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Lewis HowesDO THIS To Make Yourself Immune To Pain & DESTROY LAZINESS | David Goggins & Lewis Howes
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CHAPTERS
- 0:00 – 7:27
Why Goggins Went From Staying Quiet to Sharing His Story
Goggins explains why he avoided being named in Jesse Itzler's book and why he later started sharing his story publicly. He cites the Rocky clip that changed his life and the emails he received from people his story had reached.
- •He was weeks from leaving the military when Itzler's book came out, so he didn't want to be named
- •He draws strength from quiet and worried that being public would cost him that
- •He says hell became his teacher, and failure and discomfort are learning tools
- •The two minutes and 13 seconds of Rocky getting back up changed his life, and his story might do the same for someone else
- •Emails from people touched by different parts of his story pushed him to do more
- 7:27 – 14:36
Abuse, Self-Talk and Racism in His Childhood
Howes asks about the abuse in Goggins's childhood and the hardest obstacle he faced. Goggins says the hardest obstacle was himself and the conversation he had with himself, shaped by his father's mental warfare, school failure, bullying and racism in Indiana.
- •Home life was dominated by fear, his father's drinking and his mother's changed face
- •He had a learning disability and his mind was that of a 40-year-old by age eight
- •He says the most important conversation is the one you have with yourself, and his was horrifying
- •The racism he faced in Brazil, Indiana included a threat spray-painted on his car, with the KKK active nearby
- •His mother's fiancé was murdered and he hid the bullying from his mother
- 14:36 – 19:05
Cheating, Spiral Notebooks and Passing the ASVAB
Goggins describes deciding to join the military at 17 and failing the ASVAB twice, after trying to cheat. He then spent six months with a weekly tutor and spiral notebooks, writing everything repeatedly until he passed.
- •He tried to copy off a friend, but the friend had a different test
- •He asked his mom for help and she paid for a tutor one hour a week for six months
- •He had a third-grade reading level as a junior in high school
- •He filled spiral notebooks by writing the same material for six to ten hours at a time
- •Memorizing through repetition got him through the test and into the military
- 19:05 – 21:46
What His Mother Taught Him Without Teaching
Asked about the greatest lesson from his mother, Goggins says she taught him by never picking him up or telling him it would be okay. He chose the path of most resistance, treating his hard world as a training ground.
- •He watched her struggle and learned how he didn't want to live
- •She never gave him comfort when he failed, which he says forced him to figure things out
- •He saw his world as the ultimate training ground rather than an excuse
- •He began choosing the path of most resistance to prepare himself
- 21:46 – 30:40
No Recovery Day: Confidence Built in Discomfort
Howes raises embracing pain, and Goggins talks about his daily training and why he rejects the 'recovery day' mindset. He says real confidence comes from hard work and facing fears, as he did at the kitchen table with his notebooks.
- •He trained for over 20 years, taking one active recovery day a week
- •He says people ask about recovery before they have worked out
- •He says he made himself by diving into his insecurities rather than speaking softly to himself
- •Authentic confidence from hard work ends the need for outside validation
- •He says confidence comes from overcoming fear, such as his severe stutter, not from comfortable places
- 30:40 – 38:53
Facing Yourself: Illness, Reflection and the Dungeon
Goggins explains that outside success left him feeling empty until he got sick around age 38 and had to stop training. In that stillness he reflected on how far he had come, and he argues that mental toughness is lived daily rather than sampled.
- •Billionaires he coaches tell him they are still missing something
- •Illness took away his training and forced him to sit alone and reflect
- •He had never taken time to acknowledge what he'd achieved and would skip race ceremonies
- •His SEAL prep program produced bigger, stronger, faster quitters because it didn't build the mind
- •He says everyone has a dungeon and mental toughness is lived every day
- 38:53 – 49:08
Fear as a Guide and Having No Way Out
Goggins and Howes discuss taking the road less traveled and doing the things that scare you. Goggins describes breaking down the pull-up record and imagining God's chart of who he could have been. He then tells of taping his stress fractures to start SEAL training.
- •He says fear tells him what he must conquer, while most people take the easy highway
- •Howes describes giving himself daily challenges until fear faded
- •Breaking the 4,020 pull-up record into numbers instead of shutting down his mind
- •His fear is facing a final judgment showing the person he should have been
- •Taping his feet and running on stress fractures with no way out but death, and the fractures healed
- 49:08 – 53:38
Going Back to Scratch and the Cookie Jar
Goggins explains that to keep growing he has to revisit total discomfort, the 'scratch' of the $7-a-month place. He now carries that feeling constantly through quiet reflection and his self-talk cookie jar, and he digs fire line as a wildland firefighter.
- •Comfort reduces friction, so you must go back to scratch to raise your level
- •Visit scratch like a day trip rather than staying there
- •His cookie jar is a constant self-talk reminder, and he treats the feeling as a callus
- •He says growth needs quiet and the world is too noisy
- •He works as a wildland firefighter at 12 dollars an hour although he doesn't need to
- 53:38 – 1:04:13
Perspective, Delayed Gratification and the Badwater Comeback
A story about a young firefighter declining running shoes leads Howes to share his trip with Pencils of Promise. Goggins then discusses delayed gratification, his plan to return to Badwater, and why the years of work matter more than the finish.
- •The 21-year-old looked at his hands and the mountain and decided his old shoes would do
- •Howes says visiting villages in poverty gives him perspective
- •Goggins pulled out of Badwater in 2014, got sick, and is only now in shape to go back
- •He says it's the years of work that matter rather than the one second at the finish line
- •Perfectionism and chasing wins can leave you angry and without reflection
- 1:04:13 – 1:07:04
The Tub After the First 100-Mile Race
Goggins recounts his first 100-mile race and the aftermath in the bathtub, which he says confirmed what he had figured out. He argues that you must go deep alone when life has you in a vice.
- •He ran the first 100-mile race alone and underprepared, which led to Jesse Itzler seeing him
- •At mile 70 he was peeing blood with 30 miles left and no one could carry him through
- •In the tub he was in terrible pain, and he says this confirmed he had cracked the code to human potential
- •He says overcoming comes from staying calm and not quitting when life has you in a vice
- 1:07:04 – 1:13:16
The 40% Rule and Staying Uncomfortable
Goggins says he now treats fears as challenges and worries most about getting civilized and feeling he has arrived. He explains that he lives at 99 percent of his potential, and that labeling him special lets people avoid the work.
- •Fear is his ultimate guide to where he's supposed to go
- •His biggest fear is the 'I've arrived' mentality
- •He doesn't want to lose the Goggins he created, who was made and not born
- •He hates being labeled special because it gives people a get-out-of-jail-free card
- •He says he lives at 90 to 99 percent of his potential, and 100 percent is dead
- 1:13:16 – 1:22:17
Building Armor: His Daily Routine
Goggins describes his morning run, gym work and nightly stretching as armor against life, and explains why he stretches after his psoas illness. He says mental toughness is a lifestyle that must be maintained.
- •He runs an hour and a half or more each morning before the gym, even though he doesn't love running
- •He says the morning wins he controls let him face the day's disappointments with armor
- •He stretches two to three hours nightly, having missed two days in about five and a half years
- •His psoas muscle tightened from lifelong stress and made him sick
- •He says mental toughness isn't a class, and the mind loses its ability to suffer if you step away
- •He won't tell people something he hasn't done
- 1:22:17 – 1:27:41
His Father's Lesson and Responding to Provocation
Goggins says the biggest lesson from his father was how not to be, after seeing him as an adult at 22. He also describes how he now rates problems instead of reacting with the anger of his old self.
- •At 22 he went back to see his father through a man's eyes
- •He reads bullying and cruelty as coming from insecurity and a dark place
- •He says he judges no one because he was once like them
- •He used to pick fights but now has a throttle through self-examination
- •He rates whether a problem warrants escalating, which he ties to maturity
- 1:27:41 – 1:36:19
Three Truths, Where to Find Him, and Defining Greatness
Goggins gives his three truths: be your own hero, never pick the easy road, and be afraid when you feel you've arrived. He shares his social media details, and defines greatness through the example of the retired tennis champion haunted by missed shots.
- •Be your own hero and hold yourself accountable rather than idolizing others
- •Never pick the easy road, because the hard road gives permanent results
- •When you feel you've arrived, be afraid and find the next climb
- •He posts his own videos every Monday at @davidgoggins with no team
- •Greatness is recalling every missed opportunity and being haunted by it so you don't repeat it
