Change Your Life With David Goggins' Challenges From Book "Can't Hurt Me"

“Most of us are programmed to seek comfort as a way to numb it all out and cushion the blows. We carve out safe spaces. We consume media that confirms our beliefs, we take up hobbies aligned with our talents, we try to spend as little time as possible doing the tasks we *** loathe, and that makes us soft. We live a life defined by the limits we imagine and desire for ourselves because it’s comfortable as hell in that box. Not just for us, but for our closest family and friends. The limits we create and accept become the lens through which they see us. Through which they love and appreciate us. But for some, those limits start to feel like bondage, and when we least expect, our imagination jumps those walls and hunts down dreams that in the immediate aftermath feel attainable. Because most dreams are. We are inspired to make changes little by little, and it hurts. Breaking the shackles and stretching beyond our own perceived limits takes hard *** work - often times physical work - and when you put yourself on the line, self doubt and pain will greet you with a stinging combination that will buckle your knees.”

Human beings change through study, habit, and stories. The important thing to know about change is that we are capable of much more than we can imagine when we’re driven to our maximum capacity. The challenges noted below are here to help you break your barriers and achieve your best, exceptional, and uncommon self.

Challenge 1:

“Give your pain shape. Absorb its power, because you are about to flip that shit.”

Grab a journal and write down all current factors limiting your growth and success - in great detail. If you were hurt, felt unappreciated, overlooked - write the full story.

You’ll use your story and your list of excuses to fuel your ultimate success later.

Challenge 2:

Look at the mirror and tell yourself the truth as it is. Don’t sugarcoat it, don’t soften it, don’t wrap it in excuses to protect your emotions.

If you don’t like how you look, specify what exactly you don’t like. If you spent the last thirty years doing the same work you’ve hated day in and day out because you were afraid to quit and take the risk, acknowledge it. Tell yourself the truth - that you’ve wasted enough time in your life that didn’t allow your dreams to materialise because you lacked the courage to do something about it.

Personal accountability will develop your confidence. It will give you self-respect that will light the way forward for you.

So, write all your insecurities, dreams, and goals on individual Post-it notes and stick them to your mirror. Look at them - whether it’s career goals (quit a job or start a business), lifestyle goals (lose weight, get more active), or athletic ones (run the first 5K marathon), you must be truthful and honest with yourself about where you’re right now and where you want to be - and know all the necessary steps you need to take to achieve your goals.

Here’s an example: if you’re trying to lose forty pounds, your first Post-it note may be to lose two pounds in the first week. Once done, remove and replace it with another goal of losing two to five pounds each week until your ultimate goal is achieved.

Whatever it is, hold yourself accountable for all the small steps you’ll take to get there. Self-improvement is not easy - it takes dedication and self-discipline.

Challenge 3:

“I had to choose between physical suffering in the moment, and the mental anguish of wondering if that one missed pull-up, that last lap in the pool, the quarter mile I skipped on the road or trail, would end up costing me an opportunity of a lifetime.”

Now, step outside your comfort zone on a regular basis.

Grab your journal again and write down all the things you don’t like to do and that make you uncomfortable (especially the ones that are good for you). Then do one of the things that you really don’t want to do, and then do one more again.

This won’t change your life instantly, but it’ll move the needle a little bit each time and make those changes sustainable.

Don’t just focus on your strengths, but your weaknesses, too. It’s your opportunity to turn them into your new strengths. This is what makes you strong and more productive. Remember, it’s about who you are now and who you want to be. Don’t be a prisoner of your own mind and use every opportunity you can to break free.

Challenge 4:

Choose any competitive situation that you’re in right now. Think about your opponent - no matter how they’re treating you, achieving excellence will not only earn their respect, but turn the tables. Work harder on the project or situation than you’ve ever before. Do everything in your power to achieve excellence and surpass whatever standard they’ve set. If it’s your boss, for example, work around the clock, get to work before them, and leave after they go home. Make sure they see it, and when it’s time to deliver, surpass their maximum expectations.

Your challenge here is this: whoever you’re dealing with, make them watch you achieve what they could never have done themselves.

Challenge 5:

“The reason it’s important to push hardest when you want to quit the most is because it helps you calloused your mind. It’s the same reason why you have to do your best work when you are the least motivated.”

Think about what your success looks like. Paint a clear picture in your mind and think about it every day. Allow this feeling to propel you forward when you’re training, competing, or taking on any task you choose. Don’t forget to visualise challenges you’re likely to encounter along the way and how you will “attack” them when they do.

You should also be able to answer the following questions for yourself:

• Why are you doing this?

• What is driving you toward this achievement?

• Where does the darkness you’re using as fuel come from?

• What has calloused your mind?

Challenge 6:

Next, write down in your journal all of your achievements hit list, as well as life obstacles you had to overcome. Add all minor tasks you failed before but tried again a second or third time and ultimately succeeded at. Feel what it was like to overcome these struggles and win.

Set ambitious goals. Try to do things better than you did the last time you tried the same or similar things. Do things harder, longer, or quicker - whatever it is, push yourself to beat your personal best.

It’s not about making yourself feel like a hero, but about reminding yourself that you’re a badass who can use your energy, pain, and anger to fuel yourself and push hard to reach success against all odds.

Challenge 7:

“The reason I embrace my own obsessions and demand and desire more of myself is because I’ve learned that it’s only when I push beyond pain and suffering, past my perceived limitations, that I’m capable of accomplishing more, physically and mentally - in endurance races but also in life as a whole.”

Be ready to scrap your identity in order to win your battles, the limiting beliefs you hold and the stories you tell yourself that don’t serve you. Find ways to make the extra effort to always find more in order to become more. Remove your governor. Your job is to push past your normal stopping point.

For example, if the most push-ups you have ever done in a workout were 100, then push yourself to do 105 or 110. This gradual ramp-up will prevent injury and allow your body and mind to slowly adapt to your new workload and reset your baseline.

There is so much pain and suffering involved in physical challenges that it’s the best training to take command of your inner dialogue. The newfound mental strength and confidence to push yourself physically will carry over to other aspects in your life, too - chances are, if you’re holding yourself back when working out, then you’re doing the same in your work and school.

Challenge 8:

“Evaluate your life in its totality! We all waste so much time doing meaningless bullshit! We burn hours on social media and watching television, which by the end of the year would add up to entire days and weeks if you tabulated time like you do your taxes.”

Compartmentalise your day. Here’s your three-week challenge:

Week 1: Go about your normal schedule, but do take notes: When do you work and how? How long are your meal breaks? When do you exercise, watch TV, or chat with your friends? How long is your commute? Are you driving? Be as detailed as you can and document everything with timestamps. This is your baseline.

Week 2: Build an optimal schedule. Lock everything into place in fifteen to thirty minute blocks. When you work, only work on one thing at a time, think about the task in front of you and pursue it relentlessly. Be focused. Schedule your meal breaks with adequate time slots. Do the same for exercise and rest. Make notes with timestamps; you may find some residual dead space you can use.

Week 3: By now, you should have a working schedule that maximises your effort without sacrificing sleep - use it.

Challenge 9:

No matter who you are, life will present you with opportunities to prove that you’re uncommon. And when you get it, make sure you’re in the right mindset to take it. You’ll need to want it like there is no tomorrow because there might not be. Develop your own code of ethics that sets you apart from others. One of those ethics may be your drive to turn every negative into a positive, and then being prepared to lead from the front.

“A true leader stays exhausted, abhors arrogance, and never looks down on the weakest link. He fights for his men and leads by example. That’s what it meant to be uncommon among the uncommon. It meant being one of the best and helping your men find their best, too.”

Don’t be afraid to embrace ignorance and feel stupid - this is the only way to expand your body of knowledge, work, and mind. Remember that greatness is not something you meet once and then stays with you forever. It evaporates quicker than you imagine. For this reason, if you want to become uncommon amongst the uncommon, you’ll need to sustain greatness for a long period of time. And it may take everything you’ve got. That means that it might not be for everyone, as it’ll demand singular focus and may upset the balance in your life. But this is the only way to become an overachiever in your chosen area, if this is your goal.

Challenge 10:

Open your journal again and think about your most recent and heart-wrenching failures. Then start by writing down all the good things and everything that went well. Include as much detail as you can. Then continue by noting down how you handled your failures.

Did it affect your life or your relationships? If yes, how?

How did you think throughout the preparation for and during the execution stage of your failure?

You must know how you’re thinking at each step because it’s all about your mindset.

Then, go back through and make a list of things you can fix. Be brutally honest with yourself. Study them. Look at your calendar and schedule another attempt as soon as possible.

When it comes time to execute, keep everything you’ve learned above at the forefront of your mind. Control your mindset. Dominate your thought process. Your life is a mind game - realise it and own it.

“I grew up beat down and abused, filtered uneducated through a system that rejected me at every turn, until I took ownership and started to change. Since then, I’ve been obese. I was married and divorced. I had two heart surgeries, taught myself to swim, and learned to run on broken legs. I was terrified of heights, then took up high altitude sky diving. Water scared the living shit out of me, yet I became a technical driver and underwater navigator, which is several degrees of difficulty beyond scuba diving. I competed in more than sixty ultra-distance races, winning several, and set a pull-up record. I stuttered through my early years in primary school and grew up to become the Navy SEALs’ most trusted public speaker. I’d served my country on the battlefield. Along the way, I became driven to make sure that I could not be defined by the abuse I grew up with. I wouldn’t be defined by talent either, I didn’t have much, or my own fears and weaknesses. I wasn’t meant to be this person! I had to fight myself at every turn, and my destroyed body was my biggest trophy.”