Standard Directive 016: Be Rational

>Join Jocko Underground< https://www.jockounderground.com/subscribe Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/jocko-podcast/exclusive-content

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

• 0:00Jocko Willink?

  We have a saying in the military that the first report is always wrong. And the second and third and fourth and fifth versions might still be wrong.

• 0:18Jocko Willink?

  And that happens all the time in the civilian world as well. It happens with news reports, a lot. Even when those reports are trying to tell you the truth,

• 0:34Jocko Willink?

  when they're trying to tell you the truth, when there's no political agenda around what they're saying, it's a news report about a tornado or something like that, the news outlets still get it wrong.

• 0:47Jocko Willink?

  They still get it wrong in their first reports because they simply are always wrong. First reports are always wrong. It's not because of their political bias in those situations, it's a tornado.

• 1:03Jocko Willink?

  They're wrong because first reports are only one perspective, one reporter, or one cameraman, or one bystander that's being interviewed.

• 1:16Jocko Willink?

  And one person cannot see enough to know what has actually happened.

• 1:24Jocko Willink?

  Because that one person only sees what they see, and on top of that, they're emotional, and they have their own biases, and they have adrenaline in their blood, and they have tears in their eyes and anger in their voice, and so their perspective is going to be flawed.

• 1:42Jocko Willink?

  So the first report is always wrong, and you don't understand what happened until you get other perspectives. And even then, even then, if you interviewed every person involved with an event, you still only have an idea of what actually happened.

• 2:05Jocko Willink?

  You won't actually know what happened.

• 2:10Jocko Willink?

  So there's a lot going on in the world right now. And there always is a lot going on in the world, but right now it's particularly volatile.

• 2:22Jocko Willink?

  And this seems to transfer to people. When the world gets volatile, people get volatile too.

• 2:32Jocko Willink?

  These reports that come through the airwaves can make you emotional. And by the way, they're meant to make you emotional.

• 2:43Jocko Willink?

  The news media wants you emotional because you will click more on their website. Different factions of the world want you to be more emotional because that means you're more likely to give them support.

• 2:59Jocko Willink?

  But these emotions that have been generated, or at least inflamed by misleading reports, they do not help you.

• 3:12Jocko Willink?

  And they do not help the world.

• 3:15Jocko Willink?

  So don't let that happen. Take a step back, take a breath, try to see other perspectives, try to understand more, and don't let your emotions control how you behave. And I'm not saying don't have any emotions at all. I'm saying be thoughtful, be balanced, and be rational.