From Arrogance to Enlightenment: How Rich Roll and David Goggins Took Me to School
I have to fess up: I used to roll my eyes so hard at the mention of people like Rich Roll and David Goggins that I risked permanent ocular damage. To me, they were the poster boys for that hyper-motivational, “no excuses” genre of self-help that, quite frankly, I dismissed as little more than personal PR campaigns.
“Run 100 miles after a dark past? Sure, mate. Read your feel-good overcoming adversity story while I smash my third coffee of the morning. Inspiring.” I’d think, smugly, from the comfort of my chair.
I arrogantly assumed books like Can’t Hurt Me and Finding Ultra were just cleverly disguised efforts to justify life mistakes. “I mean,” I thought, “if you need to run an ultra-marathon to prove you’re no longer a mess, fine, but don’t drag me into it.” It was easy to judge from the sidelines; comfortable, untaxed, and blissfully unaware of the weight some people carry until I started stumbling under my own.
Meet Your Humble Pie
Fast forward a few years, and there I was, knees metaphorically (and occasionally literally) buckling under the pressure of business failures, life changes, and the endless loop of second-guessing yourself that tends to arrive in your 40s, uninvited and obnoxious.
There’s nothing like being slapped around by life to make you reconsider everything, including your knee-jerk judgement of ultra-endurance athletes. Because suddenly, I found myself needing something... anything... to keep me moving when it felt like the wheels were falling off. And who was there? Rich and David.
Not personally, of course, Rich Roll isn’t about to show up at my door with kale smoothies, and David Goggins has better things to do than shout “Stay Hard!” at me while I wrestle with Excel sheets. But their words, once dismissed as bravado, started landing differently.
From Dismissal to Dependence
David Goggins’ relentless mantra “embrace the suck” sounded silly until I was knee-deep in my own suck, flailing in a storm of self-doubt, and realised there was no shortcut out. I had to push through it. His story of transforming himself from a broken man into an unstoppable force wasn’t just noise; it was a reminder that dark periods, while miserable, are also breeding grounds for growth. You don’t get to skip them, but you can claw your way out.
Rich Roll’s story, on the other hand, wasn’t about brute force but reinvention. His leap from corporate burnout to vegan ultra-endurance athlete wasn’t just a showcase of physical endurance, it was about finding purpose beyond what society prescribes. His journey felt less like a demand to be extraordinary and more like permission to rebuild yourself in ways that make sense to you.
领英推荐
My New Diet... Eating My Words
Ok Ok, I was wrong. Not just about Rich Roll and David Goggins, but about the broader idea of assuming I knew anyone’s story before truly listening to it. What I dismissed as PR campaigns turned out to be survival guides, written by people who’d been to the edge and figured out how to come back.
And that’s the thing about judgement, it’s easy when you’re comfortable. But life, in its infinite wisdom, has a way of making you walk through the same fire you once dismissed as self-inflicted drama. It’s humbling, to say the least.
The Upside of Humble Pie (its calorie free)
The good news? There’s a light on the other side. Both Roll and Goggins didn’t just survive their dark periods; they thrived. They built examples of what’s possible when you stop avoiding discomfort and start leaning into it. And while I might never run 100 miles or embrace a diet of kale and quinoa, I’ve learned to respect the lessons they teach: growth is messy, and transformation is painful, but both are worth it.
So here’s to parking our assumptions and swallowing our words. You never know when life’s going to spin you around and make you them. The upside is you might also discover life doesn’t end in the dark, it just waits for you to strike a match.
If you’ll excuse me, I’ve got a copy of Can’t Hurt Me to re-read. Turns out the jokes on me, and honestly? I’m better for it.
Listen here to their conversation here https://www.richroll.com/podcast/david-goggins/