Goggins describes the negativity one feels about oneself and one’s faults, failures, or limitations as an internal source of change. Instead of letting it fester, he uses that negativity to hold himself accountable and become the person he wants to be. His practice involves standing in front of the mirror, looking himself in the eyes, shaving his face and scalp, and giving himself commands. The goal is to ritualize an inspired mindset reinforcing the latent drive to grow. One holds oneself accountable for one’s actions and goals.

“The only” is a phrase frequently employed to cast Goggins’s singularity in stark relief. It announces the way in which he contrasts himself with those around him. Sometimes this othering is enforced by the social group, like when the people of Brazil, Indiana treat him as racially inferior. Other times Goggins adopts the mindset of being “the only” to boost his confidence and reinforce his identity as the “one warrior” out of a hundred. Goggins writes that he is, and is writing for, only the 1% who are willing to go further than all others and defy all odds. In this sense, to be “the only” is to be truly exceptional.