In a rare instance of practicing what I preach, I have committed myself to reading — in an effort to clear my mind and focus on my goals and expectations for the second half of the year.
I am highly recommending: Can’t Hurt Me: Master Your Mind and Defy the Odds by David Goggins.
The author describes how he overcame a difficult childhood and transformed himself from a depressed, overweight young man into a US Armed Forces machine — and one of the world’s top endurance athletes. He details how he was able to “callous” his mind so that he can achieve remarkable physical feats while enduring tremendous pain and hardships. By doing so, he has been able to accomplish such “impossible” tasks like running over 100 miles in a day in the Arizona desert and setting the Guinness Book of World Records for number of pull-ups in a 24-hour period. (As a bonus, you should purchase the Audible version of this book to get an idea of the intensity this man brings to life and for additional details.)
It is a truly inspirational book that will remind you of the power of the human mind and body, and what can be achieved when you devote 100% of your time and effort to your goals.
So why do I think this book is important for small business owners and entrepreneurs to read? Because there are many lessons that we can take away from Goggins’s life and apply it to the way that we run our business and approach our business plan. I want to share the top three things that continue to resonate with me:
Take-away: If you can dream it, you can achieve it. Sometimes we are our own worst enemies, especially when we set up constraints on what we can accomplish with no good reason other than “We don’t think we can do it.” In the words of Henry David Thoreau, “The world is but a canvas to our imagination.”
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