Title Can't Hurt Me
Author David Goggins
Year Published 2018
Kind of Book Memoir/Self-help
How strongly I recommend it 7/10
My Impressions This was an inspiring memoir from a man who probably scored higher in Contentiousness on the Big 5 Personality test than any other human on the planet. I listened to the audiobook while I would jog along the water by my house and it definitely made me run faster! Goggins was a fat young man who turned his life around and became navy seal. After his service he continued pushing his body through insane challenges like Iron man marathons and digging holes to put out wild fires. Though his story is super inspirational, in all honesty I kept thinking throughout, "this dude needs therapy." His persistence borders on insanity (pissing blood because he wanted to finish a race etc.) and he talks throughout about how he never got the love he needed from his father and how he wanted to prove to him that he was tough. Well David I think you're pretty damn tough and I hope you find peace.
Date Read May 2019
Practical Takeaways
Unshackle your mind
Build an unbreakable foundation
Get rid of your victim's mentality
Don't stop when you're tired, Stop when you're done
Seek out pain
Fall in love with suffering
Learn to love what you fear
Go to war with yourself
Tackle what’s in front of you
Stop standing in your way/get out of your way
Hold your self to a higher standard every day
Be your own hero
Call yourself out
Hold yourself accountable
Give yourself constant reminders of what the task at hand is//post-it notes and accountability mirror
Listen to the voice in your head that is trying to make you better. Stop listening to the voice of comfort
“Grow alligator skin” ie. Have thick skin
Ask yourself honestly if there is truth to what the bully said //are you fat? Are you dumb?
Don’t cut corners
Chose between mental anguish of pushing through and the mental anguish of knowing you didn’t push yourself and live up to your full potential
Make a list of something that you don’t like doing that you need to do
Do something that sucks everyday (something uncomfortable)
Do the things you don’t want to do
Take the path of most resistance
Triple down on your weaknesses
Don’t wait for a situation to be perfect
Callus your mind
Know why you’re in the fight to stay in the fight
Smile and pain and watch it fade. Never forget that all pain in finite.
Last one more second than the other person
Be haunted by the things you didn’t do because you gave up.
Don’t do the same thing over and over and expect different results
Identify and accept your weaknesses from your past and combat them head on
Find the source of your weakness
Admit your weakness, your pain, you insecurities and own them.
Don’t label people who have been successful as having something special in order to not have to face that that could be you.
Do something that sucks everyday
Visualize the challenges that will arise on the road to reaching your goal
Have a powerful Why for why you’re doing it.
Dig into the cookie jar when you’re suffering ie. Recall past successes to rejuvenate and refuel you when the going gets tough
Take stock of your cookie jar. Write out the victories and things you overcame.
Go through the hard stuff to find peace
Don’t leave so much in the tank
Accept that you will be made fun of
Accept that you will be insecure
Accept that you won’t be the best all the time
Push yourself 5-10% past your ceiling consistently not 60% past it m
Streamline your nutrition
Become addicted to hard work
Schedule your life like you’re on a 24hr mission everyday.
Lay out your clothes and pack your lunch the night before
When you find yourself having frivolous conversations or partake in activities that don’t better you, move the fuck on
Track how many hours you waste on social media
Take one rest day a week where you completely allow your mind and body to rest. Turn your phone off and keep your computer off. Eat and drink healthy. The mission is to recharge.
Sneak In 10-15min power naps when necessary
Use your smart phone for productive hacks not click bate
Schedule in rest
Schedule every hour of your day
Do yoga if you have an injury
Don’t allow a setback to shatter your focus. Always be ready to recalibrate and adjust.
Become a master of what you’re afraid of
When you work Only work on one thing at a time. Pursue the task in front of you
Schedule enough time for lunch and dinner breaks, but don’t make them open ended (1/2hr?)
Start at zero. Never feel like you arrived
Embrace ignorance and being the dumb fuck in the classroom.
Celebrate your victory and then get back to it.
Torch the complacency you feel in front of you
Show no weakness
Surround yourself with people who tell you what you need to hear not what you want to hear
Fall in love with the truth (even when it is hard to look at)
Don’t let a simple failure derail your mission
Don’t allow experts to indoctrinate you with limiting beliefs
Don’t think that overcoming obstacles has to be fun
Stop competing with the world
Remember that no one cares as much as you do
Write out your most vivid failures. Write what went well. Then Write how you handled your failure. Then write things you would fix. Then go out and recreate that mission
Don’ be around people all the time
Don’t think you always need to be happy
Analyze your running form
Shoot for more than you think is possible
Go out there and try to find more the. Yourself
Constantly be breaking down barriers
Keep getting back up, getting back up, getting back up
Big Ideas
Repetition will callous your mind
We only operate at 40% of our full capability
You can't rely on motivation to make you do something you want to do everyday
Because
Motivation is contingent on how you feel
And
How we feel changes from hour to hour and day to day
The moments when you least feel like doing something are the moments that are most important for you to do it