David Goggins is known for his intense, physically grueling fitness regime, and for never letting himself off the hook. He even wrote a book on the subject, Can’t Hurt Me, in 2018. And in a recent Instagram post, the author and former Navy SEAL shared the mindset that he has used to keep up the same level of effort in his workouts now that he did during his military training 20 years ago.
“I don’t negotiate with myself,” he said, elaborating on what he meant in the caption.
“If you are a person who wakes up everyday wondering why you are in the same position you have been in for years, I can almost guarantee you it is because you were in the negotiation phase of your life for too long,” he wrote. “Life requires an abundant amount of action. There is no action taken in the negotiation and explaining away phase.”
“When it’s early and you don’t want to get up, you wake the f@#$ up!” He continued. “When you don’t want to go to run, you put your shoes on and go run regardless if it is hot, cold, windy, snowing, etc. If you just got home from school and are having a hard time with a particular subject, you sit your ass down and start studying that very subject again. If you are an athlete and you just can’t hit the shot, after practice, you pick the ball back up again until you get it. These examples are people who don’t negotiate with themselves. This s@#&% can be exhausting. Even more than exhausting, it can be frustrating and mind-numbing. The amount of work and effort required can be overwhelming which is why the majority of us love to negotiate our goals and ‘explain away.'”
In other words, negotiating with yourself, or explaining away why you haven’t been pursuing your goals, is just another way of saying you’re making excuses. At least, it is from Goggins’ point of view.
“Some of you make yourselves feel better by telling yourself that people in better life situations than you didn’t have the same challenges and problems that got you stuck in the negotiation/explain away phase,” he said. “Sorry to tell you, most of them did, they just navigated them better than you. Instead of negotiating in life, learn to navigate it!”
Original Article: https://www.menshealth.com/fitness/a37416721/david-goggins-workout-training-advice/