Jocko Underground: Don't React To Every Little Thing That Comes At You.

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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?

  This is the Jocko Underground Podcast, number 126, sitting with Echo Charles. And I was having a conversation with Greg the other day. Greg Train. Yes, with Greg Train. We were talking about Chance. You know Chance Farrar? Yes, I do. You know, sick wrestler, MMA fighter, jiu-jitsu player, and just a stud athlete. Yuma, Arizona. Yep, awesome guy. And while we were talking, because we were, you know, we were training, and because of Greg Train. So we're gonna be training. And we were talking about how he's, like Chance is just super fast, right? Just his speed, but he's smaller, right? I mean, what did he fight at? Maybe like 135, 145, or something like that?

• 0:44Jocko Willink?

  He might have even wrestled at a lesser weight than that. So he's a lean dude, smaller dude, smaller weight guy. So we were just talking about how, you know, he's just so fast, you know, and set up and tapping this, you move, you know. And so I was like, hey, I learned that when I go against someone like that, I can't, I can't, I can't react to every fake that's coming my way. I can't react to every movement that they make because it's too much movement. And that they will get me going in the wrong direction and get in on me. So what I have to do is I kind of just stand there, you know, obviously, I get in a good stance,

• 1:28Jocko Willink?

  but I'm not reacting to every little thing that comes at me until they commit. And then when they commit, then I'll sprawl or whatever, react properly to an actual attack.

• 1:41Jocko Willink?

  So I was talking to a client the other day, Ashlam Front, and he's kind of telling me these various stories, these various things that are happening with his, with his boss. And how his boss was telling to do this, and then like three days later, he's telling her to do this other thing. And three days after that, he's like making a suggestion, then he made a different suggestion that was the opposite direction. He's telling them to focus on this thing and focus on the other thing and fix this thing. And you need to get all your, all your people are focused on this. And just all these different directions. Move here, move there, fix this, fix that. And he's frustrated. The guy I'm talking to is very frustrated. And it's the same thing, right? It's the same thing.

• 2:24Jocko Willink?

  And I had bosses like that in the military that they're giving you direction to go one way, direction to go a different way, direction to go this way, fix this, change that. Like it's constant guidance and direction in opposite directions. And so what I learned was that just like wrestling with chance, you, you, you can't react to every little change and every little adjustment that's taking place. I can't redirect my efforts and my focus only to have to redirect my efforts and my focus to another course a very, very short time after. It just doesn't work, doesn't work.

• 3:01Jocko Willink?

  So you have to wait. You have to give things enough time to develop that the actual direction becomes very clear. And look, this doesn't mean gaffe them off. It's not like if my boss says, hey, I want you to look at this. I'll be like, yeah, okay, boss. Doesn't mean I start investing a bunch of time. Hey, got it, boss. We'll take a look at it. Maybe I spend three minutes, I'm familiar with it, cool. But I'm not pulling out the research and no, I'm not doing that. Or, hey, we need an estimate on this. Okay, got it, boss. Let's do a quick two minute estimate. Not, hey, let's break out all the numbers. No, we're not doing that. You have to wait until there's real commitment. Cause now a week later, it's like, hey, did you come up with that estimate? Well, yeah, we took a look at it. We have a rough estimate for you. Okay.

• 3:45Jocko Willink?

  And maybe they go, okay, that looks good. Let's go deep. You see what I'm saying? So you can give a little bit, but you need to wait until the change becomes real. You need to wait till there's some kind of commitment. And this is how you can survive that kind of chaotic personality.

• 4:04Jocko Willink?

  When you're interacting with someone, but it's not just at work that you have to do this. It's not just on the mats of justice that you need to do this. It's like you're, you've got friends that are like this. You've got bosses, you've got family members that are like this. And what you have to learn how to do is you have to kind of learn to, as weird as this sounds, slow your reactions down.

• 4:23Jocko Willink?

  Let things settle. Let things develop a little bit. Let's confirm the direction and the reality of the change before you step into it as well.

• 4:37Jocko Willink?

  And knowledge doesn't apply to people, it applies to the news and the social media and the algorithm and the trends and the chaos that's going on in the world. You can't react to everything that's happening. You, you have to let things breathe and let things develop. And this is the same thing on the battlefield, like there would be things happening on the battlefield. You get a report, oh, this is what's going on. And you can react to it. I don't recommend it though. Let's wait until we get some more confirmation. Let's wait until we hear some more information. Let's wait until this thing starts moving a little bit more and I can confirm what's going on. So just wanted to bring this up. Applies to many aspects of our lives. Don't overreact.

• 5:21Jocko Willink?

  Assess, you know, assessment is a good form of reaction, right? Oh, there's something going on? I'm going to watch it. Like I'm going to assess it. Make that your first step, not to react to it, but to assess it. So you can find out if it's real. And then you move forward.

• 5:40Speaker 01

  Yep, it's true. So the first thing strikes me with or that idea, that concept is with like ideas. So you're not going to pursue every little idea that pops into your head.

• 5:52Jocko Willink?

  Yep.

• 5:53Speaker 01

  Cause if you do, then boom, your plate is full with a bunch of stuff.

• 5:57Jocko Willink?

  Some of it's dumb.

• 5:58Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 6:03Speaker 01

  But you still handle it the same way where, yeah, if idea seems good, which they all kind of seem good at first, then they pass like, if they pass the first filter, which is like usually the one that filters out 90% of them. But if they pass, it's kind of, okay, it still seems good. Assess it.

• 6:22Speaker 01

  Sleep on it, whatever, whatever your process is. And if it passes that second, that second filter, it's kind of like, okay. And then you increase the likelihood of developing that particular idea. And you know, it's going to fit with the other stuff you're into and all this stuff or whatever. But it's the same exact thing.

• 6:39Speaker 01

  Yeah, otherwise you just basically find yourself freaking playing whack a mole with a bunch of stuff. Even with, with people like, you know how like your kids or whatever? I don't know. In my experience anyway, with kids, like every little mistake they make, like we think, oh no, they shouldn't be doing that. Then we go, you ever heard of the idea? It's called the slippery slope fallacy. So the slippery slope argument and then the slippery slope fallacy.

• 7:02Jocko Willink?

  Yes, obviously, these are very common.

• 7:05Speaker 01

  Yeah, so it's kind of like, oh, yeah, if you're, you know, if your kid stomps on a bee or kills like a beetle or something, kills it, oh, he's gonna become a murderer. Cause you know, a lot of murders, they start with like animals and blah, blah, blah, you know, and they become murder. So let's say he kills a beetle on the sidewalk. You're like, oh, my gosh, I gotta put a stop to this because I don't need him becoming a murderer. That's the slippery slope fallacy, right? Cause it doesn't automatically mean he's gonna become a murderer.

• 7:31Jocko Willink?

  Unless you beat him because he killed a beetle and then he becomes real crazy and starts becoming.

• 7:35Speaker 01

  Yeah, I'm sure you have to do a lot of crazy stuff, you know, and maybe even some genetic, I don't know. I don't know, I'm not a psychologist, but nonetheless, it's that's, you know, sort of kind of what you're dealing with. So like every little thing that he does, doesn't mean it's gonna turn into this big thing. Every little thing, sometimes you just gotta, hey, let him see what it, what it turns into, you know, even if they're making like little mistakes, it's like, hey, let him.

• 7:57Jocko Willink?

  Yeah.

• 7:58Speaker 01

  They might just learn from that little mistake right then and there, you know? Don't be jumping on, you know, what do you call helicopter parenting necessarily, you know?

• 8:05Jocko Willink?

  Have you heard of snowplow parenting?

• 8:07Speaker 01

  That sounds familiar.

• 8:09Jocko Willink?

  You're not just hovering over and watch me, you're a snowplow out in front of getting all the obstacles out. 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 are 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.

• 8:55Jocko 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 jockounderground.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.