Well most people just look at me as the guy that runs and
yells as he's running. And that's, while I do that,
you know, to motivate people. But people don't understand that my day is broken up into segments. I work out, I eat, I sleep, I spend most of my time studying. So like I'm in the medical world. I'm a, you know, paramedic in Canada, but I spend a lot of
my time trying to nuke every single thing about it. Because I'm not trying
to just be a paramedic, learn about veins and arteries, and how the heart pumps
and stuff like that. I'm trying to learn to the point where I can save someone's life. And even though paramedics are doing that all over the world, I'm trying to be that paramedic that can really dissect
exactly what's going on, and figure out, you know,
what medication goes where. Just trying to, you know,
just trying to learn, you know, the algorithm
of what's going on, man. So I spend a lot of time with it. I love the word algorithm. 'Cause when I teach biology, or try and learn anything
that's related to biology, and especially the human body,
Right. I need to know the nouns.
Yep. But it's the verbs that matter. And that's really what
you're talking about. Like just saying, that sits there, that brain part there,
Right. Doesn't tell you how
it all works together. No. So what is your process
for studying look like? Like if we dropped a, a camera in the room, put a microphone into that, into your inner dialogue,
Right. Gosh, wouldn't we all love that. But if we dropped a microphone
into your inner dialogue, are you waking up looking
at the books and going, "Yeah, fresh day."
Right. Let's learn. Or is some of the same resistance that you've talked about coming
up around physical work? Is that coming up from time to time? You know what, I was nervous at first. I'm going to keep the mother... I'm going to keep it real.
Please. I'm going to keep it real. So, I'm not a real smart guy. And what I mean by that
is, I was born ADD, ADHD. My brain cannot retain information. I'm not some genetic freak when it comes to running, when it comes to lifting weights. I am absolutely the bottom of the barrel. And people will never believe me. And they can just, you know, whatever. Believe what you want to believe. So when he asked me this question, about what does studying look like for me. I have to go over the same page over, and over, and over, and over again, while Jennifer can look at that page, while she's, you know, quizzing me. She'll learn it right then, as she's, she's doesn't know anything about it. She will quiz herself or quiz me, and learn it as she's quizzing me. It's the most frustrating
thing in the world how my brain works. So what I, so what I do is, I literally sit there
with a pen and paper, and I have my books. And I go through, and I have
to write everything down every single day. I will study the same page
until it is photographic memory from writing the same thing down. And then from there, I'll go back through and relearn it again. So, I'll learn the bulk of it, but then I'll go through and learn the small things within that. So if it's the medication, I'll learn what the medication does. I'll first, I'll learn how
to even say the medication. 'Cause these medications aren't like, you know, like albuterol. No, it's very big words. So I'll go through, learn
how to say the name, then I'll go through,
learn what the dose is, then I'll go through... And this is like every single day. So not like, "Oh, I got
it. Let's just go through." No, nothing is "I got it." Every single thing, that's, so I can't wait to get
in this conversation. 'Cause everything I do in life, it sucks. Everything I do in life, it sucks. That's why when I was 300 pounds and 24 years old, it wasn't like I had some big epiphany of, let's just go be a Navy seal, let's lose some weight. No, I knew my entire life
was going to be a struggle, which is why I just ignored it. And I said, I'm not
even trying to jump off into this shit, and learn how to read, how to write, how to memorize, how to become something I am not. But through that process,
something happened to me, and I realized, this is why I feel sorry for no one. In this podcast, they're
going to really not like me, because people are
going to think that I am maybe lying, or maybe
fibbing, or exaggerating. No, I am literally, I was
the lowest form on earth, no talent, no ability to learn, and I literally know what it is to be rock bottom and to build that up. So that question about
learning, it's a pain in my ass. And I don't have to do it. It's the thing about it, I'm 49 years old, and I'm a multimillionaire. I don't have to do anything. So all I thought about
when I was growing up is, "Man, I can't wait to
one day get to the point where I no longer have to do this stuff." But what happens is I got older, it became a way of living. So how I do every day
is how I do every day. It's a, it's a discipline, it's a regimen, it's a, it's a, it was a choice I made. And the choice I made was, what are you willing to sacrifice, and what are you willing to give up to find every bit of who
you are as a human being? And I was willing to give
up everything to do that. So studying is no joke. I love that you're studying. I recall a few years ago I heard some interview or podcast with you, and you just threw out like, "I don't know what I'll do next. Maybe I'll be a scientist." And I, and I went, "Yeah!" I was like, 'cause I knew, 'cause I know you a bit-
Right. And I see your work out there. But we had met before, that if you decided that
you were going to do it. Right.
And learning medicine, which is what you're doing,
Right. learning human physiology is so detailed. Very.
And people out there have to understand, when you look at a textbook and you see the veins and the
capillaries, different colors, when the body's open,
they're not different colors. Right. Right. Right.
You know? They're not... So, I mean, some things are
have different color contrast, but it's not like it's all
labeled when you pop it open. Exactly.
And so, so the process of writing
things down by hand is important for you. Do you go, so you go back
and read those notes? Do you think about that
stuff on your runs too? Or are you segmenting your day? Like when you're done studying, are you heading out for a run, and thinking about other things? Or are you still rehearsing
the material in your head? So when I write it down, I write it down, and I'm able to, I'm actually looking down
at this table right now 'cause I'm back to writing. So I'm actually there right now as I'm speaking to you. I write it down in a way
that I'm memorizing page 69. So, I'm writing it down. So then writing it down in that page sync together in my brain. So I'm looking at the book
in my brain right now. So like, that's just how it works for me. And I have to do it over and over again. So that page is stuck in my mind. So I'm literally flipping through pages, as I'm taking these tests, and I'm taking these national tests to become a paramedic, or become a advanced EMT or whatever. I'm literally, as I'm taking that test, I'm going through and I'm like, now I'm flipping pages in my head of where that page was. And how I do that is
just from how I write it, and how it's on the page. When I run, I can't recall any of it. Hmm.
I cannot, I cannot bring any of
that because I'm running. How my mind is wired now is, that everything I do is what I do. Because the focus it takes for me to, like right now, I'm running,
I'm not like a great runner. I'm not like injury free. So like my first 20 minutes
of the run, I'm limping. I'm literally limping because I've had several knee surgeries, and my body was twisted, and so now it's untwisting. So people look at me, "Oh, it looks like he's limp, you know, like limping when he runs." I am limping when I run. My body's jacked up. So I'm focusing on how to get
the best out of a broken body. So everything I do, is a total focus on what I'm doing at that point in my life. So it seems like you've
really trained away, or somehow gotten away from
the ADD that you mentioned. Mm-hmm. Because what you described
is a deep trench. It's like a v-shaped trench.
Right. And I'm imagining like
there's a ball bearing, and it's like floop, and it can only go forward in that trench- Right.
Or back, it goes forward. It's not like sliding around at the like concave at the bottom. Right.
Like a tension. So it's like you've trained that up. Is there a similar feeling when you're in the full focus of running, versus full focus of studying? Does it kind of feel like, "Oh yeah, that's the same
groove but different thing?" Or is it just completely different world? It's a completely
different world complete. Like it is just, both of
'em for me is suffering, but it's suffering a whole different way. Like when I was going through school, I'll never forget, I think
I was in third grade, and back then, you know,
ADD, ADHD wasn't like, you know, here's this
medicine, or here's this thing. They want to put you in a special school. Mm-hmm.
So for me, I was so far behind in learning, that their big thing was, "Let's just put him in a special school because he'll never learn." And through that process of like, "I don't want to be in a special school, I don't want to be
treated any differently." It really, like, I never took medication. I've never taken medication for this. That's why right now you see
me looking right in your eyes. What the hell is, you know,
is Truman saying right now? And that's why I don't feel bad for people who have a ADHD, who have
learning disabilities. And some are impossible,
because you just can't. But a lot of them you can. And, but people don't want to go through the process of focus, of teaching yourself how to truly focus. This is where my message gets lost. It gets lost 'cause I may say, you know, MF or F, where you know, I may be, 'cause that's the
passion that comes out of me. 'Cause that's, it takes everything for me to learn a sentence. So when I speak about David Goggins, I can't speak about David Goggins in a way that's just calm and cool. Because when I wake up, I know the journey that it takes for me to find my greatness. And it's hard. Every, nothing is easy. Nothing just like, oh, I wake up, and I just do this or I do that, or it just, you know, I
watch people every day go through life and it's so easy. For me to be where I'm at today, it takes every bit of me. So when I speak about it, and as I get going here, you'll start seeing me, the temple will rise, the
passion will come out, because I'm back there. I'm doing what I do every
day to become a human being. And so nothing is easy. Like running is running. It sucks, but you have a choice to make. Do you want to sit down and go back to that guy you once were? No. So this is what it takes. This is what it, it takes that
misunderstanding of people. And they'll never get it 'cause they were never David Goggins. So that is what it takes
for me to do what I do. It may take you something differently. So for me, everything has
to be in the studying, everything has to be into this, everything has to be in, everywhere I am has to be there. Me, focused where I am. That's why you're my second podcast I've done since Rogan,
since the book came out. I don't have time for that shit. Because if I want to be great, I'm not trying to maximize money, or maximize people knowing me. I do these things because
maybe someone out there will understand me and get it, and say "I can grow from this guy." And others just won't. [MUSIC PLAYING]
