Can't Hurt Me: Master Your Mind and Defy the Odds
Ratings212
Average rating4.2
I was surprised by how much I liked this book. I chose to read it mostly out of curiosity and slightly because I knew I needed a kick in the pants for a few things in my life. I really don't respond to blunt, tough-love advice to basically just suck it up, so I wasn't expecting to benefit much from the mentality. However, it came across as inspiring, overall.
There were many moments where I rolled my eyes or shook my head at how much unnecessary damage he did to his body by lack of preparation (as he even mocks the “nerds” who reasonably plan for the ultras) and how his support people have to handle the consequences - rushing to provide medical assistance and likely being concerned for his wellbeing the whole time. Even with all this, though, the advice doesn't seem to be, “Do what I did,” but rather, “You can do more than you think you can.” You can see this in the challenges, where you're asked to be better than you were before - not necessarily to conquer the world. Additionally, he does come around in the end, literally taking up stretching and mobility work for the first time nearing forty.
There IS some problematic stuff, though - misogynistic military language, the fact that this dude would've benefitted from therapy but likely felt it wasn't an option to keep being tough, and the consideration that most of us value our family/relationship obligations enough to prevent us from chasing our goals this hard.
That being said, It was casual enough to move quickly, which I enjoy. It approached the threshold of feeling unprofessional sometimes but didn't quite hit it. Luckily, he cools it on the f-bombs a bit as the book goes on. Cursing is great and all, but when it gets excessive it comes across poorly.
Definitely gonna take some notes before returning this one to keep in my back pocket.
The first quarter of this book is great, really motivational and all. But eventually, it becomes repetitive because all of the physical pain and challenges that Goggins experiences are created because he was ill-prepared for the challenges that he puts on himself. Not doing any research before the Ironman Triathalon was where I put this book down - he could've avoided any struggle by simply doing his homework beforehand. Who shows up to a triathlon without knowing how to repair a bike? How does a Navy SEAL flub the swimming portion of a triathlon composed of a bunch of skinny hippies? I'm from Hawai'i, I've seen the Ironman contestants in training and on the road, and Goggins should've been able to breeze through the swimming portion like nothing, but he showed up with a too-tight wetsuit.
At that point it really just seemed like he wanted to suffer, and it was getting old.
I was also getting tired of the constant sexist remarks. Having a vagina isn't a sign of weakness - not Googling “how to prepare for a triathlon” is.
I started reading this during an extremely difficult period of my life, and it was helpful at the time. However, as I began to heal from that period, I fell off reading this and never felt the need to pick it up again. I may revisit it in the future, but for now it belongs to a past experience and era of my life.
This was not a good book. It had some interesting stories, but the way the idea of being so ‘hard' you can endure anything was shared left me scratching my head.
- “I'm so hard I can run a marathon on broken legs.”
- “I'm so tough that I can do chin ups until my hands rip apart.”
- “My mind is so calloused that I can run until I shit myself.”
I think perhaps David's mind is so calloused it's not working anymore. Why would I want to be tough enough to run on broken legs? If my legs are broken I want to be ‘tough' enough that I can give up on a dream and go to the hospital.
David has done some cool things, but I see very little point in any of it. This book was not for me, and I don't think it's for most people. I rolled my eyes through most of it.
If you're chronically and/or mentally ill or are neurodivergent in any way, this book is not for you. The bottom line is “do whatever it takes to reach your target even if it literally almost kills you”.
This guy makes himself out to be superhuman and wears his self-inflicted injuries and near-death experiences like badges of honour.
Substituted this (coincidentally) when I started running as a habit and it's crazy tbh he is such a good role model
Super leerzaam en inspirerend! Na hoofdstuk 8 (van de 11 hoofdstukken) vond ik het heel veel herhaling. Super vet wat hij allemaal bereikt heeft!
While Goggins does not always seem to plan everything and think things through in advance, his dedication and brute force is admirable and immensely inspirational. Don't let your pain restrict your mind from dreaming and attaining the unimaginable!
Don't follow this guy advice, you'll get badly injured, divorced and even possible dead.
Must read for everyone.
David explains us how he overcome the adversity in his life and teaches us how to adapt his mentality to success in life.
A begrudging 5. There's a lot of inspiring stuff here about how suffering is a choice.
There's a lot of good memes here, things like how we have an internal limitor that says “yeah, ok, that's good enough. You've tried now.” The few times I've pushed through that feeling, I've unlocked a lot of new potential, and realized that I was way more capable than I thought before.
The begrudging is because ultimately, it's hard to be inspired by someone who needs to prove it to himself so badly that he turns his hands into raw hamburger and finishes running through renal failure, having shit himself in front of his wife and mom.
If you're interested in extreme success, this book is mandatory reading, if for nothing other than getting a sense of what it means to really try.
Not as bad as I thought it would be.
The confirmation bias is strong in this one tho.
Complex book, complex man, complex life. FYI, this book is really really hard, especially the first part, so the reader should be ready to deal with pretty intense stuff. Then it moves well into self development, but in my opinion it falls short of greatness, because everything is fundamentally limited to de physical aspect and even the mindset portion is geared towards pushing physical limits. The author totally avoids sharing other parts of his life in which he might not have achieved greatness and this leaves doubts on how his teachings might help a person live a complete and full life. Having said that, there are a lot of nuggets in the book and it is indeed a greatly engaging life story.
DG is the embodiment of the potential we all have to use our will to go through discomfort to levels we never knew were possible. I wouldn't want to be this man but he has inspired me to question my own perceived limits. Recommend this book
Easy read. Very interesting and inspiring story.
I liked most of the methods he suggests, the overall framework he builds.
That said, “no pain no gain” like experiences/paths he sometimes took may not be the best path forward, as I believe he noted at the end.
8.8/10
Has earned a place as one of my canon books. Will be rereading again soon with notes.