THE BEST SPEECHES BY JOCKO WILLINK – AMAZING MOTIVATION
the immediate impression that everyone
would consider me and I hear this all
the time yeah is that jakka would allow
no slack whatsoever no mercy on anything
right you’re out of you’re out of
regulations I’m gonna drop the hammer on
you well the fact the matter is that
doesn’t work as a leader in the military
you know people wear patches on their
uniforms
well the SEAL Teams has a reputation for
being very unprofessional don’t really
know how to wear our uniforms well we
don’t wear our uniforms a lot we have
mix and match gear we buy civilian gear
we wear that we just have a bad
reputation and one of the things that
once the war started and we started
getting these high-speed camouflage
uniforms with Velcro everywhere well
guys started making their own patches
and the patches were you know some of
them were just cool you know whatever
some skull or a knife or whatever you
own bet you guys make their own patches
here’s here’s a typical one there’s one
that guys would make that’s a fun meter
and it would be a meter that’s pegged
like okay we’re maxed out on the fun
here that’s a typical kind of the type
of thing that people would make well I
knew from working with the conventional
forces that the way you appear in a
uniform is very important you know
you’re in the army especially at an
Airborne Division I mean you wear the
same PT uniform you wear the same
uniform you a squared away all the time
that’s the way it is yeah and I knew
that also soldiers and officers in the
army and Marines and Marine Corps when
they look at someone that’s how the
uniform they look at that person system
Agee this guy can’t even put on a
uniform right how am I can trust him out
on the battlefield that’s just the
mindset that they have it’s a good
mindset right if you don’t have
attention to detail on that stuff that’s
a problem well in SEAL Teams were real
slack about that I said to my guys look
we’re not wearing patches no patches and
my two platoon commanders they said okay
you don’t find no patches we won’t wear
patches but they really wanted to wear
patches so behind my back
they went and they got patches made
tasking a bruise or patches what they
would do is if they were going on an
operation that I wasn’t going on when
they’d roll out the wire they’d make a
call on the radio and say patches on and
they’d pull up their patches and put
their patches on they basically
disobeyed a direct order from me would
have been fine except for there was a
certain operation that they went on
there was an embedded photographer and
the pictures came back and I had all the
pictures and I see all my guys with
patches that I told not to wear you know
what I did
I didn’t do anything you didn’t bring it
up I didn’t bring it up I realized
number one we were fighting in a very
hard environment where troops were
getting wounded he killed every single
bit or will you at this time we were
Ramadi ok for me to focus my leadership
capital on something that small was a
complete waste of my leadership capital
number two I realized that these guys
that was a boost in their morale that
made them feel like a tighter unit they
gave these patches out the army guys
that was a big deal for them and it
meant a lot too and so for me to go in
and rip that morale away from him would
have been a down step in their vision of
me and their respect for me and it would
have antagonized our relationship I
didn’t come out and say hey guys I saw
the patches you’re fine to wear him and
Lafe was talking about this you know he
thought I was just gonna drop the hammer
on him and I didn’t say anything and the
guys continue to do it and it was not a
big deal now they didn’t wear any
inappropriate patches the patches that
they wore were all the same so it was
uniform but the answer to your question
which is probably the opposite of what a
lot of people think I’m gonna say is
like what are you gonna waste your
leadership capital on now
the other side of the spectrum if you
get someone that’s doing something
that’s illegal bets immoral that’s
that’s strategic that’s gonna impact you
strategically yeah I will not bail Jon
on something that is that important to
me I want to tell you something else and
I want to make this clear don’t just
listen don’t just listen do um I’m not
just talking so you know I’m not just
talking I’m doing and I don’t want you
to just listen to put this information
to work make
today count every day go forward get
aggressive and attack whether it’s on
the battlefield or on the beat or in the
factory or on the farm or on the
construction site or on the website in
the garage or in the firehouse
don’t hesitate step step forward it get
after it so if you’re working for me I
say hey you know I want you to do this
mission Patrick come up with a plan I’m
showing you that I trust what your plans
gonna be now I’m gonna I’m gonna make
sure that your plan is good I’m gonna
review it but I’m gonna give you a lot
of autonomy I’m gonna give you trust and
when I give you trust what’s your
reaction you think yourself this guy
trust me yep and then the way I build
trust and reverses when you make a
mistake instead of me jumping down your
throat and hanging you out to dry
instead I say okay you know what my
fault I should have given I should give
you a better direction here’s what we do
the next time so now you look at me you
go hey I screwed this thing up and jock
would still trust me I trust him and
that’s how I build trust I give it you
give it I give trust to build trust if
I’m really putting in effort but my plan
may be not the best plan you’re still
gonna give me second chances to work on
and get better at it I will micromanage
you more I can’t trust you as much if we
do a business deal or we’re in business
I don’t send you out with the biggest
client I’ve got when you when I just met
you and say hey I trust you know I’ll
give you a little client and I say hey
go go don’t make this happen and you
come back and you say hey look I did it
I say great and you trust me a little
bit more
or maybe you screw that one up and I say
okay let me review what you do what
mistakes got made and you say oh well I
did this and okay we correct that but I
don’t I don’t come down hard on you
because I’m trying to build a
relationship with you if I come down
hard on you do you even want to work for
me do you even wanna be if I come down
this is pathetic you screwed this up
this is your fault
you’re looking for another job tomorrow
whereas if I say okay let’s look at what
we can do better then I’m building the
trust but can you know you might be very
trustworthy for many years and then all
of a sudden you go out and you do
something on at hand with a client you
try and rip them off or rip me off yeah
I mean we’re not gonna have trust for me
anymore I need a mission we all need a
mission that’s what life should be is a
mission that’s what gives your life
purpose and focus and drive and
ultimately satisfaction now
that mission can be the job you work at
it can be providing for your family or
it can be getting better at jujitsu or
stronger at Olympic lifting or starting
a business that you want to grow and
build and take over the world and
sometimes people ask me what to do if
they don’t know what their mission is or
what their mission should be and I tell
them if they’re in that situation to go
help someone go help someone else make
that your mission because that will make
you better and it’ll make the world
better and eventually from that you’ll
see what your mission is no matter how
bad it is going to be when there is a
challenge and by a challenge I mean
anything in life any any challenge
anything that you’re facing the only way
to overcome the challenges that you face
is to start walking take that step every
day no matter what you are facing get up
and start walking
you’ve lived a life dominated by doubt
and fear how do you step into bravery
step that’s how you step into bravery
step take the step step aggressively
towards your fear and that that step
towards your fear is the step into
bravery
because we’re / scared of what we don’t
know and there’s only one way to learn
and to know and that is to confront that
fear you have to step you have to go and
this simple action
this simple attitude it answers so many
questions so many questions how do you
get to the gym every day you step you go
how do you how do you change your diet
you step you go how do you overcome fear
of failure fear of success or or fear of
fear itself you step and how do you face
the fear of the unknown your step don’t
wait anymore don’t think anymore don’t
plan anymore don’t contemplate anymore
don’t make any more excuses or
justifications don’t rationalize
anything else no no and no instead
be aggressive take action now and what
is the first action that you need to
take what’s the first step you need to
take the first step you need to take is
just that step
when I was a little tiny kid you know
five six the only thing I can remember
was wanting to be some kind of commando
you knew that from that point from from
birth basic we’re not was it because
pops or an uncle or grandfather was in a
military or and father was in the army
and he was retired from the army but
that wasn’t really it I just
instinctively was putting camouflage on
my face and carrying on sticks and
carving them to look like machine guns
when I was a little kid for no reason so
that’s just kind of now are you from a
big family do you have siblings two
sisters two sisters an older one younger
they also go into military or not at all
so just you just me so from five years
old you know so when you won in high
school everybody’s asking you what are
you gonna do after high school you knew
you’re going in the military yep
yeah I see this a lot guys will hit me
up girls will hit me up something went
wrong with a client I stepped in I took
ownership they thanked me problem solved
got it squared away I kid people are
surprised people are surprised that it
works people are surprised that it works
and again just to make sure everybody
knows that alone doesn’t work you still
have to problem solve the problem
without you cause with the client right
right you you you gave them what they
needed late or it’s gonna be late and
now you say it’s my fault that doesn’t
mean that you don’t need to get it to em
ASAP and make up some corrective
measures and lower the price to do
something so that it makes up for the
problem but the worst thing you can say
is well you specify exactly what you
wanted in the order and therefore we
couldn’t get you what you wanted on time
okay we’re never coming back for
business skin and we’re angry this whole
time and I’m gonna short you money when
we pay you in anyways if I pay you at
all the next time you get into a
situation and you write down are you
techniques the excuses and the reasons
that you come up with look at them
and then figure out how they were how
those things were actually your fault
and/or how you could have prevented them
because a lot of times it’s like here’s
here’s a here’s one hey boss we didn’t
get the mission accomplished because the
weather rolled in and we couldn’t launch
on the mission that’s that’s the problem
now we all know that we don’t control
the weather
when you write the problem down we
failed the mission because we didn’t
control the weather we can’t control the
weather that’s why we failed the mission
that’s my excuse that’s a that’s a
logical reason there’s two deaths that’s
a that’s a legitimate excuse but don’t
use it what you do is you say what could
I have done to have controlled the
weather okay okay wait I can’t control
the weather what could I have done I
could have come up with a contingency
plan I could have come up we could have
staged in a better place so then you go
to the boss and you say look boss here’s
what happened the weather went south
really bad that was a problem but it’s a
problem that I should have done a better
job taking care of what I should have
done was I should have had a contingency
plan I should have staged closer to the
target area that I could have taken
vehicles instead of helicopters that’s
my fault
from now on I will absolutely have a
secondary plan this won’t happen again
we can’t control the weather but we can
control how we plan and how we execute
and this won’t happen again there you go
so you take the most outrageous thing
that you know you can’t control you
figure out a way to control it
and you take ownership of that thing and
it is gonna free it’s gonna make your
life so much better and by the way the
next time you have a mission and you
plan that contingency and you actually
execute and implement what you said
you’re gonna do guess what you will
accomplish the mission that there’s a
whole part of ownership that preempts
the problem if you’ve got someone that
knows if I know that I can make an
excuse if I know that I can make an
excuse then guess what I’m not gonna set
things up properly if I don’t set things
up properly mmm more often or more often
than the other way I will fail to do
execute what I’m supposed to execute if
you have an excuse right same same thing
with you as an individual human being if
you as an individual human being if you
got some excuses that you can throw out
there that you can say I had no control
over that then you know what you say
okay what are my contingency plans what
could I have planned differently
let’s eliminate those excuses take
ownership of your freaking life
[Music]
it’s not easy to identify the enemy in
combat in war so what you have to do is
you have to control what you can control
right you got to be prepared you’ve got
to train you’ve got to study
you’ve got to rehearse you’ve got to
remain vigilant you’ve got to maintain
discipline and everything you do so that
when the enemy does reveal itself you
have the ability to think it to out
maneuver to out fight the enemy and it’s
actually the same thing in business
right the enemy can be hard to identify
your competitors aren’t broadcasting
their next move you don’t know what the
markets gonna do you can’t be certain
about the next trend or the next
downturn for the next bubble that’s
gonna burst you can’t know those things
so you have to do the same thing you
have to control what you can control
which is you gotta gather intelligence
you got to analyze the metrics that you
can track you got to train yourself and
your team to be prepared for both the
known and also be prepared for the
unknown figure out what the likely
contingencies are then have some plans
to execute if those contingencies occur
maintain discipline as an organization
so that you have the flexibility and the
responsiveness to maneuver effectively
and efficiently when the unpredictable
actually happens so instead of suffering
and falling apart in the chaos you can
take advantage of it and win and that’s
business and life is the same the enemy
is not always clear in life it can be
hard to tell who’s gonna try and bring
you now or what is going to bring you
down there’s distractions there are
things out there that will do
you harm that are so camouflaged you
can’t see them at all
there are deceitful people there are
accidents that can occur and diseases
that take root and there’s bad luck and
there’s Murphy’s lawn there’s times when
it seems that the whole world is against
you the whole world is the enemy and the
same rules apply control what you can’t
control
you train hard learn maintain the
unmitigated daily discipline in all
things it’s getting interviewed the
other day some interview and the guy
said something about like um you know
it’s impressive how quickly you’ve built
your brand right and I looked at him and
I said I’m not a brand I’m a person I’m
a person what I’m doing is not what I’m
doing so that I can leverage people what
I do is just me and I’m just a person so
if you asked me if I would wear a
rainbow t-shirt I wouldn’t know I’ve
asked you to wear lots of stuff would
you have if and if you asked me but but
that’s not because of I’m trying to be
something it’s because that’s who I am
right and I have been I had one of my
bros who I hadn’t seen in a while
and he we met at a little place we’d go
to in San Diego and I hadn’t seen him in
a year and a half and he comes walking
in and he sees me and I’m wearing the
same thing that I always wear our jeans
a victory black t-shirt and he walks in
and he see and a fight was wintertime
and I was wearing a flannel like a
whatever like a we do England yeah like
a New England but like cheap whatever
flannel with the quilt inside of it you
know and um he sees me and like when he
sees me and this is kind of you know
after the books and the podcast he’s
another seal so he suspect and he sees
me and I see his face and his face like
gets a happy when he sees me and he and
he comes over and like does like a bro
hug and he says probably you’re exactly
the same and I was like yeah man and he
goes I knew it and like that to me was
the best compliment
I’ll ever get is like okay no matter
what happens I’m not a brand I’m not
doing anything for you know any other
reason other than it’s just me and
that’s just just what I’m doing and if
people are cool with it man that’s
awesome
I’m still
ever okay to violate core values to
achieve a goal okay so first of all
really obvious your values and your
goals should be aligned they should not
be adversarial they shouldn’t be
countered to each other and if you think
about what your goals are your goals
should be set up in a way that they
support your values and vice-versa
that’s just the way it is so I’m not
sure where this is gonna be an issue if
you’re setting up goals that are
contrary to your values you’ve got some
issues now I guess if you had the goal
of winning the blue belt jiu-jitsu
championships and in order to win you
you cheated like you claimed someone was
reaping your leg and use it all you tap
and you get the guy to qualified and you
win that’s could be an example right
yeah now do I support that no you know
that’s wrong you you go in against the
values of actually the values of martial
arts to do that so you didn’t win
anything and you didn’t achieve your
goal because you weren’t actually the
best so I say no on that one uh another
one let’s say you wanted to make a
certain level of profit at your company
so you cheated a little bit on the
quality of the manufacturing and you
sold items that weren’t quite reliable
do I support that no right for animal
and why let me tell you why because your
goal your goal is not even aligned with
your goal itself because when you start
making substandard manufactured items
what’s gonna happen in the long run keep
I’m gonna say we don’t like these yeah
we’re not gonna buy them anymore so you
didn’t win you might have wanted the
short term but you didn’t win and and
again you’re going against your value
you should have values that you don’t
want to you know take profit over making
good product and again in the long run
that value is gonna cost you right
people aren’t gonna want to buy your
product anymore
can’t this is an expression that is
vilified in our minds beginning at a
young age
every time a young child announces this
decision they are corrected the first
adult that hears it asked them whether
or not they have even tried generally
this confrontation will result in the
child giving their task
another attempt until their attention
span moves on to something else the
adult will see this and chuckle to
themselves with knowledge that this is
just a child who is yet to learn the art
of art and virtue of perseverance by the
time this child comes of age however
they will have been told by adults more
times than they could count that there
is no such thing as can’t
it is interesting then to think about
how many adults seem to proclaim this
expression in their lives it is because
is it because like many things that
adults tell children they are simply
telling the child a general rule that
the child must follow but can be broken
once one has grown or is it because
these adults are simply repeating what
they were told as children without
thoroughly examining what the phrase I
can’t truly suggests if you confronted
an adult that claims they can’t do
something with the same question about
whether or not they have tried the
answer will almost always be yes adults
have learned enough to know that it is
unreasonable to say they can’t until
they have at least tried once therefore
the real question that we should be
asking in responses have you tried
everything have you exhausted every
possible option scenario combination
tool and approach I do not simply refer
to the ones that you knew of at the time
he decided to undertake your task I mean
have you read also researched
possibilities that you had known about
have you determined whether or not there
is another person out there that has
performed the exact same task you are
attempting or at least something similar
have you exhausted this research have
you read every book blog journal
magazine bath
room stall and website if the answer to
any of these questions is no then go
back and try again
because if you don’t because you don’t
truly know if you can do something until
you’ve tried absolutely everything the
fact of the matter is that rarely if
ever is the answer to all these
questions yes therefore what is it that
people actually mean when they say I
can’t a more accurate but more verbose
way of saying it would be I don’t care
about or want enough this task or the
resultant benefits of it in order to do
all that is necessary to achieve it I
was told countless numbers of times by
people during my month of marathons that
they couldn’t run one marathon let alone
31 straight every now and then when I
had time I would discuss what they’d
said we would jointly conclude that if
something they cared about and depended
on them doing so it would be possible
the most common example I used was if
someone had a gun to your child’s head
do you think you could do it then
therefore the phrase I can’t denotes a
lack of investment as opposed to a lack
of potential or ability I do not mean to
say that every person I had this
conversation with should have had the
motivation to run marathons it was
something that I decided to do not them
I merely wanted to express to them what
I am expressing here given the right
purpose and enough time you can
[Music]
I’m a veteran of the infantry and when I
took over a fire team for the first time
I made the mistake of drawing hard lines
in the sand this immediately alienated
members of that team if you draw a lot
hard lines in the sand and eventually
you realize that they’re either
unrealistic or people can’t maintain
them you’ve set yourself up for failure
what is that exactly like joy so it’s no
matter what we will not that bla bla bla
yeah there’s the leg no matter what we
will we will win every single Road marks
that we do as a fire team in this while
we’re while we’re here on this training
thing okay well guess what that’s a
that’s hard real there’s other there’s
some other fire teams that are also want
to win and and so you’ve drawn a hard
line of sand that’s not really a good
example of a good example it’s like no
matter what we’re gonna muster every
morning at 4:30 in the morning mmm no
matter what and you know then the guys
are out on patrol until 2:30 8 in the
morning and now the next morning a good
no matter what well it’s it’s not good
for them it’s unrealistic so you do a
hard line in the sand and now you got to
back it down so and all you have to do
is soften the statement a little bit hey
guys
to the best of our ability if we can
we’re gonna get here every morning at
4:30 from muster there’s a little
there’s a little room to play there
right and that’s that’s fine so again I
I there’s there’s not a lot of there’s
not a question here but one of the
reasons I think that that I wanted to
talk about it was because I think people
look at me
yeah and even hear me on a peripheral
level and they think all I bet Chuck
will just lay down the hard night it’s
my way or the highway right yeah and and
the opposite is actually true and the
reason that I came to that conclusion
was because I worked for leaders like
that and I hated working for leaders
like that so I tried to never be a
leader like that
everyone that’s out there grinding
working driving trucks pouring concrete
hammering on a project building bridges
or building software sewing some
garments or sewing of field farmers
factory workers engineers electricians
plumbers and pilots and ground crew and
cooks and waitresses to everyone out
there working hard and listening to this
and just trying to get yourself a little
bit better today than you were yesterday
thanks for listening
and as you meet struggles and as you
struggle to stay on the path first of
all remember you don’t have to fight
alone reach out to your comrades in arms
[Music]
call for fire support when you need it
we win the wars because we stick
together and when we stick together we
can overcome any enemy and the struggles
that you face when they when they do try
to flank you do what Jodie did do what a
soldier does turned into the ambush turn
toward the enemy fire and attack
it is to people all the time most
important here is it isn’t me get to you
and sure you may have grabbed some
little foothold from the podcast or from
one of the books but it isn’t me that
changes you it’s you you set the small
goals you achieve those goals then set
some more and achieve those and set some
more goals maybe a little bit bigger but
not that much bigger just start to start
small start with changing tomorrow
morning just tomorrow morning get that
squared away and then move on to the
next day and the next and move your life
to a better place one little step one
little victory at a time how do self
awareness self assessment and self
improvement begin and how do they
continue over time try to imagine the
way other people see you and what other
people are thinking of you and one place
where this happens and it definitely
happened to me is when I started getting
put in charge of things I started
thinking about other people’s
perspectives what what are they seeing
if you’re in charge then what are your
subordinates see you do what are your
subordinates hear you say what kind of
representation are they receiving in if
you work for someone else it’s the same
questions what does the boss see me do
what does the boss hear me say what kind
of representation am i making of myself
to my boss
and then you start thinking about what
are your friends and family think what
do they see what do they hear and so the
question becomes how well do you
represent yourself what shortfalls do
you have now when you first start
looking it’s like you’re looking at an
overgrown lawn there are some big
obvious problems so you do a broad just
kind of general cut of the grass you fix
some of the big easy problems that are
obvious
once you’ve done that once you’ve gotten
rid of some of those big obvious
problems you notice some more detailed
problems say then you handle them and
once you’ve got those handled you see
even smaller and more detail the issues
so you start trying to fix them
and that’s what you do with yourself you
continually detach and then you look and
then you refine and then you detach and
then you look and then you refine and
then you detach and you look and then
you refine that’s what you do that’s how
you get better and that process doesn’t
stop it can’t stop because if you stop
refining then and then the weeds grow
back and the next thing you know you
can’t see yourself anymore and when you
can’t see yourself anymore when you stop
looking at you yourself then you accept
[Music]
you accept anything
and that’s wrong don’t accept the faults
don’t give yourself the benefit of the
doubt you’ve got to be your own harshest
critic and hold the line
