Never Finished: 5 Things You Will Learn Reading David Goggins
I figured out who is carrying the boats and the logs
David Goggins has grown in popularity on social media thanks to his completing insane challenges and his unique personality.
The word travelled fast after he appeared on Joe Rogan and numerous other podcasts discussing some of his incredible feats.
Doing a quick search of TikTok will flood your feed with David screaming phrases like, “They don’t know me son!” and “Who’s going to carry the boats and the logs!?”—a testament to his army training.
David has completed a 240-mile race after having multiple heart surgeries and broke the pull-up world record in 2013 completing 4030 pull-ups in 17 hours…
Yeah, he’s crazy.
So, what can you learn from reading about David Goggins?
Let’s dive in!
1. A lot of people have it worse than you do
The David Goggins book I recently read was “Never Finished”. Although I heard that his book “Can’t Hurt Me” goes more in-depth about his upbringing, Never Finished still touches on it.
He had it tough growing up.
His dad sounds like he was nothing short of a monster.
Reading about how he grew up, while I know others had it worse, made me thankful for having amazing parents.
This book served as a good reminder that there are always people who have it worse than you do.
When things are hard in life, that reminder can often be helpful and serve as fuel to push you to fix whatever problems you are going through and to be grateful for what you have.
2. Things can always get harder
Throughout the book, David continuously pushes himself to complete harder and harder races. However, he never seems to catch a break with his injuries and health problems.
Of course, when you push yourself as hard as David does, injuries are bound to happen. But, you still end up rooting for him, crossing your fingers hoping he can get away without pain just once.
That never really happens though.
Throughout life, it doesn’t matter what you do, there will always be challenges.
You can map out what you have to do, play out scenarios, figure out ahead of time how you would deal with any problems, and still get caught off guard.
Things can always get harder.
David Goggins uses these challenges to make himself tougher.
Each challenge he faces and defeats serve as a new baseline for him. That pushes him closer to achieving his forever-moving goal of being the “baddest m*therf*cker ever”.
3. The human body is capable of incredible things
Few of us would even think of doing what David Goggins has done.
He has challenged the norm of what the human body can do and pushed it to limits that would otherwise have been thought impossible.
Running hundreds of miles after heart surgeries with numerous injuries and health conditions is insanity.
Jumping out of a plane when you are only a few months out of surgery with metal plates in your bones after the doctor specifically told you not to is crazy!
Hanging on a pull-up bar for 17 hours doing 4030 pulls ups…
Did you even know that doing half of that is possible?
To be clear, this book did not make me want to attempt any of what he has done.
What it did do though was teach me that I can push my body further that I give it credit for.
I am now pushing harder at the gym and challenging myself to think bigger.
4. You can accomplish greatness
David has a great chapter about how people put those who are great in a different league than their own. He explains how greatness eludes these people because they have put the “greats” on a pedestal.
“No matter what I’m doing or which arena I’m engaging in, I will always aim for greatness because I know that we are all mere mortals and greatness is possible for anyone and everyone if they are willing to seek it out in their own soul.” - David Goggins
You don’t have to want to be the greatest at anything, but if you approach any sport, skill or task with this mindset, you will be an incredible person.
I have often found it crazy how often some people underestimate themselves.
By not even giving yourself the chance to be in the same league as anyone great, you are doing yourself a great disservice.
As David said, we are all mere mortals.
5. Discipline wins
By reading any David Goggins book, you’ll immediately realize that discipline always wins.
Discipline is what you are lacking.
A lack of discipline is why you don’t wake up early, why you only went to the gym 3 times last week and why you don’t do extra work to get ahead.
Discipline is what sets those who are great apart from you.
It’s not that those who are great are immortal. And they may be gifted in some areas of life, but so are you.
This is the message and the main lessons you can learn from David Goggins.
Discipline wins.
Closing Remarks
It’s easy to get pushed away when reading a David Goggins book or watching any of his videos. This man is nothing short of extreme and by no means should you feel the need to copy him.
But, that doesn’t mean you can’t learn from him.
David is the definition of discipline and has achieved greatness in his own way.
In your life, you simply have to figure out what you want to dedicate yourself to, stay disciplined and keep pushing the boundaries.
That way, you too can be great.
Thanks for reading.