What is The Cowboy In You?
The Cowboy In You is a free survival manual by Greg Keough. Ten lessons from a life lived at the extremes, on freedom, money, death, marriage and faith, told alongside the stories they came from. Keough wrote it for his five children and gives it away free.
Who is Greg Keough?
Greg Keough served as a covert operations officer in the CIA’s Directorate of Operations and received the Agency’s Intelligence Star for extraordinary heroism. He has built companies worth hundreds of millions and lost it all. But every rebuild was bigger. He wrote The Cowboy In You in a federal prison cell in Alabama. He lives in El Salvador with his wife of thirty years and their five children.
Is the book really free?
Yes. The whole book can be read on one page, or downloaded as a PDF, at no cost. There is nothing to buy, nothing to subscribe to, and no email address required. The Kindle edition is free as well. A paperback and hardcover exist too, for anyone who wants to put a copy in someone’s hands. In Keough’s words: I wrote this for my children. I’m sharing it in case it’s useful to you.
Can I get a physical copy?
The paperback and hardcover are on Amazon. The words are always free. Paper is not. The printed edition exists so a copy can sit on a table, or go to someone who will never open a PDF.
What are the ten lessons?
1. You Are Going to Die. 2. More Cowboys, Less Bureaucrats. 3. Become Unbreakable. 4. Foundation in God and the Truth. 5. Things Aren’t Complicated. 6. Entrepreneurship, Business, Money and Career. 7. Marriage, Family, Kids and Community. 8. You Never Know What Will Happen. 9. Don’t Say It, Show It. 10. Enjoy the Ride, Live with Joy.
What does More Cowboys, Less Bureaucrats mean?
It is Lesson 2, and it comes from Keough’s years in the CIA. His line is: I’ve seen bureaucrats in silk ties do more damage than the enemies we fought overseas. A Cowboy is anyone who takes real risk and accepts responsibility for it. A Bureaucrat is anyone whose instinct is to avoid both. Keough frames it as a war of values with no middle ground.
Why did he write it?
He wrote it for his five children. He published it because he thought it might be useful to anyone else standing somewhere similar.