David Goggins Quote on Callousing Your Mind and How I Ran A Marathon Without Running Training

“It takes twenty years to gain twenty years of experience, and the only way to move beyond your 40 percent is to callous your mind, day after day.  Which means you’ll have to chase pain like it’s your damn job!”

David Goggins, Can’t Hurt Me

Beyond the Quote (235/365)

On Sunday, August 23rd, 2020, I ran my second marathon. I didn’t follow any specific running plans and did but only one training run (13.1 miles) leading up to it the week before. The most I had done besides that was a mile or two around my block at any given time in the whole year prior. Why do I tell you this? Because while I didn’t do any official running training for that run, I have been training my body for war for over two decades. And if you start doing the same, your body might be able to perform in ways that surpass your wildest expectations as well.

As mentioned in my birthday post, this past year has marked a pinnacle of progress for me in how I organize and live my daily life. I have been experimenting on-and-off since 2001 to get to where I am today with how I exercise, eat, meditate, read, and write. These five practices that I have been able to comfortably incorporate into my daily routine have completely transformed how I approach living and the challenges in my path. Completing this marathon with essentially no running training is a good example.

Don’t confuse that with me saying I didn’t train. I sure as hell have been training my ass off for years leading up to this run. I workout religiously in my basement and rarely ever miss a training session. I lift heavy, I condition regularly, I stretch deeply, and I roll (self-myofascial release) quite often. My body was in peak shape going into this run. That, and I have gotten into a groove with optimal nutrition for my body. I eat clean, I eat vegan, and I intermittently fast. But, the body isn’t even the most important component for extraordinary feats.

Your mind will always give up before your body. It doesn’t matter how strong, conditioned, and healthy your body is, if your mind is weak, you’ll always fall short of your best effort. The toughening of my mind started with my Martial Arts training in 2001. I was pushed past what I thought I could do all of the time and had incredibly strong and fierce mentors who implanted a clear vision of indomitable spirit in my brain at a young age. I have Master Khechen to thank for that.

Then, as I got older and matured, I nurtured that seed with the right books, the habit of writing and reflection, and solidified my resolve and focus with meditation. When you get into the minds of some of the toughest people on the planet—like David Goggins—you start to think how they think. When you reflect constantly, you start to understand your own thought processes and learn how to direct your mental energy. And when you meditate, you learn to calm yourself down and clear away the distracting bullsh*t that is excuses, chatter, nonsense, and weakness.

All of these pieces came together for me over this past year. My mind and body are more ready for war now than ever before. And by “war” I really just mean life. Because life, when you boil it down, really is just an ongoing series of daily battles against temptation, negativity, peer pressure, hate, gluttony, laziness, anxiety, etc. Winning the little battles is how you win the war. Lose too many little battles every day and you’ll lose the big wars. It really is that simple.

Running a marathon is a war. You don’t just show up and run one without paying your dues before hand. The same way you wouldn’t win a war by showing up with troops who have never fought in a single battle. You can pay your dues by following a running program that acclimates you to 26.2 miles. This is certainly the most straightforward option—but it isn’t the only one. You can build your mind, body, and spirit in other ways. But, this isn’t even about the “marathon,” per se. Because by no means is a marathon something everyone needs (or even wants) to aspire to.

But, don’t read this and think that just because you don’t ever plan on running a marathon that you don’t have your own “marathon” already in your life—everyone has a “marathon” in their life. Just like everyone has their own “Everest” to climb. And the only way you’ll get through it is with the mental fortitude, physical resilience, and indomitable spirit that comes from paying your dues every day and winning those smaller scale battles more and more. From there, it’s all just about scaling it up from there. With time and discipline, you’ll be surpassing your own expectations before you know it, too. I’ll say it to you the way someone said it to me many years ago: You’re capable of way more than you think. Can’t wait to see what that is.

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Read Next: The 40 Percent Rule — An Excerpt from Can’t Hurt Me by David Goggins

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