Most people never push past discomfort—they listen to that first voice that says “stop.” The 40% Rule flips that voice on its head. When you think you're out of strength, you're usually not even halfway done. Pain isn’t the end—it's the beginning of a second wind.
Your limits are mostly lies. Your brain is trying to protect you from effort, not failure. The moment you want to quit is the perfect time to keep going. That’s when the real growth kicks in.

The 40% Rule

Mental toughness isn’t built in comfort—it’s built in chaos. Every day Goggins did something hard on purpose. Not for fun. Not for glory. But to toughen his mind, one repetition at a time. He didn’t run from pain—he trained in it.Callousing your mind means choosing discomfort on purpose. Cold. Reps. Silence. Pain. The more you do, the less fear controls you. You stop breaking down. You start breaking through.

Callous your mind

Doubt isn’t just something to endure—it’s fuel. When someone tells you you’re not good enough, you have two options: believe them, or burn their words into your fuel tank. Goggins did the second. Every insult became a rep. Every failure, a reason to keep going.
To transform doubt, you have to flip it. Make it your scoreboard. If they don’t believe in you, great. That means it’s time to prove them wrong, step by painful step.

Use doubt as rocket fuel

Accountability isn’t about shame—it’s about truth. The mirror doesn’t lie, and neither should you. When you finally face the facts about your habits, excuses, and choices, you gain power. That’s the first rep.Start where you are. Write it down. Say it out loud. Get brutally honest. Only then can you fix what’s holding you back. No sugarcoating. Just truth and a plan.

Accountability mirror

Motivation comes and goes. Discipline doesn’t ask how you feel—it asks what you promised. The difference between average and elite is showing up when you least want to. That’s when you build grit.Set the alarm. Prep your gear. Remove choice from the equation. Discipline is the shortcut to doing hard things—consistently, without negotiation.

Discipline over motivation

You talk to yourself all day. Make sure it’s you talking—not your fear. That inner voice can make or break you. Goggins trained his like a muscle, challenging every excuse with a command.Whenever you hear “I can’t,” answer back with proof. Replace doubt with direction. Take control of the conversation in your head—and you’ll take control of your life.

Dominate your inner dialogue

Growth doesn’t come from ease. It comes from choosing the hard road on purpose. Most people wait for life to test them—Goggins tested himself daily. That’s what made him mentally unbreakable.When you volunteer for suffering, you stop fearing it. You become the kind of person who doesn’t flinch. Not because it’s easy—because it’s earned.

Seek voluntary suffering

This one’s not for the faint-hearted. Goggins lived through hell—abuse, racism, failure—and then turned it into fuel. He didn’t just get fit. He rewired his brain to reject limits, excuses, and comfort. It’s brutal. It’s raw. But if you’re stuck in your own head, this will slap you awake—in the best way possible.

New York Times Bestseller Over 2.5 million copies sold For David Goggins, childhood was a nightmare - poverty, prejudice, and physical abuse colored his days and haunted his nights. But through self-discipline, mental toughness, and hard work, Goggins transformed himself from a depressed, overweight young man with no future into a U.S. Armed Forces icon and one of the world's top endurance athletes. The only man in history to complete elite training as a Navy SEAL, Army Ranger, and Air Force Tactical Air Controller, he went on to set records in numerous endurance events, inspiring Outside magazine to name him The Fittest (Real) Man in America. In this curse-word-free edition of Can't Hurt Me, he shares his astonishing life story and reveals that most of us tap into only 40% of our capabilities. Goggins calls this The 40% Rule, and his story illuminates a path that anyone can follow to push past pain, demolish fear, and reach their full potential.

David Goggins is an American ultramarathon runner, ultra-distance cyclist, triathlete, public speaker, and author. He is a retired United States Navy SEAL member who served in the Iraq War.

David Goggins

Can't Hurt Me

Grabbing short-term opportunities can lead you to settle for a small present reward rather than wait for a larger future reward. This tendency is known as the present bias. While it may feel good at the time, it can negatively impact long-term planning and decision-making.

Seizing short-term opportunities

The classic experiment to show if the present bias is at play is to ask, "would you prefer $100 today or $110 in one week?" The desire for instant reward will cause many to take the $100 now rather than waiting for the reward. A study showed stronger activation in reward-related areas of the brain when participants were asked to make decisions that would lead to an immediate reward. However, with delayed gratification, there was far less activation within the brain's reward centres.

Illustrating the present bias

It’s tempting to take a reward that is available right now, but the cognitive bias can harm your future self. For example:<ul><li>You may work hard to get a place on a law degree course, but then give in to the present bias and spend most of your time socialising at the expense of your exams.</li><li>Being offered a higher salary can cause us to forget about our long-term career goals.</li><li>The desire for instant gratification can lead to reckless spending rather than putting money into a long-term investment.</li><li>Procrastination can prevent you from making progress on a project well before the deadline.</li></ul>

How the present bias impacts your success

Managing the present bias consists in staying mindful of your long-term goals.<ul><li>Write down your long-term goals. Create a list of what you want to achieve this year or over the next few years. Then, when you're faced with a choice between different rewards, refer back to your list to ensure you're on track.</li><li>Delay new purchases until tomorrow. The extra time will lower your impulsivity level and allow you to make an informed decision.</li><li>Follow the ten-minute rule. If you procrastinate on a task, tell yourself to start right now for just ten minutes. You may find yourself continuing.</li></ul>

Strategies to manage the present bias

The present bias is our tendency to seize short-term opportunities, settling for a small present reward rather than waiting for a larger future reward.

Understand yourself and those around you.

psychology

Psychology

problemsolving

Problem Solving

leadershipandmanagement

Leadership & Management

Present bias: how instant gratification impacts your long-term goals

The origin of April Fools’ Day is debated, but its history covers centuries of <a href="https://www.rd.com/article/april-fools-pranks/">April Fools’ pranks</a>, from family high jinks (like <a href="https://www.rd.com/list/april-fools-jokes-to-play-on-parents/">pranks to play on your parents</a> or your <a href="https://www.rd.com/list/april-fools-jokes-to-play-on-your-kids/">kids</a>) to <a href="https://www.rd.com/list/april-fools-office-pranks/">office pranks</a> and <a href="https://www.rd.com/article/amusing-april-fools-humor/">April Fools’ jokes</a> at everyone’s expense. Your pranking ambitions might be a little more modest, but what gave rise to those ambitions in the first place? Let’s look into the origin of April Fools’ Day.

April Fools!

April Fools’ Day is an annual holiday that consists of practical jokes, pranks, and hoaxes. Pranksters often unmask their joke by yelling a loud and proud, “April Fools’!” at their victim. This custom has been observed for hundreds of years, but more on that later.

A Primer On April Fools Day

April Fools’ Day always occurs on the first of April. In 1561, a Flemish poet wrote some comical verse about a nobleman who sends his servant back and forth on ludicrous errands in preparation for a wedding feast (the poem’s title roughly translates to “Refrain on errand-day / which is the first of April”). The first mention of April Fools’ Day in Britain was in 1686, when biographer John Aubrey described April 1st as a “Fooles holy day.”

The Big Prankster Day

There’s no question that April Fools’ Day is one of the most widely recognized non-religious holidays in the Western world. Children prank parents, coworkers prank coworkers, and yes, national news outlets still prank their readers.What is the origin of April Fools’ Day, and how did it become an international phenomenon? The totally legit, not-pulling-your-leg answer to the origin of April Fools’ Day is: Nobody really knows.

The Origin of April Fools’ Day

One likely predecessor to the origin of April Fools’ day is the Roman tradition of Hilaria, a spring festival held around March 25 in honour of the “first day of the year longer than the night” (to us, the vernal equinox, which typically falls on March 20). Festivities included games, processions, and masquerades, during which disguised commoners could imitate nobility to devious ends.It’s hard to say whether this ancient revelry’s similarities to modern April Fools’ Day are legit or coincidence, as the first recorded mentions of the holiday didn’t appear until several hundred years later.

The History Of April Fools

While April Fools’ Day is technically considered a national holiday, many countries have adopted the idea of playing pranks on or around April 1st.For example, France celebrates April Fools’ Day on April first by sticking a paper fish onto the backs of as many people as possible, while yelling “Poisson d’Avril!” This tends to be something children partake in more than adults.In Greece, successfully tricking someone on this day is said to bring the prankster good luck for the entire year. In some parts of the country, rainfall on April 1st is said to have healing abilities.

A Worldwide Celebration

The origins of the prank lovers' favourite holiday are murky. In fact, it's possible that the entire concept of April Fools' Day is itself a prank. Or is it?

The origins of April Fools' Day are murky, but it's clear that humans have been pulling one over on each other for centuries.

personaldevelopment

Personal Development

entertainment

Entertainment

April Fools’ Day: How Did It Start, and Why Is It April 1?

Can you imagine a pink elephant? Is it big or small? Hot pink or pastel pink Give your pink elephant as much detail as you can. Now that you have got your pink elephant clear in your head, it is time to stop thinking about it. Think about any other topic for 30 seconds, and observe where your thoughts take you.How long did you last without the pink elephant creeping back into your mind? For most of us, that pink elephant will appear back in our thoughts within seconds. The same is true of unwanted and intrusive thoughts: the more you try to suppress them, the more they will bother you. T

The Pink Elephant Paradox

<ul><li>Propagation of persistent negative emotions. Intrusive or unwanted thoughts are associated with depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress, and obsessive-compulsive disorders. However, individuals who are otherwise healthy can also develop intrusive thoughts that are comparable to a clinical obsession. </li><li>Increased distractibility. The more an individual struggles with intrusive thoughts, the more distractible they tend to be. </li><li>Poor decision-making. Rather than being able to make rational judgments, you may instead be swayed by persistent thoughts that lead you to make the wrong decision.</li></ul>

The Impact of the Pink Elephant Paradox

<ul><li>Becoming more aware and accepting of negative thoughts or feelings can help to reduce the frequency of intrusive thoughts, as well as making them feel less distressing.</li><li>Engage in constructive distractions. When an intrusive thought arises, finding a constructive distraction is healthier than ruminating on it. Find something that requires almost all of your attention, such as reading, chatting to a friend, going for a run, painting or watching a film.</li><li>If you find yourself ruminating on negative thoughts, try to replace them with positive ones.</li></ul>

How to Manage The Pink Elephant Paradox

The more you try to suppress unwanted and intrusive thoughts, the more they will bother you. This is called the Pink Elephant Paradox.

The impact of the Pink Elephant Paradox on our emotions and decisions

Using a multi-cloud system involves using a combination of multiple cloud-based operating systems to access useful applications for your team. Multi-cloud systems are incredibly useful to businesses operating over more than one location. Or, in the pandemic age, operating completely remotely. The benefits of this system are wide-ranging. Introducing technology that promotes team cohesion can improve workplace productivity and save on hardware costs.

What is Multi-Cloud?

<ul><li>Not Setting Realistic Expectations. If you don’t have a concrete understanding of what you want your system to do, it’s likely you’ll be overwhelmed by applications that you don’t need.</li><li>Not Considering Complexity. Accounting for the complexity of the new system will help your IT team to avoid unnecessary delays in rolling out your multi-cloud strategy.</li><li>Not Investing in Talent. One of the biggest mistakes businesses make is not investing time and money in finding the right talent. IT is becoming more of a specialized field every day, so finding the right people to implement your strategy is the key to a smooth transition. </li><li>Not Considering Security Concerns. You will need to know any external data collection and storage legislation that might be affected by using a public cloud. </li></ul>

Multi-Cloud Strategy Mistakes To Avoid

You will need to check who can access the cloud system. Data breaches and loss are some of the biggest causes of lost revenue to companies, so you will want to avoid this. Finding security problems before they become a problem is the best way to avoid any security issues that might come with using a public cloud.

What Might a Security Review Look Like?

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Technology & The Future

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Computer Science

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Artificial Intelligence

4 Deadly Multi-Cloud Strategy Mistakes to Avoid - The European Business Review

Let’s start with some venture math assumptions: <ul><li>An early-stage venture fund is going to invest in 20 companies </li><li>The fund aims to get a 3x gross return </li><li>The expected distribution of outcomes is: 1/3 losses, 1/3 money-back, 1/3 successes </li><li>The expected distribution of the successful outcomes is: 1 home-run (a company returning the entire fund) + 5 meaningful exits (companies returning the amount required up to 3x gross fund return.)</li></ul>A meaningful exit can be defined as a company about to return 1/3 of the fund.

Defining a meaningful exit

Before we can determine the revenue targets, again, we need some more assumptions: <ul><li>A SaaS company with 75% gross margin can be sold for 5x ARR </li><li>A marketplace company with 15% take rate can be sold for 1x the last twelve months gross merchandise value  </li><li>An e-commerce company with 30% gross margin can be sold for 2x the LTM revenues </li><li>In all cases, Net Debt at the time of exit equals zero, so Enterprise Value = Equity Value </li><li>In all cases, the same growth rate is assumed </li></ul>

Determining the Revenue Targets for Meaningful Exits

<ul><li> Not every company can grow quickly enough to generate Venture-Scale returns. A VC should only invest in the companies with that potential.</li><li>The fund size determines what a meaningful exit is. </li><li>Some investors aim only at potential home-run exits. Others don’t. Both strategies have been proven successful over time. </li><li>Use your gross margin and growth rate to determine the multiple you get in an exit.</li><li>Compare the growth rates required to hit that target given your current level. Compare those rates to those of the most successful companies.</li></ul>

Final Remarks

The purpose of this post is to derive the size in terms of revenues that a company has to achieve in a 5–7 years time window to be regarded as attractive for VC investment. We will do that for different fund sizes (Micro $50Mm- $100Mm, traditional $350Mm and MEGA $1b VC funds) and different startup business models (Saas, Marketplaces, E-Commerce) this might also be helpful for the company and its investors to plan revenue targets and required growth rates for the years ..

Deriving the size of revenue by companies

The bigger the fund, the bigger the exit required to be considered meaningful. Assuming that the VC is going to construct a 20% ownership in a successful company over time, we can calculate how much a company must be sold to be considered a meaningful exit.

The size of a meaningful exit

The purpose is to help find the size in terms of revenues that a company has to reach in a 5-7 years time window to be considered attractive for VC investment.This will be done for different fund sizes (micro, traditional and mega VC funds) and other startup business models (SaaS, marketplaces, e-commerce). This could also help the company and its investors to plan revenue targets and required growth rates from first investment to exit.

Attractive VC exits

The purpose of this post is, with the help of some venture math and a bunch of frequently made assumptions, to derive the size in term of revenues that a company has to achieve in a 5–7 years time…

moneyandinvestments

Money & Investments

books

Books

Meaningful VC Exits

This book can bring you to a place of personal power and get you out of reaction mode. Perspective can help to maintain balance.  The four agreements are:<ol><li>Be impeccable with your word</li><li>Don't take anything personally</li><li>Don't make assumptions</li><li>Always do your best</li></ol>

The Four Agreements by don Miguel Ruiz

Words have power. They have the power to lift and the power to destroy.  When you are impeccable with your word, you:<ul><li>Speak with integrity</li><li>Say what you mean</li><li>Don't gossip</li><li>Don't speak negatively of other people or about yourself.</li></ul> This agreement will decrease negativity in your life. As a result, you will have less conflict with other people around you.

Be impeccable with your word

If you practice this agreement, you agree that other people have their own identity and their own reality that you don't have anything to do with. When someone insults you or belittles your talent, remember it's not about you. It's about them. When you accept this, you recognise that the other person's opinions of you do not necessarily describe you. If you take things personally, it means you agree with what that person is saying about you. But you don't have to. You can choose not to let it affect you at all.

Don't take anything personally

We often assume we know why someone does something. This creates misunderstandings between people and unnecessary drama in our relationships. We can't read minds. We have no idea what's going on in someone else's head.<ul><li>Be aware and mindful of when you make an assumption.</li><li>Instead of making an assumption, ask.</li><li>When you are wondering about something someone did or said, seek the truth.</li><li>Practice healthy communication.</li></ul>

Don't make assumptions

Let go of past mistakes and judgments and focus on new habits. Learn to say no to those things you don't want to do and yes to the tasks that fill your life with gratitude, joy, and value.

Always do your best

If you are open, the universe will conspire to bring you the right book at the right time — when you need it. A friend will suggest a book to you, or it’s sitting on a table at a yard sale, or the…

Can't Hurt Me

Present bias: how instant gratification impacts your long-term goals

April Fools’ Day: How Did It Start, and Why Is It April 1?

The impact of the Pink Elephant Paradox on our emotions and decisions

4 Deadly Multi-Cloud Strategy Mistakes to Avoid - The European Business Review

Steven Allen