About David Goggins

David Goggins was born in Buffalo, New York, in 1975. He grew up in a household defined by an abusive father, moved with his mother to a small Indiana town, struggled severely in school (later diagnosed with a learning disability), and by his early twenties was working as an exterminator, living on fast food, and weighing close to 300 pounds. He then decided to become a Navy SEAL. He failed the entry test twice and was rejected. He lost 106 pounds in three months on a near-starvation diet of water and apples to meet the weight requirement. He passed. He then became one of the most decorated special operations personnel in American military history, completing three Hell Week courses, becoming an Army Ranger, and setting a Guinness World Record for most pull-ups in 24 hours (4,030).

Can't Hurt Me (2018) is the book that made him a global phenomenon. It sold over five million copies and has been recommended everywhere from corporate boardrooms to rehabilitation programs. The self-published audiobook, which includes extended conversations between Goggins and his co-author Adam Skolnick, is particularly effective and worth listening to rather than reading if you prefer audio. The follow-up, Never Finished (2022), is narrower in scope but contains some of his most useful frameworks. Both books are functionally about the same thing: the gap between what you're capable of and what you're currently doing, and what it costs to close it.