Jocko Willink 2019 – The Most Motivational Talk EVER!! WARRIOR MINDSET!
the fear of getting shot or killed is
not on your mind when you’re in the
moment you know it’ll build up when
you’re waiting to go out you know
there’s times you’re waiting to go out
and do it thinking yourself okay there’s
a lot of bad things going on out there
and something would happen to me but I
think at some point you you realize that
there’s nothing you can do about that I
mean other than just quit and and just
resign yourself to a life of cowardice
but if you opt to not do that and you
step up and say okay I’m ready and if I
die I die and once you overcome that
then
nothing else to be afraid of there’s no
one that wishes for peace more than
people that have been to war because
when the war drums sound it’s my friends
that are going to fight that’s that’s
who’s gonna fight it’s my friends that
are going to to put their lives on the
line so when the when the war drums
sound the people that have been to war
are the ones that actually say let’s
think about this first
because like I said before and like
everyone says all the time and they say
it like it’s no big deal but war is hell
when you take a 18 year old kid and
you’re gonna go put him in a situation
where he’s gonna have to kill people and
possibly get wounded or possibly get
killed himself that’s traumatic
experience and so before you do that you
should think about why you’re doing it
and understand if if the people have the
will to fight and the will to fight as
I’ve said many times before the well the
fight is the will to kill and it’s the
well to die and those are some pretty
big Wills that you need to have I take
that same young man that wants to be SC
you know the guys that wanna be like
Jocko one
what do you tell that that twenty year
old that sees this thing and says I want
to go do that well first of all don’t
try and be like me be better than me
crushing me make me look like a baby
that’s what we that’s what you do and
and don’t don’t talk about it don’t Mull
it over don’t plan for it just get after
it you get after it make it happen
to use your force of will to make it
happen as a human being the strongest
thing you’ve got is your force of will
so take that force of will and make that
happen
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what I had on my side was I had
experience and I had paid attention to
my elders when I was a kid and when I
was getting trained and there was no war
going on and it was the 90s and I’d hear
a guy you know someone whose name you’ll
never hear but a guy that if you’re in
the SEAL Teams you know who that person
is because they were a legit badass
Vietnam war hero you’d hear them say
something I would hear them say
something and I would collect that and I
would hang on to it
that’s what prepared me was that
experience of growing up with listening
to my elders the SEAL team Doctrine
wasn’t written down anywhere it was all
word of mouth and and passed down from
generation to generation that way and
making sure that you’re not being cocky
making sure that you don’t have the
attitude that you talked about earlier
of you know we’re always gonna be better
than the enemy we’re always gonna win
because you’re not always in the way and
especially if you think you’re always
gonna win then you’re not gonna prepare
that the way you should you’re not gonna
give everything you can to your training
and making sure that you are prepared
for that moment when it comes and it
might come once on a deployment it might
not come on the deployment and it might
come on a daily basis the centuries that
are trying to hold down the fort and
protect would take cover from all this
all this enemy fire that was coming at
them in would come a big suicide
vehicle-borne IEDs truckful truck loaded
bomb and they would just drive right
into the compound and detonate
themselves and kill dozens of people and
they did that on multiple occasions they
did it times where they did it to
multiple areas at the same time so
that’s how coordinated the enemy was
they were they knew what they were doing
were you impressed by them
will you ever like I didn’t expect that
to happen or did you ever have a respect
for their tactics I absolutely always
had respect I respect the enemy
absolutely and the minute you’re not
showing respect to the enemy and their
capabilities is again that’s a lacking
knowing and it’s gonna get you killed
you know they you you have to respect
your enemy at all times yeah I always
want to be a commando ever since I was a
little kid and I heard that the seals
were really tough and that the training
was really tough and then you know once
you get in everyone makes a big deal out
of buds that’s but it’s it’s in the SEAL
Teams it’s no big deal
everyone goes through it you get cold
you get wet
whatever you do a bunch of push-ups and
pull-ups and dips
anyone that gets to the SEAL Teams and
does deployments overseas and has a real
career if they’re not talking about buds
training doesn’t mean it just doesn’t
mean
HIDA guy that was you know n-c-double-a
water polo team captain champion
equipped and I had a guy that was an
Olympic ultimate gymnast any quick just
because someone’s a good physical
athlete it doesn’t mean that they’re a
good seal because being a good seal is a
lot more than just being a good athlete
being a good athlete is like the
baseline and it’s everything that you’ve
learned to do after that
a good leader a guy that’s tactically
sound a guy that makes good decisions
guy that’s good under pressure a guy
that doesn’t ever give up on trying to
accomplish submission those are the
things that makes you
so you’re always learning and growing
and I was always learning until the day
I retired because it’s not a boom this
happened and everything changes it’s a
constant addition of skillset and
repetition of situations where you
become competent and your job
almost immediately we’re going to
memorial services for army guys Marines
that are killed which you know was a
rude awakening so that’s that’s the
welcome to Ramadi the welcome to Ramadi
is you know you’re gonna go and pay your
respects to some guys that were just
killed and and there’s firefights in the
city so we’re we’re just across the
river from the city
there’s firefights in the city all day
there’s firefights in the city all night
we’re on the rooftop of our building you
sit there and watch tracer fire go back
and forth we’re shot at from you know
across the riverbank
there’s yeah it was it was legit it was
legit combat it was a legit bad scenario
with sustained combat operations how do
you lead your men through that when you
know they’re dealing with not only the
funerals which definitely take a
psychological toll but then even that
just constant firefighting over there I
mean do you have to switch up your gear
and think okay I got a lead stronger or
maybe a little easier in certain
scenarios are you changing yes you do
have to modulate your your leadership
and you have to do that if you’re in the
business world you have to do that if
you’re leading any kind of team you’ve
got to modulate and you’ve got to
recognize when your guys need to be
pushed and when your guys need to be not
pushed and given arrest so you’re
constantly doing that regardless of what
kind of team you’re leading and in
combat like you know I say all the time
it’s amplified because if you push your
guys too hard in combat they’re gonna
break you know whereas in business so
maybe they make errors on something or
maybe they do snap I mean it does happen
in the business world where people like
can’t take it anymore but in combat will
happen very quickly and and so you know
you do you’re constantly modulating and
and taking measure of where your guys
are at and you know sometimes I didn’t
do
great job of that sometimes I went a
little far and said oh well I just saw
the look on that guy’s face he needs a
rest and I should have recognized that
earlier and you know you make mistakes
no doubt and whether your mission is go
out and capture kill bad guys or your
mission is to produce something or sell
something or manufacture something or
design something trying to get that team
to be unified behind a plan and execute
it efficiently it doesn’t matter what
the mission is you’re still dealing with
human beings you’re still dealing with
people whether you’re in the SEAL Teams
or whether you’re in the army or the
Marine Corps the people that are working
for you are not robots they’re people
and you cannot give them orders and
expect them to just execute like a robot
what if the military is like that then
military leadership would be the easiest
thing in the world you know my guys
wouldn’t just do what I told them
because I outrank them and they I kind
of get that funny look I don’t let me
ask you this I’m here cuz your employees
aren’t doing what you want them to do
right can you just fire them don’t they
work for you aren’t they supposed to
follow you because you’re in charge and
you write their paycheck but all of a
sudden they’re not doing what you tell
them to do why is that it’s the same
exact reason because they’re people and
guess what people want to own their own
destiny they want to be in charge of
what’s happening they want to take
ownership they want to create the plan
that’s how they want to go through life
they want to go through life being
treated like a robot they want to be
treated like a human so don’t talk to me
about what was easy for you because you
had these highly trained highly
disciplined you know terminator robots
that work for you not true in fact the
opposite I had a bunch of hard-headed
you know the guys that you talked about
it a bunch of hard-headed very
determined thick-skulled guys that you
know I had to get them to do what I
wanted them to do had to get them to
want to do what I wanted him to do I had
to make them think that it was what they
wanted to do that’s the goal
that’s what leadership is and the worst
year plan is thought out the less
response you’re gonna get and just like
in business world the less input I get
from you as we create this plan the less
apt you are to execute it correctly so
when when it comes time when you have to
go execute something I want you to plan
it I’m not gonna plan it for you I want
you to plan it now I’m gonna come and
check out your plan and we’ll
collaborate to make sure it’s the best
plan because maybe I have more
experience than you or maybe I have some
strategic vision that you don’t have but
I want you to plan it that way you own
it and if you own it when you go to
execute it you’re gonna put that much
more effort into it that that’s hard to
quantify but that’s real that is real if
you come up with a plan
you’re gonna put more effort and more
pride in executing that plan then if I
come up with a plan and I give it to you
and tell you to execute it that’s just a
reality I don’t I don’t care who you are
that’s a reality ordering people to do
things does not work you actually have
to meet them in it another buzzword out
there is this is accountability you know
you gotta be accountable you gotta be
you gotta hold your people accountable
and and to me accountability is a tool
it’s it’s a it’s a tool of leadership
but it’s not the primary tools
leadership it’s actually a crutch it’s
actually a tool to use when you don’t
pull off leadership correctly so what
you wanna do I you know III talk about
this all the time I didn’t hold my guys
accountable I didn’t do you know walk
down the line and inspect what they were
doing and no I didn’t have to hold them
accountable they wanted to do the right
thing they wanted to do what was aligned
with the mission I had to hold them back
never mind make them do it and that’s
what leadership is it’s not about
accountability it’s about leading and
getting them to lead themselves and
getting them to take ownership of things
that’s what that’s that’s when you know
you’ve succeeded as a leader well you’re
just about out of a job when you’re
sitting back and you don’t have to do
anything because your frontline troops
and your subordinate leadership is
making things happen with almost no
effort from you and the only time you
have to step
when something’s going sideways or you
see something getting off-track you got
a step back then there but the ideal is
that you can sit back observe start
looking at what the other strategy is
what what to do next
other problems other parts the world but
you can just let your people do what
they want to do because they want to do
it not because you have to breathe down
their shoulder and hold them accountable
not the way to leave you feel like your
life is going to last a long time
and if I was to talk to my 26 year old
self I would tell that kid that you
don’t have time and and you really you
don’t know when it’s gonna end and so
get out there and do the things you want
to do get out there and get after them
now don’t wait another second take
advantage of it get out there and live
and strive to be better because the life
you’ve got which I just said was a gift
it is a gift so live it
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