Can't Hurt Me: by David Goggins, Review and Discussion

[Fox]

My Rating: 1 stars out of 5 stars


Format: Kindle

The book itself, is ZERO stars. But it gets 1 star because of David's persistence and mental toughness, and of course, his service to the military.

My thoughts/review:

Utterly brutal. So brutal, is it is the only book I ever tried to return back to Amazon. I'll never get back those hours I spent reading this book.

Normally, this is a book I would NOT finish, but this new review format we've launched here on the forum I felt compelled to finish it. In the latter chapters, I started skimming when it was clear it was more of the same.

That said, what we have here is a book that is 90% longer than it needs to be. For those of you who don't want to waste HOURS of your time reading this absolutely trainwreck of a book, let me give you a TLDR:

1. Encounter tough challenge, some of it shock-worthy.
2. Give excruciating details on how to deal, beat, manage that said challenge, from lacing your shoes, to your breathing, to how you just happened to wrap your hands up with tape, foam, or whatever. Repeat same stuff, over, and over, and over again. (This represents 95% of the book)
3. When tough challenge isn't found, seek one out.
4. Enter challenge unprepared, unplanned.
5. Repeat ad nauseum.

Oh yea, then the meat (which is about .08% of this book -- add in some mental exercise to help you break your mental obstacles.)

By the end of the story, I felt sorry for David and he likely suffers from some type of mental illness.

Here is someone who truly does NOT know how to relax and clearly lacks perspective on what truly matters in life.

Some things that irked me...

• David recklessly takes on challenges with little preparation. It is only after failing miserably (and damaging his body) is when he suddenly figures out, "Oh gee, maybe I should plan and prepare better."
• David cares little about ANYTHING when it comes to beating some external challenge, running in the desert, pull-ups, running in the snow, etc. EVERYTHING IN HIS LIFE that doesn't fall into the future challenge category, is a secondary commodity in his life: his time, his relationships, his health, and his mental sanity.
• He makes little mention of his wives, which as I expected, later became ex-wives. It is impossible for any person to be this neurotic and be able to hold a normal relationship. If nothing changes, David will probably either be single for the rest of his life, or only be engaged in dysfunctional relationships.
• This poor man is lost in his head and has little perspective. He's pathological. Neurotic. Clinical.
• David appears to have a glorified, sanitized view of combat as he mentions several times that he wanted to be in combat but was not called up for it. This (again) shows his lack of perspective -- combat is killing other human beings. No sane human being should want to do this.
• In the same vain of perspective, no mention of his child. Does David approach his relationships with those he loves with the same zealotry? Wife? Child? Clearly he does not. Goes back again to perspective.
• It makes ZERO sense to me how someone could waste their life with transient challenges that have transient benefits. In other words, you're working your a$$ off for a trophy? A mental checkmark in your head? WTF? David even says this: "Evaluate your life in its totality. We all waste so much time doing meaningless bullshit!" OMG, my mouth hit the floor. But wasting your entire year (and your relationships) to run X miles in the desert isn't meaningful bullshit? For the love of God, if you're going to disrupt your life, make sure the benefits last longer than a pat on the back, a certificate on the wall, and a mental trophy. For me, "meaningless bullshit" are stupid vanity competitions that help no one but the person doing them.
• The book is deceptively titled: Should be titled: "My Excruciating Detailed Trials and Tribulations in Trying to Conquer My Inner Demons as a Navy Seal and Full Time Extreme Athlete."
• With so many poor decisions he made, utterly destructive to his health/body, I feel he's lucky to be alive. I doubt he'll have a good quality of life as he gets older.

Favorite (or least favorite) chapter:

The last chapter, because that means it was almost done.

Main takeaway:

I'd recommend this book for something OTHER than its purpose.

Hey, you wanna see what it's like to lose perspective on things that matter? Read this book...
Hey, you wanna see what it's like to WIN every battle, but still lose the WAR? Read this book...
Hey, you wanna see someone be reckless with their health just for some mental trophies? Read this book...

Aside from the pathological issues David has, he doesn't seem to employ his own advice as I mentioned above. If you're going to neglect everything in your life, perhaps get something from it that lasts longer than 9 seconds of "I did it!" Obviously this method of achievement hasn't satisfied him. Because it continues. And it continued despite his body CRYING FOR HELP.

In other words, this is a case of the MORES, goals that are always moving. David is a chronic goalpost mover who will never be satisfied, will never relax, and will never stop living in the FUTURE.

David needs to read The Power of Now by Eckart Tolle.

To sum it up, if you want to read a book about a man who WINS self-inflicted battle after battle, but can't quite understand while he continually feels like he is LOSING the war, read this book.

This seems relevant...

David Goggins on Instagram: "Just a little insight into what it’s really like to live with David Goggins. I laugh when I see the comments that suggest his one minute videos are staged. I have logged thousands of miles alongside him and filmed almos

3M likes, 10K comments - davidgoggins on January 11, 2024: "Just a little insight into what it’s really like to live with David Goggins. I laugh when I see the comments that suggest his one minute videos are staged. I have logged thousands of miles alongside him and filmed almost every video...

www.instagram.com

 

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