Summary: Never Finished: Unshackle Your Mind and Win the War Within by David Goggins

If you’re feeling satisfied after a period of hard work and taking it easy, reignite your drive with a challenge that will explore your limits.

“Respect is earned every day by waking up early, challenging yourself with new dreams … and embracing the suck like you have nothing and have never done a damn thing in your life.” – David Goggins

In the following summary, you’ll learn how to re-ignite your drive and explore your untapped potential.

Genres

Exercise, Fitness, Self Help, Personal Development, Biography, Psychology, Philosophy, Autobiography, Memoir, Sports, Biography Memoir, Motivation, Self-Esteem

Commit to a wake-up challenge

Late one evening, Goggins received an email from a friend who wanted to see if he could run the Leadville Trail 100 race to raise money for his charity. The Leadville Trail 100 is a 100-mile foot race in the Colorado Rockies that starts at 10,000 feet above sea level and includes 15,000 feet of elevation change. Goggins would’ve leapt at the opportunity to run Leadville a few years ago, but now he was full of hesitancy and excuses. He says, “After decades of hard charging, I was stuck in neutral, nowhere close to the mental beast I’d once been.”

But Goggins couldn’t get Leadville out of his head. The challenge haunted him because deep down he knew it was what he needed to awaken his inner savage, get out of neutral, and get back on the path of self-discovery.

1. Your wake-up challenge need not be physical. It might be intellectual, like obtaining a difficult career certification, participating in a competition, or launching a new product. Regardless of what your wake-up challenge is, it must meet two criteria:
2. Your wake-up challenge must be a fear pod – A challenge you’re nervous to commit to, but once you do, the seeds of confidence and self-discovery scatter along your path. Taking this path will make you a more self-assured and self-aware person.

Your wake-up challenge must require daily effort – Goggins didn’t take a day off training for Leadville, even on rest days. He visualized sections of the race to prepare his mind and body for the challenge.

Once you identify and commit to a wake-up challenge, get in the habit of performing self-talk audits.

Perform self-talk audits

Not long after ramping up his training for Leadville, Goggins’ body ached, and he kept telling himself he needed a day off. He sat down on his couch, grabbed a voice recorder, and whined into the microphone. He recorded exactly what he was feeling and made a solid case for a much-needed rest day. But when he played it back to himself, he wasn’t convinced. The excuses he heard lacked substance and were just a desperate plea to quit and seek comfort.

When you wake up tired and not eager to get after it, complain about the things you dread doing into a voice recording app on your phone. Then play it back to yourself – odds are you’ll find the voice on the other side is not someone you want to be directing your life.

After you listen to yourself whine about the things you don’t want to do, hit record on your voice recording app again and pretend you are motivating a friend to get through a challenge.

Remember Captain Connolly

As Goggins continued training for Leadville, he routinely thought back to his time at the US Air Force’s Air Assault school. Every student in the Air Assault class was required to do five pull-ups and 10 elevated push-ups when they crossed under the arches on their way to class. One day Goggins passed through the arches at the same time as a classmate named Connolly, a captain in the US Army. When Goggins did his five pull-ups and dropped down to the ground to complete his push-ups, he noticed Captain Connolly was still on the pull-up bar, going far beyond the five standard pull-ups. This was not the only time he saw Captain Connolly do this. Captain Connolly continued going above and beyond on almost every exercise during the 10-day Air Assault school. This was the first time Goggins could remember someone doing more than what was required of them.

In the book, he says, “Connolly made me uncomfortable because he exposed my lack of dedication to giving my best effort each and every day… Captain Connolly did not show up to simply get through the program and graduate so he could collect some wings for his uniform. He came to explore what he was made of and grow.”

As Goggins trained for Leadville, he imagined Captain Connolly watching him every day and posing the question, “Are you just meeting the requirements or are you giving all you can give?”

Forget what others are doing or what others have done before you and look inside to search for what more you can give. Always be exploring what more you can do, and you will move far beyond the standards everyone else is living by and into a realm of limitless mental growth.

Summary

“The world needs all of us to evolve into the very best versions of ourselves. That’s a moving target, and it isn’t a one-time task. It is a lifelong quest for more knowledge, more courage, more humility, and more belief. Because when you summon the strength and discipline to live like that, the only thing limiting your horizons is you.” – David Goggins

About the Author

David Goggins is a Retired Navy SEAL and the only member of the U.S. Armed Forces to complete SEAL training, Army Ranger School, and Air Force Tactical Air Controller training. Goggins has completed more than seventy ultra-distance races, often placing in the top five, and is a former Guinness World Record holder for completing 4,030 pull-ups in seventeen hours. A sought-after public speaker, he’s traveled the world sharing his philosophy on how to master the mind. When he’s not speaking, he works as an Advanced Emergency Technician in a big city Emergency Room and, during the summer, as a wildland firefighter in British Columbia.

Table of Contents

WARNING ORDER 9
INTRODUCTION 11
1. MAXIMIZE MINIMAL POTENTIAL 19
EVOLUTION NO.1 35
2. MERRY FUCKING CHRISTMAS 41
EVOLUTION NO. 2 57
3. THE MENTAL LAB 67
EVOLUTION NO. 3 83
4. A SAVAGE REBORN 95
EVOLUTION NO. 4 115
5. DISCIPLE OF DISCIPLINE 121
EVOLUTION NO. 5 147
6. THE ART OF GETTING HIT IN THE MOUTH 153
EVOLUTION NO. 6 189
7. THE RECKONING 197
EVOLUTION NO. 7 231
8. PLAY UNTIL THE WHISTLE 245
EVOLUTION NO. 8 275
9. WRINGING OUT THE SOUL 281
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 309

Review

The book is a sequel to Goggins’ best-selling memoir Can’t Hurt Me, in which he shared his remarkable life story and how he overcame poverty, racism, abuse, obesity, and depression to become one of the most elite and accomplished athletes and warriors in the world. In Never Finished, Goggins reveals more details about his mental training and philosophy that enabled him to push beyond his perceived limits and achieve extraordinary feats. He also challenges his readers to apply his principles and strategies to their own lives and goals, and to never stop striving for greatness.

The book is divided into four parts: The Near Nature, The Far Nature, The Deep Nature, and The Wild Nature. In each part, Goggins discusses a different aspect of his mental lab, where he experiments with his mind and body to discover new ways of overcoming challenges and obstacles. He covers topics such as:

• How he developed a mindset of relentless accountability, responsibility, and honesty
• How he used pain, fear, and suffering as fuel for his motivation and growth
• How he cultivated a sense of purpose, vision, and mission for his life
• How he mastered the art of self-talk, visualization, and affirmation
• How he trained his brain to adapt, learn, and improve constantly
• How he created a lifestyle of discipline, consistency, and excellence
• How he balanced his physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual well-being
• How he inspired and influenced others with his example and message

The book is full of practical tips, exercises, examples, anecdotes, and insights from Goggins’ own experience as well as from other people who have followed his methods and achieved remarkable results. The book also includes a preface by Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and an introduction by Joe Rogan.

The book is an engaging and informative read for anyone who wants to learn more about the power of the mind and how to use it to achieve their full potential. Goggins’ writing style is clear, concise, and persuasive. He uses simple language, analogies, metaphors, stories, and examples to explain complex concepts and convey his messages. He also injects humor, passion, and empathy into his writing, making it more relatable and motivating.

The book is based on solid research and evidence from various fields such as psychology, neuroscience, sociology, and physiology. Goggins cites numerous studies and references to support his claims and arguments. He also draws on his own personal and professional experience as a former Navy SEAL, Army Ranger, Air Force Tactical Air Controller, ultramarathon runner, triathlete, cyclist, mountaineer, and motivational speaker. He shares his own stories of struggle and success with his mental lab experiments.

The book is not a neutral or objective presentation, but a passionate and provocative critique that challenges the status quo and calls for action. Goggins does not claim to have all the answers or the ultimate solutions. He acknowledges the limitations and uncertainties of his arguments as well as the potential trade-offs and ethical dilemmas involved. He also respects the views and values of his readers and encourages them to think critically and independently about the issues and options.

Overall, however, the book is a must-read for anyone who wants to understand and practice the art of unshackling their mind and winning the war within. It challenges us to think differently and act differently in pursuit of our goals and values. It reminds us that we are all capable of achieving greatness if we never stop pushing ourselves. And it urges us not to split the difference, but to never finish.