Living with a SEAL: 31 Days Training with the Toughest Man on the Planet by Jesse Itzler.

4/5 rating. 255 pages.

Book #87 of 2020. Read December 21, 2020.

This is the tale of Jesse’s month of having one of the most badass people on the entire planet come and live with him (David Goggins, writer of “Can’t Hurt Me”).

After seeing SEAL (who is referred to as such throughout the book, as his identify was only confirmed many years after its writing) compete in two different hundred mile footraces, Jesse decides he has to figure out a way to have SEAL come live with him to mix things up, get in amazing shape, and learn everything he can from this god of a man. SEAL is an absolute monster and an unbelievable physical specimen – both of which I say with utmost awe and respect.

This book is motivational by seeing what Jesse experiences in the workouts with SEAL, but it’s also just hilarious! Between anecdotes from Jesse’s life, and SEAL’s laconic word-choice (going back to the original sense of the word for Spartan warriors), I couldn’t help laughing out loud as I read some of the ridiculousness these two go through.

Beware that about half of SEAL’s vocabulary consists of curse-words, but this is a quick, fun read that I would recommend for a little push as we get into the resolution time of the year.

A few of SEAL’s best quotes:

“I don’t do shit for applauses. I don’t do shit for fanfare. I do shit for me.”

“When you think you’re done, you’re only at forty percent of what your body is capable of doing. That’s just the limit that we put on ourselves.”

“Whatever you got going on, someone else has more pain. You gotta learn how to fight through it.”

“Know what’s important to you and protect it at all costs.”

“If you don’t challenge yourself, you don’t know yourself.”

Other Quotes:

“Many of us live our lives on autopilot.”

“I don’t believe in résumés in the traditional sense, I believe in life résumés. Do more. Create memories.”

“Every day do something that makes you uncomfortable.”

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