A few weeks ago I read a social media post from the legendary Navy Seal David Goggins.

He was talking about the reason why most people stay in the same bad position for most of their lives.

He said that they are stuck in the negotiation phase with themselves.

And then went on to explain the second truth about life.

The second truth is that life demands an abundance of action.

These simple reasons explained by David Goggins are the main reasons why most people remain mediocre for life.

Let's look closer at these 2 reasons for mediocrity.

Negotiating With Yourself.

A lot of people like to point fingers at successful people and talk about “how easy they have it”.

They imply that those people who have it better than them somehow got lucky or just received everything they have.

Sure some people do get born into money and have it easy in a financial sense.

However, they are in the minority.

Most successful people create their own success by doing the hard work day in and day out.

They have mastered the ability to reject negotiation with themselves.

But most people who are stuck love negotiation with themselves.

These people have big lofty dreams and even set up goals for what they want to achieve in life.

But when the resistance appears in their lives they immediately want to go to the negotiation table.

They want to “talk it out” with themselves.

For example:

The Alarm clock goes off at 5 pm for a morning run.

Instead of jumping up and just doing it they just lie there and start negotiating with the resistance in their minds.

I have previously mentioned “the resistance” in the book Self-discipline.

The “resistance” is something that comes up in the human mind whenever we try to do something to improve ourselves.

What most high achievers do is reject the voice of “The Resistance” when it starts nagging us for negotiations.

But most people welcome the negotiations and then settle for a “deal”.

The deal is usually something like the following:

“I will do it tomorrow.”

“I didn't have breakfast.”

“It's too cold, let's wait a few weeks for the weather to improve.”

“Let's sleep in for another 30 minutes.”

Whatever the deal is in the end it never serves you.

The deal is always designed to make you fail.

“The Resistance” wants you to stay exactly where you are.

Abundance of Action.

The second part of what David Goggins talked about was Abundance of action.

This is the foundation of truth when it comes to high levels of success.

You can't build anything of value without an abundance of action.

You can't just do something once and think you are done.

You need to consistently show up and do the simple things right when no one is watching.

That is when the most important things get done.It get's done when no one is watching.

This is where most people run into a wall especially at the beginning of making life-changing decisions.

People get all excited about making big changes when it is a new year or a new month.

Then reality punches them in the face when they start executing for the first time.

For example, they go for that first long run at 5 am in the cold weather.

They finally get their ass on the road and start running.

Then while they are running they start thinking about how much it sucks and how they will never be able to keep it up until the end of the year.

This moment of negative self-talk is where most dreams get destroyed.

It's where most settle for a life of mediocrity.

Because they miss the big truth that slaps them in the face.

The truth is that success it's not easy.

It's uncomfortable a lot of time.

It's painful a lot of time.

It's annoying a lot of time.

But that is the test of life.

That is what you must overcome to get what you want in life.

This is the big fight of life.

This is the way of the warrior.

The warrior must overcome the biggest battle first.

The battle with self.

Guess what there is a part of your mind that is your biggest enemy and you must overcome him for you to go to the next level in life.

This enemy never goes away but you can get control over him and that is the key.

Here is some good news: When you start out on this road of personal development it will suck in the beginning.

But that is mostly because you are still mentally and physically weak.

You will get stronger if you do the work, and when you get stronger the process of getting things done gets easier.

For example, I hate running.

But I know it's good for me so I do it anyway.

When I started running I struggled to be consistent, but as I got stronger physically and mentally I started silencing that part of my mind that was trying to stop me.

Becoming A Savage.

The last of the social media post by David Goggins was the idea of becoming a savage.

Let me explain.

The most important work we do is the work we do when we are alone.

The work we do when no one is watching.

That is where the savage comes into the game.

You will need the mental toughness of a savage to consistently show up and get things done.

And as I mentioned earlier your mind will try and stop you.

You might hear “The Resistance” say things like the following:

“I'm tired.”

“I dont want to do this.”

“I dont want to be here.”

“I will do this tomorrow.”

As soon as these thoughts pop up in your mind the savage steps up.

The savage is that part of your mind that is the elite warrior.

It doesn't negotiate.

It doesn't play nice.

It doesn't listen to bullshit stories about feeling sorry for yourself.

The savage is so badass that it might even listen to that voice for a few seconds just to laugh in its face and then crush whatever goal is in front of it.

The savage is a cold, ruthless warrior that gets things done.

No excuses!

What I learned from David Goggins is that the potential we have in our minds is so vast that when we learn to tap into that power we can achieve whatever we put our minds on.

But you have to learn to grow this ability to go deeper and deeper into this savage part of the mind.

And this only comes with time and by doing the work.

There are no shortcuts to the next level savage.

You must start at basic savage and work yourself up to master savage.

Then you become that guy that people think is not human.

The guy that gets things done against all odds.

When people think it's over you step up and bring the results.

That is the master savage.

Conclusion.

I highly recommend you read the book by David Goggins called “Can't Hurt Me”.

It's the story of how David Goggins created himself from nothing to the Elite Navy Seal and athlete you see today.

Another book about him that I highly recommend is “Living with a Seal” by Jesse Itzler.

This is the story of Entrepreneur Jesse Itzler who invites a Navy Seal (David Goggins) to live with him for a month.

Both of these books will make you realize one very important thing: You are living way below your true potential.

Until next time!