When David Goggins Disagreed with an MIT Professor
This happened when David Goggins was invited to the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology
I know a question is rattling around your skull at the moment. You want to know who the hell is David Goggins. I’ll let you know.
David Goggins is a former NAVY SEAL, Endurance Athlete, Public Speaker, and Author.
He has been crowned the toughest man on the planet. Now, what makes him the toughest? His accomplishments testify his greatness & toughness. He has done everything that looks impossible to you & me. From undergoing some of the toughest trainings in the world like SEAL training (including two Hell Weeks), the U.S. Army Ranger School (where he graduated as Enlisted Honor Man), and Air Force Tactical Air Controller training to completing 60 endurance races to creating a Guinness world record of 4030 pullups in 24 hours. He calls himself the hardest man. The world calls him the toughest. Outside Magazine named him “The Fittest (Real) Man in America.”
He won the Infinitus 88k race and came third in Badwater Ultra Marathon, the hardest and most brutal races in the world. His is only one of his kind. A human who is in love with pain and suffering. And for him, no task or goal is complete. He never rests on past laurels. Neither he counts the number of races he has participated in. He never celebrates either. He never takes a break nor stops. His madness is best explained by the opening lines from his memoir that reads,
“To the Unrelenting Voice in My Head that Will Never Allow me To Stop”
His memoir “Can’t Hurt me” is a must-read. His journey from an overweight broke exterminator to a Navy SEAL is truly inspiring. David talks about ditching the victim’s mentality and crushing the self-limiting beliefs and fears. According to David, every human is living at about 40% of their true capability. Humans have more potential than this. You’ll realize this once you read this book and apply the techniques listed by him in the book.
David Goggins is a public speaker and is regularly invited to renowned institutions and companies to share his wisdom. Once he was invited to the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology to talk about mental toughness. David never got a chance to study beyond high school and he was nowhere close to those professors or students in terms of all the bookish knowledge they possess.
David only had experience. An experience like no other. From tormented childhood where he was regularly beaten at home by his father to the psychological pain, he had gone through when he was called a “nigger” countless times whenever he stepped into the outside world. He saw his transformation from a broke, overweight, and psychologically down person to the strongest, hardest, and mentally toughest athlete in the world. So, he knew what mental toughness is better than anyone in the world.
The Professor took the podium and started talking about mental toughness. The Professor said “We each have genetic limitations. Hard ceilings. That there are some things we just can’t do no matter how mentally tough we are. When we hit our genetic ceiling, mental toughness doesn’t enter into the equation.”
David kept quiet at first. He was in no mood to interrupt the professor. Everyone in the room had to accept the professor’s views about mental toughness as he was a senior professor and an expert on the subject. David felt stupid as he thought he was surrounded by some smart intellectuals who are blindly accepting the bullshit thrown at them by a person who only read about mental toughness not experienced it.
After a few minutes, someone from the audience noticed the not-so-convincing look of David and quickly promoted him to share his views and let everyone know whether he agrees with the professor or not. David is not the one who shies from questions. He is always ready to share his wisdom which you’ll never find in any book in the world.
In response to the professor, David said “ There’s something to be said for living it instead of studying it,” turning towards the professor. “What you said is true for most people, but not 100 percent. There will always be the 1 percent of us who are willing to put in the work to defy the odds. Anybody can become a different person and achieve what so-called experts like him claim is impossible, but it takes a lot of heart, will, and an armored mind.”
Who do you think is right here?
The Professor, who is an expert on the subject. Or David Goggins who had experienced it all.
David. Right?
What David wants us to realize is,
No matter at which stage of life you are. You might be overweight. You might be the weakest person on the planet. You may be suffering from any mental illness. You had a terrible divorce. You are broken or psychologically down. Everything is in a mess. You feel this is the end or there is no way out. Still, you have the power to change every damn thing. You can fix everything. There is a way. The hard way.
Once you discover your true potential, you can transform into the person you want. Only if you are ready to step away from your comfort zone. And are ready to fall in love with hard work, pain & suffering.
