Jocko Willink: How to Become Resilient, Forge Your Identity & Lead Others

The best way to contend with problems, with issues, with adversity is action, is by taking action. The more you sit and the more you wait and the more time you spend with that adversity with the upper hand inside your head, the worse it's going to get.

I look at alcohol now... I've seen it destroy so many people that I kind of look at it and go, man, I don't think people should drink ... I have so many friends that it is horrible for. It has all but ruined their lives. And it's totally legal, which is kind of bizarre.

When you go and workout, you're going to feel better. You will get energy from working out. That is a guarantee. If you go workout, you're going to feel better. If you go break a sweat, you're going to feel better. You're gonna get more energy from it.

I fully enjoy the physical aspect of working out ... I remember my dad saying at one point, 'If I retired, I wouldn't know what to do' ... If I didn't have anything to do, I'd spend 6 hours a day in the gym; I'd spend 4 hours doing jiu-jitsu ... I could fill every day with just physical activity, things that I just like doing.

I think if most people focused more on hydration and movement, they would find they have.... 2-4x more energy than if they focused on caloric energy and what to eat.

When my alarm clock goes off, I don't think a bunch. I don't debate with myself; I'm not negotiating. The thing goes off, and I'm doing what I'm supposed to. It's sort of robotic.

Once every 24 hours, we each and all get a big increase in this release of the hormone cortisol ... It's a non-negotiable peak, and you want it to arrive early in the day. And viewing sunlight, physical activity, caffeine, and in particular intense exercise all amplify that cortisol peak.

When you're a leader in any organization, you're basically in charge of a mob ... And you as a leader, can't get caught up with the mob; you can't let that happen. You have to detach yourself from the mob mentally so that you don't get caught up in their emotions and their morale, because if you get caught up in their emotions and you get caught up in their morale, you can't correct it.

To have more control over your own destiny is the ultimate compensation ... You can have all the money in the world, but if you don't control what you're doing every day or at least you don't control most of what you're doing, then it's not worth it.

As far as I'm concerned, the main function of the cold for most people is going to be the discipline of doing it, the sense of resilience that you can build up over time... the fact that the dopamine increases are huge and long-lasting. I mean, they're like 2.5x increases.

If you do the forensics on somebody that was suicidal, attempted or took their life, in the preceding days and weeks, their sleep-wake schedule was completely whacked.

The more I focused on doing things that are gonna positively impact my future, the better my life became. I think that's a very huge lesson to learn that I know I didn't figure out for quite some time.

I don't like to do physically active things with food in my stomach ... I don't eat a big meal until I'm kind of done with the physical stuff for the day which is usually at night—6, 7 o'clock at night.

I don't meditate ... I don't think I've ever actually meditated for one second of my life.