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

Can't Hurt Me: Master Your Mind and Defy the Odds by David Goggins
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

“You are in danger of living a life so comfortable and soft, that you will die without ever realizing your true potential.”

If you follow my reviews, you know this is my favorite genre – badasses telling their story of pain and suffering, achievement and greatness, redemption and inspiration. Well, Goggins is that badass … on steroids.

He is now a retired Navy SEAL and is the only member of the U.S. Armed Forces to complete SEAL training (including two Hell Weeks), the U.S. Army Ranger School (where he graduated as Enlisted Honor Man) and Air Force Tactical Air Controller training. He has completed 60 ultra-marathons and ultra-triathlons. He’s an insane endurance athlete. Crazy fact? He did most of this super-human stuff with a hole in his heart. Seriously.

“Pain unlocks a secret doorway in the mind, one that leads to both peak performance, and beautiful silence.”

The quotes in this book alone make it worth owning. I borrowed the book from my library, read the first half, and then knew I had to own it. I bought my own copy and finished the second half. I wanted to circle stuff, make notes in the margins, and interact with it. I sure did put some ink on those pages.

All of us can relate to the need to wrestle our demons to death; Goggins confesses that rage and frustration fueled him while a calloused mind protected him. He knew disappointment. He knew failure. He knew what it felt like to be a nobody. When the world had dismissed him, wholly unimpressed with his performance ….he woke up, found inspiration in his goal to be a Navy Seal and never was the same.

“They say there’s always light at the end of the tunnel, but not once your eyes adjust to the darkness, and that’s what happened to me. I was numb.”

From that day on, through thick and thin, through tragedy and major physical setbacks, he never changed his tune. He was somebody. He had goals. Nothing could get in his way. He changed the conversation he was having with himself, raised the bar in his life, and got to bloody work.

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, and eventually you act on them. Whether they be good or bad.”

I love this quote. In a way, the whole book is about this quote. Make sure you tell yourself the right stuff. Don’t lie and don’t deny. Just get to work.

I loved readying the story of this guy’s life. My accountability mirror’s been installed. #canthurtmeeither


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