Can’t Hurt Me Challenges – Complete Guide To David Goggins 10 Challenges
There are several ways triathletes can stay motivated and inspired to keep training hard to prepare themselves for fierce competitions. One such resource is the book written by David Goggins, a retired American military serviceman and an ultra-marathon runner, triathlete, ultra-distance cyclist and a world record holder for doing the highest number of pull-ups in 24 hours.
‘Can’t Hurt Me’ was a self-help memoir released in 2018, the number 1 in the Amazon bestsellers from the first day of its launch. In this book, Goggins highlights his belief that most people tap into only 40 percent of their capabilities. Throughout the book, he gives different challenges to readers to push them beyond their set limits.
In this post, we talk about the challenges Goggins suggest for athletes and sports enthusiasts who want to push themselves harder and recognize and use their full potential to achieve success.
Can’t Hurt Me Challenges – A Complete Guide
David Goggins, in his book ‘Can’t Hurt Me – Master Your Mind and Defy the Odds’, talks about his struggle and achievements to show what is possible if you are motivated enough. He aims to take the readers on a solo mission to free up the mind from the mentality of a victim and start taking the control of different aspects of life.
The book helps build a foundation of a calloused mind to make sure you get better at whatever you do and start creating a deeper impact on the world around you. At the end of each chapter, Goggins challenges the readers to become harder and push themselves beyond the capabilities they perceive. He asks them to take these challenges to stand out from others and recognize their potential.
David Goggins 10 Challenges – Getting Started
In his book ‘Can’t Hurt Me’, David Goggins talks about ten challenges that help the readers toughen up their mind and body and push themselves to use their full potential. Each of the challenges is a strategy you can apply to different aspects of life to come out with flying colors. They provide the inspiration you need to keep working harder to achieve your goals.
The first of the ten challenges asks you to note the bad hands you have dealt in the past, your insecurities and the factors that stand in the way of your growth. You can write about the things and people that caused you pain in the past and the long odds you are up against at this time. Goggins asks you to consider the tiniest details when you think about these situations. You keep these notes safely with you and believe that you are in complete control of everything, even if you have encountered the worst in life.
Another challenge from ‘Can’t Hurt Me’ is the one that helps you develop a calloused mind. To train your mind to overcome resistance and step into discomfort, you start writing things you don’t like doing. You make a note of everything you hate, from meditating to doing dishes. This challenge focuses on doing what you don’t like to do, to be able to come out of your comfort zone and become stronger. This helps you cultivate an attitude that leads to a calloused mind.
A highly gratifying challenge is the ‘Taking Souls’ that helps you get better at what you are doing at the time. Through this challenge, Goggins wants you to work harder on the task than ever before and exceed the expectations of the boss, family member, opponent or teacher. As an example, consider working out at a gym and going beyond the person who trains at the highest intensity.
Another interesting challenge is about visualization to create an Armored Mind. Goggins explains how he painted the picture of his success before taking up a challenge. Visualizing the success every day motivates to move forward. It also involves thinking about the challenges you are likely to face and see how you are going to overcome them, preparing yourself for the journey.
Accountability Mirror Challenge
Accountability Mirror is a highly powerful challenge introduced in the book ‘Cant’ Hurt Me’. David Goggins used to note his goals, dreams and insecurities on sticky post-its that he pasted on his mirror. Through this challenge, he asks you to create an accountability mirror that reminds you of your goals and dreams when you wake up in the morning. To get started with this challenge, you start noting down your goals with the help of a pen and post them on your mirror.
If you are an athlete, your goals can be the first 5k, first 10k and first marathon. If you aim to improve your performance, you can start with mini-goals like the number of laps per day in swimming or time taken to run 5k. whatever you write, it is important to be genuine to yourself and be clear about what you aim at achieving. Set realistic goals while being aware of your current state. If you fill the mirror with unachievable goals, it can demotivate you when you see them not coming true.
For all the goals, you should note down what steps you should take to go further. You should break the goal down into smaller tasks. Once your mirror is properly tagged, you can start taking the steps. Remove the note when a goal is achieved, write another goal and work on it. Be accountable for whatever you write and work on them with dedication. The concept behind the accountability mirror is to show you your truth every morning so that you can improve. See that you use this challenge to your advantage by taking it seriously.
Accountability Mirror Examples
The concept behind the accountability mirror is pretty straightforward. It aims to help you remember your goals as the first thing upon getting up. It works by breaking down the bigger goals into smaller ones and bringing them in front of you when you wake up or get ready in the morning. It also makes you feel guilty for not accomplishing them.
To understand the accountability mirror, consider the example of a goal of running a marathon. You cannot run the distance all of a sudden but should work on improving your performance and endurance on a gradual basis. It is a process that involves several smaller goals that you try to achieve every day.
Another example is the goal of improving aerobic performance. To achieve this goal, you decide to perform a set of exercises every day at a set intensity. If you don’t complete it on a day, you mark it as incomplete and feel the guilt of not being able to accomplish the mini-goal. For these tasks, you can write about the obstacles you faced when trying to achieve the goal, such as laziness. These details also show up on the mirror so that you can see what is preventing you from progressing and how you can overcome the challenges.
David Goggins Challenge 111 Miles
The main idea introduced by David Goggins is the ’40 percent rule’ that suggests that we spend only 40 percent of our actual capability before quitting. Whenever we get exhausted doing something and decide to give up, we still have 60 percent of our potential left. Goggins says it is done by the governor sitting in our brain who holds you back from doing what you are capable of.
We can tap into this remaining 60 percent of our capacity only in times of adversity. When we can manage to utilize these reserves consciously, our brain works at improving our abilities to a great extent. To make this possible, it is important to come out of the influence of the governor in the brain and force ourselves into discomfort.
The 111 miles challenge asks you to run 111 miles per session instead of 100 miles you used to run normally. If you did 50 push-ups in a workout session, you aim for 100 or 105. Such slow progression helps get adjusted to the new load while lowering the risks of injury. When you apply this rule, you should also reset your baseline. If you are running 111 miles, 111 is now your new baseline. This means you progress by 5-10 percent of 111 in the next session.
The 111 miles challenge is all about pushing your limits beyond what you think is the point of exhaustion. Whenever you do some physical activity like running or pushups, you keep going until you feel that you are too tired to continue and then push further by 5-10 percent before quitting. Then, the next time you perform the same activity, push by another 5-10 percent. Such a progression helps you push your limits and improve your performance.
With this challenge, you realize that your mind is governed and you are underperforming. You understand that you can work harder than what you think you can. Getting rid of this governor influence not only helps you in your workouts but also in different aspects of life. You can start performing better than others and move forward to achieve your goals.
Conclusion
David Goggins challenges and concepts are widely used in the triathlete world to stay motivated to keep getting better. Applying these challenges in your everyday life is easy and it offers a practical way to start working towards your small and big goals while identifying your insecurities, obstacles and obligations along the path.
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