Never Finished is yet another memoir by David Goggins. While this autobiography can be enjoyed as a standalone book, it assumes that the reader is already familiar with David Goggin’s story and his first book Can’t Hurt Me.

In his first book, Goggins describes how he overcame a traumatic childhood, mental disability, and health issues to defy odds and more. He is now a retired Navy SEAL, accomplished endurance athlete, Advanced Emergency Technician, public speaker, and wildland firefighter.

It enhances the previous book by elaborating and providing insight into earlier overlooked events. There is a great balance between introducing new topics and improving old ones.

In his previous book, Goggins introduced tips after every chapter to improve yourself such as journaling, compartmentalizing your day, visualizing, and using an “accountability mirror”. Unlike these more straightforward “Challenges” that Goggins used, this book provides “Evolutions”. These are not simple quick-fix habits. Instead, they present ideas for you to question yourself, and change for the better. Some of these ideas are summarized below:

• “The Winners Mentality” – Find strength and energy in everything, even in defeat
• “One-Second Decision” – In the moment of suffering, we often forget our goals and feel the need to quit. No matter how long you have been working, moments of weakness and strength are counted in seconds. So, take a knee and evaluate the situation.
• “Trained Humility” – Be humble enough to accept that you will never know everything, and let that fuel you to grow more.
• “Foxhole Mentality” – Small minds and weak people kill dreams, so surround yourself with those who support and push you to be your best.

While small habits are the key to getting started, deeply improving yourself through your mindset and values is the next step.

One of the final ideas that I enjoyed was the idea that there are no “part-time savages”. Many might work hard hoping that when they achieve their goal they can finally rest. Goggins says, “When you are always on the grind, you think there will come a time when the rough road…will smooth out, but that is never the case.” When you finally reach the top of the mountain, there might be another taller one waiting for you.

Goggins makes it clear that while he has achieved great success, his journey is still not over. Shortly after the success of his first book, he had a heart scare which forced him to take another break from endurance events. Even though he had done so much, and his heart condition gave him a reason to stop, Goggins knew that he could do more.

Overall, Never Finished by David Goggins is another amazing read, fit for anyone who would like to improve themselves in any aspect of life.

Never Finished by David Goggins is available to checkout from the Mission Viejo Library.