Book Review: Can’t Hurt Me by David Goggins

I read Can’t Hurt Me: Master Your Mind and Defy the Odds cover to cover in 24 hours. I felt like I had to do David Goggins justice by pushing myself to complete the book at a faster pace than I usually read. And, the book had me on the edge of my seat. It’s the definition of a page-turner and is by far the most inspiring book I’ve ever read.

The stories he tells of pushing himself beyond the physical breaking point of his bones are seemingly extreme for the average person. But the concept that we can do more than we think rings true. Our minds are our only limitation, not our bodies, not our souls. The mind tricks you into stopping because the path of least resistance feels better. The real challenge is setting aside your thoughts to push yourself by whatever means necessary.

“Only you can master your mind, which is what it takes to live a bold life filled with accomplishments most people consider beyond their capability.”

Mastering your mind and accomplishing your goals takes time. But we crave satisfaction, and we are satisfied by the ease of instantaneous pleasure.

“Sadly, most of us give up when we’ve only given around 40 percent of our maximum effort. Even when we feel like we’ve reached our absolute limit, we still have 60 percent more to give!”

David Goggins talks about his Accountability Mirror. You force yourself to look in the mirror and ask yourself ”did I get done what I needed to get done today?” It creates motivation to not let yourself down. It’s the guilt of not reading that chapter before bed or getting a run in that day that at gets you going.

Setting these ’micro goals’ is just the first step to truly mastering your mind. Building up on these goals and challenging yourself everyday takes time and dedication. As you build up, your floor raises. The bear minimum of what you can do elevates every time you achieve what you set out to do.

“In the military we always say we don’t rise to the level of our expectations, we fall to the level of our training.”

I’ve taken the idea of the Accountability Mirror and created my own “Why Not?” Wall. I like this concept because it applies to habits, tasks, ideas, anything you want to accomplish. At the end of the day you run through a checklist of your goals and if you didn’t accomplish something, why not? Why didn’t you get a workout in today? Why didn’t you email your boss about that new idea you had?

This book will challenge you to push yourself harder everyday, to wake up and be stronger both mentally and physically. While Goggins goes to the extreme physically to show us what we are capable of, even just 1% further every day will train the mind that you can do more.

It’s just you versus you. What ‘you’ do you want to be?