PPI #157: How to Build Mental Toughness – David Goggins

David Goggins is a retired US Navy SEAL and has earned himself the reputation of being the toughest man alive. And today I'm going to share with you five things that David Goggins has taught us so that we can win the toughest battle of them all, the one between your ears. So here we go, five secrets to building mental toughness from the toughest man on the planet.

Hi, I'm Eric Partaker and I've been recognized as one of the top entrepreneurs in the country. And I'm also the author of two best selling books, including the Three Alarms. So the first thing that I want to share from David is the use of what he calls an accountability mirror. The thing is, the only person that you can't cheat in the world is you. And if you stand in front of that mirror and really ask yourself on a daily basis, am I showing up at my best today? Am I working in accordance with how I want to be working? Am I working and making adequate progress towards my goals? Am I making sure that I'm staying distraction free throughout the day and really doing the things that matter most to me from the vantage point of my best self, not from a vantage point of my lower self. And when you do that literally in front of a mirror and when you're looking at yourself and you're asking yourself these questions, it's incredibly powerful. David takes his goals and puts them up as post it notes on the mirror. And one of the things that you could do at the start of the day is that you can look in the mirror and you can ask yourself, am I prepared to do what it takes to make progress towards those goals today? And at the end of the day, you can get back there in front of the mirror and ask yourself, did I do my best to show up and work towards those goals today? Did I once again, did I minimize distraction? Did I show up at my best? Was I incongruent with the very best in me rather than something less in me? And if you stand in front of that accountability mirror day in and day out, you'll find that you can't lie to yourself and that it propels you to a different state of mental toughness, to a different ability level to weather any storm that comes your way so that you can achieve the goals that you set for yourself. Number two, write down what makes you uncomfortable, what causes stress, what causes discomfort. Write it down, have a list of things and review that list regularly. Because I guarantee you somewhere on that list, something that you should be doing. Think about it. For a moment, think about your personal growth and development. Think about the things that you want to achieve on the health front, on the wealth front, maybe on the home front. Think about the scariest things that you know that you should be doing in each of those domains or that you feel uncomfortable about doing. And ask yourself, if I actually started to do those things, if I actually started to progress towards that discomfort, step into that discomfort, embrace the things that, that I don't want to do, that I'm fearful of doing, would that actually lead to stronger growth and development? And the answer is, of course it will. Because your growth, your development, it's not within your comfort zone. It's just outside of your comfort zone. You don't get stronger by lifting light weights. You get stronger by lifting heavier weights, progressively heavier. Increasing the challenge over time is what builds that muscle. And you can build muscle physically, and you can also build it mentally and get tougher and tougher and tougher. And why is that important? Because it will never be smooth sailing all the time. The seas will become choppy, the waters will become rough. And the true determinant of a champion is how well you do in those moments when you're down, how well you do in those moments when things aren't going your way, how well you do in those moments when it feels like the world is set up against you and do you persevere? And one of the ways that you can build that ability is by acknowledging coming face to face with the things that scare you, writing them down, and then asking yourself, how can I, on a daily basis, step into that fear, step into that discomfort, because it is through what you fear that you become stronger. Number three, break down your goals into small chunks. This helps tremendously with your mental toughness and stability, because once again, along the journey, there will be times when things don't go your way. And if you're only defining success based on, I'm only successful if I get to the very top of Everest and that's it. And not if you have little stepping stones along the way, then it's going to be very difficult to stand those tough times, right? Because there could be a moment when you try to reach the summit and the weather's not good enough and you have to come back down. But having small goals along the way, chunking down whatever it is that you're trying to work towards, builds confidence because you get a taste of achievement sooner rather than later. You experience success, you experience success along the way. And by experiencing success more regularly, it puts you in A better position to still feel good and stay the course even when things aren't going your way. Number four. David tells us to visualize our goals. This is incredibly powerful practice to do as at the start of your day, take just five minutes at the start of your day. Five minutes, sat in your chair, standing up, going for a walk, whatever it is, Five minutes. And picture what would life be like when you achieve the goals that you want to achieve. Picture in your mind, what does life look like? What are the people around you? What does it feel like? And then how do you feel internally? Do you feel confident? Do you feel proud? Visualize all of that. Visualize the achievement of whatever it is that you're working towards. And visualize how you're going to feel about the process as well. And very importantly, visualize how you've overcome challenging moments which you can relate to the achievement of whatever the goal is that you're working towards. So where in the past have you overcome challenges on a similar journey, maybe not absolutely identical, but on a similar journey, and think about those challenges. Think about how those challenges calloused your mind. Like you develop calluses on your hand. Think about how those challenges toughened you and apply that perseverance that you experienced in the past with whatever that other objective and goal was towards the goals that you are, that you are visualizing. Last but not least, David introduces us to a concept called taking souls. And I love this one. So the story goes, he was in his Navy SEAL training, and there was a moment in the training where he had to complete a whole set of activities fully clothed underwater. And he had a fear of water and didn't want to go into the water. But he worked his mind up to get to the ability to step in and to complete the task anyways. And while he was underwater, his instructor at one point motioned to him that they needed to hurry up to get back to the top for air. Now, this is an instructor who was giving him a horrible time. He was trying to break David down and underwater in that moment, David thought, I'm going to wait it out. I'm actually going to take my time to complete these activities. I'm going to stay underwater so long that this instructor is going to be forced to have to go to the surface. And guess what? That's exactly what happened. The instructor could not hold his breath any longer. The instructor, the guy who's supposed to be tougher than David, and he had to rush to the surface of the water and. And David stayed under, still doing the task to completion. And in the moment when the instructor had to break away and go to the surface of the water, David thought I took his soul. He won. You see, nothing can stand in the way of relentless action. You know, I said to my 16 year old son once, he was talking about how there's other people we meet in life who maybe are smarter than us. And I said to him, yeah, but the thing that I always think is that I will always meet people in life who may be smarter than me, but there's no way in hell they will outwork me. And I have that relentless approach to the things that I do and it makes me strong, it makes me tough. And when I look at things competitively, I think I will take their soul. I will win in the end because I will persevere and I will do whatever it takes to win. I will be relentless and I will push forward. So there's five concepts that you can take on board to help you develop mental toughness to achieve whatever it is that you're working towards. From the toughest man alive from David Goggins, former U.S. navy SEAL and record holder. And so many different things that relate to toughness and perseverance and strength. And I'd love to hear from you. So don't forget to leave a comment and a rating as well. And if you'd like to get a copy of my new book, the Three Alarms, please head over to my website at ericpartaker.com that's E R I C ericpartaker.com where you can pick up a free digital copy of my new best selling book, the Three Alarms.

Sam.