This article is an excerpt from the Shortform book guide to "Can't Hurt Me" by David Goggins. Shortform has the world's best summaries and analyses of books you should be reading.
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What is an accountability mirror? How can you use an accountability mirror to better yourself?
The accountability mirror is David Goggins’ method of making sure he achieves his goals. Goggins put post-it notes on his mirror, and used the mirror as a way to check-in with himself, and to give himself pep talks.
Read more about the accountability mirror and how it works.
Accountability Mirror
One day, Goggins change his life. When Goggins looked in the mirror, he felt frustrated with who he saw that day—a kid with few prospects who wouldn’t be able to make it into the Air Force without getting tough with himself and changing his behavior. He resolved to get into the Air Force by improving his reading skills and studying for the test.
To do this, he decided to use the mirror as a device to hold himself accountable and reach his goals. Each night, he wrote his goals for the next day down on Post-it notes and placed them on the mirror. Then, he’d make sure he worked toward his goals each day. Often, this involved giving himself a tough talk about what he needed to do and why. For example, he’d call himself out for being stupid and say he needed to study to fix that. He found this method more motivating than being gentle with himself. This was the beginning of David Goggin’s accountability mirror.
During his senior year, he focused on studying and being in good physical shape. After he failed the Air Force entry test a second time, his mom connected him with a tutor. His tutor taught him to use memorization to learn, and he’d read textbooks and copy them, greatly improving his knowledge of reading and algebra.
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Here's what you'll find in our full Can't Hurt Me summary :
- What a Navy SEAL says about pushing yourself to achieve greatness
- How to put in more effort to realize your potential
- The 10 challenges you can take on to reach your goals
