Jocko Willink - Discipline Equals Freedom

People look for the shortcut. The hack.

And if you came here looking for that: You wont find it. The shortcut is a lie. The hack doesnt get you there. And if you want to take the easy road, it wont take you to where you want to be: Stronger. Smarter. Healthier. Better.

To reach goals and overcome obstacles and become the best version of you possible will not happen by itself. To reach goals and overcome obstacles and become the best version of you possible will not happen by itself.

It will not happen cutting corners, taking shortcuts, or looking for the easy way.

There is only hard work, late nights, early mornings, practice, rehearsal, repetition, study, sweat, blood, toil, frustration, and discipline. DISCIPLINE. Discipline: The root of all good qualities. The driver of daily execution. The core principle that overcomes laziness and lethargy and excuses.

Discipline defeats the infinite excuses that say: Not today, not now, I need a rest, I will do it tomorrow. Whats the hack? How do you become stronger, smarter, faster, healthier? How do you become better? How do you achieve true freedom? There is only one way.

Why? Over and over and over again, I am asked: Why? What drives me. When I was younger, I was preparing for war. I knew that somewhere out there, another man was also preparing. That man was my enemy.

He was working, training, planning, and preparing to meet me on the battlefield. I didnt know when. I didnt know where. But I knew that at some point: We would meet. And I wanted to be ready. Ready mentally.

Ready physically. Ready emotionally. So I trained. And I prepared. And I did everything I could to be ready for that day. When I became a leader, I took the same approach.

To prepare my men in the same way: To train brutally and without mercy so we could fight brutally and without mercy. And the day came. We met the enemy on the battlefield. We were ready and we fought and we won. Then one day, it was over. I was no longer a soldier; no longer a leader of men.

I was no longer preparing myself or my men for war. So. What drives me now? The answer is simple: The men that did not come home. Marc and Mikey and Ryan. But it is not only them. There are others.

Hundreds more. Thousands more. Countless more. Who fought and died to give me the gift of freedom. And for them, I will make every dayevery minuteevery secondI will make it all count. I will live to honor their sacrifice A life worthy of the price they paid, for me, for us.

I will not let them down.

Where does discipline come from? This is a simple answer. Discipline comes from within. Discipline is an internal force. Sure, you can have discipline imposed on you by a person, like a drill instructor, or that self-help guru on TV, but the reality is: He wont give you real discipline. Because that external discipline is not strong.

It will not survive. It cannot stand on its own. What you are looking for, what you need, is SELF-DISCIPLINE . Self-discipline, as the very term implies, comes from the SELF. YOU. It comes when you make a decision to be disciplined.

When you make a decision to be better. When you make a decision to do more, to BE more. Self-discipline comes when you decide to make a mark on the world. If you dont think you are disciplined: It is because you havent decided to be disciplined. YET . YET . YET .

You havent become it. YET . So where does it come from? It comes from you . So make the decision. Make the commitment. Become the disciplineembrace its cold and relentless power.

And it will make you better and stronger and smarter and faster and healthier than anything else. And most important: It will make you free.

People want to know how to stop laziness. They want to know how to stop procrastination. They have an idea in their head Maybe even a vision . But they dont know where to startso they ask.

And they say: Where do I start? When is the best time to start? And I have a simple answer: HERE and NOW . Thats it. You want to improve? You want to get better? You want to get on a workout program or a clean diet or start a new business? You want to write a book or make a movie or build a house or a computer or an app? Where do you start? You start right HERE . When do you start? You start right NOW . You initiate action. You GO .

Here is the reality: That idea isnt going to execute itself. That book isnt going to write itself. Those weights out in the gymthey arent going to move themselves. YOU HAVE TO DO IT. And you have to do it now. So stop thinking about it.

Stop dreaming about it. Stop researching every aspect of it and reading all about it and debating the pros and cons of it Start doing it. Take that first step and Make It Happen. GET AFTER IT. Here and NOW .

People are not who you want them to be.

Kill your idols. Sure there are things we can learn from peoplebut people arent going to be what you think they arewhat they should be. People, even those people you have put up on a pedestal, are going to be faulted, weak, egomaniacal, condescending. They are going to be lazy, entitled, shortsighted. They will not be perfect. Far from it.

Thats fine. Learn from their weaknesses. Of course: Learn from their strengths and mimic and copy them in what they do well. But equally as important: Learn from their faults. See what not to do. Because you cant control other people.

You cant make them what you want them to be. You cant make them who you want them to be. The only person you can control is you. So focus on making yourself who you want you to be: Faster . Stronger . Smarter .

More humble . Less ego . Discipline your body. Free your mind. Get up early, and go. Get after it and you will become the person you want to be.

And you become that person through: One. Small. Decision. At. A.

When people think of the words mind control, they think of people controlling the minds of other people. Not me. Not me.

I think about controlling my own mind. Sure, we are physical beings, and we must obviously embrace our physicality. But we are our minds. And Im not going to go philosophical on what that means and where the YOU actually is whether it is a soul or your brain or your heart or some other conjured-up place. What I do know is this: You, your mind, the thing that is reading and comprehending these words right now, that IS YOU. And you can control it.