed to gripping and steal but over time after thousands of reps my Palms built up a thick callus as protection the same principle works when it comes to mindset until you experience hardships like abuse and bullying failures and disappointments your mind will remain soft

and exposed life experience especially negative experiences helps callous the mind but it's up to you where that callous lines up if you choose to see yourself as a victim of circum an into adulthood that callous will become resentment that protects you from the unfamiliar it will make you too cautious and untrusting and possibly too angry at the world it will make you fearful of change and hard to reach but not hard of mine that's where I was as a teenager but after my second hell week I become someone new I fought through so many horrible

situations by then and remained open and ready for more my ability to stay open represented a willingness to fight for my own life which allowed me to withstand Hill storms of pain and use it to callous over my victim's mentality that was gone buried under layers of sweat and hard fcking flesh and I was starting to callous over my fears too that realization gave me the mental Edge I needed to outlast psychop Pete one more time to show him he couldn't hurt me anymore I smiled back and the feeling of being on the edge of

a blackout went away suddenly I was energized the pain faded and I felt like I could stay under all day psycho saw that in my eyes I tied off the last knot at a leisurely Pace glaring at him the whole time he gestured with his hands for me to hurry up as his diaphragm contracted I finally finished he gave me a quick affirmative and kicked to the surface desperate for a breath I took my time joined him topside and found him gasping while I felt strangely relaxed when the chips were down at the pool during

Air Force par Rescue Training I'd buckled this time I won a major battle in the water it was a big victory but the war wasn't over after I passed the not tying Evolution we had 2 minutes to climb out onto the deck get dressed and head back to the classroom during first phase that's usually plenty of time but a lot of us not just me were still healing from hell week and not moving at our typical lightning Pace on top of that once we got through hell week class 231 went through a bit of an

attitude adjustment hell week is designed to show you that a human is capable of much more than you know it opens your mind to the true possibilities of human potential and with that comes a change in your mentality you no longer fear cold water or doing push-ups all day you realize that no matter what they do to you they will never break you so you don't rush as much to make their arbitrary deadlines you know if you don't make it the instructors will beat you down meaning push-ups getting wet and Sandy anything to up the

pain and discomfort quotient but for those of us knuckle draggers still in the mix our attitude was so the be it none of us feared the instructors anymore and we weren't about to rush they didn't like that one damn bit I had seen a lot of beatdowns while it buds but the one we received that day will go down as one of the worst in history we did push-ups until we couldn't pick ourselves up off the deck then they turned us on our backs and demanded flutter kicks each Kick was torture for me I kept

putting my legs down because of the pain I was showing weakness and if you show weakness it is on psycho and SB gep descended and took turns on me I went from push-ups to flutter kicks to bear crawls until they got tired I could feel the moving parts of my knee shifting floating and grabbing every time I B it to do those bear crawls and it was agonizing I moved slower than normal and knew I was broken that simple question bubbled up again why what was I trying to prove quitting seemed the same Choice the

comfort of mediocrity sounded like sweet relief until psycho screamed in my ear move faster [ __ ] once again an amazing feeling washed over me I wasn't focused on outdoing him this time I was in the worst pain of my life but my victory in the pool minutes before came rushing back I'd finally proved to myself that I was a decent enough Waterman to belong in the Navy Seals he stuff for a negatively buoyant Kid that never took a swim lesson in his entire life and the reason I got there was because I put in

the work the pool had been my kryptonite even though I was a far better swimmer as a seal candidate I was still so stressed about water Evolutions that I used to hit the pool after a day of training at least three times a week I scaled the 15 foot fence just to gain after hours access other than the academic aspect nothing scared me as much about the prospects of Butters like the swimming drills and by dedicating time I was able to callous over that fear and hit new levels on under water when the pressure was

on I thought about the incredible power of a callous mind on task as psycho and SBG beat me down and that thought became a feeling that took over my body and made me move as fast as a bear around that pool I couldn't believe what I was doing the intense pain was gone and so were those nagging questions I was putting out harder than ever breaking through the limitations of injury and pain tolerance and riding a second when delivered by a callous mind after the bear crawls I went back to doing flutter kicks and I

still had no pain as we were leaving the pool a half hour later SBG asked gogin what got into your ass to make you Superman I just smiled and left the pool I didn't want to say anything because I didn't yet understand what I now know similar to using an opponent's energy to gain an advantage leaning on your callous mind In the Heat of battle can shift your thinking as well remembering what you've been through and how that has strengthened your mindset can lift you out of a negative brain Loop and help you bypass those

weak onec impulses to give in so you can power through obstacles and when you leverage a callous mind like I did around the pool that day and keep fighting through pain it can help you push your limits because if you accept the pain as a natural process and refuse to give in and give up you will Engage The sympathetic nervous system which shifts your hormonal flow the sympathetic nervous system is your fight or flight reflex it's bubbling just below the surface and when you are lost stressed out or struggling like I was when I was

a down andout kid that's the part of your mind that's driving the bus we've all tasted this feeling before those mornings when going on a run is the last thing you want to do but then 20 minutes into to it you feel energized that's the work of the sympathetic nervous system what I found is that you can tap into it on call as long as you know how to manage your own mind when you indulge in negative selft talk the gifts of a sympathetic response will remain Out Of Reach however if you can manage those

moments of pain that come with maximum effort by remembering what you've been through to get to that point in your life you will be in a better position to persevere and choose fight over flight that will allow you to use the adrenaline that comes with a sympathetic response to go even harder obstacles at work and school can also be overcome with your callous mind in those cases pushing through a given flasho isn't likely to lead to a sympathetic response but it will keep you motivated to push through any doubt you feel about your own abilities

no matter the task at hand there is always opportunity for self-doubt whenever you decide to follow dream or set a goal you are just as likely to come up with all the reasons why the likelihood of success is low blame it on theed up evolutionary wiring of the human mind but you don't have to let your doubt into the cockpit you can tolerate doubt as a backseat driver but if you put doubt in the Pilot's seat defeat is guaranteed remembering that you've been through difficulties before and have always survived to fight again shifts the conversation

in your head it will allow you to control and manage doubt and keep you focused on taking each and every step necessary to achieve the task at hand sounds simple right it is it very few people even bother to try to control the way their thoughts and doubts Bubble Up the vast majority of us are slaves to our minds most don't even make the first effort when it comes comes to mastering their thought process because it's a NeverEnding chore and impossible to get right every time the average person thinks 2,000 3,000 thoughts per hour that's

30 to 50 per minute some of those shots will slip by the goalie it's inevitable especially if you Coast through life physical training is the perfect Crucible to learn how to manage your thought process because when you're working out your focus is more likely to be single pointed and your response to stress and pain is immediate and measurable do you Hammer hard and snag that personal best like you said you would or do you crumble that decision rarely comes down to physical ability it's almost always a test of how well you are managing your own

mind if you push yourself through each split and use that energy to maintain a strong Pace you have a great chance of recording a faster time granted some days it's easier to do that than others and the clock or the score doesn't matter anyway the reason it's important to push hardest when you want to quit the most is because it helps you callous your mind it's the same reason why you have to do your best work when you are the least motivated that's why I love Pete and Buddhism why I still love it today physical

challenges strengthen my mind so I'm ready for whatever life throws at me and it will do the same for you but no matter how well you deploy it a callous mind can't heal broken bones on the mile long hike back to the buds compound the feeling of Victory evaporated and I could feel the Damage i' Done I had 20 weeks of training in front of me dozens of Evolutions ahead and I could barely walk while I wanted to deny the pain in my knee I knew I was so I limped straight to Medical when he

saw my knee the doc didn't say a damn thing he just shook his head and sent me to get an x-ray that revealed a fractured kneecap in buds when reservist sustain injuries that take a long time to heal they're sent home and that's what happened to me I crutch my ass back to the barracks demoralized and while checking out I saw some of the guys that quit during hell week when I first glimpsed their helmets lined up beneath the bell I felt sorry for them because I knew the empty feeling of giving up but seeing

them face to face reminded me that failure is a part of life and now we all had to press on I hadn't quit so I knew I'd be invited back but I had no idea if that meant a third hell week or not or if after getting rolled twice I still had the burning desire to fight through another hurricane of pain with no guarantee of success given my injury record how could I I left the buds compound with more self-awareness and more Mastery over my mind than I'd ever had before but my future was just

as uncertain