Jocko Underground: How to Mentally Prep for a Stressful Situation

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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?

  Here we go. This is Jocko Underground Podcast number 95. Sitting here with Echo Charles, who is contemplating starting to impose extreme ownership on me, possibly.

• 0:14Speaker 01

  In life.

• 0:15Jocko Willink?

  But in life, definitely. Uh, yeah. So here we go. How do you mentally prepare for a stressful event?

• 0:29Jocko Willink?

  I don't get stressed out about too much. But I know people that get stressed out about stuff.

• 0:41Jocko Willink?

  And I was trying to think of how, you know, what, when I was doing stressful things in my life, when I was, had to do something stressful,

• 0:51Jocko Willink?

  what did I do? What would I go through to mitigate that stress as much as possible? And there was some things that I thought might help people out. Number one, practice.

• 1:03Jocko Willink?

  Practice what it is you have to do. Practice that thing, rehearse that thing. Even in the SEAL Teams, man, we rehearse our, our actions at the objective to make sure we know what's gonna happen. And you can do it, if you rehearse correctly, you can mitigate so many problems. And if you don't rehearse, everything can fall apart. It's funny how much walking through something one time improves your capability at that one thing. Like, it's amazing. If, if you and I had to go and clear a house and we got to walk through that house clearance, it's, we'd be 10 times better. If you and I had to dismount a vehicle,

• 1:47Jocko Willink?

  get through a, a, a street, move down a street and enter a building and we rehearse that one time, we'd be 10 times better than if we didn't rehearse it. So, anything that you can do that you have to do, that's gonna bring you stress, you should rehearse it. Let it turn into mental muscle memory.

• 2:09Jocko Willink?

  Then take a break from it.

• 2:12Jocko Willink?

  And then go back and rehearse it again. You, you, you need a little breather. You give your mind, I'm sure there's some physiological thing that's going on, some psychological thing that's going on, but you rehearse something, you practice it, and you take a break from it. Then you go back and rehearse and practice it again.

• 2:26Jocko Willink?

  And you do that as many times as you can. Look, look, don't get crazy with it. Because sometimes if you rehearse something too much. Now, when the unexpected happens, it throws you off and you're a disaster.

• 2:38Jocko Willink?

  So you gotta be careful of that. But.

• 2:42Jocko Willink?

  Rehearse, practice, the physical, like actually do it, and then also mentally visualize what you're gonna do. Like this is what I'm gonna say, this is what they're gonna say back. Okay, this is what's going on. If you're, if you're stressed out about a conversation you gotta go have with your boss. Or with one of your supporters, or one of your peers, or your spouse. Stressed out about something, you gotta go give a public speaking event thing. It's causing you anxiety, it's causing you stress. Rehearse it, practice it, take a break, rehearse it, practice it again.

• 3:11Jocko Willink?

  So that's number one. The more prepared you are for something, the less stress you have about that thing.

• 3:18Jocko Willink?

  Another. Idea. Around this is review. In your mind. The worst case scenario outcomes, like what is the worst thing that is going to happen? What is the worst thing that could happen? What's the worst thing that could happen? And then how am I gonna deal with that? And how bad are they really? Cause sometimes we are more scared of the idea of that bad thing. We actually think about what that bad thing is not that big of a deal.

• 3:45Jocko Willink?

  You know, put them in perspective, right? You're not gonna die.

• 3:51Jocko Willink?

  And if you're going into some situation where you might die, okay, well, you might die. Well, okay. Can you accept that?

• 4:00Jocko Willink?

  Tim Ferriss has a thing, he calls it fear setting. I want to say he made it up. I'm pretty sure he made it up.

• 4:07Jocko Willink?

  A cool term. I like it. What he talks about, when he talks about fear setting, he talks about it in reference to big, kind of grand goals. So like, oh, you know, I want to move to Kentucky.

• 4:29Jocko Willink?

  But that's like a big step for me because I've never been out of my state and I don't really know. So you do this fear setting thing. We figure out what's the worst thing that could happen and you go through that and it's a way for you to come to terms with the worst case scenarios that could happen. Like I said, he, when I've heard him talk about it, he's talked about it in reference to bigger, broader goals, not really for like single events or missions or like a match that you're going to play or a game that you've got to play.

• 4:58Jocko Willink?

  But

• 5:01Jocko Willink?

  so, so, so some of the ideas that he talks about around fear setting, they're a little bit, they're a little bit different when you take them to a smaller tactical situation that's causing you stress. Like, you know, one of the, you gotta watch out for is what, when he'll talk about like, okay, I'm going to move to Kentucky. Here's the worst case that can happen. Here's some things I can mitigate. Here's some things I can implement to mitigate this problem occurring. I could end up homeless. Okay. We'll put some savings away and you can get a one-way ticket that's going to bring you back home if you need it. Like there's some things you could do. You're not going to end up homeless. Okay. You solved that problem. It's a little bit harder when it's one stressful event, like you got a wrestling match.

• 5:43Jocko Willink?

  Because most of the risk mitigation of losing a wrestling match is done prior to, it's the training, it's months and months of training. You can't, now listen, can you decide you're going to avoid a certain position? In wrestling, can you decide, can you work on one little escape that's going to help you with this guy's power move? You can do that. But essentially what Tim Ferriss is doing in this fear setting thing is getting comfortable with the worst case scenarios. It's gonna be okay.

• 6:11Jocko Willink?

  Sometimes I think about how funny it'll be if one of these worst case scenarios happen. Like it's, it's gonna be funny. Like I'm gonna look dumb and it's gonna be funny. You know what I mean? And look at you, you're laughing. It removes a little bit of stress. And they will be a little bit funny. If you do something, if you make that big dreaded mistake in front of everyone, it's gonna be kinda funny. If you can laugh at yourself. And you're okay with that. It's gonna make everything a lot low, a lot less stressful. As opposed to if I make this mistake, what if I trip? What if I forget part of my speech and I don't know what to say? And I, and I say, you know what? I forgot part of my speech and everyone laughs, then what am I gonna do?

• 6:50Jocko Willink?

  But if you're like, dude, if I forget part of my speech, I'm like, hey, I actually forgot what I was gonna say. And people are gonna laugh and I'm gonna laugh too.

• 6:58Jocko Willink?

  So get comfortable with the worst. If you're going into a stressful situation, get comfortable with the worst case scenarios. They're probably not as bad as you think as you're building them up to be. And even if they are, okay, what is the deal with them? Okay, you're gonna die. You might die. Cool. What does that actually mean?

• 7:14Jocko Willink?

  How does that impact the world? How does it impact your world? Probably not as big of a deal as you're making it out to be.

• 7:21Jocko Willink?

  Then let go of what you can't control, cuz there's a bunch of things in a stressful event. That you can't have any control over, you don't get it. You don't get to control them.

• 7:33Jocko Willink?

  So.

• 7:37Jocko Willink?

  Let them go. Don't think about them. They're a waste. Put them in a category, write them down. Yep, these are things I can't control, I'm not gonna worry about them. They're gonna happen, whether they happen or not, doesn't matter. Can't, I can't impact it one way or the other. So not gonna worry about things I can't control. Then I'm gonna.

• 7:54Jocko Willink?

  Here's what I'm gonna do. This one's a little sensitive. I'm gonna get.

• 8:01Jocko Willink?

  Just a little bit. I'll just, and you might've seen this before. Echo Charles, you might've seen this before. I'm gonna get a little bit. Cocky.

• 8:12Jocko Willink?

  Going a little get a little bit arrogant, just a little bit, not gonna get that go too far.

• 8:16Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 8:17Jocko Willink?

  But you know, I'm here for a reason.

• 8:18Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 8:19Jocko Willink?

  I'm in this position for a reason. I've got this match, I'm in the finals for a reason.

• 8:23Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 8:24Jocko Willink?

  I'm kind of kick ass, I'm pretty good at this, that's why I'm here. Right?

• 8:28Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 8:29Jocko Willink?

  So that's what's going on.

• 8:32Jocko Willink?

  So, don't let it go too far, but recognize the fact that you are in this position for a reason. There's a reason for that, you've done some good.

• 8:43Jocko Willink?

  You can be a little bit cocky.

• 8:46Jocko Willink?

  You're here because you can kind of kick ass at this thing, whatever this thing is.

• 8:52Jocko Willink?

  So be a little bit cocky, just a little bit.

• 8:56Jocko Willink?

  This is especially like just prior to the event. Right? So you don't want to get cocky two weeks away. Cause now you're slacking, you want to get cocky like four minutes out. Dude, I'm gonna, I'm about to run game on this fool, you know what I'm saying?

• 9:11Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 9:13Jocko Willink?

  That's when you want to get cocky.

• 9:16Jocko Willink?

  Another thing that happens, you have to deal, you can, that's gonna help you with a stressful event. Identify the little physiological reactions that you're gonna have as that stress starts kicking in. The heart rate goes up, the breathing gets heavier, you start sweating, maybe you feel a little nauseous. Maybe you get, the muscles, muscles get tense. These are all things that happen, if you say to yourself, oh my God, I feel sick, this is terrible, I'm so nervous. That's the wrong attitude to have. If you say to yourself, oh, I'm, I'm feeling a little nauseous right now, that's the blood leaving my stomach, going to my body and brain, so I can function at a higher level, I'm prepared for combat. I'm prepared to die, let's go.

• 9:59Jocko Willink?

  If you know that those things are normal, because they are, when you go into a stressful environment, those are the things you're gonna feel. Your heart rate's gonna increase, your breathing's gonna get heavier, you're more rapid at least, you're gonna start sweating. Maybe you get a little nauseous, maybe you get a little tense, muscles, you look down and you're realizing you're gripping your fist, clenching your fist. If you recognize that those things are actually okay, it's pretty cool.

• 10:23Jocko Willink?

  Those things are good, those things are you preparing for combat.

• 10:29Jocko Willink?

  Or whatever event that you're going into. So if you do that, go through those little steps.

• 10:36Jocko Willink?

  You're gonna have a lot easier time dealing with stressful situations. Think through them and then go get some. That's what I got.

• 10:47Speaker 01

  Yeah, as a person who probably gets more stressed about certain things, then let's say,

• 10:55Speaker 01

  here's a small element to incorporate that does help mentally. So if you think of it's kind of, it is actually detachment, but while you detach, you think of it in terms of this, where this experience, whatever you're about to go do, is part of a big picture. It's like one of the stepping stones, good or bad, because bad, quote unquote, negative stepping stones are actually good stepping stones. You know how it's like,

• 11:20Speaker 01

  I don't know, Michael Jordan or whatever, when he-

• 11:22Jocko Willink?

  He got cut from his sophomore year.

• 11:24Speaker 01

  Exactly right. So in the moment, no one ever wants to get cut from the basketball teams at any year, sophomore, junior, senior, whatever, ever. But, big picture is kind of like, whoa, that's kind of more dope. It's kind of more like, it's a deeper story, you see what I'm saying? Than someone who just was good the whole time, you know, or whatever.

• 11:42Jocko Willink?

  Yep, and he probably took away, I gotta trade. So, that is a little excerpt of what we are doing on the Jocko Underground Podcast. So if you want to continue to listen, go to jacood underground.com and subscribe. And we're doing this, we're doing this to mitigate our reliance on external platforms, so we are not subject to their control. And we're doing this so that we can support the Jocko Podcast, which will remain as is, free for all, as long as we can keep it that way. But we, but we are doing this so we don't have to be under the control of sponsors. And we're doing it so we can give you-

• 12:27Jocko Willink?

  More control, more interaction, more direct connections, better communications with us. And to do that, we are, we're building a website right now where we'll be able to utilize to strengthen this legion of troopers that are in the game with us. So, thank you. It's jocko underground.com. It costs $8.18 a month. And if you can't afford to support us, we can still support you. Just email [email protected] and we'll get you taken care of. Until then, we will see you mobilized underground.