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

Rating: it was amazing

David Goggins has become the ideal in which I measure my own character and discipline. He basically has done what Jordan Peterson prescribes in his teachings in the most badass way possible. Wisdom and courage personified.

Rating: it was ok

Warning: I think I missed something and, as a result, this review will not be popular.

I appreciate the fact this book recharged me. It forced me to take a look around and realize where I am taking short cuts. For that, I am grateful for the individual stories of grit and determination.

However, I started this book expecting, as the publisher promised, "...a path that anyone can follow to...reach their full potential." When I finished, I found that the book was only one dimensional. The stories demonstrate how the author achieved his full potential physically. Is that the author's full potential? What about the areas where this didn't work? Are we not going to talk about his two failed marriages? Are we not going to talk about how he failed to achieve his dreams in both the SEALs and an elite Army unit? Are we not going to talk about how most of the situations he found himself in were a result of lack of preparation?

Specialization at the cost of everything else does not impress me. What impresses me is full potential in every domain. It's the individuals who never achieve the success the author did in one domain, but who are operating at full potential across every aspect of life. Show me the path of someone who excels at their job, raises their children right, contributes to their community, demonstrates classical virtues, loves their spouse, and still achieves physical goals. I want to know what path they are on.

Rating: it was amazing

OH MY GOSH!!! DAMN. This book was such an unexpected treasure and I am shocked it does not have more ratings. Guys, you need to read this book. It was one of the best books I have ever read. I would recommend giving the audiobook a try. It is part audiobook and part podcast. In between chapters, Goggins actually gives new insight and commentaries on his extraordinary life.

Goggins was not meant to amount to much. He was supposed to become another statistic. Instead, through sheer work ethic and will power, he became a Navy Seal, motivational speaker, and athlete. This is not your typical self-help book. I love reading self-help books like this because you know they came from a person who has lived through the struggle. He is a living example of everything he talks about in this book.

I love and admire Goggins's passion, grit, and resilience. His ability to push past discomfort to be all that he can be is astounding. I know I am raving about this book like crazy, but it really was life changing. Like, OH MY GOSH!!!

Anybody can benefit from this book. For instance, I was reading this book from the perspective of a student who really wants a career in academia. If I wanted to pursue something like that, it would require great self-discipline and focus. This book helped me see how I can push past discomfort to achieve my goals.

I am serious when I say this book changed my life, and I know I will listen to it again in the future. I want to better absorb all the wisdom Goggins has to offer his readers. A phenomenal, life-changing book that everyone should listen to. I could not stop listening to it and I dreaded it being over. You know a book is good when you want it to last forever. :)

Rating: really liked it

"The Can't Hurt Me" mentality!

"From the time you take birth, you become eligible to die... You also become eligible to become a warrior. I hope you are ready! It's time to go to war!!"

Can't Hurt Me is all about, as the subtitle of the book states, mastering the mind and defying the odds. This book is the inspiring story of David Goggins - his struggle during childhood, hardwork and perseverance to become a Navy Seal and Army Ranger, faith and belief in himself while overcoming severe health challenges - and many more life lessons.

Just a heads up : this is a straightforward and raw account, hence be prepared for multiple usages of the f*word.

A should-be-read memoir.

"The most important conversations you have are the ones you have with yourself."

Rating: it was amazing

Amazing life story. I've been soaking up all I can about David Goggins since I first saw him on Joe Rogan in August 2018. The audiobook is great: part book, part podcast... There are some extra stories in the audio version that are not in the printed book, which comes out on Dec. 4.

Thank you, David!

Rating: liked it

I'm of two minds about this book.

On the one hand, it's an inspiring story of a man who has overcome a lifetime of struggle and proved that you can do anything if you're willing to push yourself. In the first half of the book especially this was a message that resonated with me and made me think about David Goggins as a man to look up to.

On the other hand, it's a cautionary tale of a man who is so stubborn he can not learn from his past mistakes. He is constantly going into situations underprepared and then pushing his body past the point of sanity in order to accomplish a goal and seemingly expecting applause for that. Were he in some life or death situation then I might just give him said applause, but instead, he is always just trying to prove something to himself which is a really unhealthy way to go through life.

Overall there were two main lessons to take from Mr Goggins story. One is that if you really put your mind to a task you can achieve the impossible. The second is that there is nothing admirable about taking the path of highest resistance just for the sake of personal pride. Yes, Mr Goggins has achieved amazing things, but there are others who have achieved similar results in a more intelligent and healthy way.

In the end, I came in exactly on the halfway mark in regards to how I felt about this book and I have rounded up for the sake of not wanting to give this book a 2-star review.

One final note is a comment on the audiobook. Mr Goggins made the decision to insert multiple interludes that feature the narrator interviewing him. These were interesting at first but soon grew really tiresome. They felt really self-serving as each one went along the lines of the narrator expressing how in awe of David Goggins he was, and David Goggins expressing yet again how hard it was for him to achieve his goals. I could have done without 50% of these as well.

Rating: liked it

I read this book in one day. Certainly is interesting.

That said, I worry about the message. I agree with his point - to a point. But life isn’t always about just pushing yourself to the point of breakdown. It’s also about acceptance.

In the last chapter, he does talk about that. But I still think he has more to go in his journey in life. He’s accomplished a lot and has done a lot of good and I sincerely thank him for his service - but I hope for his own sake he finds true inner peace.

Until he does, I caution against following his advice blindly. It’s good, but only good to a point. Also rage shouldn’t fuel you - the most successful people transcend that and are fueled by love (sounds cheesy I know but it’s true).

Rating: really liked it

This book is the epitome of "pulling yourself up by your own bootstraps".
A decade ago when he burst onto the ultra racing scene I found Goggin's story a powerful paradigm shift in my own life. It's a testimony to what's possible, an assault on absolutely ANY excuses you can invent, and a challenge to do likewise!
Don't just read this book, but when you put it down, apply the same mindset! Use it to fight your own battles and overcome your own limitations...

Rating: did not like it

Pain =/= gain.

This book is only about pushing past pain, taking pain meds, and constantly being in unbelievably stupid situations purely because he thinks "Pain" = gain.

There are multiple times where if others were not around to save him, he would have died.

I gave the first 25% of the book a benefit of the doubt that Goggins would get smarter, but as the book and his life progressed what you're reading is a story about someone who is never prepared, and always just pushing through pain even to his own detriment. It feels like he never actually learns.

Goggins will never not take the opportunity to say that he was the first to do something.

Never winning, never being the 1/40 warrior that he talks about and that's all because he does not see anything more then having to constantly push past pain as his only ability.

I'm sure others will think that what he pushed through and have achieved are amazing feats of mental toughness. His pain tolerance is impressive, I won't disagree there but the fact that there's multiple times that he would have died if others had not been there for him just baffles me as to why that's a good thing?

I think there are some good techniques and things that this book teaches about pushing through pain and being tough but those are not unique to this book and are better found elsewhere.

Rating: liked it

The reason I read this book was to learn what drove a man to successfully complete the rigorous, elite training of the U.S. Navy SEALS, U.S. Army Rangers and the U. S. Air Force Tactical Air Controller (TACP).

As a teen Goggins failed the Armed Service Vocational Aptitude Battery of tests twice. He tells about having to loss one hundred pounds to qualify for the SEALS’ training. He tells about using mental and physical discipline to reach his goals. First by turning his life around as a teenager to achieve his goal of joining the military. Second in achieving his goals in the military of being the best of the best. In some ways this is almost a self-help book rather than a memoir. A caution to readers the language can be a bit raw at times.

I read this as an audiobook downloaded from Audible. The book is thirteen hours and thirty-seven minutes. Adam Skolnick does a good job narrating the book.

Rating: it was amazing

MUST, absolutely must read! I do not usually leave reviews - but this may very well be the penicillin of the 21st century.

Also, his podcasts with Joe Rogan are excellent (just as 99.9% of what Joe puts on YouTube is).

Edit: also the audiobook has extra passages - a kind of podcast, so give that a try too.

Rating: liked it

A gripping memoir, and I LOVE it when authors swear up and down like they would in conversation, but I suppose we can give Adam Skolnick credit for preserving that authenticity in the voice.

I'm not down with the philosophy, though. This is the story of an elite athlete and a man who has tempered his mind to endure extreme pain, but it read like a horror story or cautionary tale to me. I don't want to do those things, be like that, think like that, and I sure don't want to be in a relationship with someone who does (seems neither did his wives). I don't want to be at war with myself, have a calloused mind, and certainly not to have an "unrelenting voice in my head". I just have different goals, and they include mental peace and human connection.

Rating: it was amazing

This is THE BOOK if you want to conquer yourself, your mind and personally achieve what you're been meaning to achieve. This is THE BOOK if you want to become a tough ass motherfucker.

I first heard of David Goggins somewhere in 2016 when Jesse Itzler promoted his book about living with a Navy SEAL and thought to myself "huh, that must be hard" and didn't think about it for longer. THEN, in 2017 I randomly found an interview with him on a Tom Bilyeu. When I heard his introduction, I literally said out loud "WHAT THE FUCK? Who is this guy??". Now I was on the lookout for this dude. Then he came on Rich Roll's podcast, and holey moley, was this guy intense. But this wasn't enough and I wanted MORE. Finally David Goggins appeared on the Joe Rogan Experience (not once, but twice!) and announced he had a book coming out! I had mixed feelings about this - I've heard him tell his story multiple times and thought that the book would just be another retelling. AT THE SAME TIME, I knew he's an inspirational guy so it wouldn't hurt to get some additional motivation/inspiration.

Oh man, it was not inspiration I got from this...

I listened to the audiobook which had additional comments and Q&A from the ghost writer/narrator and David Goggins so I got more insight to what was going on in the story. I sort of have mixed feelings about him, now that I've heard his story.

I'll start with the negative (which aren't that much of a negative). Although I understand that this is from personal experience, I couldn't help but feel like a lot of the times he went on a charade of "me me me me" and "look what an amazing feat I did that no one could". Then again, when you're writing a book about mastering YOUR OWN mind, it's impossible not to bring yourself as an example, especially when you've actually done feats like he has. And his interactions with people was quite repugnant to say the least. He has admitted to it in the book about how he behaved with other people and I understand him.

Now, for the positive bits. Let me get it out of the way - David Goggins is a Badass Motherfucker. He curses like a motherfucker, runs across states and back, passes the toughest SOF trainings in three branches of the US Armed Forces (x3 Hell Weeks!). A truly inspirational story. Ever since a child, he has defied the odds and has come on top, even inspite of all the hurdles life has thrown at him. NOT ONCE, has he put himself in the fetal position and cried "boohoo poopy pants muh oppression". He implored a better technique of "taking souls" of those who come in his way of achieving whatever he wants - showing them that nothing can stop him, not even the greatest of the challenges they(instructors, racists) can think for him.

I won't be paraphrasing any of his goals because one must experience this oneself, either through the book or audiobook with the comments (book first then the audiobook would be the best of combos). But I do want to share one thought that stuck with me through this. It is that this struggle is not with a finish line, there is no "finally I can rest" moment. No. This is an ongoing struggle. There can be rest points but we must always be working towards something, some goal. We can make a quick rest here and there in between but never stop. Our fuel should be our passion that we've phrased properly to ourselves and can use whenever we feel like we want to quit. Don't use motivation because that is a fleeting source of fuel. When you think you're at your endpoint, you've only done 40% of the work! You've got more in you than you think!

GET AFTER IT!

PS! I've read some reviews about this book that there's too much cursing. If this offends or bothers someone, then this book is not aimed towards you. Try Tony Robbins.

Rating: really liked it

I love Goggins, so I picked this up as soon as I heard about it, and it went right to the top of my TBR.

I wasn't exactly disappointed. The book delves into his life in ways that his various interviews and anecdotes could not, and all of that was a welcome addition to his mythos. The problem is, the interviews and stories are so good already, and cover most of the same ground, that this book wasn't enough of a step forward to be amazing.

I get it. I understand that it is so much easier to hand someone a book than it is to try to get them to listen to various podcasts and watch some YouTube videos. As a strategic move, the book makes a lot of sense.

Make sure to get the extra commentary from the man himself in the audio book.

Rating: it was amazing

This book was amazing and captivating. It was hard to stop listening to it. I'm glad I picked up the audiobook version because of the format and the extra bits. The story is a real-world example of the hero's journey. Don't get intimated by the length, time flies when you're listening about all the crazy inspiring stuff David Goggins has been through in his life so far. I 100% recommend this book to everyone. 10/10