Never Finished: Unshackle Your Mind and Win the War Within

Never Finished belongs in the hybrid genre of the self-help memoir. Goggins relates life events, which share the common topic of overcoming hardships, and pairs these stories with improvement exercises for the reader. He also toggles between first-person past tense and the imperative mood as he blends memory and instruction.

However, Never Finished also subverts characteristic features of traditional memoirs and self-help books. Autobiographical works by big achievers appeal to readers seeking a glimpse into an extraordinary, unfamiliar life, and Goggins’s accounts of running ultramarathons offer that. At the same time, by focusing on his biggest setbacks—and comparing them to everyday difficulties—Goggins seeks to make his story relatable in a way many celebrities’ memoirs do not. Likewise, he did not undertake his exceptional feats, such as running 240-mile races, to fill the pages of a book, as when memoirists adopt eccentric projects to publish results—a practice and genre often called “stunt nonfiction.” Never Finished repeatedly asserts that Goggins pursues athletic achievements for internal rewards, not attention, and that he is sharing them to help others find such benefits for themselves.

Survivor memoirs, such as stories of overcoming abuse or health problems—as Goggins did—can serve as catharsis for the author, and Goggins admits that the process of writing about his life helped him process past traumas “one last time” (52). He argues, however, that he only achieved his successes because he had already dealt with his difficulties. As facing demons and embracing Personal Accountability and Fault are central to Goggins’s philosophy, the benefits of writing about his life serve not as the book’s motivation but rather as proof that Goggins’s methods are effective.

Like traditional self-help books, Never Finished includes exercises and calls for action, as well as motivational and persuasive rhetoric. However, unlike staples of the genre, Goggins’s book does not promise the reader ease or the alleviation of pain. In fact, it repeatedly guarantees the reader that hard times are waiting around the corner, ready to strike at any moment. As he is relaying stories of grueling, agonizing endurance feats, the advice Goggins offers involves “embracing the suck” to realize one’s full potential (93).

Furthermore, while Goggins’s extraordinary physical feats make him an unsurprising author of a how-to book—many works in this genre are written by high achievers who share expertise in their chosen pursuits—the advice in Never Finished does not focus on a specific topic like running or fitness. Goggins details his training and performance but also speaks of overcoming abuse and racism. The result, Goggins implies, is a universal method of developing resistance that the reader can apply to any adversity.