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Strengthen Your Mind Like a Navy SEAL | David Goggins | Big Think

Big Think | August 25, 2025



Strengthen Your Mind Like a Navy SEAL
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What could almost destroy the body and mind of the only person to complete Navy SEAL training (including two Heck Weeks), Air Force tactical air controller training, and U.S. Army Ranger School? David Goggins is tough, but in an effort to raise money for the Lone Survivor Foundation, he took on a challenge that tested him more than any of his military experiences: the Badwater 135. This is an ultra-marathon event that requires participants to run 135 miles in 24 hours in the peak heat of De*th Valley. Goggins wasn’t a runner at the time; he was a bulky power lifter, and he only had four days to prepare for the qualifying race. He needed to run 100 miles in under 24 hours. So how did he do? Here, he tells the story and in doing so shares a lesson on human potential, mental toughness, and why you won’t grow as a person if you always choose the path of least resistance. You can follow David on Twitter and Instagram @davidgoggins and Facebook.
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DAVID GOGGINS:

David Goggins is the only member of the U.S. Armed Forces to complete SEAL training, Air Force tactical air controller training, and the U.S. Army Ranger School, where he graduated as ‘Enlisted Honor Man’. Seeking an even greater challenge, Goggins set about conquering the hardest sporting events known to man. Today he is considered to be one of the greatest endurance athletes in the world.
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TRANSCRIPT:

David Goggins: I’m a big believer in doing things that make you uncomfortable. So, we live in a world where we want to be as comfortable as we can. And we wonder why we have no growth. We wonder why—when the smallest thing in our life gets difficult—we wonder why we cower and we run away.

I mean, our whole life is set up that way. Our whole life is set up in the path of least resistance. We don’t want to suffer. We don’t want to feel discomfort. So the whole time we’re living our lives in a very comfortable area. There’s no growth in that. So for me I realized that. The reason I became 297 pounds is because that was comfortable. What was very uncomfortable was running. What was very uncomfortable was being on a diet. What was very uncomfortable was trying to face things that I didn’t want to face. And I also realized when I was really big: I had no growth. Why? Because I was living comfortable. So I realized for me to find growth I had to face all these different things that made me very, very uncomfortable.

One thing I faced was running. I absolutely hated running. But I knew for me to grow I had to do this thing every single day. I wanted to start callus-ing my mind. I wanted to start becoming a better person. And how do you become a better person? How do you gain mental toughness? How do you become the person you want to be? It’s by constantly facing the things that you don’t want to face. If you constantly run away from things that you don’t want to face, how is there growth? How is there mental toughness? I can give you a class all day long about self-talk, visualization, “eat an elephant one bite at a time”, but if you’re never putting yourself in a situation to actually practice these things you’re never going to grow.

We’re all going through a battle in our mind. A warrior is not a person that carries a g*n. The biggest war you ever go through is right between your own ears. It’s in your mind. We’re all going through a war in our mind and we have to callus our mind to fight that war and to win that war. So one example I can give you about callus-ing your mind, about doing things that make you uncomfortable. There’s a book out there called ‘Lone Survivor’ and there’s a guy named Marcus Luttrell. He was on an operation where a bunch of guys died, and I knew all the guys that died. And I know Marcus Luttrell very well. This story touched my heart. And I basically went out there and found a foundation to raise money for it. It’s called the Special Operations Warrior Foundation. You give 100 percent tuition for—let’s say your dad died in the war. He was a special operator. If that guy had a kid, you get 100 percent tuition to go to college. A great foundation, great people working at the foundation. “I’m going to do this.” So I Googled the ten hardest races in the world. And at this time of my life I was not a runner. I maybe ran ten miles the whole year. I was into bodybuilding, I was into weight training, and that’s what I did.

So I Googled the ten hardest race…

For the full transcript, check out https://bigthink.com/videos/david-goggins-how-to-strengthen-your-mind-like-a-navy-seal

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Comments

This post currently has 41 comments.

  21. Anonymous

    August 25, 2025 at 12:05 pm

    "Once the mind knows you are not going to quit something it's going to try find more. It's going to try to give you more. Once it realizes you're not going to take the path of least resistance, you are going to stay here until it's done, my mind and my body and my spirit became one for the first time ever. And I went to a level that I never thought was humanly possible for myself or anybody else". 💪

  23. @susannnico

    August 25, 2025 at 12:05 pm

    Investment in stocks is a great way to invest your money. The team is constantly checking the market for changes and make sure that you are always informed about the best time to invest. As a result, I have made more money than ever before, and I don't have to manage my portfolio on my own! Invest in stocks, it's worth it!

  36. @rugile7200

    August 25, 2025 at 12:05 pm

    I challenged myself to lose weight, maintain exercise and diets. I developed 4 eating disorders and nearly died. Yes, I wanted to quit so many times, but because of "you're only strong and you grow when you don't quit", I experienced what it feels like to live in hell, to nearly die in hell. Is this life? Is this growth? If that is what growth feels like, fuck growth, fuck being strong. I won't die to prove that I was strong enough to do everything against myself. I'm a pure-born perfectionist, I know how strong I am, but when I developed a food addiction, I turned against that and all of the things that food gave me: health, dreams, even consciousness. I know what 65 lbs feels like, it feels like hell, anything but growth, it's destruction. I turned my mind against everything. Is that growth? This way of thinking ruined everything in me. Only now I'm starting to breathe again, and everything that this man would consider failure in my life, I consider growth and life, I consider "failure" as a possibility to LIVE

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