I Hope last weekend brought you all fun and positivity you needed!
Starting a series of Book Summary today, every Monday morning one summary will hit your inbox! This week, our book is 'Can't Hurt Me' by David Goggins.
David Goggins is 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 the Air Force Tactical Air Controller Training. An accomplished endurance athlete, Goggins has completed over 60 ultra-marathons, triathlons, and ultra-triathlons, setting new course records and regularly placing in the top five. He once held the Guinness World Record for pull-ups completing 4,030 in 17 hours, and he’s a sought-after public speaker. One-liner - He is a tough guy!
'Can't Hurt Me' is one gem that talks about the transformation of an overweight man into America's fittest athlete through self-discipline, mental toughness and hard work. The top ten learnings from the book are:-
- The worst scenarios are the best training conditions:- In case, you are going through a wrong or odd phase of your life, trust me this time will make you smarter and wiser. You just need to use this time as your hardest training.
- Turn adversity into fuel for your metamorphosis:- Keep yourself purpose driven always. If you are purpose-driven, whatever is in front of you, whether it’s racism, injuries, divorce, depression, obesity, tragedy, or poverty, becomes fuel for your metamorphosis.
- Confidence comes from personal accountability:- The author says: By the time I graduated, I knew that the confidence I’d developed came from personal accountability which brought me self-respect, and self-respect will always light a way forward.
- Write what makes you uncomfortable and go do it:- Jot down all the things in your journal which you don't like to do or things that make you uncomfortable. Especially those things, you know are important to you. Now, step up and do each of them, no matter how you feel. Die doing those!
- Smile at the pain, watch it fade, and push a bit more:- If you can do this, you can string those seconds together and last longer than your opponent thinks you can, and that may be enough to catch a second wind.
- You can do more:- The author says: Hell Weeks in U.S. Navy SEAL training is designed to show you that a human is capable of much more than you know. It opens your mind to the true possibilities of human potential, and with that comes a change in your mentality.
- Push hardest when you want to quit the most:- Because it helps you callous your mind. It’s the same reason you have to do your best work when you are the least motivated.
- Push 5–10% further:- Whether you are running on a treadmill or doing a set of push-ups, get to where you are so tired and in pain that your mind is begging you to stop. Now, the assignment is to 5-10 more! Every day!
- Most people waste 4–5 hours a day:- I would say more than this. You need to use those hours to do something productive. You can read a book, or cook a dish...or anything which will make it productive.
- The surrounding people matter:- Choose your people wisely. Cutting off the people is rational. We need to surround ourselves with people who will tell us what we need to hear, not what we want to hear, but not make us feel we’re up against the impossible.
I hope, this reading will surely help you in your personal and professional life. Stay tuned! I will see you soon with ten challenges of 'Can't Hurt Me'. Till then, Keep Hustling!
Genie Pads | Reliance Foundation Fellow'25 | Author | Microbiologist
2 年Nicely explained Paritosh Anand, especially the 7th point. We do experience this in our daily life where quitting seems easier than going on. Pushing harder and a bit more every day will help us improve and polish our capabilities. Thanks for sharing! I enjoyed it well.