I’d like to share this book here on the forum and just give my general ideas about what the book is about and how the themes transfer over onto particular Work principles, since I believe Goggins tapped into certain truths about being alive, and deep insights into the human machine, the mind, and their potentials.
Goggins had an incredibly physically and emotionally abusive upbringing. In his teens he got inspired by a talk he heard by a military man who’s job was to parachute down to aircrash sites to rescue downed airmen.
After a brief stint in the airforce where he faced some of his demons and bettered himself, he fell back into an unhealthy and unmotivated life, until one day he watched a documentary about the Navy SEALs. Re-motivated, he made enquiries as to how to join up, and was told he would need to loose over 100lbs in three months and pass an academic test in order to qualify.
Spoiler alert, he lost the weight and passed the test. And from there, his story just gets more and more amazing in terms of his physical achievements.
The easiest way to explain it here is that Goggins is a true, modern day fakir. A man who developed an iron will and strength and metal toughness from repeatedly putting himself through the most gruelling physical scenarios. From going through multiple different special forces training, to running ultra-marathons of 100 miles and more, to breaking the world record for the most number of pull-ups in 24hrs.
But he always maintains the same theme throughout each stage of his life: he never did any of it for the physical achievement; it was all about going to war against his weak-mindedness. Always trying to find situations that would trigger the negative voice inside his head that always said the same things: “Why the hell am I doing this? I could just quit right now, go back home and relax. This is crazy. Seriously, I’m in so much pain, I can’t continue.”, so that he could find a way to push through and carry on, in order to become “uncommon among uncommon men”.
It’s a life of genuine intentional suffering. Of failure and trying again, and of physical feats (sustaining fractured shins during one training school for the military, and tightly taping socks around his legs and ankles with duct tape so that he could continue to do the training runs everyday, despite being in more pain most people could imagine, for example) that truly convey the Gurdjieffian concepts of super efforts and tapping into the large accumulator.
Often, a new book will be recommended on the forum that is not esoteric, but gives us another way to view work concepts, that refreshes them for us, revivifies the ideas. This is a book about building inner strength and fortitude, and mental toughness, by changing ones attitude towards difficult tasks and embracing situations that cause suffering, rather than turning away from them and seeking comfort.
I think it would be very useful for members here who are struggling at the moment; those who are suffering, and wish with all their heart that the suffering would end. The secret Goggins uncovered on his own, and shares with us through telling the story of his life is that the suffering will never end, but you can change your attitude towards it and embrace it, and use it to build you up and make you stronger, rather than weaken you and break you down; you can become someone who is tough enough to carry on whatever happens, rather than giving up.
Goggins had an incredibly physically and emotionally abusive upbringing. In his teens he got inspired by a talk he heard by a military man who’s job was to parachute down to aircrash sites to rescue downed airmen.
After a brief stint in the airforce where he faced some of his demons and bettered himself, he fell back into an unhealthy and unmotivated life, until one day he watched a documentary about the Navy SEALs. Re-motivated, he made enquiries as to how to join up, and was told he would need to loose over 100lbs in three months and pass an academic test in order to qualify.
Spoiler alert, he lost the weight and passed the test. And from there, his story just gets more and more amazing in terms of his physical achievements.
The easiest way to explain it here is that Goggins is a true, modern day fakir. A man who developed an iron will and strength and metal toughness from repeatedly putting himself through the most gruelling physical scenarios. From going through multiple different special forces training, to running ultra-marathons of 100 miles and more, to breaking the world record for the most number of pull-ups in 24hrs.
But he always maintains the same theme throughout each stage of his life: he never did any of it for the physical achievement; it was all about going to war against his weak-mindedness. Always trying to find situations that would trigger the negative voice inside his head that always said the same things: “Why the hell am I doing this? I could just quit right now, go back home and relax. This is crazy. Seriously, I’m in so much pain, I can’t continue.”, so that he could find a way to push through and carry on, in order to become “uncommon among uncommon men”.
It’s a life of genuine intentional suffering. Of failure and trying again, and of physical feats (sustaining fractured shins during one training school for the military, and tightly taping socks around his legs and ankles with duct tape so that he could continue to do the training runs everyday, despite being in more pain most people could imagine, for example) that truly convey the Gurdjieffian concepts of super efforts and tapping into the large accumulator.
Often, a new book will be recommended on the forum that is not esoteric, but gives us another way to view work concepts, that refreshes them for us, revivifies the ideas. This is a book about building inner strength and fortitude, and mental toughness, by changing ones attitude towards difficult tasks and embracing situations that cause suffering, rather than turning away from them and seeking comfort.
I think it would be very useful for members here who are struggling at the moment; those who are suffering, and wish with all their heart that the suffering would end. The secret Goggins uncovered on his own, and shares with us through telling the story of his life is that the suffering will never end, but you can change your attitude towards it and embrace it, and use it to build you up and make you stronger, rather than weaken you and break you down; you can become someone who is tough enough to carry on whatever happens, rather than giving up.