Things read - Week 24

I did not have much expectation going into David Goggin's book: Can't Hurt Me. I had seen it mentioned by a couple of times from a bunch of people. And wow! I like that the book has been written in a language that Goggins speak. I was expecting it to be borderline prescriptive but he just plainly talks about his life and experiences. And after reading that you can feel nothing but inspired.

It was also a breath of fresh air when he talks about saying things as they are instead of our current obsession of sugarcoating things. Here's an example:

If you look in the mirror and you see a fat person, don’t tell yourself that you need to lose a couple of pounds. Tell the truth. You’re fucking fat! It’s okay. Just say you’re fat if you’re fat. The dirty mirror that you see every day is going to tell you the truth every time, so why are you still lying to yourself? So you can feel better for a few minutes and stay the fucking same? If you’re fat you need to change the fact that you’re fat because it’s very fucking unhealthy. I know because I’ve been there.

"Callousing your mind" is a recurring theme and direct message from Goggins throughout the book. It is what has made Goggins, Goggins. It stems from the underlying belief that just like your hands become tougher with repeated friction, your mind also becomes tougher and more resilient with repeated exposure to discomfort and adversity. When your mind sends you a signal that it is tired, it has only depleted 40% of your energy reserves. Our mind behaves this way because from the early days, it was necessary for survival since you never knew when you had run 100 miles or hiked 6 mountains for survival.

He suggests deliberately seeking out difficult situations to build mental toughness, so that when real challenges appear, you are ready. And they will come. In some podcast clips floating around, he mentioned how he runs 10-20 miles everyday first thing in the morning because he hates doing that and he is just callousing his mind every single day.

According to Goggins, the challenge is almost never about physical limitation but always about how you manage your own mind:

Do you hammer hard and snag that personal best like you said you would, or do you crumble? That decision rarely comes down to physical ability, it’s almost always a test of how well you are managing your own mind.

And in the moments like these, it is most important to push hardest because it helps thicken your skin. The same reason you should do your best work (or put in the hours) when you feel least motivated. This is the exact friction that makes your mind stronger and more prepared for the next hard time.

Another interesting tool he mentions in the book is to have a "cookie jar" of all your achievements, always ready for you. So, when you feel like you're about to quit or when things get tough, you can draw from it. But for that cookie jar to be full, you need to have undeniable proof of work.

In the last, I will leave you with this banger of an paragraph:

Our culture has become hooked on the quick-fix, the life hack, efficiency. Everyone is on the hunt for that simple action algorithm that nets maximum profit with the least amount of effort. There’s no denying this attitude may get you some of the trappings of success, if you’re lucky, but it will not lead to a calloused mind or self-mastery. If you want to master the mind and remove your governor, you’ll have to become addicted to hard work. Because passion and obsession, even talent, are only useful tools if you have the work ethic to back them up. My work ethic is the single most important factor in all of my accomplishments. Everything else is secondary, and when it comes to hard work, whether in the gym or on the job, The 40% Rule applies. To me, a forty-hour work week is a 40 percent effort. It may be satisfactory, but that’s another word for mediocrity. Don’t settle for a forty-hour work week. There are 168 hours in a week! That means you have the hours to put in that extra time at work without skimping on your exercise. It means streamlining your nutrition, spending quality time with your wife and kids. It means scheduling your life like you’re on a twenty-four-hour mission every single day.