Discipline Equals Freedom: Field Manual – Jocko Willink

Read 04.07.2020 on Kindle* page # may be slightly off.

“Discipline: the root of all good qualities. The driver of daily execution. The core principle that overcomes laziness and lethargy and excuses. Discipline defeats the infinite excuses that say: Not today, not now, I need a rest, I will do it tomorrow.” (2)

I heard of Jocko Willink through the Joe Rogan podcast, but all I knew about him were two things. One, he was a navy SEAL instructor. Two, he works out every day at 4:00 AM.

Although I thought that my adventure with self-help books, especially those that could be summarized with “just do it”, has come to an end, I found myself yet again, unable to overcome my cognitive dissonance. I wondered whether reading Willink’s no-bullshit style of writing would bring a much needed end to my fruitless pursuit of extrinsic solutions, even though I knew full well that the problem (and solution) was very much in my own head and not in the writing of others.

Well, having read Discipline Equals Freedom, I can say that the message isn’t anything new. But what really got to me was that the same message was being punched into my head over and over, without any effort of Willink’s part to pretend as if they were different from one another. It’s so bluntly repetitive that I couldn’t help but let it get to my head. In hindsight, I appreciate that very much.

To those wondering what the message is, it is simply this:

 Set a goal. Take action towards it. No matter what.

The rest of the book is just context to why you should do that. That’s it, really, and to a degree we all know this. We know it but we have difficulty internalizing it into our personalities. I recently wrote a post about this feeling that I will link to here.

In this review I’m only going to discuss one quote that struck me different than the rest of book. Here it is:

“Do not take the easy way out. Do not give up based on instinct. If you are forced to stand down— to retreat so that you can rebuild and re-attack— so be it. But make that decision based on logic— not on the instinct of surrender and defeat. Replace it with the instinct that says: get up and fight on. Make that your fundamental reaction to adversity— make that your gut instinct— and you will overcome anything that stands in your path.” (47)

Going against your own instinct. What an idea. A fight against your natural responses— limitations? I like the message here. Whether it be intended by Willink or not, his writing invites me to romanticize the heroic suffering behind self-actualization. To attempt to go against the design flaw of your physical, natural, most immutable form— a beautiful tragedy, and perhaps a fight worth fighting to make a stand against yourself.

Reading this post again I see that my thoughts are influenced by another book I am currently reading, The Denial of Death, in which these concepts are discussed through a psychoanalysis perspective. Can’t say I’m looking forward to attempt to review that.

As always, my favorite snippets are below.

“I’m always fighting. I’m struggling and I’m scraping and kicking and clawing at those weaknesses— to change them. To stop them. Some days I win. But some days I don’t. But each and every day: I get back up and I move forward. With my fists clenched. Toward the battle. Toward the struggle. And I fight with everything I’ve got: To overcome those weaknesses and those shortfalls and those flaws as I strive to be just a little bit better today than I was yesterday…” (17)

“Humans can withstand almost inconceivable stress— and you can too. So that is your first step: Gain perspective. And to do that you must do something critical in many situations: Detach. Whatever problems or stress you are experiencing, detach from them.” (18)

“Stress is generally caused by what you can’t control… If the stress is something that you can control and you are not, that is a lack of discipline and a lack of ownership… If the stress is something you can’t control: Embrace it.” (19) 

“It takes both emotion and logic to reach your maximum potential, to really give everything you have, to go beyond your limits. Because emotion and logic will both reach their limitations. And when one fails, you need to rely on the other. When it just doesn’t make any logical sense to go on, that’s when you use your emotion, your anger, your frustration, your fear, to push further, to push you to say one thing: I don’t stop. When your feelings are screaming that you have had enough, when you think you are going to break emotionally, override that emotion with concrete logic and willpower that says one thing: I don’t stop.” (22)

“Is this what I want to be? This? Is this all I’ve got— is this everything I can give? Is this going to be my life? Do I accept that?” (29)

“I don’t view aggression as an outward attitude. I view aggression as an internal character trait. A fire in your mind that says: I am going to win… And if that kind of internal, relentless aggression is your default mode— you will win.” (35)

“To me, it is not about nature or nurture: It is about choice. The people who are successful decide they are going to be successful. They make that choice… Don’t let nature or nurture make you. Choose to make yourself.” (38-39)

 “I want you to be afraid of failure… afraid of: Waking up in six days or six weeks or six years or sixty years and being no closer to your goal… You have made no progress. That is the horror. That is the nightmare. That is what you really need to be afraid of: Being stagnant.” (40-41) 

“I don’t like procrastination. But if you feel like you need a break— that is the one thing you should procrastinate. Taking a break is the one thing I put off until tomorrow. And if— when tomorrow comes— you still feel like you need rest or you need a break— then go ahead: Take it. Chances are you won’t— you won’t need that rest. Chances are you will realize that the desire to rest was just weakness— if was the desire to take the path of least resistance— the downhill path— the downward path.” (48-49)

 “Hesitation is the enemy. Hesitation allows the moment to pass, the opportunity to be lost, the enemy to get the upper hand. Hesitation turns into cowardice. It stops us from moving forward, from taking initiative, from executing what we know we must. Hesitation defeats us. So we must defeat it.” (55)

“Don’t worry about motivation. Motivation is fickle. It comes and goes. It is unreliable and when you are counting on motivation to get your goals accomplished— you will likely fall short. So. Don’t expect to be motivated every day to get out there and make things happen. You won’t be. Don’t count on motivation. Count on discipline.” (68)