I walked out the door calmly walked away and as soon as I got out of sight
I sprinted towards camp in this video we're gonna talk about something near
and dear to my heart setting goals and destroy you know and
I'm gonna tell the story of what could have been the biggest regret of my life
stick around welcome to SURVI-VLOG episode 29 I
want to begin this video with a statement but there is nothing very
special about me I am of average height average build average looks and average
intelligence I'm not college educated nor my
particularly gifted at physical sports I don't have a very strong competitive
streak either although I've never found it very useful to compare my worth
against someone else's accomplishments that said the traits that I do have in
my favor are an unlimited imagination and an
unwillingness to quit if I set a goal it simply must be accomplished once I
decide that something is than it is and that's it it's as simple as that in my
early Marine Corps career I faced many setbacks as all of us do my singular
purpose was to become a functional member of the sniper community I could
see nothing beyond that and nothing but that although I wasn't technically
qualified for the current sniper standard but that never deterred me I
just worked diligently to increase my PFT score my rifle score and my swim
qualification and any other little things that I needed to work on
ultimately I reached the end of my contract
I got out of the Marine Corps and I went home to civilian life I piddled around
in the reserves for a couple of years eventually that led me back to the
Marine Corps with a burning desire to accomplish that original goal everything
that I was ever going to be was tied to that single purpose in life eventually I
had the opportunity to try out for the sniper platoon with 20 other Marines now
keep in mind at this point having already served a complete term and spent
time as a civilian I was considerably older
slower and more broken than my competitors for this indoctrination fast forward one
more year and of the twenty one sniper candidates I'm the only one that managed
to get in the platoon stay in the platoon and graduate as an eighty five
forty one scout sniper now there's a funny thing about accomplishing your
goals as you reach the goal post you realize that the only thing you
accomplished was that you manage to secure your place at the starting gate
in this video I want to talk to you about goals setting them accomplishing
them and moving on to set more goals and accomplish more goals as a young marine
I couldn't have imagined a goal beyond Marine sniper I didn't even know what
was beyond that when I was in high school and developing a fixation on this
trade it was to me the very top of the ladder but slowly as I was accomplishing
this goal I could start to see the rest of the sniper world starting to appear
over the horizon and it was a world I couldn't have even considered in my youth
sniper instructor sniper platoon sergeant sniper platoon commander a
sniper in combat mountain scout sniper urban scout sniper combat tracker all
those sort of things it's impossible to understand how far it really goes when
you're looking up from the bottom and this is how all goals must be approached
you don't have to do all the research and know everything that's involved in
it you just have to take that step you just start where you are right now at
this very moment and then you start moving
do a critical assessment of yourself where you are now and where you want to
be and then fixate on that there's no reason to dwell on a lack of
resources money skills or opportunity sooner or later somebody less driven
piss away that opportunity and leave those resources out there for you to
grab but you have to be of the singular vision that puts those in your sights
you can recognize them seize them and take advantage of the opportunity you
have to have that goal you have to plan the steps to reach that goal and you
have to make absolutely sure that nothing can deter you or derail you from
accomplishing it everybody enters this world in exactly the same way kicking
and screaming covered in blood and sometimes shit no one person has an
advantage over anyone else some folks are born in poverty some are born with
money a rich person can die a pauper and a
pauper can die a king setting goals is an exercise and imagination they have to
be specific and they have to be so real that you can taste them so profound that
every little step in the right direction makes you just giddy with excitement
over even a mediocre success and every roadblock and setback serves only to
strengthen your resolve and harden your vision you have to know that you are
cosmically linked to your goal and its achievement is your sole purpose in life
without the goal you are drifting on a sea of potential without a rudder or
sail some people want riches some people want fame some people just want a quiet
life free from worry I wanted to become a Marine scout sniper I had to become a
Marine scout sniper I put that out to the universe and I became a Marine scout sniper
my purpose in telling you this is that I'm hoping that you already know what
your purpose in life is if you say it is than it is that's it so it's up to you
to set a goal and start making shit happen if you avoid doing this then
life's gonna happen to you and not for you and I'm gonna strengthen my
argument with this of all my schools and all my training I have never failed a
course I have failed more than my fair share of tests but I've never failed an
actual formal course and not because I'm anything special because we already
established that I never failed a course because I never left myself any other
option failure was simply not an option it wasn't on the table and truthfully it
might have been my ego speaking but I never believed that I was capable of
failure I was of one single state of mind that this was my goal and it was
laid out in front of me and while it took a hundred percent effort and a
hundred percent commitment I didn't really have a choice because that was my
destiny I remember a sign it was painted at one of the swim tanks I don't
remember which one that I remember this sign very clearly and it said if you are
not unconscious then you have quit let that sink in if you are not unconscious then you have quit
you see the body's capable of a whole lot more than the mind won't let it the
mind is capable of pushing the body well beyond what it thinks its physical
limits we are made up of infinite potential but we also have a safety
mechanism and that safety mechanism is the subconscious mind a little voice in
the back of your head you see it despises change and pain and difficulty
it wants everything to remain the same it starts with reasoning with you and
then it resorts to trickery all in an effort to put you back in a state of
unconscious repetition first it's gonna try and reason with you and it's gonna
say things like this is stupid this is unnecessary why are we doing this when
that doesn't work it's gonna start getting tricky and bring your emotions
into it this is personal they're they're doing this to me intentionally they want
me to fail I can't win this game it plays those tricks by getting you all
emotional over it and in reality and all the while your
body is performing at an acceptable standard so I have a little trick that I
do whenever that guy starts talking to me in the back of my head and trying to
get me to quit and play to doubt and worry in my mind I'd run him down and I
beat the shit out of me in my mind after a while
he quits coming around now sniper school was an unparalleled exercise and
fortitude every student was of the mindset that every instructor had a
personal vendetta against them every single day was as much mental if not
more than it was physical let me tell you a little story
one day while on the qualification range I had a tooth infection right here it
was so bad that my face was so swollen that I couldn't get my face low enough
on the rifle to see through the scope I actually had to suck the pus out of my
tooth and spit it on the ground between each shot just so I could see through my
scope and I barely managed to make qualification that day after the day
ended I went to the staff NCOIC of the course the staff noncommissioned
officer in charge and I informed him of my disability and he told me the next
day I could go to dental but I could miss the day on the range but I couldn't
miss the classroom so I had to be back before they got back from the range so
immediately after the morning briefing I called the duty driver and he took me to
the neighboring camp where I could go to the dental clinic and after sitting in
the waiting room for what seemed like forever
the dentist finally got me in the back he took x-rays and he said that I needed
a root canal on that tooth and so he proceeded to prep me for the for the
when it was all over I asked if I could leave and they said I had to have
someone pick me up that I couldn't leave on my own so soon after that procedure
so I used the phone in the office and I made a couple calls and nobody was
available to pick me up so I told the receptionist that my buddy was on his
way to take me back to the barracks and I calmly sat down in the waiting room
and I waited for a car to pull in the parking lot
any car I didn't care so as soon as the car pulled into the parking lot I went
to the receptionist and I said hey my buddy's here to pick me up I gotta go so
she gave me my records I walked out the door
calmly walked away and as soon as I got out of sight I sprinted towards camp now
Sniper school was about four and a half miles away from the clinic and I had to
go over this trail they call the washboard because the whole trail goes like
this so it's about four miles of up and down all the way I sprinted into the
parking lot at Sniper school just as the trucks were leaving from dropping off
the students from the range so I handed the instructor my dental record and he
said get in the classroom because we're getting ready to start the classes for
the next phase of training that single event was probably about as close as I
think I ever came to actually getting dropped from the school but there are
many other chances where I thought I might be as as anybody that's been
through it will tell you everyday you think you're gonna get dropped for one
reason or another but that's the closest point I think I came to actually being
dropped and it's so frightening to be that close to accomplishing a goal and
almost having it ripped out from underneath you because in those days
very few people would actually get a chance to to return to Sniper school
once you failed it but since failure was not an option and pain is only temporary
I managed to make it back and fall in with seconds to spare and I want to
remind you that I'm nothing special I'm a average make up and average ability
if I had not had what I equated to be my single purpose in life then I would
have let that opportunity slip away I mean after all who to blame me it's
medical I had no control over the circumstance I was just a victim of the
circumstances that I was placed in but failure is not an option and I refuse to
be a victim so I completed the course and moved on
evaluate where you are and where you want to be set a goal and then take one
step forward and then take another step and then take another step don't let
anything deter you from that path and if you do get sidetracked or derailed and
get back on it and keep moving forward before you know it you will realize that
goal it'll be in the rearview mirror and you'll be well on your way to the next
one something you couldn't have even fathom when you actually stepped off if
you want to know more about my career in my training here's a video I put for you
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inspirational in this video I'm Dave the Norseman and all it takes is all you've got