Can’t Hurt Me

This is a story about someone who, more than most anyone I’ve ever met or read about, has achieved mastery of mind over body. It’s an incredibly inspiring and useful book.

Goggins came from a background as rough as you can imagine it; physical abuse from his father, poverty, constant racism, and a whole lot more. He developed habits in early adulthood that led him to unhealthiness, obesity, and a sense of being (understandably) stuck.

Immediately, and without the help of a third party, Goggins changed his life. He subjected himself to sadistic physical training in preparation for entering the military, went through BUD/S training three times due to debilitating injury, became an elite member of the navy seal team, then completed Army Ranger school and nearly making the Delta Force program, while in parallel becoming one of the world’s most celebrated endurance athletes, completing and almost winning the infamous Badwater 135-mile ultramarathon twice, as well as breaking the record for pull-ups in a 24 hour period — all before realizing that had lived since birth with a large hole in his heat (Atrial Septal Defect). After multiple surgeries, he was back stronger.

Scanning the book’s description and seeing Goggins depicted in media throughout the years, one might fall victim to pegging him as a symbol of exercise masochism rather than a multi-dimensional figure beyond athletics to learn from. That would be a grave mistake. Behind the veneer of Goggins’ cult following is a man who has undertaken an exploration of the limits of the human mind few can conceive of, let alone follow through with. He is a human edge-case analysis of what is possible when life’s many distractions are made subordinate to a goal (provided that goal is of benefit to society).