Can't Hurt Me: Master Your Mind and Defy the Odds
Author: David Gogins
10 Key Insights:
In order to accomplish big things in life you need to first find yourself. You need to first realize that the only person that is capable of turning your situation around is yourself. When you put yourself through incredibly hard situations, whether that is physical or mental you will find yourself on the other side. Success is an inside job!
Have you ever noticed what happens to your hands when you first start to go to the gym, or your fingers when you first start to play the guitar? At first your hands will hurt, you may get blisters or sores. But over time your skin thickens and these tasks that once caused you pain no longer do. As our skin gets stronger we call this building calluses. But what we learn from our hands can also be applied to our brain! We can build calluses on our brain when we work hard. You have to suffer to grow. If you take the easy route in life you may live your whole life without starting your true journey. If you do things you are uncomfortable with every day of your life before you know it you will build the strongest mindset and become comfortable with being uncomfortable.
We all have the ability to go into a space where we can accomplish anything when we figure out how to connect our mind with our body. Motivation can come and go but when you are driven to accomplish something you will figure out a way! Your mind may tell you to stop, often far before your body is at 100%. The next time things are getting tough ask yourself? Is this just my mind trying to trick me into taking the easy route? Will taking the easy route lead to success and greatness? Instead of giving up, figure out how to break the task down into small steps and focus on one at a time. This will give you the drive to power through!
At times of hell and suffering we may forget how tough we really are. When times get tough we need to look back and remind ourselves what we have overcome in life. Write down all your accomplishments in life, big and small. Imagine putting all of these in a cookie jar and then during our hardest times put your hand into the cookie jar and use these accomplishments to drive yourself forward in the hardest times.
The 40% rule: Most of us tap into only 40% of our capabilities. When your mind is telling you that you’re done, completely exhausted, and not able to go any further, you’re only at about 40% of your potential. When you get to the 40%, you need to tap into a hidden reserve of energy and motivation. Keep fighting when you feel like you’re done, and that’s when you unlock the remaining 60% of your potential.
We will all face difficult and challenging times in our life. We need to equip ourselves with different tools to help us through these times. We have a darkside deep down somewhere that we can strategically tap into. Goggins calls this “taking someone's soul”. Take the hurt and negative comments you have heard from others and transform it into the fuel that will power you to greatness! Think back to all the naysayers and prove them wrong.
Most people quit as soon as things get though. This makes it easy to be successful in today's age. If you train yourself to have a “I’ll do it anyways” mentality you are already leaps ahead of most of your peers. Never forget that on the other side of these tough obstacles you will find greatness.
Be a warrior in life. To be a warrior is about “doing whatever it takes” even if that means you need to suffer. But don't just do it for yourself. It needs to be bigger than yourself. Do it for the people beside you, do it for the ones you love in your life. If you choose to be a warrior you have two options, choose to go in hard and attack it, or to go in soft and quit when it gets difficult. It’s not about being better than anyone else. We grow by being better than how we were yesterday.
Accept the following as Goggins’ Law of Nature: You will be made fun of. You will feel insecure. You may not be the best all the time. You may be the only (fill in your own identity here) in a given situation. There will be times when you’ll feel alone. Get over it. Our minds are fucking strong. They are our most powerful weapon but we’ve stopped using them
“Life is suffering. To exist in this world, we must contend with many forms of suffering” - The Buddha
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