Force does not work
Posted: Tue Feb 11, 2025 6:34 am
Hello, my dear friends! I am very happy to meet you again today for this new episode of Walk with Johan. We are resuming the episode or episodes of personal development. We had a somewhat special episode last week. I hope you liked it. But today, we are really going to focus on personal development, as we do almost every week. And today, I am actually going to talk to you about strength, about forcing yourself, about pushing yourself.
I got the idea to record this podcast on this subject by looking at my library and seeing a book by David Goggins, which I'm going to introduce to you, which is called in English, I read it in English, Can't hurt me, so can't hurt me in fact. I don't know how they translated it into French.
And by the way, I'll allow myself a digression, it's funny, because every time I record a video in front of my library or when I have the library behind me, people say to me: "But why are you reading in English?" I invite you to read in French. Reading in a foreign language allows you to improve enormously. I started reading in English initially because the personal development books I wanted to read weren't translated into French. I've been reading personal development books for maybe 14 years, between 13 and 15, let's say. And at the beginning, they weren't translated into French, so I had to read in English. Today, a lot of books are translated, but, well, there you go, I have access... Reading in English and listening to podcasts in English allows me to improve my language. So, that's why I read in English.
In this book, David Goggins explains to us... I'll give you the thesis of the book right away, he explains to us that if we make an effort, if we force ourselves, if we push ourselves, everything is italy whatsapp number data possible. It's all in the head. If you fail, it's your fault, it's because you didn't want to succeed. According to him, we only use 40% of our capacities. And so, throughout this book, he explains to us how he did things that are completely crazy and how he did it thanks to the mind, thanks to perseverance, thanks to sacrifice, really. He explains all of this to us from top to bottom.
He's someone who has done things, again, that are, from a physical point of view, extraordinary, even crazy. He was a Navy SEAL. So, it's an elite unit of the American army. He's run ultra-marathons. An ultra-marathon is when you run a distance longer than a marathon. A marathon is 42 kilometers. So, an ultra-marathon, well, it's more than 42 kilometers. And he did one that was 500 kilometers over three days. He ran the whole way. 'Well, he walks a little bit from time to time, but he still ran 500 kilometers. Ultra-triathlons. A triathlon is, I think, first you swim, then you bike, and then you run. He's done ultra-triathlons, so, with somewhat crazy distances. He did a traction challenge. You know, there's a bar, and with both hands, you pull, and with the strength of your arms and your back, well, you lift the weight of your body. And he did a challenge, he did 4030 pull-ups in 17 hours. He finished, he had to stop because one of his hands was completely blown apart.
In fact, he is extreme, he is very extreme. And he explains throughout the book how he managed to do these things and that, basically, you just have to want more and it all happens in your head. It's this famous story of the mind, the "mindset" as the Anglo-Saxons say. And there is a... For example, I'll give you a quote from the book, he says: "fatigue makes us traitors". So, basically, when you are tired, you become a traitor, that is to say, you don't act, you no longer act as you should act.
Personally, I think that... I understand what he means, that we can push ourselves a little, that we can do more, but fatigue is mainly a signal from the body telling us: "Be careful! Your energy is not unlimited". So, as usual, we have to find balance. But I find that the fact that he always says "where there's a will, there's a way", can give a feeling of guilt, that is to say that those who are going to fail, because sometimes we fail, sometimes it's like that, we fail, well, they are going to feel very, very bad, they are going to feel guilty, because they made the effort, but they will say: "it's my fault, I didn't do enough".
I got the idea to record this podcast on this subject by looking at my library and seeing a book by David Goggins, which I'm going to introduce to you, which is called in English, I read it in English, Can't hurt me, so can't hurt me in fact. I don't know how they translated it into French.
And by the way, I'll allow myself a digression, it's funny, because every time I record a video in front of my library or when I have the library behind me, people say to me: "But why are you reading in English?" I invite you to read in French. Reading in a foreign language allows you to improve enormously. I started reading in English initially because the personal development books I wanted to read weren't translated into French. I've been reading personal development books for maybe 14 years, between 13 and 15, let's say. And at the beginning, they weren't translated into French, so I had to read in English. Today, a lot of books are translated, but, well, there you go, I have access... Reading in English and listening to podcasts in English allows me to improve my language. So, that's why I read in English.
In this book, David Goggins explains to us... I'll give you the thesis of the book right away, he explains to us that if we make an effort, if we force ourselves, if we push ourselves, everything is italy whatsapp number data possible. It's all in the head. If you fail, it's your fault, it's because you didn't want to succeed. According to him, we only use 40% of our capacities. And so, throughout this book, he explains to us how he did things that are completely crazy and how he did it thanks to the mind, thanks to perseverance, thanks to sacrifice, really. He explains all of this to us from top to bottom.
He's someone who has done things, again, that are, from a physical point of view, extraordinary, even crazy. He was a Navy SEAL. So, it's an elite unit of the American army. He's run ultra-marathons. An ultra-marathon is when you run a distance longer than a marathon. A marathon is 42 kilometers. So, an ultra-marathon, well, it's more than 42 kilometers. And he did one that was 500 kilometers over three days. He ran the whole way. 'Well, he walks a little bit from time to time, but he still ran 500 kilometers. Ultra-triathlons. A triathlon is, I think, first you swim, then you bike, and then you run. He's done ultra-triathlons, so, with somewhat crazy distances. He did a traction challenge. You know, there's a bar, and with both hands, you pull, and with the strength of your arms and your back, well, you lift the weight of your body. And he did a challenge, he did 4030 pull-ups in 17 hours. He finished, he had to stop because one of his hands was completely blown apart.
In fact, he is extreme, he is very extreme. And he explains throughout the book how he managed to do these things and that, basically, you just have to want more and it all happens in your head. It's this famous story of the mind, the "mindset" as the Anglo-Saxons say. And there is a... For example, I'll give you a quote from the book, he says: "fatigue makes us traitors". So, basically, when you are tired, you become a traitor, that is to say, you don't act, you no longer act as you should act.
Personally, I think that... I understand what he means, that we can push ourselves a little, that we can do more, but fatigue is mainly a signal from the body telling us: "Be careful! Your energy is not unlimited". So, as usual, we have to find balance. But I find that the fact that he always says "where there's a will, there's a way", can give a feeling of guilt, that is to say that those who are going to fail, because sometimes we fail, sometimes it's like that, we fail, well, they are going to feel very, very bad, they are going to feel guilty, because they made the effort, but they will say: "it's my fault, I didn't do enough".