I was recently listening to a new book by David Goggins, Can’t Hurt Me which turned out to be so much better than I thought it would be. I would suggest that you listen to the audio book if you can, as David and Adam do a lot of interviewing and “podcast” like discussions that are interesting insights that you don’t get from the book.
Accidentally a Good Thing
I selected this book by total accident. I saw the book cover with David Goggins on the front in his Navy uniform and I though it was similar to the leadership book I listened to called Extreme Ownership by Jocko Willink and Leif Babin but it turned out to be something totally different and wonderful.
If you don’t know anything about David Goggins, I am not going to spoil his story, you will have to read the book but all I have to say is ” Damn Goggins”. With what he has accomplished, his trials, experiences, things about him are truly amazing and you will be saying the same thing after you hear them.
Warning: The language in this book might not be for everyone. David is a Navy Seal and his language is that of a “sailor”. If you are offended by curse words, you may want to stay away from this book. David only uses curse words when emphasis is required, but it’s not for everyone.
Boundaries of the Mind
What I wanted to share with you is not how great David Goggins is but how seriously accurate his principles and take aways are from this book.
This is the first book that I ever mentioned in an article before I finished listening to the entire book. Why? Because everything I was hearing was so spot on for the 2019 runDisney Marathon Weekend events I was participating in.
Before reading David’s book, I have been walking/running for about nine months. Most of my workouts consisted of picking a distance (5k, 10k, Half Marathon), then running for as long as I had determined and then walking and running the remaining distance. It took me months before I tried to run an entire 5k. I would run 1k, 2k even 3k but never tried to run the 5k.
Then one night I just decided I was going to run the entire 5k without stopping to walk no matter what. Every time I would think about walking, I just put that idea out of my head and just kept running, no matter how slow, just kept running and the next thing I know I was done, I ran an entire 5k. I remember that night and how excited I was that I actually completed an entire run.
As I moved up to the 10k I was doing the same thing running 1k, 2k, 3k even after if I had already run the full 5k, my 10k workouts did not include the first 5k as running. I was a (mental) wimp! I let the mental aspect of my workouts get in the way, I let the thoughts of running the entire 5k, how tired I would be get in the way.
Not until I was listening to David’s book and ran the entire 10k for the runDisney Marathon Weekend 10k, did I realize that I needed to get the mental loop out of my head and start pushing the mental aspect of my exercise to run the entire 10k. So, I did.
Limitless Mental Boundaries
It takes a lot of effort and I have to remind myself all the time as I am running, “keep going”, “keep going”. Each step forward is a mental boundary being crossed. I have already seen a dramatic increase in my mental toughness and ability to push through the mental challenge because my body is capable of running a lot faster and further than my mind is allowing.
I know that with more practice and push on my mental toughness, I will be running marathons and maybe even more in the future. Do you have challenges with your mental toughness to workout, eat right? Share your mental toughness experiences in the comments below.
