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Can't Hurt Me

Originally Published: 2018

Pages: 364

Available on: Kindle, Paperback, Hardcover, Audiobook

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Published in 2018 by David Goggins, Can’t Hurt Me became a smashing New York Times Bestseller with over 5 million copies sold. This memoir has received much recent media attention and is one that typically evokes a strong response from readers. 

Can’t Hurt Me details the author’s individual journey towards re-defining and pursuing his full potential. This thick-skinned autobiography is meant to directly interact with and inspire readers as Goggins personally addresses his audience throughout. It will get your gears grinding and eyes dilated as he asks you to come face to face with all the individual ways you have let yourself down, let yourself get away with something, and you’ve procrastinated your future.

Just try this excerpt on for size:

“Tell yourself the truth! That you’ve wasted enough time, and that you have other dreams that will take courage to realize, so you don’t die a f****ing p****.” 

Yikes. The author is there to confront his demons and force you to confront yours. Let it be known that Goggins is speaking his truth and is very aware of the many chips on his shoulder as he writes. With much self-flogging, colorful language that will certainly offend some, and abrasive toughen-up endorsements, he describes his A to B, his personal journey of unlocking his potential and pursuing his goals with his entire being.

Growing up in tumultuous circumstances, Goggins begins his memoir with details of an abusive father, broken family, impoverished youth, racial prejudice, and alienation from his peers as one of the only Black Americans in a small Indiana town. Feeling like an outsider one step behind everyone else, he was overweight, depressed, stuck in a dead-end job, and in a failing marriage at 24 years old. Nursing failure and fear, his future felt bleak and hopeless.

Life flipped 360 degrees when Goggins resolved to join the elite ranks of the Navy SEALs–and not just join the ranks, but utterly crush the opportunity and set a new bar amongst them. The high level of mental and physical perseverance and fortitude required to accomplish BUD/S training (it has a 80% drop out rate) transformed his outlook, behaviors, and lifestyle.

Determined to leave behind self-pity and self-doubt forever, Goggins introduced a new standard for the best version of himself and chased it with all his being, leaving no stone unturned and no corner cut. Goggins shows his readers the process he implemented on himself to break through mental barriers, master his mind, defy others’ expectations, and reject self-imposed limitations. 

One of Goggin’s most well-known assertions in Can’t Hurt Me is his 40% theory, where he proposes most people don’t push beyond 40% of their potential. They leave 60% on the table and give up far sooner than their true potential would have allowed them. He is determined to show readers that if he could push past any obstacle–physical or mental–so can they.

From there, Goggins’ list of accomplishments grew rapidly (and still grows to this day. He ain’t dead yet). He is the only member of the U.S. Armed Forces to complete SEAL training, the U.S. Army Ranger School, and Air Force Tactical Air Controller training. He became a sought-after public speaker and representative of the Navy. He set several Guinness World Records, including completing more than 4,000 pull-ups in 17 hours. 

Training for the U.S Armed Forces sparked a serious pursuit of endurance running. Participating in more than 60 ultra marathons or triathlons, Goggins has completed and placed in several of the world’s most difficult races. He has earned titles such as “World’s Toughest Mudder” and "The Fittest (Real) Man in America.”

He speaks much on perseverance, personal drive, leadership, and pushing past artificial limits, and his words do hit home. There is truth lurking: Most people do fall short of their true potential. Goggins does a good job of speaking extremely frankly and directly to his readers, trying his utmost to have you thinking about how you have been failing yourself and in what ways you could begin to expand your horizon.

Can't Hurt Me is a good motivational read, particularly for those who have athletic goals, but is also a great read for anyone looking to break out of a rut and transition into a healthier, more positive lifestyle.

Can’t Hurt Me is strewn with much practical advice, and there are tons of great takeaways for readers, but it should be carefully balanced with a constant mental sticky note that this was just one man’s journey and his path to his own version of success. Yours is going to look and be entirely different. 

What Goggins envisions for his future, what his goals are, what he wants to achieve in this life most likely has little overlap with your vision. Readers just have to remember that they don't have to run an ultramarathon or be a Navy SEAL to be their own version of fulfilled and successful. Those were his own individual methods of pursuing his potential. How can you identify and chase after your own individual dreams?