Standard Directive 004: Turn Off Auto-Pilot

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

• 0:01Jocko Willink?

  Listen, don't be on like autopilot.

• 0:08Jocko Willink?

  Alright, it's real easy to slide into autopilot mode, right? Whatever they got now, these, these super cruise controls where the, the car is driving itself.

• 0:23Jocko Willink?

  Well, don't do that with your life. Don't get on the road and just kind of let the car drive itself. Don't do that.

• 0:31Jocko Willink?

  Because when that's happening, you're not directing what's going on. You're not in control anymore. You're just drifting. You aren't steering the car or the plane or whatever.

• 0:42Jocko Willink?

  It's not going where you want it to go. It's just going wherever it's going.

• 0:48Jocko Willink?

  Just random.

• 0:51Jocko Willink?

  Just unintentional.

• 0:54Jocko Willink?

  Inadvertently moving forward with no actual direction. Don't let that happen with your life. And it's easy for that to happen. It's, it's actually easy to, to find yourself with your life on some kind of a cruise control, super cruise control autopilot scenario.

• 1:16Jocko Willink?

  You, you do something, whatever, you take some action. You do something in a day and the next day it kind of worked yesterday. So you do it today, you repeat that action. And then you repeat it again.

• 1:30Jocko Willink?

  And that little repetition forms a pattern.

• 1:35Jocko Willink?

  And the pattern becomes a routine and the routine becomes a rut.

• 1:43Jocko Willink?

  And it's hard to get out of a rut.

• 1:48Jocko Willink?

  Now, of course, there are patterns that you can form. There are routines that you can develop. There's habits that you can get of good behavior. Of course, waking up, working out, eating clean, writing, reading, working. You can form those habits as well.

• 2:08Jocko Willink?

  And if you form those types of routines that are positive behavior or positive habits, then good for you, good job. But the habits that you don't intentionally form.

• 2:24Jocko Willink?

  You gotta watch out for those.

• 2:27Jocko Willink?

  They don't take you anywhere positive. They drift down the path of least resistance. And you know what? They're not obvious. They're not obvious. They creep up on you.

• 2:42Jocko Willink?

  You might not even notice these little patterns that you've developed.

• 2:49Jocko Willink?

  Because they come on gradually and they feel comfortable. Right? They put your mind at ease. We're always more comfortable doing something that we've already done before.

• 2:59Jocko Willink?

  So they lure you in.

• 3:02Jocko Willink?

  But they're not helping you.

• 3:05Jocko Willink?

  They're not helping you at all. They're hurting you. So snap out of that. Get out of that rut. Turn off that autopilot. And grab the wheel. And steer your habits and your routines and steer your life in the direction you actually want to go. Take control and drive.