Never Finished
More pain, more growth — Goggins is back, and he's still not done.
📚 About the Book
This guy is so traumatized. That's one of the first thoughts that hit me when I read Goggins' book. We know from his previous book that he was hit and abused as a child and he was a victim of racism as well. He has issues for sure. But he has found a way to channel his demons.
By deciding to become the toughest guy to walk the earth, David Goggins has actively seeked out the most demanding challenges he could find. Both physically and mentally.
What he shares in this book is the best life lessons he learned from pushing himself to the limit, and often beyond it. Whether it's from his training as a Navy SEAL, his medical career, or his experiences as an endurance athlete. He also provides the blueprints and principles he developed so that you and I could become more by embracing the suck, and pushing ourselves harder.
"I live with a day one, week one mentality. This mentality is rooted in self-discipline, personal accountability, and humility. While most people stop when they are tired I stop when I'm done. In a world where mediocrity is often the standard, my life's mission is to become uncommon amongst the uncommon."
🦊 The Foxhole
Goggins refers to your closest circle as the Foxhole — the people who support and challenge you.
When you evolve, your inner circle must evolve with you. Otherwise you may subconsciously halt your own growth to avoid outpacing, and losing contact with, the people who mean a lot to you but who may not be able to hang with the upgraded version of you.
That's why people who try to quit an addiction seldom succeed if they hang out with the same people they used to party with. If they want to stay sober, they need a new foxhole.
When there is no one around who believes in or understands your mission, "you must turn your foxhole into a one-man fighting position." And it's okay — it's better to fight alone until you can find the right people who support you and fight the good fight with you. Keep the doubters at an arm's length. The people in your foxhole need to allow you to be you.
🏋️ Self-Leadership & Discipline — The Great Equalizers
Nothing is stopping you. Everything is available for the one who wants to prepare. It's more true now than ever before. If you want to do something, become something new, no matter how far you are from that goal — you can start preparing today.
"You can prepare as if you are already there. So when the time comes, and you do land that opportunity, you are ready to smash it. That's what a self-leader does. No matter how busy their lives are."
A personal example: a bunch of years ago I recognized that my fear of public speaking was going to hinder me from achieving my personal goals. To prepare myself for where I was heading I went to a public speaking club where I made speeches and got feedback. The training paid off. When I eventually was asked to start doing presentations at work, I was ready. I was not exceptional, but my fear was muted and I had some experience.
"If you are behind the 8 ball for whatever reason — discipline is the great equalizer. It erases all disadvantages. Nowadays it doesn't matter where you are from, or who you are. If you are disciplined there will be no stopping you."
📺 Video Review
🎙️ Externalize Your Inner Dialogue
David Goggins takes journaling to the next level. Instead of writing down his darkest moments, he spoke to them out loud during his training. Audio has a more profound effect on the mind, he argues. Listening to yourself complain about your trauma, how tired you are, how badly you want to quit — it's tough. But it forces you to face your weakness. Is the little baby whining in your ears really you? Is that who you want to be?
Speaking the unfiltered truth into the microphone, and listening to it over and over, can be therapeutic. The story you tell yourself about your victimhood becomes just that — another story. And you realize that you have the option to change the narrative of your life.
I'm trying this approach right now myself with a personal struggle I have, and I already find value with the "record and listen" approach.
💡 Key Takeaway
Externalize your inner dialogue. Record it. Listen to it. Is it you speaking, or is it your ego? The way we speak to ourselves in moments of doubt is crucial — because our words become actions, and actions build habits.
⚖️ Verdict
The book started out like more of the same, and I feared disappointment, but it gathered steam and I found myself both captivated and inspired.
It's lunacy in one way — one could call Goggins masochistic — but it's also inspiring to see someone push themselves to the limit. Why? Because it forces us to ask the question: what could I achieve if I went all in? What is possible if I gave it my all?
Even if only half of the content of Goggins' stories were true, I would still deem him one of the hardest motherfuckers around, and there is always a lot we can learn from people who push themselves to the extreme.
You'd be a fool if you didn't get this book as an audiobook. In between chapters there are podcast episodes about each chapter, and truth be told, some of the most powerful lessons come from those podcasts. An especially powerful episode is when Goggins interviews his mother about how it was to live with his abusive father. That part really got to me.
If you found value in Can't Hurt Me, Goggins' first book, then you'll want to check this one out. If you haven't read that one already, I think you should start with Can't Hurt Me and then pick up Never Finished if you feel a need for more Goggins.