Can't Hurt Me

David Goggins

📚 GENRE: Biographies & Memoirs

📃 PAGES: 364

✅ COMPLETED: August 21, 2022

🧐 RATING: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

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Short Summary

David Goggins went from being almost 300 pounds to a military icon and one of the best endurance athletes in the world in a matter of a few years. In his memoir Can’t Hurt Me, Goggins takes readers through his wild journey and shares the relentless mindset that helped him overcome his fears and become the only man in history to complete elite training as a Navy SEAL, Army Ranger, and Air Force Tactical Air Controller.

Key Takeaways

1️⃣ Work On Yourself — One of the big messages of the book is to build yourself up to a point where nothing can really phase you. This is done by consistently pushing yourself, attacking your fears, challenging your perceived limitations, and actively seeking pain and failure. Whether it was losing over 100 pounds in three months, running extreme ultra marathons, or overcoming his fear of heights by jumping out of planes in the Navy, Goggins has built himself to a point where he can handle just about anything in life.

2️⃣ Embrace Friction — Challenges and obstacles should be embraced because they provide the quickest route to growth. There is always two ways to look at anything that happens. When a challenge arises, look at it as an opportunity to get better rather than complaining. If something is going to happen regardless, it makes no sense to have a bad or anxious attitude about it. Choose instead to embrace it and attack it with a positive mindset. The power to choose your mindset is always in your control.  

3️⃣ Mind Game — At the end of the day, life is one big mind game between you and you. Your inner dialogue, self-talk, and self-belief are critical to the outcomes you achieve in life. Your inner dialogue has to be positive and encouraging, otherwise it’s going to be tough. Keep your focus on you and what you can control. Never get caught up in comparisons or what other people are doing or thinking. Compete with yourself, empty the tank, and become the best you can be.

Favorite Quote

“I wanted to master my fears. So many of us shy away from things that we’re afraid of. The best way to overcome anything in life is to become a master of what you’re afraid of. Become a master of your insecurities.”

Book Notes 📑

Introduction

  • Rough Beginnings — David Goggins was born in 1975 in Buffalo, New York and had a really rough upbringing. He was bullied and his family lived in poverty for most of his childhood. He barely graduated high school, but has become one of the most influential speakers, athletes, and trainers in the world. His specialty is mental toughness. 
  • Quote: “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.” 

Ch. 1: I Should Have Been a Statistic

  • Abusive Upbringing — Goggins’s father was very physically abusive. The family ran a skating rink called ‘Skate Land’ that did well and owned a nice house in a suburb outside Buffalo, New York, but Goggins, his brother, and his Mom were routinely beaten by the father. All of them were required to work at the rink and the father didn’t pay any of them a cent. 
  • The Escape — Goggins, his brother, and his Mom fled Buffalo one night to get away from the father.  They moved to Indiana to start fresh. Goggins was in 2nd grade at the time and was struggling to learn. His Mom did what she could to support the kids, but it was a tough living situation for all of them. 

Ch. 2: Truth Hurts

  • More Tragedy — While in Indiana, Goggins’s mom remarried and the family seemed to be on a good track. But one night, his stepfather was murdered after returning home from a pickup basketball game. 
  • Call Yourself Out — Tell yourself the truth. A lot of people recommend building yourself up, which is great. But there’s a fine line. The first step to making progress is being able to take an honest self-assessment so you can address your weak areas. Then you can get to work on strengthening those weaknesses. 
    • Quote: “There’s no more time to waste. Hours and days evaporate like creeks in the desert. That’s why it’s OK to be cruel to yourself sometimes, as long as you realize you’re doing it to become better. We all need thicker skin to improve in life.” 

Ch. 3: The Impossible Task

  • The Air Force — Following high school, Goggins joined the Air Force and tried to make the para rescue team. People on this team are trained to drop from the sky behind enemy lines and rescue pilots who are going down. He didn’t make it through the rigorous training, though. He left the Air Force after four years. 
  • The Impossible Task — Several years after leaving the Air Force, Goggins weighed 300 pounds and his job was spraying for cockroaches for a pest control company. He wanted to reenlist in the Navy. In order to meet the Navy weight requirements, he had to lose 106 pounds in less than three months. He also had to pass ASVAB multi-aptitude test. He pulled both off by training and studying all day, every day. By accomplishing both, he made it into the Navy. It was a pretty amazing effort. 
  • Developing a ‘Callused Mind’ — The first step to developing a tougher mind is to step out of your comfort zone on a regular basis.   Actively pursue the things that make you most uncomfortable. Do them over and over and over again until you melt the fear away.
    • Quote: “Doing things, even small things, that make you uncomfortable will help make you strong. The more often you get uncomfortable, the stronger you will become. And soon, you will develop a more productive, ‘can-do’ dialogue with yourself in stressful situations.”
    • Quote: “One question I get a lot is: ‘How did you get so mentally strong?’ I think everyone knows the answer. Everybody knows the answer, but they want me to tell them it’s ‘easy.’ That’s what people want to hear. But the truth of the matter is this — the only way you can callus your mind is to do the things that you do not want to do. There’s no way around it.”
    • Quote: “If you want to become truly mentally tough, you have to triple down on your weaknesses. That’s the only way to callus your mind over the victim’s mentality.”
    • Takeaway — Attack fear and actively seek opportunities to make yourself uncomfortable. It is through these uncomfortable experiences, and doing them routinely, that you are able to melt the fear out of your system and gain a lot of confidence. You should be excited when faced with having to do something that makes you feel fear — it’s an opportunity to push yourself out of your comfort zone. It’s an opportunity to grow. Even if you fail and humiliate yourself, you’re learning and getting better. 
  • Quote: “It’s all about mindset. Throughout this whole book, you’re going to realize that it’s always going to come back to one thing — your mindset and how you speak to yourself… You have to go to the real reality. Sometimes a situation isn’t as bad as you’ve made it out to be.”
    • Takeaway — Inner dialogue is really important. If you think you’ve lost, you’ve already lost. You have to believe in yourself and what you can do. You will not succeed at a task or situation if you don’t believe you can do it. Pay close attention to your mindset and your inner dialogue. 

Ch. 4: Taking Souls

  • Hell Week — After joining the Navy, Goggins and other new recruits had to go through ‘hell week’, where they went through rigorous land and water training. Many people quit during this stage.
    • Quote: “The ticket to victory often comes down to bringing your very best when you feel at your worst.”
    • Quote: “Life is one big mind game, but usually you’re playing against yourself.”

Ch. 5: Armored Mind

  • Hell Week x 3 — Goggins went through ‘hell week’ two more times before graduating from the Navy’s BUD/S training program in 2001. In his last ‘hell week’, he had broken shins and pushed through it. 
  • Embracing Pain — One of the ways Goggins was able to handle so much pain during Navy training (and his life) was that he embraced the pain and struggle. When things got tough, his attitude was to want it because he thrived on it.
    • Leadership — Embracing challenges is one of the marks of a great leader. No matter the circumstance, your mindset and approach to the situation is so important to how you get through it. Goggins’s performance stood above many others because he saw challenges as something he wanted. Rather than shying away when things get tough, you have to control your mind and instead embrace the challenge. That’s over half the battle right there. 
  • Graduation — Goggins graduated from the Navy BUD/S training program in 2001. He was the 36th African American to ever complete the program and become a SEAL. 
  • Visualization — Goggins has always been big on visualization. He practices visualization by picturing himself  accomplishing his goals and overcoming the challenges that may arise on the way. 
  • Quote: “Remembering what you’ve been through and how it strengthened your mindset can lift you out of a negative brain loop and help you bypass those weak, one second impulses to give in so you can power through obstacles.”
    • Takeaway — When you’re struggling to get through something, remember the times where you successfully fought through adversity. Just thinking about those times can give you the strength needed to power through something tough. 
  • Quote: “You want to get to a point in life where everything you should’ve done will bother you if you don’t do it.”
    • Takeaway — This is where you want to be, ideally. When you’re committed to your daily routine and making progress, it should bother you when you miss something, like your daily reading, workout, etc. If it doesn’t bother you, you’re not quite there yet. 

Ch. 6: It's Not About a Trophy

  • 2005 — Goggins ran his first ultramarathon — 100 miles in 24 hours around San Diego’s Hospitality Pointe. He did it with three days of notice. It was the most challenging thing he has ever completed, more gruesome than the ‘hell weeks’ he went through with the Navy.
    • Quote: “I knew then (after completing the 100 miles) that I had been selling myself short and that there was a whole new level of performance out there to tap into; that the human body can withstand and accomplish a hell of a lot more than most of us think possible. It all begins and ends in the mind.”
    • Quote: “I was done at Mile 50. To go that much further while feeling that bad — it changed my perspective on life.”
  • Operation Red Wings — A 2005 Navy reconnaissance operation known as one of the biggest disasters in SEAL history. A team of four SEALs infiltrated the mountains of Afghanistan to do some spy work and gather intelligence on a growing pro-Taliban force. They were spotted by pro-Taliban villagers and attacked by a much larger militia group. In those mountains it was difficult to communicate with the home base, so the four men were essentially on their own.
    • Lone Survivor — Marcus Luttrell was the only man to survive the mission. He was found by a group of peaceful Afghan villagers who took him in and helped him. Marcus was later found and rescued. He went on to write a book called Lone Survivor, which became a movie starring Mark Wahlberg.  
  • United States Free Fall School — Goggins heard about the doomed Operation Red Wings operation on his last day at U.S. Free Fall School, where he and a few other SEALs were trained to jump out of high-altitude planes. The free fall school was required to qualify for the Navy Special Warfare Development Group (Dev Gru), an elite unit in the SEALs. To graduate from free fall school, Goggins had to overcome his extreme fear of heights.
    • Fort Bragg, North Carolina — Goggins and others learned how to jump by studying in the classroom. 
    • Yuma, Arizona — Goggins and others began actually jumping out of planes. 
    • Quote: “When I jumped out of an airplane for the first time from high altitude, all I felt was extreme fear, and I couldn’t pry my eyes from my altimeter. I wasn’t able to embrace the jump because fear had clogged my mind… But as I became conditioned to the risk, my tolerance for that same fear increased. Before long, I was able to handle multiple tasks on a jump and appreciate the moment, too.”
      • Takeaway — The only way to overcome any fear is to attack it head on. Hiding from it will not do any good. Identify your fears and begin finding ways to do those things you’re scared of. Start slow. By repeatedly doing what you’re afraid of, you will melt the fear away over time. 
  • The “Success Cookie Jar” — It’s important to look back at past personal successes from time to time, especially in tough situations where you’re battling adversity. By reflecting on past victories and remembering how those successes felt, you can almost generate the same feeling and get a boost in your current situation. Think of your collection of past victories as your own personal “success cookie jar” that you can dig into when you need a boost.
    • Quote: “I’m talking about using past successes to fuel new and bigger ones because, in the heat of battle, when sh*t gets real, we need to draw inspiration to push through our own exhaustion, pain, and misery.”
    • Quote: “You will come to a point in any exercise where pain, boredom, or self-doubt kicks in and you’ll need to push back to get through it. The cookie jar is your shortcut to taking control of your own thought process… The point of it is to remember what a badass you are so you can use that energy to succeed again in the heat of battle.”

Ch. 7: The Most Powerful Weapon

  • The 40% Rule — In many cases, people only give about 40% of their maximum effort. Even when we feel we’ve hit our maximum limit, we usually have another 60% to give. We give into our perceived limitations and don’t push ourselves as hard as we can go. Whether it was losing over 100 pounds in 3 months, running on broken legs during ‘hell week’, or completing grueling ultra races, Goggins has always pushed himself really hard. You have to continually push yourself to do things that scare you and endure past what you believe your limit is. 
    • Quote: “The reason I embrace my own obsessions and demand and desire more of myself is because I’ve learned that it’s only when I push beyond pain and suffering, past my perceived limitations, that I am capable of accomplishing more physically and mentally in endurance races, but also in life as a whole.”
  • Badwater Ultramarathon — A 135-mile race in the Badwater Basin of California’s Death Valley. Considered the world’s toughest for race. Goggins completed this race and finished in fifth in 2006.
    • HURT100 — To even qualify for this race, Goggins had to complete the HURT100, a 100-mile endurance jungle run in Hawaii. 
  • Head Strong — One of the themes of this book is how strong the mind is. We can almost always give more effort. Many of us have become lazy, and prioritized comfort and entertainment over learning and progress. Understand that you can always dig deeper. Find ways to push yourself and make the most of your time. 
    • Quote: “Our minds are fu*king strong. They are our most powerful weapon, but we’ve stopped using them. We have access to so many more resources today than ever before, yet we are so much less capable than those who came before us.”

Ch. 8: Talent Not Required

  • Recruiting (2007-2009) — Goggins was approached by the Navy to help recruit more African-Americans. From 2007-2009, he was on the road for 250 days a year to talk to high school and college students. He would tie in his school presentations with races in the area. He was essentially recruiting and running a huge number of miles in his free time. He would often run 50+ miles to get to his next school presentation.
  • Maximize Your Time — There are 168 hours in a week, and only 40 of those hours are spent at work. Focus on making the most of your time. Have a purpose with your schedule. Every hour should be dedicated to a certain task and, when that hour comes, your complete focus should be on that task.
    • One Thing at a Time — While you’re going through your schedule, try to keep your focus on one thing at a time. When it comes time to work on a certain project for an hour, try to keep your focus on that project. Avoid getting distracted by other tasks during that allotted hour.
    • No Drama — To maximize your time and remain focused, it’s crucial that you keep distractions and drama to a bare minimum. Reduce the amount of time you watch TV and Netflix as well. Spend more time learning and progressing toward your goals.
    • Rest — You need to schedule time for mental and physical rest. It’s impossible to be a robot and give max effort 24/7. Set aside time to rest. This is important because it reduces burnout. When it comes time to rest your mind and body, make sure you’re actually doing it.
  • Health Issues — After a few health scares, Goggins learned that he had a hole in his heart that he was born with. He completed ‘hell week’ and many grueling ultra runs despite having this very dangerous hole in his heart. Goggins later underwent surgery to fix the issue. 
  • Embrace Friction — Rather than complaining or blaming, your mindset should be to embrace challenges and obstacles that come up. Look at every challenge as a chance to get better. The majority of people have the wrong attitude about obstacles that come up in life.
    • Quote: “You need friction to grow — that’s how I started to look at everything in life. It’s all about how you look at the obstacles that come up in your life.”
    • Quote: “I would get sad — nobody wants to have heart surgery. But my mentality was: I’m having heart surgery regardless. I can approach this two ways. I can be negative, complain, and say ‘woe is me.’ Or I can say, ‘I’m having heart surgery. Let’s see how fast I can get better. Let’s have a great attitude about it.’ When these types of difficult situations come up, it’s all about how you attack it.”
      • Takeaway — In life, we are sometimes faced with obstacles, challenges, and situations we are scared of. You always have control over your mentality and approach, regardless of the situation. If an event or situation is going to happen anyway, it makes no sense to have a negative approach. Take a step back, evaluate the situation, and choose a positive mindset before going into it. Ultimately, obstacles and challenges are our fastest route to growth. You get stronger by going through challenges. 
  • Attack Fear — Actively pursue the things you’re most afraid of. By consistently doing what you’re scared of, you desensitize yourself to the fear. You get stronger every time out. The more reps you get in, the more you melt the fear away.
    • Ex. Public Speaking — As you give more speeches, you get more confident and less fearful up there. You get more and more comfortable having everyone staring at you while you speak. It all comes with reps, but the only way to get those reps is by attacking that fear rather than running from it. 
    • Quote: “I wanted to master my fears. So many of us shy away from things that we’re afraid of. The best way to overcome anything in life is to become a master of what you’re afraid of. Become a master of your insecurities.”

Ch. 9: Uncommon Amongst Uncommon

  • Army Ranger School — In 2004, Goggins’s seventh request to briefly leave the Navy to attend Army Ranger School was granted. He led one of the units during the grueling 10-week training period. He received the “Top Enlisted Man” award and was one of 96 men out of over 300 to graduate that year. 
  • Never Satisfied — One of the interesting aspects of Army Ranger School is that they strip everyone of their rank at the start. Everyone is on a level playing field. Goggins liked that idea and used it in his personal life. No matter what you achieve, it’s important to never get complacent. Every day is a new day with a fresh start and you have to earn everything, regardless of what you’ve already accomplished.
    • Quote: “No matter what you or I achieve in sports, business, or life, we can’t be satisfied. Life is too dynamic of a game. We’re either getting better or we’re getting worse.”
      • Takeaway — Every day, the focus and mindset should be on getting better in some way. Get 1% better every day. Resist the urge to get complacent. There’s always room for improvement. It’s critical to celebrate victories when they come, but quickly get back to work. 
  • Navy Fallout — Late in his career in the military, Goggins had a fall out with the Navy that was fueled by his desire to go above and beyond. He was always pushing the limits of his body and mind, and that rubbed some people in the organization the wrong way.
    • Be Uncommon — Although it drove a wedge between Goggins and the organization, always strive to be uncommon as he did. Go the extra mile. Push yourself further than other people are willing to. Put the extra time in. Always look to learn and grow.
      • Quote: “Continue to put obstacles in front of yourself because that’s where you’ll find the friction that will help you grow even stronger.”
      • Quote: “It (striving to be uncommon) isn’t for everyone. To be in this world, it takes everything. And when you think you’ve given everything, you’ve only just begun.”
        • Takeaway — Being uncommon requires pushing yourself really hard and maximizing every bit of time you have. It requires extreme discipline and commitment. It requires sacrifice. Most people aren’t willing to make the necessary sacrifices, and there are definitely tradeoffs (i.e. social life) that come with trying to maximize your potential. It’s a decision you have to weigh carefully. 

Ch. 10: The Empowerment of Failure

  • Pull-Up Record 💪🏼  — On January 19, 2013, Goggins broke Stephen Hyland’s Guinness World Record for most pull-ups in a 24-hour period with 4,030 in 17 hours. He broke the record after failing in two previous attempts due to injury. Over the course of nine months and three attempts, Goggins did over 67,000 pullups. 
  • After Action Report (AAR) — In the military, those involved in any real-world mission or field exercise have to fill this out regardless of what the outcome was. These serve as a “live autopsy” and are designed to analyze and learn from the mission. Goggins filled one of these out after both of his failed attempts at breaking the pull-up record.
    • AAR at Work — This is a good idea to bring to your job. After a project, consider filling out a document where you analyze what went well, what didn’t go well, and what can be improved. Make a list of what can be fixed in the future. 
  • Fail & Learn, Fail & Learn — Failure is a stepping stone to success. You should want to fail because you can learn a huge amount from every failure, and it helps you make the adjustments needed to get you to where you want to be. Most people are scared of failing and it prevents them from ever taking action. If you want to be successful and maximize your potential, you have to be willing to fail and learn. Understand that failure is actually a good thing.
    • Quote: “I’ve had quite a few (failures) and I’ve learned to relish them because, if you do the forensics, you’ll find clues about where to make adjustments and how to eventually accomplish your task.”
      • Takeaway — Failure allows you to learn and grow quickly. Every time you fail, you learn something that will help you in the future. Don’t be scared to fail. Embrace it and look at it as a beneficial experience that will help you get to where you want to ultimately be. Fail and learn. 
    • Ex. Public Speaking — Even if you get up on stage and fail miserably, you’re getting more and more comfortable with each speech. You’re learning from every mistake. Every speech going forward will be incrementally better because failure is teaching you the hard lessons you need to know. 
  • Fail & Move Forward — As you fail and learn, it’s important to also move forward. Many times, our natural tendency is to beat up on ourselves relentlessly for making a mistake or coming up short. When you beat up on yourself like that, you prevent yourself from moving forward. Again, failure should be looked at as a good thing. Learn from it and move on. Sulking and pouting about a failure does absolutely no good and is never the right approach. Try, fail, learn, and move forward. 
    • Quote: “Failing doesn’t mean you quit. It means you failed, but get back up and continue to push that bar higher and higher and higher. With that newfound knowledge, you can make that failure a huge success.”
  • Compete With Yourself — You should never be focused on competing with other people. Compete with yourself. Don’t get caught up in what other people are doing, saying, or thinking. We all have a natural tendency to make things a bigger deal than they really are in our mind. At the end of the day, nobody cares if you made a mistake or embarrassed yourself in some way. Everybody is consumed with their own life and their own problems.
    • Quote: “Nobody really gives a sh*t. Everybody’s lives are consumed with paying bills and the status of their spouse and kids. Nobody cares as much as you do. It’s never as bad as you think.”
      • Takeaway — We all tend to make a big deal out of things that are not a big deal. In reality, nobody really cares. If you made a mistake, did something stupid or embarrassing, or humiliated yourself in some way, understand that everybody is caught up in their own universe and moves on/forgets about you in five seconds. You are the only one that rewinds the tape over and over in your mind. 

Ch. 11: What If?

  • The Frozen Otter (2014) — Goggins won the 2014 Frozen Otter, a 64-mile ultra race through the snow and wind of Wisconsin. The annual race is held in January on one of the coldest weekends of the year. Goggins broke the course record with a time of 16 hours and 12 minutes.
    • The Decline — Not long after the Frozen Otter, Goggins’s body began to break down. He had pushed himself to the max for most of his adult life and his body was folding on him. He was literally dying, but began to stabilize after getting into stretching. 
  • November 2015 — Goggins retired from the military after over 20 years of service. 
  • ‘What If?’ — To push past negative inner dialogue, self-doubt, and perceived limitations, ask yourself: “What if?” This is much better inner dialogue than “I can’t.”
    • Quote: “It’s what you tell yourself that matters. The most important conversations you’ll ever have are the ones you’ll have with yourself. You wake up with them, you walk around with them, you go to bed with them.”
      • Takeaway — Life is a mind game. You have to believe in yourself and put in the work. When you put in the work, it helps you develop the positive, confident mindset you need to believe in yourself and achieve anything you want. 
  • Firefighting — After retiring from the military and in his 40s, Goggins became a wildland firefighter. He and his teammates clear miles of debris and brush ahead of big fires that are on the loose. He chose to pursue firefighting because of the challenge and the hard work. 

Afterword

  • Quote: “I don’t believe you can find peace without going to war with yourself. You have to figure out who you are. You don’t find it by flipping through TV channels every night… When you’re constantly breaking down barriers and breaking down barriers and getting back up and getting back up, at the end of all that, you find a sh*tton of peace.”
  • Quote: “Through intentional practice, I developed a mindset that no obstacle in front of me is more powerful than the will I have to conquer it. I wasn’t born with that will. I developed it by facing my own shadow… We all have the ability to create the life that we want. But to achieve that life, you have to be willing to confront yourself and your demons. That’s what it takes. There are no shortcuts on this journey. It all comes down to how much you truly want it.”
    • Takeaway — This quote summarizes one of the big themes of this book. In order to maximize your potential and become all that you can be in life, you have to consistently push yourself, attack your fears, challenge your limitations, and take on pain and failure. There’s no way around it. Goggins is a perfect example of someone that has pushed himself to the max. If you instead choose comfort and ease, you’re not going to grow. And that’s OK, but it’s a decision we all have. 
  • Quote: “I have lived a life of facing discomfort on a daily basis.”