The power of ‘what if I could?’
I’m currently reading David Goggin’s memoir, Can’t hurt me, and I am utterly fascinated by how this man came out of a highly abusive and tragic childhood and young adulthood, without much support and guidance, to become a force to be reckoned with in today's world. Goggins, in my mind, is the epitome of a person with a growth mindset. There are many takeaways from his memoir which I’ll save for another post, but for this post, I want to talk about one of his hacks, the power of ‘what if I could?’
In Can't hurt me, Goggins shares many gems about how anyone can turn their life around, no matter your circumstance and station in life. It does take effort and a change of mindset though. As he shares his story of pain, abuse, and failure, he invites his readers to partake in their own journey of self-discovery. The memoir at times reads like a self-help guide book with Goggins being the ultimate life-coach, which is very refreshing as most memoirs allow the reader to take a vicarious journey into the writer’s life without much impact otherwise.
In Cant hurt me, Goggins sets his readers’ different challenges at the end of each chapter. Every milestone that he reaches in his life story, and with every significant lesson that he learns, Goggins transforms it into a challenge for the readers. He calls it ‘mirroring’ what we read.
In challenge #3, we are asked to identify all the things which we ‘don't like to do’ or are uncomfortable doing, even if they are good for us. He then challenges the readers to choose one thing on the list and repeatedly perform it. When you master that, challenge yourself by taking it one step higher. Goggins calls it ‘digging down to the micro-level and doing something that sucks every day.’
Goggins’ philosophy is rooted in two fundamentals: The first is becoming comfortable with what is uncomfortable for you. It could be learning a new language, waking up early, working out, reading more, eating healthy food, drink more water, whatever your ‘don't-like-to-do’ list is. His philosophy is also rooted in the art of ‘making your weaknesses your strength.’ It's easy to applaud someone for their strengths. Perhaps yours is you're good at maths or solving crossword puzzles or freestyle painting. But how many of us make the effort at mastering our shortcomings? What if you could? How would that transform your life?
The ‘what-if-I-could’ mentality is another dimension to Goggins’ achievement at conquering his inner demons. As he explains in this clip, we need to be able to ‘imagine’ a different future for ourselves in order to achieve the impossible.
What's the one area in your life that you want to get better at but have not made the effort to improve? What if you could get it done? How would that make you feel? Can you imagine achieving your ‘impossible’ dream? Isn't it worth attempting? What's stopping you?
As Goggins reminds us, being your best ‘is a never-ending journey.’ We owe it to ourselves to find out who we can be when we show up every day and work on our shortcomings, not to gain recognition from people in our life, or get more likes on social media, but for our own pleasure. We can and should ‘constantly rewrite our book, every day of our life.’
