Jan 11

Jan 11 This Book Inspired Me...

Hi, I'm Liz Moser, and I'm a Mayo Clinic Certified Wellness Coach.

Today I want to share the memoir/self-help book I was listening to the week before I started my New Year's Namaste challenge, which I talked about in last week’s video and blog.

If you missed last week’s video:

My challenge is ten weeks caffeine and tv free while increasing my meditation from 10 minutes per day to 2-20-minute sessions each day. And as of today, ten days later, I haven't missed a day, I'm doing great and feel even better. I’m pleasantly surprised!

The book is:

Can't Hurt Me: Master Your Mind and Defy the Odds by David Goggins.

As I listened to it, I knew I was going to talk about it with you because it was so powerful for me, and I also know that his badass-tough-as-nails-face-your-shit, story isn't going to resonate with all of you. To my clients, if I'm a little harder on you this week, please know I love you to pieces and its David Goggin's fault!

I kept thinking as I listened to the book, “Hmm, am I his only middle-aged female fan?” Lol!

Here’s a quick synopsis:

For David Goggins, childhood was an absolute nightmare - poverty, prejudice, learning disability, and physical and mental abuse. I almost didn’t make it through the beginning of his memoir; it was such a tough read. But through self-discipline, mental toughness, and hard work like I’ve never witnessed, Goggins transformed himself from a depressed, overweight young man going nowhere fast into a U.S. Armed Forces icon and one of the world's top endurance athletes.

David is the only man in history to complete elite training as a Navy SEAL, Army Ranger, and Air Force Tactical Air Controller, he went on to set records in numerous endurance events, inspiring Outside magazine to name him The Fittest (Real) Man in America.

In Can't Hurt Me, he shares his astonishing life story and reveals that most of us tap into only 40% of our capabilities. Goggins calls this the 40% Rule, and his story illuminates a path that anyone can follow to push past pain, demolish fear, and reach their full potential.

As you can imagine, I'm listening to the story of his abusive childhood, his three attempts of making it though navy Seal hell week, and then his harrowing stories of his long-distance endurance races, and I stopped feeling sorry for myself and started to feel a bit sheepish.

He's swimming laps in a pool with his hands and feet tied, and I'm worried about letting go of caffeine, tv and increasing my meditation. It gave me some perspective!

Some of the highlights of his message are:

“Our culture has become hooked on the quick-fix, the life hack, efficiency…If you want to master the mind … you’ll have to become addicted to hard work. Because passion and obsession, even talent, are only useful tools if you don’t have the work ethic to back them up.”
Yep, you got to show up and do the work. Every day. Period.

“In the military, we always say we don't rise to the level of our expectations; we fall to the level of our training."
That’s one of my favorite quotes from James Clear’s book Atomic Habits. Great minds think alike!

“We all need small sparks, small accomplishments in our lives to fuel the big ones. Think of your small accomplishments as kindling…because it's the small sparks, which start small fires that eventually build enough heat to burn the whole F-Bomb forest down.”
As I say to my clients: it’s one meal at a time, one work out at a time one day at a time. Today’s small accomplishment becomes next month’s or next year’s life-transformation.

“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.”
People's insensitive or unsupportive comments are usually about them, not us. Stay strong and keep your priorities front and center. You do you!

“Denial is the ultimate comfort zone.”
The proof’s in the pudding! Right? Are you doing what you need to do, what you committed to doing to reach your goals, or not? Chances are if your life feels too comfortable, you're not pushing yourself to get to where you truly need to be.

“Tell yourself the truth! That you've wasted enough time, and that you have other dreams that will take courage to realize, so you don't die an F-Bomb part-of-a-woman’s-anatomy-that-starts-with-a-“P”.
Are you guys still hanging in there? Lol!

“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.”
Do you diet, or do you eat healthfully as a lifestyle? Do you work out, or are you an athlete? Change your identity and watch your life skyrocket!

“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, …and when you live that way and attain a goal, success feels anti-climactic.”
Ask yourself, are you screwing around with your current action plan to achieve your goals because it’s a comfortable problem to have? Or, in other words, are you afraid of answering the question, “Then what?” When you get to where you say you want to be? If that’s the case, have your next challenge teed up!

“Be more than motivated, be more than driven, become literally obsessed to the point where people think you're F-Bomb nuts.”
”Why don't you sleep in, Liz? Just have that one bite of dessert, Liz! Try this wine, Liz! Skip your workout, Liz.” I hear that all the time! But when people ask me why I eat what I eat and do what I do, I simply say I'm a health nut. I'm not necessarily more motivated than anyone else, this is just what I do. No. Matter. What.

“Everyone fails sometimes, and life isn't supposed to be fair, much less bend to your every whim.”
In the Military after a mission, no matter its outcome, an After-Action Report is filled out: what went well and not so well, what did you learn, how can you do better next time. Little did I know I've been doing after-action reports with my clients, and you can do them as well. Don’t waste your failures, learn from them!

Thanks for listening to this video and for putting up with the f-bombs and the testosterone-laden sentiment and again, let me apologize to my clients If I’m extra tough on you this week, now you know why!

I’m Liz Moser, a Mayo Clinic Certified Wellness Coach, and if you have any questions about this blog, or if you have any questions about health and wellness or wellness coaching, please email me at lizm@lizmosercoaching.com.