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GM & HNY. For ~25 years, I’ve chosen a guiding word for the New Year—a small ritual that’s become a personal North Star. 🧵 1/19
MissMayaD ᵍᵐ
@missmayad
Chief Brand Officer @TIME, @TIMEforKids @TIMEPieces Was @Wired @NewYorker, @pitchfork, @VF. Believer in a human centered world w/ liberty and justice for all.
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Living with a Seal was a seminal book for my young boys. I read it out loud skipping all the f-bombs. “The gap between where you are and where you needs to be only closes one ugly attempt at a time.” Wise words
David Goggins quit Air Force pararescue training and lied about the reason. A few years later he was 297 pounds and spraying restaurants for cockroaches overnight, and he told Joe Rogan exactly how he climbed out:
The turning point came on one bad night at work, and nobody saw him make the decision.
1. He quit, and covered it with a lie
He was terrified of the water, and when he was told he'd have to restart pararescue training from day one, he broke and used a medical reason as cover.
"So I made up a lie."
Most of us have a quit we've never told the truth about, and it keeps charging interest until we do.
2. Comfort made everything worse
Over the next few years he went from 175 pounds to 297, avoiding anything that scared him.
"The more things I found comfortable, the more uncomfortable my mind was."
The voice telling you you're capable of more doesn't go quiet just because you stop listening to it.
3. Nobody was coming
He came home from a night shift, turned on a documentary about SEAL Hell Week and watched men ring the bell while others refused. He stopped blaming his past right there.
"It's me against me, period."
The day you stop waiting for rescue is the day the real work starts.
4. He walked off the job mid-shift
A recruiter told him he'd have to lose 106 pounds in under three months. The next night he found a restaurant crawling with cockroaches, left his spray canister on the floor and drove home.
"I became the most obsessed person on the planet Earth."
Some decisions only get made when you finally can't stomach the life in front of you.
5. The first run was a quarter mile
He set out to run four miles, managed a quarter, walked home and cried on his couch. He went out again the next day anyway.
"I'm going to make myself good enough."
The gap between where you are and where you need to be only closes one ugly attempt at a time.
6. He built the mind through suffering
If it was raining or snowing at three in the morning, that was his cue to go outside and train.
"I had to build this callous mind, and I built it through suffering."
Every hard thing you choose on purpose makes the hard things you don't choose easier to survive.
7. Three Hell Weeks in one year
He failed his first Hell Week and went back for two more in the same year to get through. He knew exactly what would follow him if he quit again.
"I know what's on the back end of quitting."
The pain of training ends on Friday, and the regret of quitting doesn't.
8. Raid the cookie jar
When everything goes wrong, he takes a few seconds to remember everything he's already survived.
"I call it the cookie jar, and we often forget how hard we are."
You've already come through worse than whatever is in front of you today.
9. Never get civilised
At 43 he was still running 100-mile weeks, because comfort is the enemy he trusts least.
"The worst thing that can happen to a man is become civilized."
The moment you think you've arrived is the moment you start going soft.
10. Uncommon among the uncommon
Becoming a SEAL wasn't enough for him, because once you're in, everyone around you is a SEAL too.
"You want to be uncommon amongst uncommon people, period."
The standard you just reached is only the new floor.
I know what it's like to carry a quit around with you. The Marine Corps gave me a standard, and the years after it gave me a hundred quiet reasons to drop below it. Goggins was a veteran who had already walked away once, was heavier than he'd ever been and was working nights for a thousand dollars a month when he decided enough was enough. If that man could find his way back, so can you.
I write one story like this every week for veterans and anyone rebuilding. Get it here:
substack.com/@bjganem
A veteran, a dog, a mission.View quoted post on X
Truth. Having worked around salespeople my whole career, they taught me that no was just the start to yes.
Underrated career advice: Pick work where you love the hardest part. Writers stare at a blank page every morning. Salespeople hear no all day long. Builders spend their time fixing everything that breaks. The person who loves the hard stuff succeeds when everyone else quits.View quoted post on X
Fascinating. I got into tech—so much as you can call what I’ve been ‘in tech’—because I believed in its ability to create personalized learning. I want kids to read books, but also learn as is natural “in flow” as described here. Both must be able to be true.
What surprised me about Alpha School once we sent our 3rd grader... x.com/i/article/2118…View quoted post on X
Sent from his iPad
Steve Jobs emailed this to himself a year before he died... a humbling reminder of how much we all depend on each other.View quoted post on X
