Breaking Down Being Decisive vs Carefulness – Jocko Willink

with life decisions is it better to be decisive and take actions to move forward even if sometimes those decisions are wrong as opposed to being paralyzed by indecision and fear thus getting maneuvered on by life I asked this because I struggle with life decisions and have trouble committing to one path duty eclectic interests after listening to your podcast I’m thinking it’s better to be aggressive and maneuver on the battlefield of life as long as I’m prepared to adapt rather than sitting around and letting circumstance dictate my actions well it sounds like you kind of answered his own question which is good yes it is better to be aggressive it’s better to be decisive this does not mean burning bridges and I think we’ve talked about this before it doesn’t mean that you just you just say I’m quitting my job right now because I’m gonna go start a new life as a whatever your new job is gonna be right I’m gonna start a business selling widgets and I’m just gonna go all-in because I’m committed sure well you you know how long it takes produce those widgets and whatever you know so there’s a lot of issues that you know it’s there’s a way though to to mitigate risk on your decisions and actually at the at the camp we were in up in Maine there was a lot of guys that were you know listen to podcast and one of them really good really good guy he was talking to me about his business and the business which I’m not gonna go into any details but he’s basically saying look I got this business it’s going well I wanted to do better and I’m kind of weighing this decision between bringing on we says no I want to bring on like six people mmm to really help expand and grow and all that stuff he said but if I do that and we have a couple rough you know if we hit some bad luck I might be upside down and and not be able to handle it and and what I really am scared of is like that’s not just me but it’s now it’s my family I got a wife and I got kids and now I’m hedging the the the comfort and safety of my family so I don’t know what to do and I said okay well do you have to go all-in right do you have to around tomorrow you know what we’re going all-in I’m gonna hire these six people we’re gonna expand and hopefully if everything goes right we’ll do really well mm-hmm you don’t have to do that you don’t have to put that much on the table instead I said I said well how many people do you actually really need right now and he said probably one or two it was like okay why don’t you bring on one and and start to see where that goes and be prepared to look for another person to bring on too and then as those two people work out and you’re starting to fill their labor every day and they’re had they have work to do because you’re expanding the cool bring on three and and guess what if you hit a hiccup and things start going sideways for whatever reason that’s cool you don’t have those additional four people or three people on board that you’re paying payroll to every month which is normally what kills businesses or one of the common things that kills businesses so it’s the same so that’s that’s a good example right and he was he thought to himself and he looked at me said absolutely I’m gonna go do that and so he’s probably back at his job right now running his business and probably hired a person to start expanding not hiring six people and putting all of his chips on the table where it’s a cool gamble let’s say the percentage of living winning is 70% you’re like yeah I’m just gonna do it there’s a 30% chance you luve lose and now your family has no house and no food so that’s not what we want to do so why not just put some of your chips on the table and you can still win and make a little bit you still you still improve your position so we got to do that with life – like I said you don’t quit your job to start building widgets when you don’t know what you’re doing you got a bit why not just build the widgets in your spare time yeah see what up yeah start putting those things on the internet start seeing how they sell start getting a little income from them let them grow and then finally when you feel like the balance start to tip maybe there’ll be a last-minute jump will you be like okay now I’m gonna go for it but what you’re committing to is something solid something tangible and something that’s making money right we’re not jumping in and committing to something that’s an unknown we’re gonna commit some to something that’s known and and I think it’s important to note that that right there is not a lack of commitment and this is your these like you know people on the interwebs they’ll be like you know why you haven’t made it yet because you haven’t committed 100% that’s why you if you want to do it you gotta commit with everything you’ve got well and so what people think is okay well I’m just gonna quit my job because I’m gonna go for him to commit and then I’ll be successful because this guy over here told me if I committed I’d be successful it’s actually not true you can be a thousand percent committed to something and you can still fail I got bad news for you that’s the reality you know that’s the reality of do you think the people at blackberry weren’t committed to their game you know what I mean you know but what happened a blackberry mmm it’s it’s they were they were committed but they made some bad decisions and guess what now BlackBerry’s not really in the game anymore well they I think they changed games I’m not a hundred percent sure but people think that that because you didn’t quit your job and go all in and put all your chips on the table that you’re not committed and I actually don’t agree with that and I’ll get here’s my example if okay I think that commitment is actually harder to do when it’s a long-term commitment that you’re going okay you know what I’m gonna I’m gonna stay at my job but I’m gonna work three hours a day on this other thing I’m gonna be manufacturing I may be making my widgets three hours a day when I get home at 10 o’clock at night I’m gonna go until one o’clock in the morning making my widgets that’s commitment it’s actually smart commitment it actually in some ways takes more commitment to do that than it does just to quit your job and say I’m all-in because now you’re holding your balancing all these different things you carry your shouldering more of a burden so that actually takes more commitment the problem is that people they get weak and after the fourth night of making widgets at 10 o’clock at night they go yeah I am loads I’m good it’s cool I’ll have a job I have a job and so that’s weak I you know an example be what if you could get in excellent physical condition in 3 hours but it was just like the hardest 3 hours that you could imagine think about that and your body would transform from whatever crap condition you’re in right now into a specimen and it’s going to take 3 of just hell how many more people would be an amazing condition I think a ton more because committing for three hours to something even it was gonna be super bad people would be able to do it what takes more commitment and the reason everyone’s not walking around like a perfect specimen is because it doesn’t take three hours it doesn’t take three weeks it doesn’t take three months it takes a daily grind that goes on for years that you have to hold the line on on the way you eat on the way you exercise on your life and that takes real commitment yes so it isn’t a lack of commitment it’s planning it isn’t a lack of commitment it is mitigating risk and don’t confuse again I I think that the person that commits to something and still maintains this other income stream for example that person is at least as committed if not more committed than the person says you know what screw it I’m going all-in over here I’m forgetting about you know quitting my job that’s not a smart move yeah and it takes more that’s actually easier well that’s my point it’s easier in many ways to go you know what I’m quitting this day job I’m quitting my nine-to-five I’m sick of that cubicle I’m sick of that construction site I’m just going all-in over here that is an easier move that takes less commitment then saying I’m gonna shoulder the burden of working 15 18 20 hours a day for the next two years until I can get this thing stood up enough to where I can execute it yeah yes it’s almost like people are conflating the commitment you know it’s like they almost people want to want to want to do a big show of commitment by quitting their job but it’s more of just a show of commitment to show you’re committed or you’re not kind of thing yeah and then so a lot of times with these big shows of commitment becomes just an immense amount of stupidity you know yeah yeah meanwhile you can either come in or don’t commit you know yeah sure if you don’t quit your job and you make widgets and you don’t commit sure it’s like all right you got you can facilitate your non commitment yeah yeah I dig here’s your real job your nine-to-five job is in the neighbor or to you not committing yeah fully yeah but by no means is that you know no poor oaf yeah yeah and it’s important to note that don’t confuse and this is another mistake so people make mistakes on either ends of the spectrum the other one is don’t confuse planning and mitigating risk with not taking action because that can happen to you have to make things happen every single day that’s what you have to do if you don’t take action if you don’t move which is what this guy’s asking about then yeah you’re paralyzed and you’re never gonna get anywhere but all you have to do is chip away at that thing you gotta make a little bit of movement every day yeah you want to write a book and this is something I’m familiar with the house I’m writing books I’m writing another book right now hell yeah and you know what I got to do I got to chip away at that thing every day every day yeah every day there’s your commitment words a day 45 minutes maybe an hour that’s what it takes and guess what if I can’t get that hour for whatever reason guess what I’m gonna get to 20 minutes I’m gonna get 30 minutes I’m gonna get something to get in there I’m gonna do work because I’m gonna be close to my goal than I was yeah that’s the way it is I think you can see that live didn’t you yes it was my honor that’s but that’s where it happens where else is gonna happen right yeah we were flying back from Maine I was you know Echo’s cruising good yeah I think I fell asleep coupledom yeah you were kind of in and out but I was hammering I was I was doing what I have to do mm-hmm because if I don’t do it then when’s that what I’m gonna get that hour that was that was four hours I had right there yeah it’s light technically 5:00 yeah couldn’t get my computer out for the first a little bit oh yeah they don’t let you so whatever oh good yeah I was kind of at times I was peeking over your shoulder like reading okay then I see how was it I saw the name Kenny Williamson in there Oh to this good man being composed yeah I think that all that sounds like kind of obvious you know when you’re saying it I’m like yeah okay yeah yeah yeah got it yeah or you know or at least the part where it’s like it’s a daily thing like you gotta be to have a progress you know like you got to take that step you know do it um sounds obvious but men how many times and I know this like my friends and you know whatever oh you go on not online or whatever and you see people complaining about you know stuff never happens for me you know FML you know FML means yes stuff never happens to you that’s right and stuff never happens for you that’s right yeah that is life doesn’t happen for you in life yeah you gotta go and make it you know I’ve explained to my kids you want to make money you have to take that money from someone else you have to take it from them then people are just gonna walk up and give you money Yeah right that doesn’t happen that’s never happened to me in my life no one has ever walked up and given me money you gotta take that money they gotta give it to you that you got to make them you got to take it from them yeah they want that money too mm-hm so what are you gonna give them that’s gonna make allow you to take it from them yeah that that so yeah guess what nothing’s nothing happens for you that’s right nothing does happen for you you have to make it happen yeah that’s the default aggressive mindset that you’re gonna make things happen you’re not gonna sit around and wait for things to happen it’s not gonna happen it’s not gonna happen oh well guess what I read a story about this such and such a person and they just walked into this you know agency and they they thought they looked did a really good job and now they’re famous okay that’s great base your life on that percentage chance of happening it’s not happening yeah I actually I actually look at that and just think the chances of anything like that happened to me or zero nothing good is gonna happen to me like that that I’m just gonna get a good deal like that’s not happening zero yeah so if you’re gonna get it you’re gonna have to make it happen yeah next question you’re saying that should be the red flag right there then right basically for the for someone who’s like nothing you know when am I gonna get my big break or or you know nothing happens for me kind of thing that should be the red flag right one it’s like yeah yeah as soon as you’re talking about the fact that you’re not that things aren’t coming to you yeah yeah yeah that should be a real big red flag nothing is gonna come to you not happening not happening you got to go and make things happen and once you have that attitude I’ll tell you what it’s a game-changer yeah it’s a game-changer once you realize that that book that’s so good that’s in your head is not gonna write itself yeah once you realize that widget that you have this plan for isn’t gonna build itself then you’ll realize like okay I’m gonna have to make these things happen and even then guess what you can make a widget that no one wants to buy and you can write a book that no one wants to know wants to read and if you’re not okay with that which is another thing that happens people say well you know no one will like it okay well if that’s what you think well then don’t even write it unless you want to write it for yourself yeah then write it for yourself and cool B be proud be stoked be happy yeah it’s interesting too let’s say a book book all right for example it this kind of reminds me of where you know how let’s say I don’t know me let’s say oh I’m a pretty good writer in fact I even wrote a book before whatever and then my friend on Instagram face well whatever someone my neighbor whatever they write a book and they they release it and then they write another one and let’s say it’s not even really that good but it’s out there they’re like look at my new book and you know they got people’s support oh that’s awesome you wrote a book and I mean while I’m like kind of sour grapes a little bit I’m like I’m a better writer than than that person meanwhile I didn’t write anymore over here yeah yeah back in the day long time ago you know but you know I’m saying I’m in that arena you know and I’m kind of in my mind hating on this people there’s people that hate on them that never even wrote a book in the first place yeah I’m a better writer I’m a better film guy I’m a better writer I’m a better fighter whatever there’s all kinds of people doing that all kinds of people that that will just be saying I you know I I I was a better whatever fighter jiu-jitsu player carpenter whatever you name it yeah meanwhile taking no action software engineer I could have done that why didn’t you yeah exactly right I’ll tell you why because you weren’t committed yes and the commitment that we’re talking about is a night yeah night that’s what tension or early in the morning or in the middle of day whatever you know it how you said like you’re you’re not doing these enormous shows of commitment like either you’re committed or you’re not if you’re committed it’s gonna show itself like a question you know a lot of people again back to the guy who’s like hating on his neighbor doing quote-unquote mediocre work like oh that’s John that’s not that good he didn’t want it you know what this just made me think of this sometimes you’d meet a guy that was say I’m going to SEAL training and and they kind of be brag about it and you could see in their eyes that that right there was good enough for them oh like I’m going to SEAL team training yeah you know no one it calls the SEAL team training but that’s the kind of person cuz they just want to and you died here guy you guys saying that yeah I’m going to SEAL training the guys that generally have a better chance or guys that you know you say oh what are you doing in the Navy and they say oh you know I’m um you know just got done with a school and I’m starting hoping to go to SEAL training you know I you have to pry it out of him yeah that guy’s a better chance the guy that’s already bragging yeah basically indirectly bragging because he’s implying that he’s gonna make it those guys gonna have a little bit more of a rough time now this doesn’t mean they’re not this doesn’t mean don’t be confident yeah but that’s what I’m saying is some people that are like I’m going for it they’re happy with just saying I’m committed I quit my job and this one I do they’re happy to let everyone know that yeah but what they’re not happy to do is grind that’s what they’re not happy to do and that’s where that’s where you that’s where you make your money right or where you make your goods or where you become successful yeah there’s I was losing somebody and they were talking about like commit like people have goals I want to be a singer or whatever I want to be a CEO that’s money oh you can form up in a hell LC today and you can become the CEO exactly right so that’s kind of right that’s part of the point right there it’s like okay you want to be CEO because you see all this cool stuff on wherever about being a CEO but really what you’re pursuing isn’t necessarily being this it is but what you’re pursuing where you’re gonna end up and where you’re gonna find success is CEO if you’re pursuing that day to day of you need a CEO it’s like I said this before and it’s it’s on the surface it’s lame but it’s it’s actually really accurate like if you want to be a gangster you have to do gangster stuff every day it’s not just like posing with your guns it’s like you got to kind of you got to put in that work kind of thing you know so if you’re gonna be like you can’t just be Jaco and start a podcast and just in in you know put out a book and that’s it and start collecting money it’s not like that you gotta you gotta go through you know however old you are many years there’s other steps involved laughs and I used to joke about you know cuz when we started Ashla on front obviously which is me and him and we’d see some other guy out then to be a CEO of something and we’d be saying well that guy’s the CEO and you look at their company and the company has them only one person or three people right it bro yeah on the CEO hey I’m the CEO of taco podcast yeah no it’s just you and me there’s no CEO going on here yeah we’re cruising too hard yeah yeah yeah that deal you gotta focus on the right things as opposed to the wrong thing check