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The Hard Way With Joe De Sena

Herb Thompson on Leaving Safety, Owning Your Journey, and Earning the Green Beret

The Hard Way With Joe De Sena

Spartan Races

Self-improvement, Health & Fitness, Education

4.8 • 874 Ratings

🗓️ 2 June 2026

⏱️ 23 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Herb Thompson had already made it. He was Drill Sergeant of the Year, on a clear path to a top enlisted career, and could have stayed where it was safe. He didn't. In this conversation with Joe De Sena, Special Forces veteran Herb Thompson explains why he walked away from the secure path to chase the dream he had since childhood: becoming a Green Beret.
 
Herb breaks down fear of failure, why most people talk instead of act, how he survived Special Forces selection without feedback, and what it took to rebuild purpose after retirement. This episode is about ownership, sacrifice, and performance under uncertainty. You will leave with practical rules for taking action, handling discomfort, and building a life around what you are willing to earn.
 
Things You Will Learn:
  1. Why ownership matters more than motivation when the goal gets hard.
  2. How to break overwhelming pressure into small, winnable steps.
  3. Why sacrifice, not talk, is what turns a dream into a result.
 
Tools & Frameworks Covered:
  1. Own Your Journey Rule: puts responsibility for progress back on you.
  2. Small Chunk Execution: breaks hard goals into immediate next steps under pressure.
  3. Sacrifice Filter: clarifies what you are willing to give up to earn what you want.
 
If this episode moved you, don't just listen. Do something about it. Sign up. Show up. Do the work. Spartan.com. No more excuses.
 
Herb Thompson is the only person in Army history to earn both Drill Sergeant of the Year and the Green Beret, a path built on hardship, childhood trauma, and a refusal to quit under extreme pressure. His journey spans combat missions, brutal selection courses, and a post-military identity rebuild that demanded a new kind of discipline. Herb now helps high performers redefine purpose beyond titles through writing, speaking, and leadership development. 
 
Connect to Herb:
 
We gave you the tools, now use them during your next SPARTAN RACE! Use codeword PODCAST on checkout for 10% your next race.
 
👉 Find Your Next Spartan Race: https://www.spartan.com/en/race/find-race 
👉 For everything Spartan: https://www.spartan.com/
 
Rise and Thrive with Essentia. Don't just sleep, recover, perform, and wake up ready for anything. Essentia's certified organic Beyond Latex™ mattresses provide deep, restorative sleep without toxic chemicals, allergens, or compromises. Use code SPARTAN25 at myessentia.com. 
 
🎧 Listen & Subscribe:
 
📲 Short, Impactful Content 
👉 Instagram: @spartanuppodcast
👉 From me directly: @realjoedesena
 
The Hard Way Podcast With Joe De Sena, Hosted by Joe De Sena, founder and CEO of Spartan, this podcast delves into the principles of resilience, discipline, and the Spartan mindset. De Sena's journey from building a multimillion-dollar pool cleaning business in his teens to establishing a successful Wall Street trading firm showcases his entrepreneurial spirit. In 2001, he transitioned from finance to operate an organic farm in Pittsfield, Vermont, where his passion for endurance events like ultramarathons and adventure races flourished. This led to the creation of Spartan, aiming to inspire individuals to embrace challenges and push their limits.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

A lot of people talk. A lot of people, and that's where like dreams,

0:03.6

oh, I want this big house or I want this corporate job or I want a boat. What action are you taking? Too many people self-select. Enough people are going to tell you no, don't tell yourself. No. It's your journey. No one else can want it more than you. You can't rely on other people. You have to want to own your journey. Spartans, listen up. We need to sleep better.

0:21.1

Was it how he sleep better?

0:22.4

Never thought about before.

0:23.6

And so I met Jack. You have to want to own your journey. Spartans, listen up. We need to sleep better.

0:21.2

So how do you sleep better?

0:22.5

Never thought about it before.

0:23.8

And so I met Jack.

0:25.1

I met Ascentia.

0:26.3

I had attention to the mattress to sleep on because it's loaded with chemicals.

0:30.2

Recovery, cooling, and pressure relief.

0:32.9

All in one mattress.

0:34.6

Up to 60% more deep and REM sleep. Less inflammation, faster bounce back.

0:40.3

No toxins, no EMFs, no BS.

0:43.3

My buddy Jack, over at Ascentia, he's kind enough to give us a code for the Spartan community.

0:48.3

That's Decca, that's tough mother of all of us. Use Spartan 25, get a discount, prioritize your sleep so you can sleep faster,

0:55.9

you can do more burpees, you can train more, you can get healthier. When you sleep well,

1:00.2

you live well. Joe DeSan, CEO, founder of Spartan, host of a hardweight podcast. I've got Herb Thompson

1:06.0

on, a buddy of mine, special forces veteran, the only guy on the planet to be first a drill sergeant and then a

1:14.7

Green Beret. Welcome aboard. Hey, thanks, Joe. Happy to be here. Yeah, my claim to fame. Drill

1:19.4

Sart of the Year and Green Bray, only guy, so I'm happy to be here. How does anybody make the jump

1:25.1

from from going in and becoming the teacher the drill and stride like how

...

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