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August 12, 2024

— David Goggins

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Hardest thing to do

Which of these three things do you think is statistically the most difficult to do in America?

1. Become a U.S. Navy SEAL.
2. Get into Harvard University as a freshman.
3. Be awarded a Chick-fil-A franchise.

If you've been with me a while, you might know that the surprising answer is number 3 - the Chick-fil-A franchise.

This is mostly a matter of "fun with statistics," because CFA gets about 60,000 initial franchise applications per year and only opens between 75 and 80 restaurants. That works out to a .13 percent success rate.

Harvard University? This year the already self-selecting group of A students, class presidents, and varsity team captains each had a 3.7 percent shot at getting in.

So let's talk about the Navy SEALs, which if you count everyone who applies to join the Navy and become one has a 9.5 percent chance of making it through the entire year-plus worth of training. This includes a single week called Hell Week that has only a 25% to 33% success rate.

Personally, I am happy that there are people who want each of these three things—especially the Navy SEALs—but I don't think I've aspired to any of them.

However, today is a good day to remember someone for whom becoming a Navy SEAL was an obsession, and who had to try as hard as anyone (over and over) to achieve his goal. Frankly, he's become quite an inspiration to a lot of other people since.

If you don't know him already, I invite you to meet David Goggins: retired Navy SEAL (how's that for foreshadowing?) and author of the out-of-nowhere bestseller, Can't Hurt Me: Master Your Mind.

Raised in East Buffalo, N.Y., and then a small town called Brazil, Indiana, Goggins describes his childhood as "hell on earth," including an abusive father and run-ins with the KKK (Goggins is Black).

He joined the Air Force after high school, served four years, and then left -- a decision he soon came to regret.

I've seen this so many times in writing about people in the military who get out but have no good plan for afterward, and find themselves lost.

Goggins went from one minimum wage job to another, eventually worked as an overnight exterminator, became depressed, eating a box of doughnuts and drinking a big milkshake every morning (among other things), and gained well over 100 pounds.

As he tells it, however, a TV special about Navy SEALs training caught his eye -- one of those reruns you might see in snippets or reruns, over and over -- and gave him a new goal:

What Goggins did afterward -- well, it formed the basis for his book, and his career now.

1. First, had to drop 106 pounds in three months even to enlist in the Navy (after his four years in the Air Force).
2. Then, he had to repeat Hell Week three times due to injuries.
3. Finally, after two full years of training, he graduated on August 10, 2001.

Interesting timing, right? Goggins went on to serve another 16 years in the SEALs including combat in Afghanistan and Iraq, complete a bunch of other very challenging military courses, and eventually retired when he hit 20 years combined military experience.

Since then, he's become known as an ultramarathoner, ultra-distance cyclist, triathlete, and author/speaker. In fact, I don't think I'd heard of Goggins (I completely missed his book at the time) until a few years ago when readers began citing him as an inspirational and highly quotable role model.

I'm at the point in life when I can't tell you if 23 years is a lifetime or the blink of an eye, but that's how long ago this past weekend Goggins reached this milestone. So let's give him our quote of the day:

Not a bad thing to think about the next time the going gets tough. See you all on Understandably tomorrow.

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Did you see ...

Obviously there's a lot of political and Olympics news; while I touch on it sometimes, I'm going to assume today that you're getting your fix on that elsewhere. Even without mentioning either, we have some pretty big stories:

• The United States and China each won 40 gold medals in the first Summer Games draw in Olympic history, with America pulling into a tie Sunday with victory in the last event, women’s basketball. America equaled China on the strength of its heart-stopping 67-66 victory over France in a shockingly close game for the women’s hoops title. (NBC News)
• Donald Trump’s campaign says it has been hacked, with some internal communications stolen and leaked to Politico over the last month. The Trump campaign blamed Iran for the hack. The extent of the hacked material remains unclear. (Semafor)
• President Joe Biden opened up about aging in his first TV interview since dropping out of the presidential race. The president said it’s difficult to admit his age, 81, out loud. "I can’t even say how old I am. It’s hard for me to get out of my mouth," Biden told CBS News chief election and campaign correspondent Robert Costa. (Mediaite)
• Russia has vowed to deliver a 'tough response' to Ukraine's attacks on its border regions, just hours after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed his forces launched a surprise military incursion into 'the aggressor's territory'. Ukraine's incursion into Russia has continued for a sixth day Sunday, the largest such attack since the full-scale invasion and unprecedented for its use of Ukrainian military units on Russian soil. (Daily Mail)
• The U.S. is pursuing a long-shot bid to push Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his top lieutenants to give up power in exchange for amnesty as overwhelming evidence emerges that the strongman lost last month’s election. One source said the U.S. has put “everything on the table” to persuade Maduro to leave before his term ends in January. (WSJ)
• California's earthquake revolution: Early-warning systems make strides, issuing more than 5 million alerts. (LA Times)
• My insurance company spied on my house with a drone. Then the real nightmare began. (Business Insider)​