Can't Hurt Me Book Review

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Book Review
Can’t Hurt Me by David Goggins
David Goggin starts his book by issuing the reader a brief warning order. The
warning order is as follows:
Time Zone: 24/7
Task Organization: Solo Mission
1. Situation: You are in danger of living a life so comfortable and soft that you will
die without ever realizing your true potential.
2. Mission: To unshackle your mind. Ditch the victim’s mentality forever. Own all
aspects of your life completely. Build an unbreakable foundation.
3. Execution:
a. Read (Can’t Hurt Me) cover to cover. Study the techniques within, accept
all ten challenges. Repeat. Repetition will callous your mind.
b. If you do your job to the best of your ability, this will hurt. This mission is
not about making yourself feel better. This mission is about being better
and having a greater impact on the world.
c. Don’t stop when you are tired. Stop when you are done.
4. Classified: This is the origin story of a hero. The hero is you.
After reading this warning order, it should be clear what David Goggin’s wants
readers to get from his book. The intention of this book is to help readers become
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comfortable with being uncomfortable, to free the mind of self-limiting thoughts, and to
challenge the reader to become a better person overall; a person who has the power to
change the world for the better. The goal is to discover your true potential and then
never stop surpassing it.
To help complete the mission that is issued to the reader in this warning order,
Goggin’s provides readers with 10 different challenges placed evenly throughout the
book. These challenges serve as a sort of skeleton for the book or a guide that shows
readers what they should be doing to implement the lessons learned throughout the
reading. The following is a brief description of each challenge as they appear in the
book:
1. Write down the current factors that are limiting your growth and success. (being
realistic)
2. Write all your insecurities, dreams and goals on Post-It notes and put them on
your mirror.
3. Write down everything that you don't like to do or that makes you uncomfortable
and step outside of your comfort zone on a regular basis.
4. Choose a competitive situation that you are in right now, identify your opponent,
and work for excellence.
5. Choose any obstacle in your way and visualize overcoming or achieving it.
6. Take inventory of every major or minor thing you have achieved or overcame in
the past and remember and use these for fuel when you need it.
7. Start slow and gradually chip away at your goal in small increments. Do a little
more each time.

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8. Compartmentalize your day into 15-30 minute blocks to build an optimal
schedule.
9. Stay in constant pursuit of greatness and put in unending effort. Sustain
greatness for a long period of time to become uncommon against the
uncommon. Continue to put obstacles in front of yourself and then conquer them.
10. Think about your most recent and most heart-wrenching failures and write an
after action report (AAR) including everything that went well, everything that
didn't, what your mindset was like during each of those things, and then write
everything that you can fix for the future.
The challenges proposed in this book will help me as a future Army officer and
leader because the lessons learned from facing each challenge will reflect and instill, in
anyone, important components of the Army Leadership Requirements Model. While
lessons from Can’t Hurt Me can be related to every major component of the Army
Leadership Requirements Model, the lessons are primarily focused on developing core
leader competencies. These competencies will subsequently assist in developing the
attributes that create a good leader such as character, presence, empathy, physical
fitness, confidence, composure, resilience, mental agility, sound judgment, knowledge,
and interpersonal tact.
I believe that the lessons learned from the challenges in Can’t Hurt Me, as listed
above, primarily help to create in the reader the core leader competencies “develops”
and “achieves”. Under “develops,” the challenges are focused on preparing yourself and
creating a positive environment. For example, challenge number 2 forces one to be
accountable for themselves and to be realistic and honest about the things that you
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want to change about yourself. It is about abolishing the ego and becoming the real you.
Furthermore, challenge number 1 helps the reader create a positive environment by first
identifying all of the negative aspects of it. This can mean identifying limiting factors in
your life from the past, present, or future. Challenge number 1 is so important if you
want to create a positive environment for your own development (and eventually the
development of others) because the things you identify that have held you back or that
are limiting your success will eventually become the things that fuel your success and
drive your personal growth and accomplishments to new levels.
To continue, the challenges presented by Goggins helps to develop the core
leader competency “achieves” by teaching and forcing the reader to get results. For
example, challenge number 8 ensures that one has created the time to get done with
their day what they want to get done. Challenge number 10 helps the reader not repeat
the same mistakes over and over again. Challenge number 5 forces the reader to
visualize what they want to accomplish and to visualize the challenges that may lie
ahead so that you are prepared to take them on. Lastly, challenge number 4 teaches
the reader to identify an opponent and then use their negativity to dominate whatever it
is your opponent wants you to do. It teaches the reader to exceed expectations and to
not only achieve, but achieve with excellence.
Overall, David Goggin’s Can’t Hurt Me seems to be primarily focused on personal
development. It teaches readers to shape their own environment and then to never stop
accomplishing things within that environment. This notion is supported by the
challenges that Goggin’s gives the readers throughout the book such as challenges 1,
2, 4, 5, and 10. While this book seems to favor developing core leader competencies
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such as “develops” and “achieves,” developing these competencies are what will help
create the key leader attributes under the Army Leadership Requirements Model that
one needs to lead not only a successful career as an Army officer/leader, but a
successful personal and civilian life as well. The core leader competencies taught in this
book will give anyone the tools they need to create a leader of character, presence, and
intellectual capacity.
Works Cited
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1. Department of the Army, ADRP 6-22 Army Leadership Requirements Model,
Headquarters, Washington, DC, 10 September 2012.
2. Goggins, David. Can't Hurt Me: Master Your Mind and Defy the Odds. Clean ed.,
Lioncrest Publishing, 2020.

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1

Can’t Hurt Me by David Goggins

warning order is as follows:

Time Zone: 24/7

Task Organization: Solo Mission

die without ever realizing your true potential.

aspects of your life completely. Build an unbreakable foundation.

all ten challenges. Repeat. Repetition will callous your mind.

and having a greater impact on the world.

4. Classified: This is the origin story of a hero. The hero is you.

never stop surpassing it.

and step outside of your comfort zone on a regular basis.

and work for excellence.

more each time.

8. Compartmentalize your day into 15-30 minute blocks to build an optimal

9. Stay in constant pursuit of greatness and put in unending effort. Sustain

greatness for a long period of time to become uncommon against the

everything that you can fix for the future.

anyone, important components of the Army Leadership Requirements Model. While

leader competencies. These competencies will subsequently assist in developing the

fitness, confidence, composure, resilience, mental agility, sound judgment, knowledge,

and interpersonal tact.

creating a positive environment. For example, challenge number 2 forces one to be

drive your personal growth and accomplishments to new levels.

To continue, the challenges presented by Goggins helps to develop the core

not only achieve, but achieve with excellence.

Overall, David Goggin’s Can’t Hurt Me seems to be primarily focused on personal

accomplishing things within that environment. This notion is supported by the

1. Department of the Army, ADRP 6-22 Army Leadership Requirements Model,

Headquarters, Washington, DC, 10 September 2012.

Lioncrest Publishing, 2020.

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