Tate Goering

Professor Arini

English 102

February 14, 2021

Comparative Analysis

The two motivational speakers I chose to compare and analyze are David Goggins and

Mel Robbins. Goggins is a former Navy SEAL who also happens to be the only person ever to

complete SEAL training and Ranger School. After Goggins completed his service for the U.S air

force as a Chief Petty Officer, he became a runner, competing in many ultra-marathons and

triathlons. Goggins tells the story of his life through his book, podcast, and videos. Mel Robbins

started her career with a law degree from Boston College School of Law, and went on to work as

a criminal defense attorney for New York City. She then went on to become a legal analyst for

CNN and helped cover the George Zimmerman case. In 2008, Robbins found herself

unemployed, her marriage and sobriety falling apart. After turning her life around, Robbins

became a motivational speaker and writer and went on to be the most booked female speaker.

Robbins was 41 years old when she was at rock bottom, she stated that she could barely

get out of bed and face what was ahead of her each day. Robbins was in debt and about to lose

her house, when she saw a commercial on tv that showed a rocket launching into space. This

helped her develop what she is known for today: “The Five-Second Rule.” This rule from her

book had life-changing effects on her motivation to tackle the many tasks of everyday life. In

June of 2011, Robbins hosted a TEDx talk in San Francisco on the “5 Second Rule” and the

psychology behind it. This Ted Talk jump-started her speaking career as her speech became one

of the most viewed Ted Talks ever.

 Robbin's audience is people who are having difficulty with motivation and self

negativity. This usually appeals to those who have just finished college, to middle-aged people

looking for that extra step they can take to improve their lives. In a podcast, Robbins explains

that her mission is to stop the main thing that is preventing us from achieving our goals, which is

the negative voice inside your head telling yourself that you cannot do it. During one of Robbins'

speeches, she told the audience to write on a piece of paper one negative thought that came about

daily. Most answered that they were not enough, that they could not complete their goals.

Robbin's mission is to help people achieve their goals and get what they want. This is where the

“Five Second Rule” comes into play, when Robbin's alarm clock goes off in the morning she

starts by counting down from five. When she finishes counting down from five she launches

herself out of bed like a rocketship, which helps her start her day.

The main idea of her talks is to convey the message of trying to get what you want and

motivating yourself to do it. Robbins is to the point and concise when she speaks which helps get

her point across to the audience. Robbins explains that she is there for the audience to help them

find and get what they want. Robbins uses a lot of hand motions to show her enthusiasm which

helps get her point across. Her tone is somewhat informal, to help connect her with the audience

by relating to them and showing them that a lot of people are in this dilemma. Robbins' word

choice is persuasive which helps the audience get into the same mindset. Robbins uses all Ethos,

Logos, and Pathos in her speech and book. In the TED talk, she starts by using Ethos to help get

the audience to trust her by using her credibility. She then continues to Logos by bringing in

facts and arguments about the way people feel and why they feel that way. For example, Robbins

used the fact that one-third of Americans are unsatisfied with their lives. She then goes on to use

Pathos to appeal to emotion by telling her personal experience of being at rock bottom. She also
is very upfront with her audience by explaining different common scenarios where people are in

a bad place and do not realize it. I did not notice any logical fallacies, Robbins' mission is to help

people get out of their negative mindset and it would be hard to get it across to the audience and

give them a false idea from the logical fallacy. She also has had experience with these types of

fallacies from working as a criminal defense attorney.

Robbins talked about how the first thing she wanted to do when she got up was hit the

snooze button. Instead, she started by counting down from five and getting out of the bed right

away. I liked the idea of this because it could help with getting the day started. After all, if you

keep hitting the snooze button you are just dreading when the next alarm will go off. By doing

her method, it helps to eliminate all of the negative overthinking about the tasks of the day.

David Goggins TEDx talk, his book, and his podcast with Joe Rogan all have a similar

theme to each. The theme is: how to push yourself even further than you could think was

possible and that you can always improve your life and mentality no matter what. Goggins'

audience ranges from high school to college students who could be in a tough spot to any

average person looking for some self-improvement and motivation. Goggin's moment of

exigence started after his father would beat him and his mother throughout middle school and

high school. Throughout his high school years and beyond, he gained a lot of weight, nearing

300 pounds when he finally said enough is enough and decided to change for the better. Goggins'

motive is to show that truth is a big part of growing and becoming a better person. Goggin's book

lays this out as what he calls: the accountability mirror, meaning, you have to come face to face

with who you are, or you can not start. You have to be real to yourself and to not make excuses.

He uses the Navy SEALs rule of 40%, where if you think that you can't continue anymore, then

you're only 40% of the way there.

 Some of the ways Goggins addresses the audience is by using imagery, telling people a

story of his life and making them put themselves in his shoes. In his podcast with Joe Rogan, he

mainly uses Pathos to appeal to the audience's emotion which helps Goggins get his point across

and explain his struggles in life. This relates to the audience because, of course, everyone has

struggled in life and overcoming these struggles is the main idea behind Goggin's mentality. No

logical fallacies were noticed in these pieces of text. The main point that stuck out to me was

during the youtube video, where Goggins explains that you have to be real with yourself to start

somewhere.

Both David Goggins and Mel Robbins have similarities and differences throughout each

of the selected texts. The main similarities are the self-improvement aspect of each. Both

Goggins and Robbins needed to find a way to self improve within their lives after saying enough

is enough. Another similarity is the motivational aspect, Goggins was nearing 300 pounds and

deeply unsatisfied with himself. He had to find the motivation to keep going and to improve his

life. Robbins was at a similar point in her life, she was in a bad spot and wanted to change. She

used a method of motivation to help improve her life. Both speakers used Pathos the most out of

any rhetorical devices using personal stories about how they were in a dark place and what it

took to get out of it. By using these emotional and personal stories, it connected them to the

audience and the vise-versa. This appealed to the audience and helped give imagery into both

Goggins and Robbin's lives.

David Goggins motivational speaking through his texts has influenced a lot of people.

Many people have the issue of motivation and Goggins addresses this issue very well. By using

any rhetorical devices he motivates the audience and brings the point across very clearly. Mel

Robbins uses imagery and Pathos to get the audience to engage with her and get her main idea
across. Both of these speakers throughout their texts use very similar techniques and composure.

Goggins and Robbins' texts are very effective, this is the reason both speakers have very

successful speaking careers and inspire many people all over the world.

Bibliography

Goggins, D. (n.d.). 2018 Goggins Built Not Born, LLC. Retrieved February 6, 2021, from

https://davidgoggins.com/book/

Goggins, D. (Producer). (2020, October 26). How To Stop Bullshitting Your Self [Video

file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSdE2YO7ysI

Robbins, M. (2018, April 3). How to stop screwing yourself over. Retrieved February 07,

2021, from

https://www.ted.com/talks/mel_robbins_how_to_stop_screwing_yourself_over?

language=en

Robbins, M. (2018, December 13). The 5 second rule. Retrieved February 07, 2021, from

https://melrobbins.com/the-5-second-rule/

The Joe Rogan Experience/ David Goggins [Radio series episode]. (2018, February).

The Mindvalley/ How to stop screwing yourself over [Television series episode]. (2020,

May). Retrieved 2021, from

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1Yz0fnXMoQrwEWHw2ToOdm