Nine Quotes by David Goggins That'll Hack Your Brain into Doing Hard Things
“You are in danger of living a life so comfortable and soft, that you will die without ever realizing your true potential.”
David Goggins is a psychopath.
He’s a former navy seal and drops more f-bombs than a drunken sailor at a bar full of playboy bunnies.
For the first time ever I had to tell my 1 year old daughter to leave the room an hour ago because I had David Goggins videos playing. He’s so brutal and rude that I didn’t want her to hear him.
Surface-level people dismiss David Goggins. That’s why they miss all the opportunities in life. Surface-level people screw themselves up the butt.
Look below the surface.
Beyond the hard-ass exterior of David Goggins is a level of high performance that’ll completely change your life. Trust me.
Below are the quotes from Goggins to hack your brain into doing hard things.
1. “I never set a goal I can reach”
What an unusual way to live.
The average person sets goals they can reach. David Goggins sets goals that seem impossible. The weird thing is he says he hits most of them.
This comes from two defining moments in his life. In the late 90s he was an overweight loser with no direction, working a bunch of dead-end jobs. The depression was crippling, and all he did was try to fit in.
At 300 pounds he tried to enroll to become a navy seal. They laughed at him. It was an unreachable goal. He eventually got a lucky break but had 90 days to lose 100 pounds.
He did it but still entered the hell week part of navy seals training as a big boy. During his first attempt he got pneumonia and fractured his kneecap. The only way to make it through was to finish the next attempt at hell week with a fractured kneecap.
That’s when he began to hack his mind into doing hard things.
Through some miracle he passed navy seals training. David then got shipped off to the war in Iraq. His friends went to Afghanistan. His 12 navy seal friends died. He was the survivor from the group due to luck.
To raise money for the families of his fallen friends, he ran an ultramarathon. That’s when he became obsessed with running.
His running stories are infamous.
In his first ultramarathon, he ran so hard that he began to piss blood because his kidneys failed. By the 70-mile mark, all of the bones in his foot had broken and he had dual stress fractures in both legs.
He says he was on the brink of death.
After this one race he went to run the Badwater marathon multiple times which happens in Death Valley, one of the hottest places on earth.
The takeaway here isn’t to do dumb stuff and destroy your body. It’s to set bigger goals than what seems rationale. That’s how you push beyond the limits your mind sets ahead of time to protect you from pain.
2. “You are in danger of living a life so comfortable and soft, that you will die without ever realizing your true potential.”
This tragedy keeps me awake at night.
Not reaching your potential is one of the most destructive things we all face. It’s heartbreaking when you finally reach the moment where you realize it.
For most of us, our youth is gone by this point and we can’t go back and undo the damage. Thankfully, this happened to me at 26 and I fought like hell to change it.
Unrealized potential will ruin your life.
There’s only so long you can lie to yourself about all the things you could’ve done. Comfort is the #1 sign you’re leaving potential on the table.
If yours days consist of an easy job and evenings watching Netflix, then you are well on the path to mediocrity that comes with terrible last place rewards.
Just “getting by” in a world of AI isn’t enough. You’ll be replaced.3. “Nobody cares what you did yesterday. What have you done today to better yourself?”
I’m so tired of has-beens.
I meet them all the time via my email list. They send me some message about how they achieved success 20 years ago, and how Jack Canfield once said they were great.
What they don’t understand is we have short memories. Stop holding onto the past and living it like it’s the present.
If your last moment of success was 5-10 years ago, it’s a sign to reinvent yourself.
NOW.
Living in the past is the fastest way to unhappiness. You also embarrass yourself when you can’t tell recent stories of things you’ve done. Makes you look old as hell too.
4. “Fear is my ultimate guide”
This one smacked me in the balls.
It’s my compass for everything in life. If I’m not fearful then I’ve either plateaued or I’m heading backwards towards the edge of the cliff that’ll eventually fall off.
The more you face daily fears the faster you grow. That’s how you become unrecognizable in a year and unlock enormous fulfillment.
You want fear. It’s good.
5. “When you think that you are done, you’re only 40% into what your body’s capable of doing.
That’s just the limits that we put on ourselves.”
Most of us are placing limiting valves on our success.
The 40% rule from David Goggins says when you think you’ve hit your limit, you’re only using about 40% of your capability.
This mental model has been a game-changer for me. It’s taught me how soft I can be on some days. I’m so worried about risking everything I’ve earned so far that I’m missing all the abundance I could have if I embraced more risks.
I tell myself “99% of these risks aren’t going to send you back to a cubicle job so chill the heck out.”
Hit your limit of 40% then go beyond it.
“I thought I’d solved a problem when really I was creating new ones by taking the path of least resistance.” – David Goggins
6. "Be more than motivated, be more than driven, become literally obsessed to the point where people think you're f*cking nuts."
A key idea I stole from David is to become obsessed.
Passion, interest, and purpose are too weak. It’s like drinking a cup of tea with 1 part tea and 30 parts oat milk. The kick of the tea just won’t fire you up when you’re drowning in milky daydreams like a baby.
Obsession takes over your whole life.
It’s how I feel about writing. When I explain my writing habits and process to strangers, they think I’m bonkers. That’s good according to Goggins.
It wasn’t always like that…but it is now. And I’m freaking proud of it.
Obsession is the cure to all roadblocks and feelings of “I’m lost.” Find an obsession then commit to it for decades. Hard to screw up life when you do.
7. "When you’re driven, whatever is in front of you, whether it’s racism, sexism, injuries, divorce, depression, obesity, tragedy, or poverty, becomes fuel for your metamorphosis."
Some people use failures as a reason to stop.
David says what’s knocked us down is what helps fuel our transformation. For example, I got kicked in the butt for decades by mental illness, except I didn’t know because it was undiagnosed.
It was only when I couldn’t sit in a 2-person meeting for 15 minutes, without feeling sick and getting diarrhoea, that I realized something was horribly wrong.
The story can use you, or you can use the story. Choose wisely.
8. “When you stop blaming other people for your problems....when you stop procrastinating, b*tching and complaining about how unfair life is...it is truly amazing what the f*ck you can accomplish with your life!”
I need a shower after that quote!
You can outsource your future to society that doesn’t give a f*ck about you, or you can own your life and take control. I call it personal responsibility. Those who aren’t responsible are cogs in a machine that are replaceable.
But you need a reason why.
For me, when I think about my 1 year old daughter, I get emotional. It’s the only motivation I ever need to wake my lazy ass up at 6am when I don’t feel like doing much, and getting to work.
My daily schedule would rip the face off most people. It’s doable for me because my why is so strong it can crush any objection my silly mind can come up with.
If you blame and complain you’ll never get in the fast lane.
Life is fair or unfair based on the level of daily action you take. Where you were born or what grades you got are irrelevant.
If a guy named Jon Morrow – who can’t move his body from the neck down – can make $10M from writing website blogs, you can definitely push past an illness or sickness of a loved one.
Own or be owned.
9. "Pain unlocks a secret doorway in the mind, one that leads to both peak performance and beautiful silence."
Let’s finish here.
This is one of my favorite quotes of all time. We’re taught by society that pain is bad, that if we experience it we need more self-care and bubble baths. Wrong.
Pain is the path to peak performance.
We care about the things that hurt us. Pain wakes us up and forces us to pay attention. I’m worried Gen Z is being taught to avoid pain like it’s a cancer. But there’s not a single biography of a person you admire that doesn’t contain a tonne of pain.
Pain is how you gain.
The takeaway from David Goggins is when you push beyond pain you become relentless, obsessed, and have a limitless mindset. With those three things there’s nothing else you need in this life.
Tell me which of the 9 quotes you loved the most and why in the comments.
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I think this quote, spoke to me the most. Not reaching my potential scares me. My life isn't comfortable, but I sure as heck don't want to die without reaching my potential. Actually, I don't want to die. I've got too much to do!
“You are in danger of living a life so comfortable and soft, that you will die without ever realizing your true potential.”
I started working with a personal fitness trainer today. I need the intensity. When I was feeling pushed and tapped out, I knew I was only at 40% and I swear the weights got lighter.