You are in danger of living a life so comfortable and soft, that you will die without ever realizing your true potential.

We all need small sparks, small accomplishments in our lives to fuel the big ones. Think of your small accomplishments as kindling. When you want a bonfire, you don’t start by lighting a big log. You collect some witch’s hair—a small pile of hay or some dry, dead grass. You light that, and then add small sticks and bigger sticks before you feed your tree stump into the blaze. Because it’s the small sparks, which start small fires, that eventually build enough heat to burn the whole fucking forest down.

I thought I’d solved a problem when really I was creating new ones by taking the path of least resistance.

I’ve been a fan of David Goggins since his numerous appearances on the Joe Rogan podcast. I find his story to be incredible. David Goggins grew up in a nightmare of a childhood, growing up in a family full of domestic abuse and living in the city where the KKK was founded. In Can’t Hurt Me, David Goggins tells his story, his come up from his traumatic past, and his journey as a Navy Seal.

Goggins is painfully honest about everything, his physical trials as he lost his weight, his mental journey to overcome his insecurities and fears, to encouraging the reader to find their own spark. Goggins should have ended his story as another statistic, but he manages to push through all adversaries. He constantly doubts himself, questioning what he is doing (as most normal people do) - but rather than stop, he pushes on, something he calls the “roger that mentality”. One thing that really stuck out was how when we think we are really done with something, we are only really at around 40% capacity. Being able to push past this, is how we truly win. I have really tried to take this mentality in my physical and mental battles.

This book is not perfect however - it also serves as a cautionary tale, as it feels that Goggins is often too stubborn for his own good. He breaks his legs to continue a race, he makes the same mistakes over and over again being underprepared to achieve the impossible. Despite achieving great things, I believe there are better ways to go about some of his incredible feats.

One thing that people may not like about the book is the language, which is very unfiltered. Despite this, I strongly recommend anyone to read about Goggins and his story, and take away bits of pieces from his journey. His passion, grit, and resilience are absolutely unmatched, and every time I begin to slip into a rut and lose my drive, I think about many passages of this book, and remind myself to push on like Goggins.

Overall Rating: 9/10