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David Goggins hates running. He hates the cold. He hates the water. Yet he does these things every day. This is his definition of discipline: 'Doing what you hate to do, but doing it like you love it. ' He despises the culture of 'motivation,' arguing that if you need to be pumped up to do the work, you've already lost. True discipline is an internal standard that doesn't care about your feelings, the weather, or your fatigue. It is the absolute refusal to negotiate with your own weakness.
"Fear is my greatest motivator. It is the fuel that drives me to do the things I do not want to do."
"Your goals don't care about how you feel."
"If you want to get better, do the things that no one else wants to do."
"You have to build callouses on your brain just like how you build callouses on your hands."
"The only way you gain mental toughness is to do things you’re not happy doing."
"The 40% rule is a simple concept: when your mind is telling you that you’re done, that you’re exhausted, you’re actually only 40% done."
"The only person who was going to save me was me."
"The most important conversation is the one you have with yourself."
"Everything in life is a mind game! Whenever we get swept under by life’s vicissitudes, our mind is the only thing we have to fall back on."
"You have to build calluses on your brain just like how you build calluses on your hands. Callus your mind through pain and suffering."
"If you want to be one of the few, you have to do what the few do."
"Callous your mind. You have to build calluses on your brain just like how you build calluses on your hands. Callous your mind through pain and suffering."
"You are not going to find greatness by looking in a book or by listening to me. I may give you the spark, but you have to find the fire."
"The only way to get to the other side is to go through it."
"I’m not gifted. I’m just disciplined."
"You must develop the discipline to do what needs to be done when you don't feel like doing it."
"You are either getting better or you are getting worse. You're never staying the same."
"You have to be willing to go to war with yourself and create a whole new identity."
"If you can get through to doing things that you hate to do, on the other side is greatness."
"We live in a world where a lot of people need motivation. When you are driven, you don't need motivation."
"To develop an unbreakable mind, you have to do things that suck."
"Mental toughness is a lifestyle."
"The only way to get to the other side of the journey is through suffering and discipline."
"It’s a lot more than just mind over matter. It takes relentless self-discipline."
"Bad weather is the best time to train. It's when your mind wants to quit that you find out who you really are."
"A warrior is a guy that goes, 'I’m here again today. I’ll be here again tomorrow and the next day.'"
"You are not going to find discipline in a book. You find it by doing."
"Your body is the ultimate servant. It will do whatever you tell it to do, but you have to have the mind to tell it."
"The mind is the most powerful weapon in the world."
"Don't stop when you're tired. Stop when you're done."
"You have to learn to perform without motivation."
"You have to find the discipline to do the work even when you don't feel like it."
"The path to success is paved with discipline and suffering."
"You are in danger of living a life so comfortable and soft that you will die without ever realizing your true potential."
"Self-discipline is self-love. If you want to be happy, you have to love yourself, which means you have to discipline your behavior."
Seeing how David Goggins approaches Discipline helps you apply the idea with more precision.
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