COPYRIGHT © 2018 GOGGINS BUILT NOT BORN, LLC

All rights reserved.

CAN’T HURT ME
Master Your Mind and Defy the Odds

I SBN 978-1-5445-1228-0 Hardcover

978-1-5445-1227-3 Paperback
978-1-5445-1226-6 Ebook
978-1-5445-1229-7 Audiobook
TO THE UNRELENTING VOICE IN MY HEAD
T H AT W I L L N E V E R A L L O W M E T O S T O P.
CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION ........................................................... 11

1. I SHOULD HAVE BEEN A STATISTIC ..........................15

2. TRUTH HURTS .............................................................45

3. THE IMPOSSIBLE TASK .............................................. 75

4. TAKING SOULS ......................................................... 103

5. ARMORED MIND ........................................................ 131

6. IT’S NOT ABOUT A TROPHY ................................... 165

7. THE MOST POWERFUL WEAPON ........................... 195

8. TALENT NOT REQUIRED.......................................... 233

9. UNCOMMON AMONGST UNCOMMON ....................265

10. THE EMPOWERMENT OF FAILURE ......................... 297

11. WHAT IF? .................................................................. 333

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ............................................. 357

ABOUT THE AUTHOR ............................................... 363

WARNING ORDER

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 this 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.

BY COMMAND OF: DAVID GOGGINS

SIGNED: ____________________

RANK AND SERVICE: CHIEF, U.S. NAVY SEALS, RETIRED

INTRODUCTION

DO YOU KNOW WHO YOU REALLY ARE AND WHAT YOU’RE

capable of?
I’m sure you think so, but just because you believe something
doesn’t make it true. Denial is the ultimate comfort zone.
Don’t worry, you aren’t alone. In every town, in every country,
all over the world, millions roam the streets, dead-eyed as zom-
bies, addicted to comfort, embracing a victim’s mentality and
unaware of their true potential. I know this because I meet and
hear from them all the time, and because just like you, I used to
be one of them.
I had a damn good excuse too.
Life dealt me a bad hand. I was born broken, grew up with
beat downs, was tormented in school, and called nigger more
times than I could count.
We were once poor, surviving on welfare, living in government-
subsidized housing, and my depression was smothering. I lived
life at the bottom of the barrel, and my future forecast was bleak
as fuck.
Very few people know how the bottom feels, but I do. It’s like

I N T R O D U C T I O N ! · ! 11
quicksand. It grabs you, sucks you under, and won’t let go. When
life is like that it’s easy to drift and continue to make the same
comfortable choices that are killing you, over and over again.
But the truth is we all make habitual, self-limiting choices. It’s
as natural as a sunset and as fundamental as gravity. It’s how our
brains are wired, which is why motivation is crap.
Even the best pep talk or self-help hack is nothing but a tem-
porary fix. It won’t rewire your brain. It won’t amplify your voice
or uplift your life. Motivation changes exactly nobody. The bad
hand that was my life was mine, and mine alone to fix.
So I sought out pain, fell in love with suffering, and eventually
transformed myself from the weakest piece of shit on the planet
into the hardest man God ever created, or so I tell myself.
Odds are you have had a much better childhood than I did,
and even now might have a damn decent life, but no matter who
you are, who your parents are or were, where you live, what you
do for a living, or how much money you have, you’re probably
living at about 40 percent of your true capability.
Damn shame.
We all have the potential to be so much more.
Years ago, I was invited to be on a panel at the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology. I’d never set foot in a university lecture
hall as a student. I’d barely graduated high school, yet I was at
one of the most prestigious institutions in the country to discuss
mental toughness with a handful of others. At some point in the
discussion an esteemed MIT professor said that we each have
genetic limitations. Hard ceilings. That there are some things
we just can’t do no matter how mentally tough we are. When we
hit our genetic ceiling, he said, mental toughness doesn’t enter
into the equation.
Everyone in that room seemed to accept his version of reality

12 · C A N ’ T H U R T M E
because this senior, tenured professor was known for researching
mental toughness. It was his life’s work. It was also a bunch of
bullshit, and to me he was using science to let us all off the hook.
I’d been quiet until then because I was surrounded by all
these smart people, feeling stupid, but someone in the audience
noticed the look on my face and asked if I agreed. And if you ask
me a direct question, I won’t be shy.
“There’s something to be said for living it instead of study-
ing it,” I said, then turned toward the professor. “What you said
is true for most people, but not 100 percent. There will always
be the 1 percent of us who are willing to put in the work to defy
the odds.”
I went on to explain what I knew from experience. That any-
body can become a totally different person and achieve what
so-called experts like him claim is impossible, but it takes a lot
of heart, will, and an armored mind.
Heraclitus, a philosopher born in the Persian Empire back in
the fifth century BC, had it right when he wrote about men on
the battlefield. “Out of every one hundred men,” he wrote, “ten
shouldn’t even be there, eighty are just targets, nine are the real
fighters, and we are lucky to have them, for they make the battle.
Ah, but the one, one is a warrior…”
From the time you take your first breath, you become eligi-
ble to die. You also become eligible to find your greatness and
become the One Warrior. But it is up to you to equip yourself for
the battle ahead. Only you can master your mind, which is what it
takes to live a bold life filled with accomplishments most people
consider beyond their capability.
I am not a genius like those professors at MIT, but I am that
One Warrior. And the story you are about to read, the story of my
fucked-up life, will illuminate a proven path to self-mastery and

I N T R O D U C T I O N · 13
empower you to face reality, hold yourself accountable, push past
pain, learn to love what you fear, relish failure, live to your fullest
potential, and find out who you really are.
Human beings change through study, habit, and stories.
Through my story you will learn what the body and mind are
capable of when they’re driven to maximum capacity, and how to
get there. Because when you’re driven, whatever is in front of you,
whether it’s racism, sexism, injuries, divorce, depression, obesity,
tragedy, or poverty, becomes fuel for your metamorphosis.
The steps laid out here amount to the evolutionary algorithm,
one that obliterates barriers, glimmers with glory, and delivers
lasting peace.
I hope you’re ready. It’s time to go to war with yourself.

14 · C A N ’ T H U R T M E