Convention Power-Up: Endurance Athlete Maps Paths to High Performance

Success in today’s world is often determined by how fast you can learn. My time with dozens of great speakers and new products and ideas at the recent Parker Seminar, an international conference of 5,000 chiropractors and other healthcare professionals, was an excellent way to fast-forward my learning.

The information, product innovations, and motivational speeches offered at the conference armed me with a wealth of insights for the coming year. In addition to meeting many chiropractors and learning about their needs and concerns, I also attended a presentation by a popular motivational speaker, David Goggins.

Goggins is a retired Navy SEAL and the only man to have completed SEAL training, Army Ranger School, and Air Force Tactical Air Controller training. He is a champion ultra-endurance athlete who has finished in the top five in many of the 70 ultra-distance races he has run. These achievements are remarkable on their own, but Goggins accomplished them after overcoming a past life as a severely overweight couch potato.

Goggins spoke about the core attitudes he says were vital to his achievements. He stressed the importance of nourishing dreams that surpass even your most ambitious stretch goals. This advice might seem silly if it weren’t coming from a man who once lost 106 pounds in three months to make weight for Navy SEAL training, then overcame his fear of water to qualify. He continues seeking undertakings that frighten him and drives himself to overcome them.

For professionals in chiropractic medicine, Goggins may serve as a motivating example to suggest to patients. He has written about how developing a personalized routine of stretching exercises helped him prevent injuries and heal his back and hamstring problems. His books and videos have inspired many fans to begin stretching before and after exercise. Clearly, a bit of Goggins’ self-discipline could help many amateur athletes, post-surgical patients, and injury victims accelerate their own healing. And for growth-focused chiropractors who enjoy lifelong learning, inspiring examples like his can help bring an extra spark into their work.