Top highlights from Can't Hurt Me
Our culture has become hooked on the quick-fix, the life hack, efficiency. Everyone is on the hunt for that simple action algorithm that nets maximum profit with the least amount of effort. Theres no denying this attitude may get you some of the trappings of success, if youre lucky, but it will not lead to a calloused mind or self-mastery. If you want to master the mind and remove your governor, youll have to become addicted to hard work. Because passion and obsession, even talent, are only useful tools if you have the work ethic to back them up.
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You are in danger of living a life so comfortable and soft, that you will die without ever realizing your true potential.
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It wont always go your way, so you cant get trapped in this idea that just because youve imagined a possibility for yourself that you somehow deserve it. Your entitled mind is dead weight. Cut it loose. Dont focus on what you think you deserve. Take aim on what you are willing to earn!
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In the military we always say we dont rise to the level of our expectations, we fall to the level of our training,
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No one is going to come help you. No one's coming to save you.
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It's a lot more than mind over matter. It takes relentless self discipline to schedule suffering into your day, every day.
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We live in a world with a lot of insecure, jealous people. Some of them are our best friends. They are blood relatives. Failure terrifies them. So does our success. Because when we transcend what we once thought possible, push our limits, and become more, our light reflects off all the walls theyve built up around them. Your light enables them to see the contours of their own prison, their own self-limitations. But if they are truly the great people you always believed them to be, their jealousy will evolve, and soon their imagination might hop its fence, and it will be their turn to change for the better.
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Were either getting better or were getting worse.
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The most important conversations youll ever have are the ones youll have with yourself.
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Tell yourself the truth! That youve wasted enough time, and that you have other dreams that will take courage to realize, so you dont die a fucking pussy.
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Everything in life is a mind game! Whenever we get swept under by lifes dramas, large and small, we are forgetting that no matter how bad the pain gets, no matter how harrowing the torture, all bad things end.
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We all need small sparks, small accomplishments in our lives to fuel the big ones. Think of your small accomplishments as kindling. When you want a bonfire, you dont start by lighting a big log. You collect some witchs haira small pile of hay or some dry, dead grass. You light that, and then add small sticks and bigger sticks before you feed your tree stump into the blaze. Because its the small sparks, which start small fires, that eventually build enough heat to burn the whole fucking forest down.
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From then on, I brainwashed myself into craving discomfort. If it was raining, I would go run. Whenever it started snowing, my mind would say, Get your fucking running shoes on. Sometimes I wussed out and had to deal with it at the Accountability Mirror. But facing that mirror, facing myself, motivated me to fight through uncomfortable experiences, and, as a result, I became tougher. And being tough and resilient helped me meet my goals.
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Heraclitus, a philosopher born in the Persian Empire back in the fifth century BC, had it right when he wrote about men on the battlefield. Out of every one hundred men, he wrote, ten shouldnt even be there, eighty are just targets, nine are the real fighters, and we are lucky to have them, for they make the battle. Ah, but the one, one is a warrior
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Be more than motivated, be more than driven, become literally obsessed to the point where people think you're fucking nuts.
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The Buddha famously said that life is suffering. Im not a Buddhist, but I know what he meant and so do you. To exist in this world, we must contend with humiliation, broken dreams, sadness, and loss.
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I don't stop when I'm tired. I stop when I'm done
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Pain unlocks a secret doorway in the mind, one that leads to both peak performance, and beautiful silence.
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The reason its important to push hardest when you want to quit the most is because it helps you callous your mind. Its the same reason why you have to do your best work when you are the least motivated. Thats why I loved PT in BUD/S and why I still love it today. Physical challenges strengthen my mind so Im ready for whatever life throws at me, and it will do the same for you.
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Only you can master your mind, which is what it takes to live a bold life filled with accomplishments most people consider beyond their capability.
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You are giving up instead of getting hard! Tell the truth about the real reasons for your limitations and you will turn that negativity, which is real, into jet fuel. Those odds stacked against you will become a damn runway!
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Always be willing to embrace ignorance and become the dumb fuck in the classroom again, because that is the only way to expand your body of knowledge and body of work. Its the only way to expand your mind.
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When you think that you are done, you're only 40% in to what your body's capable of doing. That's just the limits that we put on ourselves.
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its possible to transcend anything that doesnt kill you,
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By the time I graduated, I knew that the confidence Id managed to develop didnt come from a perfect family or God-given talent. It came from personal accountability which brought me self respect, and self respect will always light a way forward.
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like the Taoists say, those that know dont speak, and those who speak, well, they dont know jack shit.
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If you want to be one of the few to defy those trends in our ever-softening society, you will have to be willing to go to war with yourself and create a whole new identity, which requires an open mind.
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The most important conversations youll ever have are the ones youll have with yourself. You wake up with them, you walk around with them, you go to bed with them, and eventually you act on them. Whether they be good or bad. We are all our own worst haters and doubters because self doubt is a natural reaction to any bold attempt to change your life for the better. You cant stop it from blooming in your brain, but you can neutralize it, and all the other external chatter by asking, What if?
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The Buddha famously said that life is suffering. Im not a Buddhist, but I know what he meant and so do you. To exist in this world, we must contend with humiliation, broken dreams, sadness, and loss. Thats just nature. Each specific life comes with its own personalized portion of pain. Its coming for you. You cant stop it. And you know it.
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The vast majority of us are slaves to our minds. Most dont even make the first effort when it comes to mastering their thought process because its a never-ending chore and impossible to get right every time.
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You know that my refrigerator is never full, and it never will be because I live a mission-driven life, always on the hunt for the next challenge. That mindset is the reason I broke that record, finished Badwater, became a SEAL, rocked Ranger School, and on down the list. In my mind Im that racehorse always chasing a carrot Ill never catch, forever trying to prove myself to myself. And when you live that way and attain a goal, success feels anti-climactic.
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Anyone who is of sound mind and body can sit down and think of twenty things in their life that could have gone differently. Where maybe they didnt get a fair shake and where they took the path of least resistance. If youre one of the few who acknowledge that, want to callous those wounds, and strengthen your character, its up to you to go back through your past and make peace with yourself by facing those incidents and all of your negative influences, and accepting them as weak spots in your own character. Only when you identify and accept your weaknesses will you finally stop running from your past. Then those incidents can be used more efficiently as fuel to become better and grow stronger.
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Analyze your schedule, kill your empty habits, burn out the bullshit, and see whats left.
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You are stopping you, you are giving up instead of getting hard.
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A lot of us surround ourselves with people who speak to our desire for comfort. Who would rather treat the pain of our wounds and prevent further injury than help us callous over them and try again. We need to surround ourselves with people who will tell us what we need to hear, not what we want to hear, but at the same time not make us feel were up against the impossible.
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No matter what you or I achieve, in sports, business, or life, we cant be satisfied. Life is too dynamic a game. Were either getting better or were getting worse. Yes, we need to celebrate our victories. Theres power in victory thats transformative, but after our celebration we should dial it down, dream up new training regimens, new goals, and start at zero the very next day.
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the human body can withstand and accomplish a hell of a lot more than most of us think possible, and that it all begins and ends in the mind.
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You can be born in a fucking sewer and still be the baddest motherfucker on earth.
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But you dont have to let your doubt into the cockpit! You can tolerate doubt as a backseat driver, but if you put doubt in the pilots seat, defeat is guaranteed. Remembering that youve been through difficulties before and have always survived to fight again shifts the conversation in your head. It will allow you to control and manage doubt, and keep you focused on taking each and every step necessary to achieve the task at hand.
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Everyone fails sometimes and life isnt supposed to be fair, much less bend to your every whim.
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There is no more time to waste. Hours and days evaporate like creeks in the desert. Thats why its okay to be cruel to yourself as long as you realize youre doing it to become better.
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no matter who you are, who your parents are or were, where you live, what you do for a living, or how much money you have, youre probably living at about 40 percent of your true capability.
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Your entitled mind is dead weight. Cut it loose. Dont focus on what you think you deserve. Take aim on what you are willing to earn! I
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But what put distance between me and almost everybody else in that platoon is that I didnt let my desire for comfort rule me.
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This life is all a fucking mind game. Realize that. Own it!
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Most wars are won or lost in our own heads, and when were in a foxhole we usually arent alone, and we need to be confident in the quality of the heart, mind, and dialogue of the person hunkered down with us. Because at some point we will need some empowering words to keep us focused and deadly.
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What if is an exquisite fuck-you to anyone who has ever doubted your greatness or stood in your way. It silences negativity. Its a reminder that you dont really know what youre capable of until you put everything youve got on the line. It makes the
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The hard part is getting to that point, because the ticket to victory often comes down to bringing your very best when you feel your worst.
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Everyone is on the hunt for that simple action algorithm that nets maximum profit with the least amount of effort. Theres no denying this attitude may get you some of the trappings of success, if youre lucky, but it will not lead to a calloused mind or self-mastery. If you want to master the mind and remove your governor, youll have to become addicted to hard work. Because passion and obsession, even talent, are only useful tools if you have the work ethic to back them up.
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A true leader stays exhausted, abhors arrogance, and never looks down on the weakest link. He fights for his men and leads by example. Thats what it meant to be uncommon among uncommon. It meant being one of the best and helping your men find their best too.
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It may be satisfactory, but that's another word for mediocrity.
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I understand the temptation to sell short, but I also know that impulse is driven by your minds desire for comfort, and its not telling you the truth.
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life is one long motherfucking imaginary game that has no scoreboard, no referee, and isnt over until were dead and buried.
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And if you fail again, so the fuck be it. Take the pain. Repeat these steps and keep fighting.
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In week two, build an optimal schedule. Lock everything into place in fifteen- to thirty-minute blocks. Some tasks will take multiple blocks or entire days. Fine. When you work, only work on one thing at a time, think about the task in front of you and pursue it relentlessly. When it comes time for the next task on your schedule, place that first one aside, and apply the same focus.
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You can push yourself to a place that is beyond the current capability or temporal mindset of the people you work with, and thats okay. Just know that your supposed superiority is a figment of your own ego. So dont lord it over them, because it wont help you advance as a team or as an individual in your field. Instead of getting angry that your colleagues cant keep up, help pick your colleagues up and bring them with you!
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Everything in life is a mind game! Whenever we get swept under by lifes dramas, large and small, we are forgetting that no matter how bad the pain gets, no matter how harrowing the torture, all bad things end. That forgetting happens the second we give control over our emotions and actions to other people, which can easily happen when pain is peaking.
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Choose to get comfortable with the uncomfortable. "The most important conversations you'll ever have are the ones you'll have with yourself. You need to be honest with yourself about your weaknesses, your fears, and your doubts. Once you know what you're up against, you can start to build a plan to overcome it."
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Embrace the 40% rule. "When your mind is telling you that you're done, that you can't go on any further, you're only 40% done. You have 60% more to give. That's what the 40% rule is all about. It's about pushing past your limits and achieving things that you never thought possible."
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Master your mind. "The mind is the most powerful force in the universe. It can create or destroy. It's up to you to decide how you use it. If you want to achieve your goals, you need to learn to master your mind."
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Become your own hero. "You are the only one who can save yourself. No one is coming to rescue you. You have to take control of your own life and make a decision to change. You have to become your own hero."
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Never give up. "No matter how hard things get, never give up on your dreams. Keep fighting, keep pushing, and eventually you will achieve your goals. There is no such thing as failure. There is only giving up."
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Choose discomfort over comfort. "Comfort is the enemy of achievement. If you want to achieve great things, you need to be willing to step outside of your comfort zone and embrace discomfort. The more uncomfortable you are, the more you're growing."
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Embrace the cookie jar. "The cookie jar is a metaphor for your comfort zone. It's the place where you go to feel safe and secure. But it's also the place where your dreams go to die. If you want to achieve your goals, you need to get out of the cookie jar and embrace the discomfort of the unknown."
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Be the one warrior. "The one warrior is the person who is willing to do whatever it takes to achieve their goals. They are not afraid of hard work, they are not afraid of pain, and they are not afraid of failure. The one warrior is the person who is willing to give it their all, no matter what."
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Turn adversity into fuel for your metamorphosis. "Everyone faces adversity in their lives. It's how you respond to adversity that matters. You can either let it defeat you or you can use it as fuel to propel yourself forward. The choice is yours."
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Confidence comes from personal accountability. "Confidence comes from knowing that you've done the work and that you're prepared for whatever comes your way. It comes from knowing that you've pushed yourself past your limits and that you're capable of anything."
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