I’ve been some level of sick for the last four weeks. I got hit with the flu but only missed one day of work. I’ve been slammed with time sensitive work so I had little choice but to get it done. I don’t know if that caused a slow recovery or if that was going to happen anyway. For the past two weeks I haven’t been 100% but I have been feeling human.  Now if I could just shake what’s left of a cough….

I am really unhappy that I’ve barely worked out during this time.  What’s worse is the lay off has gotten into my head.  Instead of getting after it, my mindset has changed to excuses and “reasons” for taking some more time off.

​Fortunately, I read Can’t Hurt Me: Master Your Mind and Defy the Odds by David Goggins. I mentioned Goggins in an earlier post. The videos of him only gave me a taste of his mentality. The book brings it home full blast. I highly recommend it for anyone who needs to get their head in the right place. If you have even the slightest interest, then click the link and read the table of contents. It will give you some idea of what you can expect.

This is very much a motivation/self-help book with a healthy dose of his biography, too. Goggins had a horrific childhood that lead to him growing up a fat, unmotivated young man in a bad marriage. One day he saw a TV ad for the Navy SEALS. Something clicked in him that lead to a painful, successful, complete turnaround in his mentality. What followed was his physical transformation. He lost over 100 pounds in three months in order enroll in the Navy. He experienced BUD/S Hell Week three times and completed the last one literally running on broken legs.

Goggins swears like a sailor throughout the book.  It’s who he is and the book is written in his voice.  

​Goggins, to everlasting credit, doesn’t claim to be a superman nor does he think everyone wants the same things he does. He shows how to apply his techniques to what you want to achieve. He does believe each of us has enormously more potential than we ever use. I philosophically have believed this but reading this book lit a fire in me. I went from believing to knowing.

​Goggins is big on suffering as a means to achieving higher levels of performance. This lead to his 40% rule. Roughly, when you think you are done you have actually only used 40% of what you have.  There is another 60% in the tank that you need to find a way to access. More importantly, you can access it. Goggins starts by asking, “why am I here?” He ends by asking,”what if it is possible?”  He made me ask the same questions.  My answers pointed me in a new direction.

For Goggins, performance all comes from the mindset you develop before you start. He’s right.  

​Here’s your music link. Go get some.