David Goggins – Author

The highly anticipated follow up to “Can’t Hurt Me”, Goggins once again puts everything out there for the reader to marvel at, but most importantly, apply to themselves.

The importance of this book required I read it through twice. “Can’t Hurt Me” was an awe-inspiring look at what adversity David Goggins experienced in life and how he pushed the envelope of impossible odds to overcome not only life’s adversities, but his own internal battles. By reading this book twice, I was able to look beyond the “wow” factor of near super-human feats of endurance Goggins describes in great detail from running Moab 240, to bicycling 444 miles all while overcoming more medical issues and injuries. During the second reading, I could identify the growth from pure unadulterated savage who will not be defeated regardless of how much a body breaks down in the ultra-endurance world, to subtle acceptance that David Goggins is in fact mortal. With that, he takes what he has learned in his life and begins to pass those lessons on to his smokejumper teammates, as well as the reader. The moment he switches over to mentor-mode to help a teammate overcome the grip of fear to conquer it in typical Goggins manner and have that person excel in later proficiency is the turning point from savage who drops those who can’t keep up to the standard, to effective leader ensuring the success of the next generation of leaders.

“Never Finished” is just that, an ode to never being finished in life. Once a set of goals and challenges are met or taken away from you for whatever reason, it is time to pivot and set sights on another set of goals and challenges. For Goggins, if it’s not going to be pounding out 200+ miles of running, it might as well be serving as a wildland firefighter, jumping out of planes on surgically repaired legs with heavy packs and gear. Is Goggins done running? Doubtful. It’s likely he will pop up at the age of 75 crushing world endurance records in the Master’s Divisions keeping pace with 40-year-olds after having his entire spine replaced from a smoke jump gone wrong! Or, he will set out to crisscross the continent in a wheelchair ala Forest Gump.

Whatever David Goggins does in the future, the message of both his books, in no uncertain terms is, you have the ability within you if you are willing to find that dark place and dig deep. You can be better and you owe it to yourself to be better.

A+ read.