I woke up on my birthday deciding to do things differently.
This was five years ago. My daughter was in my wife’s belly.
We were living in a fixer upper house in a jungle “suburb” of Chiang Mai, Thailand.
Pairs of peacocks would regularly run through our yard. Sometimes stealing our chicken feed.
I decided that to welcome in my 34th year by taking souls a la David Goggins.
I convinced my buddies to take on Goggins’ 4x4x48 challenge:
Run 4 miles, every 4 hours, for 48hours.
We changed it kilometers and ended up walking most of the way. The toll on my joints with interrupted sleep was harder than the cardio. I had a sore knee and two swollen ankles by the end of it.
But a huge unexpected benefit came from it.
Only one of my friends actually completed the challenge with me.
We developed an unspeakable respect for each other.
Every four hour interval there was a question of whether the other person was actually going to show. Every time we did, a certain quality developed that was bigger than trust.
Honor.
Though the challenge itself didn’t really affect our lives (and confused our wives as to why we would put ourselves through such a thing), it was an honest signal that I could count on this guy in a hardship.
This is the crux of what Nietzsche called Nobility—The qualities of being a sovereign man who has his shit together.
I recorded the episode above around the time of this 4x4x48 challenge and my commitment to living in accordance with this concept.
This episode breaks down Master vs. Slave moralities, the anthropological and sociological roots, and how this plays out as a man in modern day.
I decided to repost this one as I’m working on a piece on fatherhood lessons from the greatest patriarchs in history. Make sure you’re subbed to catch that:
