What the World’s Toughest Man Can Teach You About Mental Strength
The simple (but not easy) way to build mental toughness and willpower
In 2005, David Goggins, a 240-pound Navy SEAL, entered his first ultra-marathon — the San Diego race. As he reached the 70-mile mark of the 100-mile race, his kidney failed, the bones in his feet were broken, and he found dual stress fractures in his legs. On top of that, he had been using duct tape to minimize the agony from his shin splits.
He calls it the worst pain he’s ever been through in his life. And that speaks a lot if you read the kinds of things he has done. He has run over 60 ultramarathons, triathlons, and has held the world record for the most number of pull-ups — 4030 in 17 hours.
Even after the kidney failures and the broken bones, he kept going and finished the race. How did he do it? It wasn’t motivation or inspiration — just the sheer power of his will and mental toughness.
The Way to Build Superhuman Willpower
Willpower is one of the fundamentally essential skills for success. Look up successful people in any field, and you’ll see that they have tremendous willpower.
Few people, alas, have developed their will enough to resist the piece of cookie…
