Brian Johnson uses David Goggins' transformation from running a quarter-mile to 205 miles nonstop as proof of compounding gains. That's roughly 800 times the distance. Apply 1% improvements repeatedly, and massive results follow.
Hi, this is Brian. Welcome back to another optimize plus one. In our last plus one, we casually talked about David Goggins going from his first quarter mile run weighing 297 pounds to an epic 205 mile nonstop 39 hour run. Pause and feel into that for a moment. Here's a guy who weighed 297 pounds. He couldn't run more than a quarter of a mile. And for some odd reason he thought he could become a Navy Seal. Then he decided he'd pay the price to make that dream a reality. And now he can bang out a 205 mile run. What? How is that even possible? Well, when I read that passage, I immediately did the math on how much longer 205 miles is vis a vision. 1/4 of a mile. Of course, it's a little over 800 times longer. 800. Then I connected that to our incremental optimizing math exercise via James Clear's Atomic Habits. Remember what happens when you compound 1% gains over a decade? You break the Google spreadsheet. You're a quadrillion times better. So, plus one plus one. Plus one. Plus 1%. Plus 1%. Plus 1%. Going just a little beyond your normal stopping point. Plus 1%. Plus 1%, plus 1% again and again and again. Plus 1%. Plus 1%, Plus 1%. Aggregating and compounding those tiny, tiny little incremental gains until you can do your equivalent of a 205 mile run. Let's do that, starting with some plus ones today.
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