Awesome book!

This book is so awesome, I didn't want it to finish! When it ended I was left with peace and courage to keep going and a sense of being on the right track of wanting to keep going despite my own difficulties. 

This book is about going forward despite all odds. It's not a book about the perfect plan on doing intense things it's about the attitude to have.

I believe he went so hardcore and a lot of times unprepared for intense challenges because of the sense of urgency he felt about going beyond his bad odds and this I believe to be the reason of being so hard and going beyond physical limits breaking his body and still going on.

I related so well with this attitude and search for the ultimate limits possible as I have lived that way with my own realities. 

Like him, when I finally reached my own limits, it was with hypothyroidism and I had the same thought of being satisfied of having given all I had and the feeling that if that was the end, I could die with peace because I didn't hold anything. Like him, I still was ready to keep going and do the best with was left to me not going to give up as long as life was there.

I really love how he took the different steps in his life to come up with tools to push through hardships and obstacles that he shares through the book as challenges that anyone can implement. Here are the 10 challenges:


Challenge 1-

Write what is the bad hand you were given, what is your disadvantage what has held you back, your obstacle in detail.

Own it and like it saying you can't hurt me.


Challenge 2-

Have your own accountability mirror.

Tell the truth about your reality and what needs to be done about it.

Make small steps to the biggest goal.


Challenge 3-

Write down everything you don't like to do and that you should do to progress and go do it over and over again everyday. Make your weaknesses your strength. Take the path of most resistance. Go at the micro level and progress. Callous your mind.


Challenge 4-

Choose any competitive situation you are in right now. 

Who is your opponent: (teacher, coach, boss, client, collegue)

No matter how they are treating you, there is one way to not only earn their respect, but turn the tables, it's excellence.

Know the answer to, "Why am I here?"

Find how to be at your best in the worse times.

It is a mind game to endure just enough to dominate. It is mostly a mind game against ourself.


Challenge 5-

Time to visualize overcoming or accomplishing a new task and potential challenges and ways to solve them. Research the problems and solutions.

Be prepared to answer the simple questions:

Why are you doing this?

What is driving you towards this achievment?

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

What has calloused your mind?

You need those answers at your fingertips when you hit a wall of pain and doubt.

To push through you need to channel your darkness.

Feed off it and learn on your calloused mind.

Visualisation will never compensate for work undone. 

You cannot visualize lies. 

In the midst of pain and doubt, take time to calm your mind instead of panicking, take time to be patient, regain your thought process. Slow your heart rate down by slowing down the tempo to take back control of your mind. Slow down your thought process to gain back logic thought.


Challenge 6-

Take inventory of your cookie jar. 

Include achievements, life obstacles, things you failed but repeated until success.

Feel what it was like to overcome those struggles, opponents and win.

Then get to work.

Set ambitious goals and let thoses past victories carry you to your new personal best.

The cookie jar is your shortcut to taking control of your own thought process.

Use it that way. Use this energy to succeed again in the heat of battle.


Challenge 7-

Remove the governor from your brain.

Push past your normal stopping point gradually.

This resets your baseline.

Stick to this process and soon what you thought was impossible is something you do everyday of your life.

Go beyond your 40% capacity.

The 40% rule says that we usually think we're at the limits of our capacities when we really are only at 40% in and still have 60% to give.

There is a big caution.

Do not figure this 40% rule by destroying yourself.

Don't go from 0 to 100, go gradually.

Go 5% to 10% more at a time.


Challenge 8-

Schedule it in.

It's time to compartimentalize your day.

Week 1:

Go about your normal schedule.

Take notes. 

Get super detailed about your activities. Document them all with timestamps.

This will be your baseline and find plenty of fat to trim. 

Identify wasted time to increase productivity.

Week 2:

Build an optimal schedule. Lock everything into place in 15 to 30 minute blocks.

Some tasks will take multiple blocks or entire days. 

When you work, only work on one thing at a time.

Think about the task in front of you and pursue it relentlessly. 

When it comes for the next task in your schedule, place that first one aside and apply the same focus.

Make sure your meal breaks are adequat but not open-ended.

Schedule in exercice and rest too.

When it is time to rest, actually rest.

No checking email or bullshitting social media.

If you are going to work hard you must also rest your brain.

Make notes with timestamps in week 2. You may still find some residual dead space.

Week 3:

By week 3, you should have a working schedule that maximizes your effort without sacrificing sleep.


Challenge 9-

Ths is for the unusual ones.

If you made it somewhere, you need to look for more.

You need to become uncommon amongst uncommon.

Continue to put obstacles on your way to put friction because this is how you grow even stronger.

Before you know it you will stand alone.

There is no finish line.


Challenge 10-

Think about your most recent and your most heart-wrenching failure.

Write out all the good things, all that went well, be detailed and generous with yourself.

Then note how you handled your failure, did it affect your life and relationships? How so?

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

You have to know how you were thinking at each step because it's all about mindset and this is where most people fall short.

Now, go back through and make a list of the things you can fix.

This is not time to be soft or generous, be brutally honest.

Write them all out, study them. Then look at your calendar and schedule another attempt as soon as possible.

If the failure happened in childhood, and you can't recreate it, still write the report because you still can use the information to achieve anything. 

As you prepare keep this keep the accountability mirror handy and make all the necessary adjustments.

When it comes time to execute, keep in mind everything about the calloused mind, the cookie jar and the 40% rule in the forefront of your mind. Control your mindset, dominate your thought process.

This life is all a mind game.

Once you realize that, own it.

If you fail again, so be it. Take the pain, repeat the steps and keep fighting. That is what it is all about.


 This book is a great reminder as I am in the midst of other big challenges and even if I'm not one to quite, I find this book to be a great guide to keep grinding with courage and strategy.

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141 people found this helpful

we are all p*ssies

this audiobook will keep you enthralled the entire time you listen to it and challenge you to become who you were meant to be.

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5 people found this helpful

Beyond Motivating

This is a great book!
Please read/listen to it. You can thank me later.

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1 person found this helpful

Amazing story.

This book is a valuable read / listen. It somehow inspired me to run 30 mins a day, everyday. I’m not totally sure why this particular book did it, as opposed to any other self-development or motivational book, but it did. I suspect it’s because I believe that he’s telling you his story plain and simple. And you listen to what he’s gone through and say to yourself “why can’t I clear up these papers on my desk? Am I really that much of a baby?” Anyways, this book will inspire you without preaching to you.

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Amazing and motivational

this was one of the first biography type book I've read and it has given me so much motivation and helped open my visions and goals. I loved all of the challenges he put up at the end of each chapter. It will definitely make and impact on a lot of people who don't see life the way Goggins sees it. You have to get stuff done but are you willing to put in the effort and work to get where you want to be? #canthurtme #cookiejar

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great

loved it. Amazing story and the book left me hoping for more chapters when it ended.

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loved this book, this book can make a big differen

with the right drive and persistence this book can do a lot. more people need to read this

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Uncommon

Excellent book, excellent content, excellent delivery.

I am a huge fan of the audio book/podcast style along with the extra backstory that was provided. exceeded my expectations.

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No hacks, just hard work

This book, and life of Goggins, is a testament to the rewards of pure, focused, effort.
He's reminding us all of the truth we like to avoid as we search for shortcuts and tricks.
Thanks!

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Can't hurt me bitch!

Killed it in 1 day.
Let's do it all over again. And again....
David your a crazy fucker :) I needed to hear your stories. You've changed my mind set.

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