Never finished

by David Goggins

David Goggins might just be the toughest human alive. He is ex- Navy Seal, Army Ranger and Delta Force, ultramarathon runner, pull up record holder. As a child, his family endured physical violence by their father. At school, he suffered racism, his school being near a Ku Klux Klan site, and bullying due to his lisp. Now, he uses his trauma and experiences to inspire people. His first book – Can’t Hurt Me – was a huge success. Today we’re reviewing his recent, second book, titled Never Finished.

This is, although he hates the term, essentially a self-help book, telling Goggin’s story and providing advice along the way. The audiobook is again narrated by Adam Skolnick and again includes a few hours of additional content to the book itself, as David and Adam discuss the chapters in podcast style discussions.

Refreshingly raw

I had high expectations of this book. David Goggins has grown immensely popular, and the foreword perhaps represents this: with Joe Rogan and The Rock appearing. His popularity owes firstly to his amazing story, with the description of ‘troubled child’ being an understatement; with violence, abuse, and constant pain being a constant theme. But David Goggins seems to be the hardest worker not in the room but, well, anywhere, and has accumulated a huge following for this ethos of working as hard as possible and expanding your own self-limitations.

The book continues in a similar vein as Can’t Hurt Me, with personal stories of challenge being the focus. But Never Finished brings a more mature, even more honest David Goggins to the table, one where he admits he lost his endlessly determined edge (around 2019) and recounting how he got it back. His first book focussed slightly more on his personal – and crazy – story. In this one, the emphasis is a little more on showing his faults despite the famous persona: that he wasn’t as indomitable as some might believe. At first, I was sceptical of this approach. Would it be that engaging to hear about him failing and losing his discipline, as most people do? But then I realised it was the most effective way for us to identify with somebody who has done more than ninety-nine per cent of humans would even think themselves capable of. It makes the book far more relatable than Can’t Hurt Me: he is infallible, but his practiced, determined edge soon returned.

Pulling no punches

In one section Jackie Gardiner, David Goggins’ mother, is interviewed. This was an amazing part of the audiobook. She tells how she endured 17 years of domestic abuse, and even apologises to David for not leaving it sooner. It was extremely heart-warming and about as real as it gets. After escaping David’s abusive father, Jackie dates an ex-prisoner who murdered his wife, and Goggins notes:

My mother was looking for someone to save because she did not have the strength to save herself.

Parts of this book must have been hard to write, and the effort that’s gone into it is clear as a result, because it pulls no punches from discussing difficult topics.

Even the seemingly simple stories, such as when David moves to his grandparents, are shocking. When things seem like they’re going to get better, there’s always some kind of issue that pops up. Without spoiling the surprises, even when the book seems like it’s trying to make issues out of seemingly nothing, such as David not getting many gifts or puddings from his grandparents, shocks and more pain are revealed. The twists and turns in this story, and his relationship to his grandfather, were enthralling.

Self-help?

The self-help style learnings are, to an extent, what we’ve often heard before. Asceticism, discipline, and working hard are the main themes here. For example, in talking about ex-prisoners, Goggins says: ‘youneed to find people who can relate to what you’ve been through’ and, more generally: ‘in quitting on your dreams can colour how you see yourself.’ It’s all good advice, but not necessarily novel.

But there’s plenty of advice which is more unique. Arguably, the aforementioned discipline and hard work is beyond most people’s definition: Goggins defies limitations, and says to remove expectations. He decries modern society’s softness, which is a theme others have voiced, but with Goggins he delivers it with authentic and real alacrity. There is an urgency to teaching yourself discipline, and the opportunity cost is what your life could be.

There were great suggestions here. One was that of having a morning meeting with yourself, where you think through the potential problems of the day and are more prepared to deal with them. Another was recording those times when you are feeling lazy, in despair or refusing to do those things you know that you should do, and then playing them back to yourself to see if that is the person you want to be. In here then, there are parts we’ve heard before but also plenty that is either refreshing. David Goggins is an example of proof being in the pudding, and his ideas seem realistic and less cringeworthy than many other self-help books.

Final Score

David Goggins resonates particularly well with me. He advocates very much a Stoic mentality, and that’s a standard I look up to. I think more people would benefit from listening to him, and his amazing story. I possibly think that the first book used more of the best stories, but this book is more mature, more refined, and even more honest. Some self-help books can be bland or seem fake, and this is the opposite of that. If you’re going to listen to a motivational book this year, make it this one. It’s worth getting the audiobook version for the extra content, too. If you haven’t its worth trying Can’t Hurt Me first.

9/10