If you don’t know who David Goggins that I am referencing in the title is, you are clearly new to my blog and should read posts about that legend (linked in the end of the article). But to sum him up, he is a go to guy when it comes to breaking yourself, your beliefs, your mindset.
If you are picturing David as a motivational speaker, PhD. in psychology guy who has been studying how a mind opperates you are mistaken!
David is a guy who had a terrible childhood filled by abuse, both physical and emotional. However you would be right that he is a master of his mind. Over his life, David has completelly shattered himselves mentally so he could rebuild himself as a new man.
How has he done it? By challenging himself physically day by day.
So how does David’s story fits this article?
Ever since I heard an interview with him I’ve been inspired by his mentality, by his mindset. He was able to put into words what I’d been trying to say for a long time – physical and mental tougness practiced and developed by constantly challenging oneself.
That is exactly what happened to me yesterday.
I’ve been training and putting effort, time and energy to improve my performance for the past six months. However as my A-race is approaching (the main race of the season) I found myself very comfortable following my training schedule. However, I wanted to test myself and to do that, I signed myself for a different, shorter, less exhausting race. And there was something strange going on in the back of my mind, as I noticed. It was comfort creaping upon me. The inner voice telling me to stay comfortable, stick to my training and that I don’t need to do this pre-race. It was also telling me things that I am risking injury and my A-race is just a month ahead. Sensible advice, isn’t it.
However, I was able to read between the lines. It was coming from the place of comfort. No matter how challenging workouts I might have during training, race is a completely different experience. It was uncertainty trying to hold me back.
What if I will not perform good? All my training will be proved useless and I will feel like a fool spending so much time in the past six months.
That was the fear of not being good enough in the back of my mind.
I am glad I’ve trained myself to notice these things over years. It enabled me to act on those feelings of insecurity and release them.
If you are experiencing similar feelings, listen closely and read between the lines. What is the inner voice trying to tell you? What is it really trying to communicate?
Being able to listen to it and understand is an invaluable skill, but as we have grown numbing it by food, drugs, TV and other distractions, it might take practice to hear it.
You can use that technique wherever and whenever fear is presentm, which really means all the time.
- You want to improve your relationships? Ask yourself what you are afraid of.
- You are afraid of leaving your job? Where does the insecurity come from?
- You are afraid of starting something new? What is it preventing you from doing it?
You can find aforementioned articles involving David here:
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