Never Finished: Unshackle Your Mind and Win the War Within

Chapters 7 through 9 reintroduce many arguments and lessons from previous chapters, expand on them, and apply them to new situations. Likewise, Goggins’s experiences in his second Moab, the bicycle race, and smokejumping school resemble those of his earlier ultras: Difficulties threaten completion, but he resolves to do whatever necessary to finish his missions. The book’s patterns underscore Goggins’s message that resilience means Using Everything: constantly learning from difficulties and applying that knowledge to new challenges. He repeatedly refers to an individual’s “archives” of experiences, which are “dry runs for whatever comes next” (208).

Although Goggins has medical training, he portrays his knee problems in Chapter 7 for laypeople. He summarizes the many tears and defects through coarse diction, saying that the joint was “eight-ways fucked” (199). He uses the similes of his knee swelling like a water balloon and then draining like an empty, wrinkled blow-up toy. He compares his unstable patella to a hockey puck and likens his range of motion to a pendulum. The imagery establishes both the severity of the injuries and the strength of Goggins’s resolve to still report for firefighter training.

When sidelined by his dislocated knee, he employs a technique for coping with unexpected hurdles. The process piggybacks off Chapter 6’s argument for a new deep end. Goggins describes a military interpretation of the phrase, “Roger that,” as “Received, order given, expect results” (203). Goggins argues that focusing on a future goal—one not easily attained—can prevent overthinking and inaction after a setback. He uses the anecdote of a man training for a half marathon, which he knew was doable, instead of signing up for a full. Goggins recommends audacious goals in moments of struggle and uncertainty, like his physical therapy in 2020. Goggins’s audacious goal is Moab.

Goggins again concedes the inevitability of fear but uses figurative language to stress the importance of facing fear head-on. He calls fear a “seedpod” that can lead to growth, as confronting fears leads to increased confidence. His transformation from water-fearing kid to a Navy SEAL is evidence. Hiding from fears, however, causes the fears themselves to grow and limit possibilities. He uses the analogy of villagers so frozen by rumors of an unseen dragon that they do not leave their homes, and he threads this dragon-as-fear metaphor through his description of running his second Moab despite his anxiety about returning to the high altitudes. He calls the trail’s incline the dragon’s spine, on which each hump overtaken fuels his drive. Pushing forward, he becomes the knight who slays the beast, and he finds redemption at Moab.

There are layers of irony surrounding Goggins’s botched knee surgery. First, he feels he is at an unexpected physical peak beforehand. The expected improvements would have been minor, but the harm is significant. Never Finished centers on the concept that such pitfalls will blindside everyone, necessitating Goggins’s resilience ideology. However, the pitfall that makes him need his process most is the one that takes his tools from him. As a result, he is tempted by both self-pity and the comfort of quitting, both of which he warns against in preceding chapters. The order in which he sequences lessons therefore allows him to struggle with them “alongside” readers; like everything else in the book, these lessons are “never finished” but rather practices to return to as new challenges arise. He describes his distress through the sports imagery of a scrambling quarterback unable to find a play to audible during a blitz.

Goggins does not return to running until late in Chapter 8, but his first visit with Dr. Gomoll foreshadows his future as a smokejumper. When the surgeon mentions parachuting as likely being Goggins’s only post-surgical restriction, Goggins’s internal monologue notes that Dr. Gomoll does not know David Goggins, who prides himself on defying probabilities.

Goggins equates being this sort of outlier to being a self-leader in Evolution 7, discussing his former desire to have a “seat at the table” (231). This common metaphor illustrates his desire to be accepted as a leader in his field, but he expands the analogy to liken himself to a waiter observing who gets a seat and how they conduct themselves. Studying his superiors, Goggins realized many were quite ordinary, merely perpetuating established standards. Captain Connolly’s example convinced Goggins to shun the metaphorical dinner party and be an outlier pushing for the outermost limits of possibility, which he symbolizes through the atmospheric “blue-to-black line” (279).

Goggins embodies his concept of leadership at Smokejumper training in Chapter 9. He gives his all in training exercises and elevates his teammates, as Connolly did. However, he feels that his perseverance sets a more valuable example than his athletic feats. Goggins teaches the trainees resilience through example and instruction, just as he does for the reader. He even uses the same techniques, such as weaving in military elements and strategically employing profanity. That all but one of his classmates become smokejumpers bolsters the credibility of his lessons and methods.

Taking pride in realizing his smokejumper dream after setbacks, Goggins revisits the failures that preceded his successes. He then returns to the Introduction’s concept of belief and says belief neutralizes failure, making failure just another attempt. He concludes that the reader does not need to run hundreds of miles to achieve resilience but must find a personal way to learn from hardships and keep moving forward.

The post-graduation scene mirrors Goggins’s earlier descriptions of the pre-race starting lines where most people were smiling and high-fiving. As at those races, Goggins is focused on the serious task ahead of him. He never rests on past accomplishments but always looks toward the next challenge, where he will inevitably learn and grow. As the narrative closes, Goggins is undertaking his first fire jump. He looks out at the vast blaze—the many hazards, and undeniable danger, that symbolize his future life challenges—and he sees nothing but “beauty.”