“Roger That”: What to Say to the Heroic Gods (Heroic +1 #1,479)

Hi, this is Brian. Welcome back to another heroic one. In our last couple ones we've chatted about a couple of my favorite ideas from David Goggins second book, never finished. As you may recall, we swam with rats and then hung out with our inner savage. I repeat, rats with belief swam an insane 240 times longer than those without. Which begs the question, how's your belief? Remember, belief is primordially potent. Today we're going to continue our exploration through Goggins mental lab and talk about how he responds when things inevitably, emphasis on inevitably, go wrong in his life. He tells us, and I quote, it's an unwritten natural law of the universe that you will be tested, you will get smacked in the face, a hurricane will land on your head. It's inevitable for all of us. Yet we are not formally taught how to handle unexpected adversity. We have sex education, fire drills, active shooter drills and curriculum on the dangers of alcohol and drugs. But there is no rug just got pulled out from under you class. Nobody teaches you how to think, act and move when disappointment, bad news, malfunction and disaster inevitably strike. All the advice floods in only after we are already laying dazed on the canvas. Which means it's up to you to cultivate your own strategy and have the discipline to practice it. He continues by saying mine is simple no matter what life serves me. I say Roger that Most people think Roger that simply means order received. However, in the military, some people infuse Roger with a bit more intention to define it as received, order given, expect results. When used that way, it is so much more than an acknowledgment. It's an accelerant. It bypasses the over analytical brain and stimulates actions because in some situations, thinking is the enemy. Now pause and reflect on the fact that we have classes on sex education. We put kids through fire and active shooter drills and we teach kids about the dangers of drugs and alcohol. But sexual. Somehow we don't have a single class on how to deal with life's inevitable challenges. That is crazy, right? Note we also know that self mastery, discipline, self regulation, willpower, whatever you want to call it out predicts IQ for academic performance by a factor of two. Yet again, we don't teach kids how to cultivate this essential skill. Heroic education coming soon. For now, how do you respond when life gives you an unexpected challenge? Do you quadruple down on your protocol and remember the fact that antifragile confidence is forged when the heroic gods bless us with a challenge? Or do you forget everything we've been talking about. And stop doing all the things you do when you're at your best. Right when you most needed that level of wisdom and self mastery. Seriously, what do you do when life gets hard? Now, while I personally like to say perfect when things don't go as planned, and I am constantly encouraging you to remember the algorithm, the worse I feel, the more committed I am to my protocol, Goggins tells us that. He says, roger that. Imagine saying that the next time the heroic gods bless you with a test. Roger that. Heroic gods received one order given. Expect results. Jocko Willink, another ferociously iconoclastic Navy SEAL, echoes this wisdom as we discuss in our notes on his brilliant book, Discipline Equals Freedom. When life gives Jocko a challenge, he says good. Jocko tells us, and I quote him, when things are going bad, don't get all bummed out. Don't get startled. Don't get frustrated. No, just look at the issue and say, good. Now, I don't mean to say something trite. I'm not trying to sound like Mr. Smiley Positive Guy. That guy ignores the hard truth. That guy thinks a positive attitude will solve problems. It won't. But neither will dwelling on the problem. No, accept reality, but focus on the solution. Take that issue, take that setback. Take that problem and turn it into something good. Go forward, and if you were part of a team, that attitude will spread throughout. Jocko continues by saying, finally, if you can say the word good, then guess what it means. You're still alive. It means you're still breathing. And that means you've still got some fight left in you. So get up, dust off, reload, recalibrate, re, engage, and go out on the attack. Then we have Phil Stutts in the tools, Kelly McGonigal in the Upside of Stress, and Elizabeth Blackburn in the Telomere Effect, reminding us that we want to approach rather than avoid our challenges. Their simple mantra for the moments we want to avoid life's inevitable challenges. Bring it on. And that's today's plus one. Life knock you down. Thank the heroic gods with a Roger that and do what needs to get done. Day one, all in. Let's go, hero.