Episode summary introduction:

This podcast episode elucidates the profound notion that no individual should navigate the labyrinth of life in solitude. We delve into the essence of shared experiences, emphasizing that through both triumphs and tribulations, we forge connections that illuminate our paths. Central to our discourse is the exploration of David Goggins' ten challenges, which serve as a framework for personal development and success. We invite our listeners to engage with these challenges, recognizing that they can be embraced by anyone, regardless of their circumstances. Join us as we embark on this enlightening journey to uncover the potential within ourselves and the wisdom gained from our shared experiences.

Topics discussed in this episode:

In a reflective discussion, we revisit the concept of success as delineated in David Goggins' seminal work, "Can't Hurt Me." We outline the ten challenges posited by Goggins, inviting listeners to introspectively consider their own life experiences in relation to these trials. The conversation traverses the landscape of personal history, encouraging individuals to confront their insecurities and past hardships, transforming them into catalysts for future success. We explore the idea of the 'accountability mirror,' a metaphor for self-reflection and commitment to personal goals, and highlight the importance of stepping beyond one’s comfort zone to foster resilience and growth.

Walkabout takeaways:

• We discuss the necessity of self-reflection, particularly the importance of confronting one's past hardships for personal growth.
• The episode highlights David Goggins' ten challenges as a framework for achieving success through personal accountability and resilience.
• Listeners are encouraged to create an 'accountability mirror' to visualize their goals and overcome insecurities effectively.
• We elaborate on the concept of visualizing success, including the struggles faced on the path to achieving one's goals.
• Finally, we stress the need for continuous self-improvement and the importance of learning from both successes and failures.

More about E-Walkabout:

To learn more about Electronic Walkabout visit us at www.ewalkabout.ca.

If you want to read more “Thoughts of the Day” check out TC’s Book at Amazon:

“St. Mike's Fortunes”

Companies mentioned in this episode:

• Electronic Walkabout
• David Goggins
• RCMP

A special thanks to Steven Kelly, our technical advisor, who keeps trying to teach these old dogs new tricks when it comes to sounds and recording!!

“Remember to take advantage of the moment before the moment takes advantage of you!”

Electronic Walkabout. No one should have to walk through life alone. We share the good times, the bad times and the best times.

Everyone needs a little direction now and again. And TC and Maddog are here to show you the way. A podcast where we talk about the important things in life. Come journey with us.

The Electronic Walkabout. Well, good afternoon, Maddog. How's your week been so far?

So far so good. TC There was. Sun's out. It's beautiful here. So how about you?

It's been about the same. It's. It. And I should tell you because I've been away for a couple weeks back east.

It was the, the temperature back east was like 14 degrees and I'll say Celsius, just to be clear.

Yeah.

29 Degrees here in the valley in Chilliwack. So. So we're starting to get a little bit of liquid sunshine and that's not a bad thing, but for the most part it's been pretty good.

Yeah, no, it's, it's definitely been nice this, this year thus far. I think it's going to be a hot one over the summer.

Yeah. And I hate to say this, but because there haven't been. Hasn't been that much mo.

The forest fires are already start to kick into here in the province and then. That's never a happy place for sure.

No, no. And they've had some challenges with those over the last few years. I know a couple of people have died. My son used to be involved in wildfire.

So I still have stuff that comes up on my different feeds. But yeah, it's a, it is a very challenging job and I commend all those that do it.

Today's episode is really a follow up episode where we talked about the path of success and how it's been tied to systems and not goals. Recently I had the opportunity to crack into a book I've been meaning to for some time. It's called Can't Hurt Me.

Does that ring a bell with you at all?

No. No, it didn't.

Okay, well, what I'm going to do. And of course you must have seen this.

I've seen that guy for sure seen that guy.

His name is David Goggins.

That's it.

Okay. And I'm going to tell you more about him in a second.

In this book, Goggins poses 10 challenges to his readers which are part of his very own system or systems for his personal success. So we're going to talk about those challenges. I'm going to.

Having just read the book I'll probably kind of refer to it as far as examples, but what I was thinking, Mad Dog, when I, when I pose these challenges, think about maybe periods in your life where easily you could meet one of those challenges or not, or set you up to be successful with another challenge. But, but first I'm going to talk about David Goggins is an American motivational speaker. Of course, that's not where he started out for sure.

An athlete, author, former United States Air Force JTAC and retired United States Navy seal. Wow. Crazy, crazy, crazy.

Living to the extreme.

In more ways than one with this guy.

Join us as we explore Goggin's 10 challenges and how everyone can adopt those challenges to find their own success in any part of their life. But first, as always, a thought for the day. Motivation is never as simple as a carrot. Not everyone likes to eat their vegetables.

That's true. A dangling piece of chocolate might get people running fast.

Oh, says the old chocolate guy for sure. Yeah. So you've never read the book before?

No, I haven't read the book, but yeah, a few of my sons have kind of followed his words and posts and all that sort of stuff. So I have heard of him before and I did, I realized that he had that, you know, kind of ultra marathon and military background.

But that's pretty much as much as I know about him.

I will tell you this because it's funny in the book that they mentioned how some of his colleagues were intimidated, I'll just say, by his feats, what he's done, but he literally is that 1% of the 1% that are at such a high level. But what he, he does in this book, he, he takes it to a point with these challenges that doesn't matter what level you're at.

If you engage these challenges, you're going to find your own success for sure.

Which is great because he can kind of, it comes off as a tad bit of an overachiever if you're that good in so many things. So the fact that he breaks it down to, I think, regular life, if he does that, that's great.

And I will tell you this, and, and we've, we've talked about those individuals that land on the planet and are natural at doing anything. He's. He's not this guy.

No.

If, if you can imagine a Navy SEAL not knowing how to swim, that's where. That's where he started.

Oh, wow. So there isn't anything that that guy is going to overcome. Not overcome.

And so that, that's part of it. Like his, his idea is that if you put your mind to it, you can virtually do anything.

But, But I invite you, and I invite the listeners to grab that book and take a read of it. Maybe read it a couple times. But at the end of the day, what it does is helps give context to those challenges so you can personal.

So I'm just going to get into the challenges. And it starts off by saying, face your bad hand.

And what this means is list the limiting factors, insecurities and hardships from your past that you have used as excuses. Own your history to fuel your future,.

To learn from your past.

So if you, if you could think about it for a second, like where you've always made an excuse. One, I'm not like, I can't do this because I'm not good enough. I can't do this because I'm too short. I can't do this because of this. And list those.

Because you're identifying those. I'll call them roadblocks. They're going to stop you from meeting your success.

Yeah, My biggest one, and it's current, is just getting into shape. I've got historic shoulder problems and Achilles problems, and I know that I use those as a crutch.

And my wife actually said, you can't keep saying that. That's the reason why I'm like, yes, you are correct.

That would be my biggest kind of frog to swallow at the current moment is to get past that and get motivated because I have no excuse.

And it's true. And I, I could probably come up with one myself.

But one of the things I did want to mention, because when we were talking about that, I can't remember which episode it was, and I joked about the fact that, hey, there's got to be a system for getting ready for a marathon. So that means you got to train basically for a year. This guy ran his first Ulta marathon without any preparation at all.

Okay, so we're kind of like a hundred miles.

Yeah, this, this is a very unique individual to say so.

So this, this first challenge really is. Is. I, I, I would call a little bit of introspection where you got to own your, your own history.

And I, I won't say it negative because Again, it's, it's, it's learning from, from your mistakes in the past and saying, okay, there's that excuse again. Let's put that aside, put it off the table. And what's the real reason why I'm not doing it? If another excuse pops up, hey, it's on my list.

I know that's going to happen and it's off the table right away. This one, this one's kind of funny, but I, but I understand how it kind of came to life in the. Create an accountability mirror.

Like, you're literally looking in the mirror and you're making yourself accountable because when you, when you truly look at yourself and, and you recall, I, I believe it was one or two episodes ago where I mentioned, hey, guess what, I'm going to write another book. I'm creating some accountability for myself at doing that. But if the accountability mirror is, is virtually for you, and I'll just read it.

List your goals and insecurities on sticky notes and place them on your mirror. This is a visual daily reminder of what you towards and what you must overcome. So you're looking at yourself when you're.

Looking at these little interesting. I'm going to try that.

Well, I will say, I will send you the, the, the list of the 10 lists and I'm gonna, I, I, I will be personalizing to myself and just taking it one step at a time and keeping in mind what I've said before, consistency is really the key.

With that respect, that's a good place to start, though.

Oh, it really is. Step outside of your comfort zone.

That's, I would wholeheartedly recommend that to everybody. It's, I've done it through business just in different meetings and presentations and stuff like that.

But, you know, after it was horrifying going into it. But then when you can make it through successfully and you know, look back and say, no, I did a pretty good job.

That adds to your, your confidence and bravado and you're able to do more moving forward.

Absolutely. And the way I kind of phrase it in the past was be comfortable with being uncomfortable. And it's very helpful.

But what he's suggesting is make a list of uncomfortable tasks, both physical and mental, and do them.

So he's a list guy. He's a list guy.

I like. Oh, you, you like that, don't you, Mad Dog?

For sure I do.

And then what he says, this builds a calloused mind. So your mind, it toughens up your mind.

And I don't know whether it's kind of a, kind of a classical conditioning thing where you just train yourself to automatically do it. And I know from, from going on long runs and at one point I did do the Caribou marathon which is a cross country ski 50 kilometer race.

So when you're in the middle of that race, your mind is like it's somewhere but your body just go, go, go.

So you're, it's not almost an autopilot at that point.

It is an autopilot. You don't even have to think about it. This one, this one's really interesting. Beat your opponent. Think about that for a second.

That's just, that's the statement. Beat your opponent.

Beat your opponent.

I'm good with that.

If you are in a competition, in a school or at work, identify the best person or the standard and then outperform them. If you don't have a direct competitor, compete against the best version of yourself.

I like that.

Yeah.

And I think it's a lot of times people will take these zero, oh, this guy's too hard. I'm going to go up against this guy.

And you know, I was in, in the, for me it was fortunate for my son was unfortunate with being an O line coach and I remember back in the, the olden days when there was somebod was really, really good on the D line and I would just move Tyler to where that guy was and that was his job and it, he had no choice because I was quote unquote coach. But it put him in a very uncomfortable and probably very nerve wracking situation. But he, he survived.

I think it's, and that's a great example and I'll just kind of share with you my example with Josh because what I used to do to him, we'd get to a new team or, or we be let's say in the States playing football. I said Josh, this is what I want you to do. As soon as your he hits that turf, look around to see who the best of the best is.

And that's where you want to go.

Perfect.

And it, and, and he did it. He didn't think about it. So you think about that last comment about the callous mind. Even at that age, they're starting to develop that callous mind.

Yeah.

And you know they're at the end of the year they're going to look back go, man, I did so many crazy things against really top level people and I kept up and you know it's just goal setting and really trying.

To, to achieve, not, not to Mention at one point, guess what you're going to be? That one that people are looking at.

Exactly. That target will be on your back soon enough.

And I'll. I'll call that a terrible problem to have. This one is always funny because it's visualized success. Do you remember what I. What I asked you about?

I can't remember how many episodes it was ago those motivational posters saw all over the office. Yeah, this is. This is a little different because if. If your. Let's say your goal is to run a marathon, your.

Your visualization centers around hitting that finish line. The finish line.

Yeah.

So it's.

It's how you see that over and over again in your mind that that's really what it does, is it kicks into your automatic nervous system so you don't have to think about it. Goes and goes. Yeah, And I'll just build on that because I know you're a list guy, but that's what lists do for me. I don't think about it. I see it.

And subconsciously, I'm moving towards hitting those items on my list. So if you. So it's. Visualize not just the end goal, but the struggle, pain, and effort required to get there.

Prepare yourself for the obstacles, not just the victory. So you're. You're visualizing the obstacles as well?

Yeah. And sometimes those obstacles are much larger than what you would have envisioned.

And I experienced that moving into my current role in the U.S. i thought I was like, oh, yeah, no, no, I got this. No problem. And then all the problems started popping. I was like, oh, my goodness, this is a lot worse than what I thought it was going to be.

So, you know, I expected it to be a challenge, but it was much, much more than that. But you know what? I was in it, and I just have been conquering those challenges, and that just adds to your. Your confidence moving forward.

This one's kind of funny. Stock your cookie jar. And I say kind of funny because Jeanette just made a bunch of cookies, and the cookie jar is well stocked right now.

And if you were here. Yes, but this is different. This is a. This is an analogy for something, and it says, create a list of all your past accomplishments. This is.

This is really, really, really, really powerful victories and times you overcame hardship. Review this cookie jar when you're on the brink of giving up to remind yourself of your capabilities.

That's great. I like that one for sure, because, yeah, we tend to forget, you know, it's like, especially with work and stuff. Oh, okay. You did great. Yeah. Good.

What's next?

Right.

You kind of.

Those.

Those accomplishments get put off. But if. If there's a reference to help you through a tough time, I think that's a fantastic idea.

So when I thought about this, and I'm going to put some. Some careful thought into it, but I thought about going to university and completing a university degree, because that was my segue into the rcmp.

Once I got the rcmp, I had to go to Depot, and for the listeners don't know what that is. That's the training facility for the rcmp, and it's in Regina, Saskatchewan. But making through that six months of training, that's something.

Has the Canadian version of Bud's training for the seals.

So you get through that, and then. Then life kind of hits you with a few things. I remember going through a divorce, and I made it through that.

That's an accomplishment.

These are the kinds of things that. That life has a habit of slapping you in the face with, and you have a choice either to get up or. Or stay down. But I. But I. But I. I'm.

I'm just wondering some of those, I'll say, challenges that cause adversity in your life. Bad dog. What could you put in your cookie jar, do you think?

Oh, I've claimed bankruptcy twice, crawled out of it, rebu, been divorced twice.

You know, the first one was what it was, and the second one was just a real bad timing and made it through that one after a period of time and then reconnected with my wife and got remarried. So, yeah, I've got a lot of those ones that I do look back on.

Like, I was a single dad with four boys when I was 33, and one of them was 6 months old. That was just. And you have to.

I think you really have to pay attention to what you have done in the past, because that gives you that reminder that, you know, what, even in. During, you know, adverse times, that you can make it through.

And here's the things that you've done before that have, you know, you've navigated through. So I think that's a great idea.

I think it's a great idea, too. And one of the things that.

That always comes to mind is that when we lose that someone that means so much to us in our lives and how we deal with that, overcome that, that really helps us move on with life and onto whatever. If you can get through that. I can get through anything.

Mm, exactly. What about you? What are some big ones like?

Well, you know, the loss of my dad, like, that was really hard.

Like, it took me a long, long, long time to, I won't say come to terms with it because I don't think you ever do, but kind of appreciate what he meant to me in my life and, and focus on that appreciation more than the fact he was no longer in my life because he's still a part of my life. Yeah.

And he's had an impact and helped you become who you are. So. Yeah. And I'm struggling with that same thing. It's like, yeah.

You just have to remember all of the good times and the positive impacts that those people had on you.

So the funny thing about that is, like, I had mentioned it before we, we started the episode. I, I met up with someone I hadn't seen in 30 years. I hung around with when I was a kid. Of course, he would have known my, my dad as well.

He looks at me and the first thing he says, my God, do you ever look like your dad?

Yeah, that's. And it's only somebody that had exposure to him at that time. Right.

They can say, yeah, yeah, for sure. I, I left it alone. I'll just. Because I did, I caught me off guard because again, I was thinking about, I, about that.

I'm thinking, yeah, but that's okay. It's all positive. Here's something that, that really, I want to kind of play around with a little bit overco. Overcome your governor.

When I, when I say governor, you, you know what a governor is in an engine. Right. Basically allows you, it limits it. So think about that. And we're talking about your mind all of a sudden.

So you have apparently a governor in your mind that limits you from doing things. Sure. And if I really want to get down to the psychological core of that, it probably has something to do with survival more than anything.

But, but when your mind tells you that you were tired and done, remember, remember this, that you're only at 40% of your capacity.

Wow. Yep. I agree and understand I need to get that governor out.

That's the thing. And that goes back to that earlier comment about callous mind, because that kind of put your governor in place, I would suggest.

But what, what he's saying is push 5 to 10% further than your current stop.

Yeah, I think that makes complete sense.

You see that with, you know, high level athletes, if they're, you know, looking to get 10 reps, their coach or a fellow, you know, teammate will jump in there to just two more, really kind of push them past that.

So the thing about that is it really speaks to limits. And first of all, I always say you got to know what your limits are, but I'll be clear about that.

I'm not suggesting you succumb to what your limits are, but at the end of the day, I don't think a lot of people understand where their limits are. Think about what I just said about the 40%.

And, but there's. There's also the. Know your limit, stay within it.

You know that one? Oh, God, yes. Yes, for sure.

That's more of a gambling, you know, preventative addiction thing, but different topic.

So just keep this in mind. But when you're ready to quit, you still got 60% left in your tank that you can tap into. But he's not suggesting go for the 60%. Just kind of.

Just more than. More than 40.

More than 40. You think that's doable?

Yeah, absolutely.

So there was a time where he was hurt. I can't remember what it. What the reason was. And he was back to doing. Trying to do push ups. And he started about one, maybe one, two a day.

And then it was just crazy, the things that he. He basically went through. When he went through. I think he went through hell. They call it hell Week and Navy training.

I think there's a show on one of the streaming services that's currently focusing on what that might look like and on the beach and dealing with that. He had a broken leg during one of those. He made it through, but then he had to do it three times, and on the third time, he was basically told. "Hey, Goggins If you don't make it this time, it's not happening.

Enter motivation.

There. There you go.

I mean, this guy, at one point, he went through your basic training before the Naval Navy seals and decided for some reason it was time for him to go home. He was £300 at one point. He lost. He was down to his. I'll just say, for sake of discussion, down to fighting weight in four months.

You talk about his cookie jar, like losing that much weight in that short period of time. This is unreal, unrealistic.

And I think that that's. I really like that cookie jar thing and that you can continually add to it to assist you in the future. That's fantastic.

This one's kind of important. We. We've talked about life, work balance on more than one occasion. And. And I'll just repeat that because it's not work life balance.

It's life work balance. Let's put what's important in the front of it.

Agreed.

Schedule your time, audit your day and schedule everything in 15 to 30 minute blocks to maximize efficiency. Eliminate wasted time on social media or TV to create a highly productive routine.

There's those distractionary devices are everywhere these days and absolutely I think almost everybody falls victim to them.

So good advice, take them out of the equation. And when someone says, and I've said it before, busy, what is causing them number one, to be busy in their mind?

And then I say busy is a state of mind. Unless of course, if you take that tact and say, okay, I'm going to block everything in 15 to 10, 15 to 30 minute blocks.

Now that 15 to 30 minute block could even be a mental break. That's, that's important too.

Absolutely. Yeah.

I've having to start schedule like I, you know, work from home for now and, but I'm having to schedule walks at noon because I got to get out of the house because it's just like, you know, I need that bit of a mental break and otherwise you could sit in front of your computer for hours and hours and hours on end.

So training for those ultramarathons. And of course he kind of learned from his mistakes to get better and better at them.

But that means putting in a certain amount of mileage running wise in a week and that's not an easy thing to do. So how do you maximize that?

And in some cases that means getting up at three in the morning and then doing your day job and then ending it off with another run.

Hey, that goes outside that 40% of what you're capable of.

Oh, it, it definitely does.

And I'm not saying that everybody has to go there, but just appreciate what he's done and tap into his own systems to guarantee to find your own success. So, and here's an important one and I don't think we do it enough.

Dare to be great, evaluate success, analyze yours and other successes to figure out what worked and do more of that. It's a commitment to continuous, relentless improvement, self development.

I agree with that 100% and I put that into full effect during work because that's one of the best motivators and coaches of your people is to be able to highlight the successes and you know, really celebrate them and you know, they, when they start taking pride of Lights of Fire and it just continues with them doing better. So yeah, I agree with that one.

The only thing I'll add on to that, it's, it's really nice to enjoy that success and continue to use that, that tact that created that success. But be open to the fact that it might not work now and you might have to open the, a door to a different tactic to meet success at that point.

Yep. I just tell people they put it in their toolbox.

Right.

So if it's something specific that they can pull out and use, great. But yeah, it's not the solution for everything.

This one we've talked about many times. Learn from your failure.

You have to, you have to have to do that.

So the, in the military they have what, what are called after action reports. So it's basically I say some kind of a briefing as to what happened, what went wrong, what, what went well and then move on from there.

It says focus on the failures, Write down what went wrong, what went right and how to fix it for the next time.

Yep. Corrective action notes.

And again, making sure that you don't make the same mistake over and over again. It's, it's, it's funny because you're going to make the effort to do it. You're going to think, well, I won't be able to do that.

But you've already done the groundwork. Just look at what you've done and follow it. Consider it a guide.

Some people get blinded by the light and just are okay with doing the same thing over with the same result.

So just after having shared these 10 challenges with you, Mad Dog, do you think they would be very difficult to adapt to your life to help find your success at different levels?

I don't think they're difficult to introduce. I think the challenge would be in the follow through with some of those that would be the apps. Could all of those things work 100% for everybody?

For sure. But it's the willingness, desire and ability to stay vigilant with checking those boxes.

Absolutely. And that's a good point. And, and that's why the accountability mirror is there too.

I like that.

Yeah, it's, it's all of a sudden it's a, a bit of a wake up call, but it, it's wake up call that's available to you at any given time.

And I, I do really like the visual of. There's the note, I'm looking at myself in the mirror. Yep. You know, you're the only guy that you're holding accountable than sitting in front of you.

So I'm definitely going to try that.

So, you know, when it came to the last time he went through hell week, he was still basically healing from the first go round. So he had to really kind of get himself into shape to do that. But he looked in the mirror, and this is where the accountability mirror comes from.

And he. He's talking to himself and he's having a hard time saying, what are you, Are you. Is there something wrong with you, buddy?

Are you sure you want to do this? And. And he finally come to terms with the fact. This is something that I've wanted for a long time. It's time for me to just.

I hate to say like this, but just do it.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

You can talk about it forever, but, you know, taking that first step and whether it's via the accountability mirror or your cookie jar or whatever, just those steps forward are all in the direction that you're wanting to go.

I'm just wondering, would it be a bad thing if you slip the odd cookie in that cooking jar?

I don't even think that's an option. Otherwise, it's not called a cookie jar. It's just a previous success, you know, container. I'm gonna have a cookie in there.

Ah, the odd cookie's not a bad thing.

And I won't say, unfortunately, that the music is telling us that this episode has come to an end, but really what that means to me is that there'll be more episodes to come. So just keep that in mind. I suggest to the listeners to grab a copy of this book I've already mentioned, look at the challenges and.

And the importance of those challenges, and believe me, we just kind of touched on them at the 30,000 foot level. But if you could put context to it, then that's going to make a difference.

Remember to take advantage of the moment, for the moment takes advantage of you. To learn more about E-walkabout, please visit us at e-walkabout.ca.