There is a fine line between the path of least resistance and simply intuitively listening to one’s body. The meaningless buzzwords of therapy speak on TikTok coddle today’s youth into a stagnant version of their weakest self. They see a lack of willpower as an inherent human condition and reward minor, daily errands with a three-hour bed-rotting break. On the other end of the spectrum, David Goggins fans on TikTok promote inhumane control over one’s will, endorsing measures like running on a broken foot to increase pain tolerance.
As Goggins would say, “Be a practitioner of life aspirations, not a theorist.” Yet, to incorporate discipline into life, it is equally important to know when a limit is unnecessarily exceeded.
The Goggins grit counter-movement of TikTok takes the path of alarming resistance. His fans glorify his life story as a template for the ultimate transformation.
Goggins, a former Navy SEAL, completed 18 months of Basic Underwater Demolition SEAL training, enduring the infamous “Hell Week” three times. He braved through his first Hell Week with stress fractures, double pneumonia and a fractured patella his second time through the program. After serving on Navy SEAL Team 5 in Iraq, he committed his life to high-endurance ultramarathons. He placed third in the 2013 Badwater 135, running for 25 hours in the harsh heat of California’s Death Valley despite never having run more than 20 consecutive miles three days prior.
Goggins’ severe methodology has made him a sought-after public speaker and the New York Times bestselling author of “Can’t Hurt Me: Master Your Mind and Defy the Odds” and “Never Finished: Unshackle Your Mind and Win the War Within.” He tells people to callus their minds, refusing to allow a rainstorm or a strained hamstring to excuse them from expanding the bandwidth of their mental limits and making the seemingly impossible possible.
Through SEAL training, he relied on his “40% 60% rule.” When he is in such extraneous pain that his brain is telling him to immediately quit, he tells himself that he is only exerting 60% of his potential effort. Once his body realizes that he refuses to surrender, untouched passages of psychological tenacity emerge, eliminating the perimeters his mind puts on his body’s capabilities to achieve the final 40%.
His mantra is to “stay hard.” Unwavering discipline does not falter at the sight of a storm, the heartbreak of relationships or the spontaneity of everyday life. When the human brain is overloaded, the natural tendency is to forfeit and shrug comfortably into one’s flawed humanity. Self-care online promotes giving yourself grace. But to Goggins, quitting is synonymous with betraying potential entirely.
But not everyone has Goggins’ indomitable spirit and relentless grit. The average human being cannot sustain a constant battle with their body’s functions. Goggins himself admits that endurance training often leads him into deep psychological warfare, forcing him to question his sanity. Human beings lack mechanical replenishment systems. Most people need mindful recovery to instill long-term habits into their daily routine. A day off, a cheat meal and compassionate self-talk are essential to making the process of change endurable.
The key to self control is a customized balance that both pushes and replenishes the individual. A semi-disciplined routine — with the flexibility of a weekly cheat day and the rigidity of a daily checklist — is manageable enough to solidify long-term, healthy habits.
A study published in the Journal of Consumer Psychology found that planned hedonic deviations are the secret ingredient to sticking with long-term, hefty goals. If every slight waver of a goal is viewed as a complete lapse and abandonment of control, it is more likely that a person will quit entirely. But if occasional, measured indulgence is placed and planned, there are encouraging rewards that continue to propel a person forward without insurmountable guilt.
Limiting social media activity is a feasible first step to a stable lifestyle. When users project their idealized self through a phone screen, they filter out the personal honesty required to confront faults and grow. If users do not release themselves from their maladaptive screen time, their dreams will be stuck in a perpetual zone of mere fantasy, never being actualized. Braving the precarious expedition it takes to see a fantasy through to the brutal end is what it takes — not a vision board.
Selectively controlling fleeting desires puts a person in supreme control of their aspirations. But, if a person exceeds their boundaries to the point of exhaustion, irreparable damage through physical injuries can cancel out any and all physical and mental development.
So, no, one Canvas assignment completed does not warrant a luxurious shopping spree, followed by four hours of doom-scrolling. But being a physical machine that overcomes extreme exercise every day is inhuman. A delicate balance between positivity and honesty creates a functional, dedicated individual who is bound for success.
Isabella Ehring is an Opinion Intern for the fall 2024 quarter. She can be reached at iehring@uci.edu.
Edited by Trista Lara and Logan Heine.