David Goggins (2018) Can’t Hurt Me.

You know this story which is part of the attraction. You get hurt and you get hard. Poet, Seamus Heaney pairs the theme. Pains become armour walking hand in hand with history. Rocky chases chickens and punches cold slabs of meat in a freezer while chasing his dream of becoming heavyweight boxing champion of the world.  Djokovic after winning one of the most brutal Grand Slam finals in tennis history celebrates with a square of chocolate.

I must admit, I’m not up to that. I’d have ate the whole bar. In some accounts, Djokovic didn’t celebrate by eating a square of chocolate, but half a square. I am a greedy bastard. I’d have broken open another wrapper.

David Goggins is offering a self-help manual. He’s run the race with broken legs and a hole in his heart. And won most of them. My take on this was if he wasn’t in the military he’d be bankrupt. Few in America but the very rich can afford that level of cover or medical treatment.

Goggins is a great story. One that you can hang all kinds of mythology on. He’s telling us to master our minds and defy the odds. He did it. He’s one of the most successful self-published authors. In the one-percent bracket with other established authors and podcasters. Goggins is an established brand. You’ve got to admire him. I do.

His monk-like existence and dedication keeps him in the one-percent bracket. But whisper it, the most common statistical pattern is reversion to the mean. If 99% of people trained 99% of the time as hard as Goggins, 99% of people would not add up to 1%. Most probably zero before it was invented by Muslim fundamentalists. That’s why gym memberships peak in January. By February they’re a damp squib.

Goggins had two jobs, both of which he excelled. Being in the army and training outside the army. Obviously he went above and beyond the call of duty. His former wives thought so too, twice.  

He quotes Heraclitus from the fifth century BC for his take on the warriors in battle.

‘Out of every one hundred men, ten shouldn’t even be there, eighty are just targets, nine are the real fighters, and we are lucky to have them, for they make the battle. Ah, but this one, one is a warrior…’

Most nations have their elite fighting forces. Britain celebrated the success story of the SAS by Commando comics and making a new programme about how we outwitted the Nazis with SAS help on a weekly basis. Scroll to the end and somebody would be getting blown up. Achtung.  

Attention to detail is no secret. Warhorse One. American elite soldier dropped behind enemy lines. Helicopter blown out of the air by the Taliban in Afghanistan. The hunted becomes hunter. He’s got to make it home and bring a wee girl whose parents have been killed by Muslim fundamentalists. Lassie used to do the same thing, but at least it wagged its tail. Goggins would have made it home with the little girl and carrying the helicopter that crashed.

Ironically, the commander in chief is a draft dodger. I’m just saying that in passing. Obviously I could never say anything good about the moron’s moron Trump. The 40% rule. I dislike him intensely 40% of the time and hate him the other 80%. Think him a danger to humanity 110%.

David Goggins tells a memorable story. Part of it reminded me of Paul Tait’s gangster chronicles and how he found god and the devil. But I’m not a believer. Neither am I a disbeliever. I don’t care that much.  Read on.

Notes.

Heaney: ‘North’, “…the hurt of the past made hard.”

Goggins top 0.01% of all self‑published authors in history.

Instagram:10 million 

YouTube:1 million 

TikTok:2–3 million 

Books sold: 5+ million (Can’t Hurt Me) 

Audiobook: One of Audible’s top performers 

Audience type

Athletes, military, fitness communities, entrepreneurs, people seeking mental mentalness.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0CVBVVGD6