Standard Directive 021: It's Good Operating Weather

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Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Jocko Willink?

  Good operating weather. That's an expression that we had in the teams. When we had to go out on an operation and we were going to be in the field for two or three days, that's what we'd hope for. We would hope for good operating weather.

• 0:22Jocko Willink?

  Now, what does that mean? It does not mean that we wanted the weather to be sunny and 65. It does not mean that we wanted the weather to be as comfortable as possible.

• 0:35Jocko Willink?

  Not at all. In fact, we wanted the opposite. We wanted the weather to be miserable. We wanted it to be cold, raining, or snowing, or sleet. Whatever we could get, the worst weather we could get is what we wanted because it was better for us.

• 0:57Jocko Willink?

  It was better for us. Why was it better for us? Because if we had to deal with terrible weather, then the enemy had to deal with it too.

• 1:06Jocko Willink?

  And we knew that bad weather would impact their minds. It would make them want to stay inside, make them want to stay warm,

• 1:17Jocko Willink?

  make them skip their patrol, make them bundle up in a bunch of clothes where they couldn't move properly, couldn't see properly.

• 1:29Jocko Willink?

  It would make them want to do just about anything but go out into the bad weather and hunt us down.

• 1:39Jocko Willink?

  Which ultimately made it much easier for us to hunt them down.

• 1:46Jocko Willink?

  Because we knew, we knew that we could gut through that misery better than they could, and that gave us an advantage.

• 2:00Jocko Willink?

  The bad weather gave us an advantage. And that's a good attitude to remember in any competitive environment. Whatever conditions you have to deal with,

• 2:15Jocko Willink?

  your enemy, or your opponent, or your competition, they'll have to deal with it too.

• 2:23Jocko Willink?

  So, don't complain about the situation. Don't complain about the conditions. Don't complain about the rules, or the regulations, or the market. Instead, just be thankful for good operating weather.