I ran 48 miles. Got it done. For me, this was exceptionally difficult, mentally & physically. I recorded a clip after each session, saying something I'm grateful for. Thanks to David Goggins for the challenge, and to my stubborn brain for refusing to quit. The outline for the video is below, but first some relevant links:

David Goggins challenge on Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/davidgoggins/

Relevant tweets from me:
Start: https://twitter.com/lexfridman/status/1236132395721646085
12 miles: https://twitter.com/lexfridman/status/1236322462125690880
28 miles: https://twitter.com/lexfridman/status/1236563052788580352
40 miles: https://twitter.com/lexfridman/status/1236743863999627280

Outline:
0:00 - Introduction
1:51 - Session 1 - 4 miles - Childhood
4:33 - Session 2 - 8 miles - Family
6:57 - Session 3 - 12 miles - America
9:26 - Session 4 - 16 miles - Friendship
12:44 - Session 5 - Jiu Jitsu
18:11 - Session 6 - 20 miles - Books
23:36 - Session 7 - 24 miles - Artificial Intelligence
25:52 - Session 8 - 28 miles - MIT
29:02 - Session 9 - 32 miles - Community
32:39 - Session 10 - 36 miles - Podcast
39:58 - Session 11 - 40 miles - Hardship
43:30 - Session 12 - 48 miles - Life

David Goggins posted a 48 hour challenge, which is run 4 miles every 4 hours, totaling up to 48 miles.

I'm doing it to harden up the mind in a dimension that I don't usually challenge myself.

It's cold outside, below freezing, it's icy and wet, it's windy.

I actually tried to record this intro outside, I had to come back in because it was too windy for the audio or I don't know what I'm doing.

I didn't try to think about this too much, just said do it.

I said I was gonna do it, I'm gonna do it.

You might be wondering, I'm wondering how long I'm actually gonna last.

You're gonna have to watch the end to find out.

I might swap out a jiu-jitsu training session for 1 of the running sessions.

I also decided to do an exercise of gratitude, almost like a thought experiment.

I wrote down 12 things I'm grateful for, 1 for each session, to think about when I run, and to talk about when I come back from the run.

I thought this would be a nice challenge, a nice way to strip away all the literal and metaphorical fat from the mind, all the distractions, all the busyness that fills up the day to really purely zoom in on the things that make life worthwhile.

To be thankful for them and to push the mind to its limits to see that I still got it.

Still a tough guy in a way that I don't usually these days test myself.

I usually test myself in the realm of intellectual work.

I don't as much test myself in the realm of physical work.

Cold, wet, windy, in the night, still rushing, still tough.

That was easy, but I can tell it's gonna get tough.

So like I said, I made a list of 12 things that I'm grateful for.

The first thing I'd like to show my gratitude for is to go all the way back to the beginning is to my childhood, to my family in Russia, and to my grandmother, who was a really big, important person in my life, early in my life and throughout my life and throughout my memories.

The love, the kindness, the toughness, and also just the piercing, simple, minimalist intelligence that she gifted me or showed me the importance of.

So many of my formidable experiences were there.

So much of the soul of my love of literature, of my love of knowledge, of my love of pushing your mind to the limit of understanding and curiosity about the human mind.

Whether it's in the early days of friendship with my close friend Yura, who showed me the deep value of friendship.

I think I understood what it means, the brotherhood that makes in the companionship that with which life becomes somehow more fulfilling when you get to share it with somebody else.

That kind of love, that kind of friendship was revealed to me early on as profoundly important and fulfilling in life.

At least at that time, at least in the context of my family, we didn't have many material possessions, but that didn't matter.

It was all about the relationship, about the friendships, the music, the soul of the people that I loved.

And it implanted in me, again, the love, the brotherhood, the connection with other human beings that's so profoundly fulfilling in life.

All right, I'll try to talk less, try to run more.

I'm gonna have to try to figure out the whole clothing in the shower situation.

That's something I didn't anticipate with 12 sessions.

I guess for most of them I'm gonna have to jump in the shower and change clothes so I'm gonna maybe have to do a little bit of laundry.

8 miles down, 36 miles to go, and 1 jiu-jitsu grappling session.

That was a little bit wet, a little bit cold, but we'll be all right.

The body feels good, the mind feels good.

Like I said, I'm making a list of things I'm grateful for.

The second thing is, of course, my family, my dad, my mom, my brother.

It's been ups and downs and tension like all families have, but really to focus in on the most important thing is there's been a lot of gifts that they've given me each.

My dad's given me the love of knowledge of physics and science, especially the rigorous of mathematics, and also the love of music and poetry and wit of revealing, of seeing the absurdity and things that otherwise might seem painful, that might be stressful.

Seeing the humor in all of it, that's a little bit of the Jew, a little bit of the Russian in him.

My mom has taught me what it means to be, what it means to love, of course, but also what it means to express emotion.

I mean, she is, She's a vibrant, beautiful personality and human being.

And I certainly have inherited that in terms of temper, in terms of emotion, in terms of deeply feeling, experiencing things.

And my brother's, I mean, I wish, I hope, I inherited something from my brother because he's an incredible human being He's fun.

He's brilliant He's in many ways opposite than me in terms of how much Rich interesting personality he has And I've always looked up to him growing up.

I'm really grateful for the family I have and for the tough times and for the beautiful times.

It's been a while since I've been up at 7 a.m.

In the morning on a Saturday, but it feels good.

It feels like I'm getting in front of the day because nobody else is out.

I'm looking forward to hopping in the shower and getting some work done before the 11 a.m.

So some people are asking me what I'm eating I didn't plan any of this.

So I'm eating what I usually eat which is meat.

I mostly eat meat these days and We all make mistakes And 1 of mine is to eat like I usually do, which is 1 larger meal.

Run, and that turned out not to be a good idea because I just feel just really heavy and full, which is not a good feeling when you're running.

Okay, so in terms of things I'm grateful for is, you know, I often joke around about being Russian.

And it's true, the culture, the music, the poetry, the science of the people's in there in my blood and my roots and my family.

But I am at this point, I'm a red blooded American.

This country has given me everything I have, the opportunities, the ability to do what I do, the ability to challenge myself, to create things I want to create.

It's an incredible country, an incredible country that welcomes immigrants with open arms.

For the most part, people like me, silly Russian kids like me with a dream, it opens its arms and puts it into this giant pool of people that compete against each other, cooperate against each other.

There's a tension, there's a love, and you figure out how to make it all work as a big pool of diverse kind of backgrounds.

You know, nobody is truly from America, except Native Americans, but even then there's a diversity in that history.

So it's an incredible country in its welcoming of immigrants and opportunities it provides for people with a dream and that are willing to work hard.

So I'm deeply thankful for this country, for the United States of America.

I know I often joke around about being Russian, but it's more just a wit and humor.

But if we look, I look in the mirror, and if we look at who I truly am, I'm an American.

I always will be American, and I love this country and the opportunities it's given me.

All right, that was 16 miles, 4 sessions, 8 more to go.

I'm getting in a little bit of a zone, feeling good, getting a lot done.

There's an interesting urgency to everything, which I kind of enjoy.

I shut off, turn back on, have a lot of energy.

The only thing I screwed up in is eating a little too much at 3 a.m.

But other than that, feeling pretty good.

Still a little bit fast, a little bit soft, but just getting out there on the road.

Yeah, it's a little cold, it's a little windy, but yeah, it feels good.

It's a fun way to throw a wrench into the whole thing of life to make you appreciate everything and to be grateful for everything.

Number 4 on the list of things I'm grateful for, man, is friendship in general.

Like I said, in Russia is when I first developed really close friendships, but really when I became...

It's silly to say, but when I became a man, I was in America, going to middle school and high school here, college, and meeting some really, really close friends, especially in the Chicago suburbs in Naperville.

You know, I really formed a close lifelong bond with him and with other folks here with his family.

And, you know, we don't often, you know, these days, we don't even often talk that much together.

But there's still any time we see each other, there's, it's like we never spent, you know, an hour away.

So, you know, Matt and others have taught me the value of friendship.

I spent so much time working, I spent so much time pursuing my passions.

But behind it all is sort of a love for other human beings and friendship is at the core of that.

Of course, I also want a family and friendship with a, you know, with a girl, with a wife, with my kids.

But I see it all as kind of part of the same big picture.

And it all started in middle school, meaning that weird looking Iranian kid, Matt, you know, that we just instantly connected Different worlds, different backgrounds, different histories, different music preferences.

The guy likes Biohazard and Pantera, heavy metal.

I like it, it's pretty good, it's pretty good.

But I'm more of a classic rock kinda guy.

And we, together, fell in love with music, playing guitar, sports, football, soccer, tennis, chess, everything.

Talking about the biggest philosophical questions about the universe and things like that.

And I'm deeply grateful for having the chance to met him, to met others in Naperville, Allen P, Jim, Jata, you know, the countless, countless people that have have changed the direction of my life, have affected me, have shown me what friendship is all about.

This is John Fisher, black belt, instructor, philosopher, warrior.

Alright, I think that's 5 sessions now, although I'm starting to lose track a little bit.

It was a fun time, that's a little break from the running.

It Makes me feel like this is the calm before the storm.

But so 16 miles of jiu-jitsu session, just a few more miles to go.

So, you know, since I did jiu-jitsu, did a little bit of no-gi grappling, this is a good time to say that I'm grateful for all the people that I met on the mat.

I forgot who said it but it's true that the mat is 1 of the only places in this world that's deeply honest.

You can't hide from the truth on the in combat sports in general.

It's one-on-one, and it's just you and the opponent, and you're constantly, especially in the grappling sports, where you can go 100% and get choked and threatened of murder over and over and over again with some of your closest friends.

I mean, it's an incredible kind of experience that's deeply humbling that I hope to be doing for the rest of my life.

I see it extremely valuable for your intellectual curiosity and growth to be humble throughout your, no matter what you achieve in life.

To be humble is, to me, is essential for happiness and for just continuous growth.

So I think Jiu-Jitsu, for me at least, especially as my body gets softer and older and don't have as much time to train.

Jiu-Jitsu is a great place to be humbled, where you can train with a young blue belt that'll kick your butt and submit you over and over.

And it kind of reminds you that you might be good at programming or something like that, or you might be good in the space of science and so on.

But somehow being tapped by a 20-year-old reminds you, 1, that you're mortal, and 2, that you're not as special as you think.

And I think that's a really powerful thing.

I think that's probably an essential element of why, I know I talk about looking up to Joe, maybe a little too much, but I do in this regard, that he is truly everything he's accomplished in terms of both wealth and success and comedy and so on.

I think you just as a crucial part of that.

So I'm really grateful for having discovered for having sort of come across the sport first through judo.

I'm grateful to the folks at Philadelphia Judo for revealing to me the beauty of this art of the gentle art of judo.

And I'm really great grateful to balance studios in Philadelphia for teaching me Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, taking me from white belt to black belt.

I'm really grateful for all the people I've met in the grappling arts and Jiu-Jitsu and martial arts in general.

I'm grateful for my current gym, Sean Fisher, John Clark, and all the people that train there.

There's something about them that's both deeply philosophical.

I think something about Jiu-Jitsu attracts or encourages the development of intellectual kind of chess-like puzzle-solving curiosity that creates really interesting people from all different kinds of backgrounds.

And also the toughness, like I said, being tapped kind of sharpens your mind to understand that you're not special.

And because you're not special, your approach to life has this kind of humble curiosity, which makes you a really interesting person to talk with, to be friends with, to just have a deep conversation with, to have some beers with.

So from Broadway Jiu Jitsu here in Boston to all the way back to Philly with Balance Studios and all the people I've gotten to meet, I'm deeply grateful for them.

I hope I've been for the most part injury free my whole life in martial arts.

Now, you know, banged up here and there, but nothing broken, nothing torn.

I hope, I really hope that stays same, You know, if it doesn't, so what?

I'll still persevere, but I do hope to be doing jiu-jitsu for the rest of my life.

It's a beautiful, it's a humbling journey that I'm deeply grateful for.

All right, I think that was 20 miles, but I'm not sure.

I'm kind of losing track and also not really worrying about the full span of it, but instead focusing on the next step.

After doing Jiu Jitsu, your body gets banged up a little bit.

So you get to feel the run a little bit, but not even just physically, you get to feel the duration of it mentally, which kind of starts wearing on you.

You start to, the sleep, kind of the whole weight of it.

Cause I've also been working while doing this in the span in the in the ties between the runs.

This this stuff, this is there's the ups and downs.

And I've been feeling pretty good, but I'm down pretty, pretty hard at this point.

And, you know, I took a I took a shower before filming this just really do what I would say filming Is probably the hardest part having to face the camera having to reveal these parts of myself Hopefully it's a value to somebody to be fragile in this way.

I knew this was gonna get tough It might get even a lot tougher.

So there's a little bit of shin splints, a little bit of ankle pain.

I'm trying to make sure I keep a slow pace.

I'm doing 9 minute miles kind of pace to really make sure that no injuries get aggravated.

I mean, we're starting to go into a territory I haven't been before in terms of distance, in terms of mind.

It might be kind of silly to say, but I'm really grateful for books, for having an opportunity from an early age to explore the minds and the thinking and the ideas of others through Camus, Hasse.

So I would say most the 20th century existential philosophers and writers were, for me, early on really influential.

For me, at least, they broke me out of the pursuits of everyday life that we're born with, the sort of the focusing, the egotistical view of life where you just kind of focus on the task at hand, and the existential way of thought, counterintuitively perhaps, got me to think about the bigger picture of life, got me to think about my own mortality, about the meaning of life of life in general so Kamu, Albert Kamu, Harman Hesse, Nietzsche of course, Friedrich Nietzsche, Dostoevsky, Kafka, Franz Kafka, hugely influential for me.

Hemingway, George Orwell, Animal Farm is 1 of my favorite books.

For me, I would spend months, I read slowly and I would spend months on a particular book and really take it in.

It was kind of a friendship with both the author and the ideas in that.

I mean, with Herman Hess, Glassby, Gain, Siddhartha, Damien, Steppenwolf, like all of these books, I guess I could say I dated them.

It was like a girlfriend for a few months, you know, and some of them I'm still seeing on the side every once in a while.

And I remember moments when there's a reading these individual books and just Coming to a point in the book where it was like a transformative moment I would sit back and think about how incredible it is to be here To be my skin to be alive and also how terrifying it is that this whole thing ends Just mortality speaking which Ernest Becker would do now a death.

So the more modern philosophers and thinkers and psychologists, nonfiction and fiction, it's just a tremendous effect on me.

If I were to regret anything, I think it has to do with my Soviet upbringing, is I never really got into science fiction.

So I've really, it seemed like, to my mind, it seemed to me more profound and more important to study World War I and World War II and the subtle experiences of everyday life that Camus and Hassen and Steyevsky described as opposed to having to create a fantasy world.

I always thought the fantasy world is a kind of unneeded spice added to the picture that's already fascinating.

And not fairly so, I felt this way, because I can see now there's a lot of profound philosophical and dramatic work that's done in science fiction.

But 1 of the things, 1 of my goals is to find the time to read more science fiction so if there's good recommendations certainly the foundation series I need to read snow crash dune all of these books I need to read that that have not been part of my childhood, but really should be part of my extended childhood because I still haven't grown up.

Okay, talked for way too long, but it feels good to talk, maybe to escape from the running.

I look forward to the challenge of the 11 p.m.

Run, and I think it'll be the hardest is waking up for the 7 a.m.

And doing that run, and then a full day after that.

Dreading going through the night a little bit but injury wise a little bit of shin splints a little bit of aches here and there, hamstring from jiu-jitsu is a little bit roughed up, but I'm gonna be alright.

It's just mental at this point, which is great.

A test of mind versus a test of aches and pains and injuries and stuff like that.

Something I'm grateful for, might be ridiculous to say, but because of my love for artificial intelligence, I'm grateful for the big community, the shoulders of giants that get to stand on from the 50s to the 60s to 70s and 80s, the development of different branches of computer science in general, mathematics and all the things that are interconnected, neuroscience, physics, to neurobiology, to psychology of course, and all those things are interconnected In my work, in my view of artificial intelligence, I'm deeply grateful for all of those brilliant researchers just allowing, oh, and of course, computer programming and robotics, being able to build that stuff.

I mean, there's just been, you know, I guess it always feels like that when you're at the cutting edge that you're born just at the right time.

But for me, it really does feel like I've been born just at the right time to do truly big breakthroughs in the field of artificial intelligence.

And initially when the dream was born for me, which is to understand the mind, I'm just I feel like the kind of developments that are happening now, the kind of tools that are available to for breakthroughs both in the understanding and the engineering space is just amazing.

Dreading a little bit, not looking forward to the night running but it is what it is, gotta get it done.

Alright, I Don't really feel like recording this video but gotta do what you gotta do I Just ran a 3 a.m.

Run, I think that's 28 miles then I spent maybe an hour to Dunkin Donuts drinking coffee Continue listening to an audiobook about Rocketfield.

I was a little bit delirious, just happy.

I'm truly happy, but sort of don't wanna be talking right now, I don't wanna be recording videos.

Just wanna jump in the shower and get some sleep and get back to work.

So things I'm thankful for, maybe kind of silly to say, but just my academic journey in general has revealed a lot to me and the ups and downs of it.

From the BSMS PhD that I got in computer science, computer engineering, and focusing on machine learning and artificial intelligence.

So getting exposure to the exciting full space from theoretical computer science, math, physics, quantum mechanics, classical mechanics, to even literature, took a James Joyce course.

I mean, just going to college, I love learning.

Then getting an opportunity to do research, 1 of the best places in the world in industry is at Google, machine learning, especially earlier days of deep learning was really exciting.

And of course, then to MIT, to a much less sunnier Boston, but brilliant people from all walks of life.

The close-knit colleagues, the friends I've developed here, and more distant from physics to mathematics to brain and cognitive sciences and neuroscience to the business side of Sloan to psychology.

I've grown a lot through that, just having the opportunity to be here.

And that opportunity also gave me even the bigger gift to realize the dreams I've had always and the dreams that burns now of having a large scale impact of working in large teams collaboratively on 1 big moonshot project.

It's something that's very difficult to do in the academic setting.

And so it took me to go to MIT to understand that that's not the right place for me to realize the dream I have.

Grateful for all the friends I had, grateful for the connections I still have at MIT, and perhaps forever will be connected to MIT and the broader academic community.

I'm not even letting myself think about it.

I had to actually walk a little bit of that.

The thing I'm grateful for, sounds funny to say, but the community of people on the internet, of supporters in general, people on Patreon, people who have had discussion through email, through social networks.

Also, it might be funny to say, but I'm really grateful to the people, the companies, and actually the people behind those companies that sponsored the podcast.

I didn't take on sponsors for a while, but there was a point where I really, literally needed money for food and shelter and so on.

So I thought that monetization might not get in the way of the deep conversation.

That's why I really wanted to just do it in the beginning.

And I connected with the company Cash App and they decided to sponsor the podcast.

They took a, you know, they made it really easy.

A guy named Navid, especially just, and there's a bunch of, there's really good people, really good people.

And I was kind of surprised how pleasant and fulfilling the experience could be to sort of tell others to use a thing that I already use.

And the funny thing about Cash App is, because they sponsored, I mean it kind of opened up this floodgate, I don't know if it's because of them, but, or just the general growth of the podcast, but the floodgate of other people who want to sponsor the podcast opened up and allows me to completely, freely choose, and my hands are totally not tied.

I don't have to be sponsored by Cash App at all.

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David Goggins 48 Hour Challenge - 4 Miles Every 4 Hours | Lex Fridman