David Goggins

"For David Goggins, childhood was a nightmare. Poverty, prejudice, and physical abuse colored his days and haunted his nights. But through self-discipline, mental toughness, and hard work, Goggins transformed himself from a depressed, overweight young man with no future into a U.S. Armed Forces icon and one of the world's top endurance athletes. The only man in history to complete elite training as a Navy SEAL, Army Ranger, and Air Force Tactical Air Controller, he went on to set records in numerous endurance events, inspiring Outside magazine to name him 'The Fittest (Real) Man in America.'. In Can't Hurt Me, he shares his astonishing life story and reveals that most of us tap into only 40% of our capabilities. Goggins calls this The 40% Rule, and his story illuminates a path that anyone can follow to push past pain, demolish fear, and reach their full potential"--Publisher's description.

Master Your Mind and Defy the Odds

Can't Hurt Me

For David Goggins, childhood was a nightmare - poverty, prejudice, and physical abuse colored his days and haunted his nights. But through self-discipline, mental toughness, and hard work, Goggins transformed himself from a depressed, overweight young man with no future into a U.S. Armed Forces icon and one of the world's top endurance athletes. The only man in history to complete elite training as a Navy SEAL, Army Ranger, and Air Force Tactical Air Controller, he went on to set records in numerous endurance events, inspiring Outside magazine to name him The Fittest (Real) Man in America. In this curse-word-free edition of Can't Hurt Me, he shares his astonishing life story and reveals that most of us tap into only 40% of our capabilities. Goggins calls this The 40% Rule, and his story illuminates a path that anyone can follow to push past pain, demolish fear, and reach their full potential.

Master Your Mind and Defy the Odds - Clean Edition

Michael

For David Goggins, childhood was a nightmare – poverty, prejudice, and physical abuse colored his days and haunted his nights. But through self-discipline, mental toughness, and hard work, Goggins transformed himself from a depressed, overweight young man with no future into a U.S. Armed Forces icon and one of the world's top endurance athletes. The only man in history to complete elite training as a Navy SEAL, Army Ranger, and Air Force Tactical Air Controller, he went on to set records in numerous endurance events, inspiring Outside magazine to name him "The Fittest (Real) Man in America." In Can't Hurt Me, he shares his astonishing life story and reveals that most of us tap into only 40% of our capabilities. Goggins calls this The 40% Rule, and his story illuminates a path that anyone can follow to push past pain, demolish fear, and reach their full potential.

I got into this because I could relate a lot to the beginning, but the glamorizing of destroying his body (especially with the cheering on from his collaborator on their bastardized podcast-audiobook format) wasn't great. Some ok ideas here if moderated. I find military hazing rituals really interesting so I stuck around for those.

Lewis Ngugi

** spoiler alert **
           The narration is definitely unique with the fact that it's a audiobook narration-podcast version which dives into the untold stories. Key learnings for me:
- Callous your mind
- Single-tasking over multitasking
- Visualize the why of taking on a challenge
- Remember where you've come from when in pain or doubt
- Go the extra mile at work

Reihan Maulana

One of the things that this book helped me with is establishing a consistent running habit in the morning. Goggins is a beast when it comes to "being hard". He has led an incredible life from horrible lows to remarkable achievements, and I think everyone can find some part of his story to relate to or find inspiration from. Recommended for those who are still struggling to make good habits.

matej yangwao

Book is about transformation of weakling to warrior. 🪖. I sense it as purely motivation book where you should cross your limit and grind to rewrite your own storyline. Leverage your fear and don't quit, keep on trying no matter what.
Sculpturing to new mindset.

≥children who had endured physical or emotional abuse are bound to fail.

≥The reason I talk to myself is because I’m the only one whose answers I accept.

≥fight through impossibilities, remold your mind to dwell on positivity and become the best version of you.

≥Difficulties strengthen the mind, as labor does the body.

≥In some cases, smiling at your pain would buy you some minutes to find higher ground, while some challenges might require the strategic use of your willpower.

≥take each day as an opportunity to break free from your limitations.

≥Forgiveness is giving up the hope that the past could have been any different.

≥the mastery of your past failures or bruises defines your fight or flight tendencies. You could accept that these burdens had prepared you for today, and fight. Or you could travel through this memory, and retreat back into denial and fear.

≥Maintaining your awareness of little victories keeps you going on the way to your big dreams.

≥Everyone has a pain threshold set in our subconscious, and any time we hit these walls, we tell ourselves to quit.

≥Many believe that talent is what separates successful people from average individuals. Contrary to this belief, talent will only take you to the verge of success, it is sheer will and work that gets you across the finish line.

≥you can rewrite your story by choosing to work your way through obstacles.

≥You should also subscribe to this strategy and find a balance between accountability, hard work, and willpower. Do not let your head drop after one failed attempt at success.

≥There are no limitations, except for the ones you set for yourself.

≥Hold yourself accountable for the bad decisions you make. Do not hide from them. Instead, learn from them and use them as armor for what is to come.

Erin Cawthorn

I think that me taking over a year to finish this book speaks to the fact that it did not motivate me. I admire David for the work that he put into himself and the hardships that he overcame but by no means was this book what I was expecting. This book was a life story of a guy who pushed himself too far and broke his body in the process because he wouldn’t let literal broken bones prevent him from achieving his goals. So yea master your mind but sacrifice your body. Glad I finished it but also glad I’m finally done.

If you want a book that gives you a gut check that you could be doing more this is the book. He’s inspirational and proves that with hard work you can do anything. I also love the activities at the end of the chapter to keep you involved. 

Haley Kirinsky 

Anthony

This books definitely contains a fascinating story. David’s life hasn’t been easy. His accomplishments are extremely impressive as well.

I think I’ll often think to myself “what would Goggins do?” when I’m struggling through something. He clearly shows that we are capable of more. We have a governor and we can pull that back and achieve many things.

Can’t Hurt Me is an amusing story about our potential. Maybe it’s my governor but I don’t think most of us are actually capable as being as hard as David is.

New York Times Bestseller Over 2.5 million copies sold For David Goggins, childhood was a nightmare - poverty, prejudice, and physical abuse colored his days and haunted his nights. But through self-discipline, mental toughness, and hard work, Goggins transformed himself from a depressed, overweight young man with no future into a U.S. Armed Forces icon and one of the world's top endurance athletes. The only man in history to complete elite training as a Navy SEAL, Army Ranger, and Air Force Tactical Air Controller, he went on to set records in numerous endurance events, inspiring Outside magazine to name him The Fittest (Real) Man in America. In this curse-word-free edition of Can't Hurt Me, he shares his astonishing life story and reveals that most of us tap into only 40% of our capabilities. Goggins calls this The 40% Rule, and his story illuminates a path that anyone can follow to push past pain, demolish fear, and reach their full potential.

What a ride of emotions. It’s a reminder that we can push through the toughest times and be happy with our lives. 

Alejandro Ramirez Jr.

Erwin Lemuel Oliva

The book is a conversation with David Goggins. He is a known superhuman but underneath, a man who had to endure pain and suffering and coming out hard and determined. A modern day warrior in life. Not only does he walk the talk, he runs...a lot.

Decent read that recounts a crazy life that repeatedly pushed through all pain barriers. Useful for remembering that most limits are self imposed, but the extremity of the stories were hard to relate to.

Fred Rivett

Gold! Inspiring, honest…. can’t say enough good things about this book! All the stars! 

Jenna Safran 

nobody can hurt Goggins … except himself, a lot

David Dunstan

The author did an amazing journey, that is entertaining and fascinating in this well executed interview-podcast-mixed-with-audiobook-format. But it is also a kind unironic autobiography of toxic masculinity and survival bias turned into some kind of inspirational self-help book where the key message is to suffer, take more pain and never ask for help. The reason this journey stands out, is that most people with the same approach didn't survive to write a book about it.

Stefan Pettersson

Christine Vogel

Es zog sich teilweise, da viel wiederholt wurde. Allerdings ist es schon sehr beeindruckend und motivierend.

Colin

8.8/10

Has earned a place as one of my canon books. Will be rereading again soon with notes.

Irene Alegre

Fantastic book – and unexpectedly so. I learned a lot from it, and it does push you to work out and give it your all. I think I'll re-read it from time to time (at least a couple of sections) so as not to forget.

Sabrina

Dimitrios Mavromatis

The 4 stars goes to how original this book is. Goggins is not an every day person. In fact quite the oposite. This book is about transformation but alost a year later I do not remeber any concrete lesson learned in the book other than Goggins really turned his life upside down and inside out.

Still, definetely worth the read. Even more so definetely to look this person up and check his interviews out.

Ethan Ding

something about toxic masculinity

but i mean, I'm toxically masculine. appeals to me

Ugis

An inspiring read from the toughest motherfucker in the world. A great man, great story and great stuff to take with me from the book. [reading time: 10h45m]

Ashutosh

I wrote this as an article on Medium, you can also check this out here-
 https://avidwriter11.medium.com/how-t...

It’s a Sunday morning where I live, and as I open my bedroom window the same old view, the same old buildings surrounded with trees, the same familiar people walking on the streets. and one more thing that’s same, is me, I know it sounds a bit weird. Be it any person everyone experiences differences every single day. But other than those small insignificant nudges, life is just as monotonous as the previous day,week, hell whole year. and then as usual my brain spirals down into a rabbit hole of thoughts, guilt slowly taking its hold over me. As the departure of the day comes closer these tiny little demons come back to work. Again those thoughts and the same cycle goes on and on for days to come. but whats the point telling you readers about all this. Don’t you face your own daily wars, internal and external, equally frustrating and devious. Good as well as bad things have their fair share of involvements in life, and good came into the picture at last.I discovered Cant Hurt Me.

Now before you go on thinking or judging me like here comes another guy who talks about how a book changed his life. Well cut me some slack there, I’ve read and watched such people myself. But the book I’m gonna talk about Isn’t the one that changed my life, rather its in the process of changing it. See you can seldom put haphazard full stops on certain things in life. As rocks take years to get transformed into different shapes, humans also require a great amount of time to see good or bad changes in themselves and its all depended on the small decisions we make along the journey. And that’s where mental resistance comes into play.

Before I do a deep dive into how the book is helpful in defying the odds as it says, let me make it clear beforehand that i wont be saying much about the contents of the book and rather I’ll be majorly focusing on the necessary things that’ll help you in going ahead just fine.

Mental Resistance :
Have you ever experienced a very minute or mostly insignificant level of discomfort when your mom tells you to go outside and buy some groceries, or when you’ve positively wasted an hour on making “the perfect routine” and the very next day you don’t even feel like getting out of bed let alone following the routine. I can place several more examples and relatable more so, but the point is, that minute level of discomfort is what kills the motivation to do something then and there and that is what we term as mental resistance.
Its not like you don’t want to do those planned things, it just that due bad choices, be it eating habits, be it sleep, be it late night parties, all these choices add up to a set of internal routine it plays all these scenarios behind the curtains and when the time comes, that single nudge ruins it all.

Cant Hurt Me- Ideas and Introspection:
What I learned after reading Cant Hurt Me, is that we humans are living in such times where making things more and more easier and time saving are ironically the exact same things that are making you softer day by day leading you towards chronic diseases and lack of immunity and costing you more time and money. And how you become softer, by being vulnerable to mental resistance. We’ve obviously heard about comfort zone and following such activities are only ruining you mentally and physically.

In the book David Goggins takes you on a very bumpy and horrifying ride through what you may call as hell. He presents you with his story filled with abuse, trauma , comfort zone a bit later and how the soft lifestyle was on the verge of ruining his life. But what comes after that is story of resurrection, determination and most of all an earth shattering level of discipline.

His story will make you weep at times, but I guarantee you one thing, by the end of the book you will be enlightened in many ways and about many things.

We often stop very early when we decide to make some changes in our behavior, our routine. Reason being, we see people as some one night success dummies. we bring them into our attention only when we see them holding some respectable post or stage. And then what. We completely forget about them in a day or two. But one more thing that we forget is that we humans are an amalgamation of stories and not just sudden achievements that we presume us to be. 

Every success has a story, and as cliche as it may sound, its equally true. But for that story to be a glorious one you need to wave off the distractions, you need look at the mirror and see the comfortable face in the eye, you need to ask the right questions everyday. As you come closer towards the end of the book, there’s a part where David Goggins mentions about what would we say to god after we die.

When our turn comes up and god asks us, how was your life, or what did you do down there, what answer will you give.

Small Decisions :
Well, for a better answer, you need to hope for a better life, for a better life you need to take smaller but painful decisions. You need to be more powerful then your mental resistance. and for that you should start slow.
Don’t compare your life with others who are successful, everyone’ running a different race, everyone’ going through different circumstances. If they are successful, they have worked for it.

Nothing becomes significant overnight, it takes those smaller yet difficult steps as I mentioned earlier to get to that level.

Push yourself everyday, as Goggins says “stay hard”, don’t let mere excuses be a frequent obstruction in your way.

40% Rule: This rule is properly described in the book, but to put it simply, every time you feel like stopping, just think of doing 40% more, keep on adding until you attain the desired goal.

Cookie Jar: Its more like a reward system, but a bit different as you don’t get a reward, but just a visual evidence of it. Cookie Jar rule says that whenever you complete a certain task just transfer one cookie from the cookie jar to an empty jar, just to give you a satisfaction and a push to fill the empty jar by also completing the work. if you cannot resist the craving and have a fear of emptying that jar all by yourself, then you can go for paper clips.

Stick post it notes with your daily priorities written on them, so that whenever you face the mirror you get reminded about the things that matter.

So as we come to an end I’d like to mention one thing. It doesn’t matter if you read self help books or not, if you like to get straight to the point there are always summaries and book reviews like these to save your time. Yet when you read a particular book you not only support the author but also get the advantage of remembering things more properly as those important points have a story behind them. And stories are what make us believable, stories are what make us human.

Thank you all for taking out your precious time and reading this article. If you liked it, do give your feedback, share it with your friends and stay tuned for more such in depth reviews and summaries.


Goodreads Short Review:
This is the book that'll,
- Pump you up right away for doing something, any kinda movement
- Change your mentality and perception towards problems
- Change your mentality towards the extreme potentials of any human brain.
- Change your attitude towards accomplishing anything that seems impossible initially.

David Goggins is known as the toughest man on planet earth for a reason, and those are pretty much convincing when you read the events that he gone through and struggled through. In the book he constantly reminds you that he himself rose up from bad and terrible phases of his life. His father beat and abused him and his mother. And how -after they left his father- he gained a lot of weight as he spiralled down his way through the rabbit hole of comfort zone. And when he saw a clip related to Navy SEAL his future drastically changed and turned him into a Masochistic person who was ready to deal with any physical punishment a human brain can endure. Coz in the end he conveys that everything that limits you from doing unimaginable things is in some or other way connected with comfortable life and your brain resisting you from doing any tenous activity. And by the end of the book you'll have 10 challenges arranged in a very statistic manner, that'll keep you going even after you're done reading the book. A very engaging and energetic read!!.

Fatima Zahra

Watch some YouTube videos about this subject and you’ll get more out of it than this book.

Can't Hurt Me Master Your Mind and Defy the Odds

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