Jocko Willink (John Gretton) is a retired Navy SEAL author of Discipline Equals Freedom: Field Manual.
Beyond earning the Silver Star and Bronze Star for his service in the Iraq War (1), he became a popular author and podcaster.
Jocko Willink credits his success as a Navy SEAL and a civilian to his discipline, not physical or mental superiority. He inspires hope that your discipline is the key to health and success.
Motivational Discipline Equals Freedom Quotes
“Discipline Equals Freedom” ∼ Jocko Willink
“Don’t expect to be motivated every day to get out there and make things happen. You won’t be. Don’t count on motivation. Count on Discipline.”
∼ Jocko Willink, Discipline Equals Freedom: Field Manual
“Don’t let your mind control you. Control your mind.”
∼ Jocko Willink, Discipline Equals Freedom: Field Manual
“NO MORE. No more excuses. No more: “I’ll start tomorrow.” No more: “Just this once.” No more accepting the shortfalls of my own will. No more taking the easy road. No more bowing down to whatever unhealthy or unproductive thoughts float through my mind.”
∼ Jocko Willink, Discipline Equals Freedom: Field Manual
“Stop researching every aspect of it and reading all about it and debating the pros and cons of it … Start doing it.”
∼Jocko Willink, Discipline Equals Freedom: Field Manual
“Faster. Stronger. Smarter. More humble. Less ego.”
∼Jocko Willink, Discipline Equals Freedom: Field Manual
“With myself, I have to hold the line. There are areas within myself where I CANNOT compromise. I am going to work hard. I am going to train hard. I am going to improve myself. I am not going to rest on my laurels. I am going to own my mistakes and confront them. I am going to face my demons. I’m not going to give up, or give out, or give in. I’m going to stand. I am going to maintain my self-discipline. And on those points there will be No Compromise. NOT NOW. NOT EVER.”
∼Jocko Willink, Discipline Equals Freedom: Field Manual
“Because emotion and logic will both reach their limitations. And when one fails, you need to rely on the other. When it just doesn’t make any logical sense to go on, that’s when you use your emotion, your anger, your frustration, your fear, to push further, to push you to say one thing: I don’t stop.”
∼ Jocko Willink, Discipline Equals Freedom: Field Manual
“You have to BE VIGILANT. You have to be ON GUARD. You have to HOLD THE LINE on the seemingly insignificant little things— things that shouldn’t matter—but that do.”
∼ Jocko Willink, Discipline Equals Freedom: Field Manual
“Humans can withstand almost inconceivable stress—and you can too. So that is your first step: Gain perspective. And to do that you must do something critical in many situations: Detach. Whatever problems or stress you are experiencing, detach from them. Stress is generally caused by what you can’t control.”
∼ Jocko Willink, Discipline Equals Freedom: Field Manual
“That’s it. When things are going bad: Don’t get all bummed out, don’t get startled, don’t get frustrated. No. Just look at the issue and say: “Good.”
∼ Jocko Willink, Discipline Equals Freedom: Field Manual
“So. Let us cry no more. Let us mourn no more. Let us remember—but let us not dwell … Instead: Let us laugh and love and let us embrace and venerate everything that life is and every opportunity it gives us. Let us LIVE—for those WHO live no more. Let us live to honor them.”
∼ Jocko Willink, Discipline Equals Freedom: Field Manual
“Now is the time for strength. And through strength— and through will— and through unwavering discipline— I will become what I want to be. I will become who I want to be. And then—and only then—will I rest and say: No more.”
∼ Jocko Willink, Discipline Equals Freedom: Field Manual
“Those donuts aren’t food. THEY ARE POISON. Same with the chocolate chip cookies, the double Dutch chocolate cake, the can of soda, the bag of potato chips, and the pretzel-wrapped hot dogs. All that junk isn’t food. It doesn’t fuel you. It kills you. It literally kills you. It isn’t going to make you stronger, faster, healthier, smarter, or better. It’s going to do the opposite.”
∼ Jocko Willink, Discipline Equals Freedom: Field Manual
“People are not who you want them to be. Kill your idols. Sure there are things we can learn from people—but people aren’t going to be what you think they are—what 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. That’s 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.”
∼ Jocko Willink, Discipline Equals Freedom: Field Manual
“If the stress is something you can’t control: Embrace it. You can’t control it, but— How can you look at it from a different angle? How can you use it to your advantage? I couldn’t control the chaos of combat. I had to embrace it. I had to figure out a way to take advantage of it. Make it into your ally.”
∼ Jocko Willink, Discipline Equals Freedom: Field Manual
“Don’t fight stress. Embrace it. Turn it on itself. Use it to make yourself sharper and more alert. Use it to make you think and learn and get better and smarter and more effective. Use the stress to make you a better you.”
∼ Jocko Willink, Discipline Equals Freedom: Field Manual
“When your feelings are screaming that you have had enough, when you think you are going to break emotionally, override that emotion with concrete logic and willpower that says one thing: I don’t stop. Fight weak emotions with the power of logic; fight the weakness of logic with the power of emotion.”
∼ Jocko Willink, Discipline Equals Freedom: Field Manual
“Another mission. Another task. Another goal. And the enemy is always watching. Waiting. Looking for that moment of weakness. Looking for you to exhale, set your weapon down, and close your eyes, even just for a moment. And that’s when they attack. So don’t be finished.”
∼ Jocko Willink, Discipline Equals Freedom: Field Manual
“Question yourself every day. Ask yourself: Who am I? What have I learned? What have I created? What forward progress have I made? Who have I helped? What am I doing to improve myself—today? To get better, faster, stronger, healthier, smarter?”
∼ Jocko Willink, Discipline Equals Freedom: Field Manual
“Is this what I want to be? This? Is this all I’ve got—is this everything I can give? Is this going to be my life? Do I accept that?”
∼ Jocko Willink, Discipline Equals Freedom: Field Manual
“The people who are successful decide they are going to be successful. They make that choice. And they make other choices. They decide to study hard. They decide to work hard. They decide to be the first person to get to work and the last to go home. They decide they are going to take on the hard jobs. Take on the challenges. They decide they are going to lead when no one else will.”
∼ Jocko Willink, Discipline Equals Freedom: Field Manual
“DISCIPLINE. POWER. POSITIVITY. WILL.”
∼ Jocko Willink, Discipline Equals Freedom: Field Manual
“Live in defiance of the weakness and in rebellion against the decay.”
∼ Jocko Willink, Discipline Equals Freedom: Field Manual
“There is only hard work, late nights, early mornings, practice, rehearsal, repetition, study, sweat, blood, toil, frustration, and discipline.”
∼ Jocko Willink
“The Darkness cannot extinguish your light. Your WILL. Your determination. No matter what is happening—no matter how hard the fight is. As long as you keep fighting—you win.”
∼Jocko Willink
“Get creative. Get aggressive. Get it done. When you are on the road, STAY ON THE PATH.”
∼ Jocko Willink
“Don’t just think. Don’t just talk. Don’t just dream. None of that matters. The only thing that matters is that you actually do. So: DO.”
∼Jocko Willink
“Fear is normal. Every person feels fear at some point. Step aggressively toward to your fear – that is the step into bravery.”
∼Jocko Willink
“You have to do the work. You have to hold the line. You have to make it happen.”
∼Jocko Willink
”Most of us aren’t defeated in one decisive battle. We are defeated one tiny, seemingly insignificant surrender at a time that chips away at who we should really be.”
∼Jocko Willink
“But my glory, it doesn’t happen in front of a crowd. It doesn’t happen in a stadium or on a stage. There are no medals handed out. It happens in the darkness of the early morning. In solitude. Where I try. And I try. And I try again. With everything I have, to be the best that I can possibly be.”
∼ Jocko Willink
“Everyone wants some magic pill—some life hack—that eliminates the need to do the work. But that does not exist.”
∼Jocko Willink
“Overconfidence was risky in such a hostile environment, a mistake most often made by warriors who had never truly been tested.”
∼Jocko Willink
“Get up. Dust off. Reload. Re-calibrate. Re-engage – And go out on the attack.”
∼Jocko Willink
“When you think you can’t take any more… guess what? You can – It’s PROVEN by the stories of ORDINARY PEOPLE in war.”
∼ Jocko Willink
“How do you become better? There is only one way – The way of discipline.”
∼Jocko Willink
“Curse the warmth of your bed instead of 48 reasons why you need to motivate yourself to get up in the morning. Glory in solitude instead of 10 ways you can stay on task and focus.”
∼ Jocko Willink
“Get After It.” ∼Jocko Willink
“The only person you can control is you. So focus on making yourself who you want to be: Faster. Smarter. Stronger. More humble. Less ego.”
∼ Jocko Willink
“Extreme Ownership is a mind-set, an attitude.”
∼ Jocko Willink
“Set your alarm clock and get out of bed when it goes off.”
∼Jocko Willink
“There is no such thing as a weekend. This is an everyday gig: Every day is a Monday.”
∼Jocko Willink
“Ego clouds and disrupts everything.”∼Jocko Willink
“If you allow the status quo to persist, you can’t expect to improve performance, and you can’t expect to win.”
∼Jocko Willink
“Hesitation is the enemy. It allows the moment to pass, the opportunity to be lost, the enemy to get the upper hand.”
∼Jocko Willink
“Those weights in the gym – they aren’t going to move themselves. You have to do it.”
∼ Jocko Willink
“Go down swinging. And I’ll tell you: If you fight with all you have, more often than not, you won’t go down at all. You will win.”
∼Jocko Willink
Jocko Willink Quotes on Leadership
“A leader must lead, but also be ready to follow. They must be aggressive, but not overbearing. A leader must be calm, but not robotic. They must be confident, but never cocky. A leader must be brave, but not foolhardy. They must have a competitive spirit, but be a gracious loser.”
∼ Jocko Willink
“A leader must be attentitive to details, but not obssessed with them. They must be strong, but have endurance. A leader must be humble, but not passive. They must be close to subordinates, but not too close. A leader must exercise ‘extreme ownership’, but employ ‘decentralized command’. They must have nothing to prove, but everything to prove.”
∼Jocko Willink
“In chaotic, dynamic, and rapidly changing environments, leaders at all levels must be empowered to make decisions. Decentralized Command is a key component to victory.”
∼ Jocko Willink
“The SEAL Teams and the U.S. military, much like militaries throughout history, are based around building blocks of four-to-six man teams with a leader.”
∼Jocko Willink
“Human beings are generally not capable of managing more than six to ten people, particularly when things go sideways and inevitable contingencies arise.”
∼Jocko Willink
“Some of the boldest, most successful plans in history have not come from the senior ranks but from frontline leaders. Senior leaders simply had the courage to accept and run with them.”
∼Jocko Willink
“When setting expectations, no matter what has been said or written, if substandard performance is accepted and no one is held accountable — if there are no consequences — that poor performance becomes the new standard. Therefore, leaders must enforce standards.”
∼ Jocko Willink
“I had to take complete ownership of what went wrong. That is what a leader does — even if it means getting fired. If anyone was to be blamed and fired for what happened, let it be me.”
∼Jocko Willink
“There can be no leadership when there is no team.”
∼Jocko Willink
“Leadership requires belief in the mission and unyielding perseverance to achieve victory.”
∼Jocko Willink
“If frontline troops are unclear about the plan and yet are too intimidated to ask questions, the team’s ability to effectively execute the plan radically decreases.”
∼Jocko Willink
“There are no bad teams, only bad leaders.”
∼Jocko Willink
“Leading people is the most challenging and, therefore, the most gratifying undertaking of all human endeavors.”
∼Jocko Willink
“The goal of all leaders should be to work themselves out of a job. When mentored and coached properly, the junior leader can eventually replace the senior leader, allowing the senior leader to move on to the next level of leadership.”
∼Jocko Willink
“To implement real change, to drive people to accomplish something truly complex or difficult or dangerous — you can’t make people do these things. You have to lead them.”
∼Jocko Willink
“Extreme ownership. Leaders must own everything in their world. There is no one else to blame.”
∼Jocko Willink
“Once the wheels were in motion and the full resources of the team were engaged in that highest priority effort, I could then determine the next priority, focus the team’s efforts there, and then move on to the next priority.”
∼Jocko Willink
“The leader is truly and ultimately responsible for everything.” ∼Jocko Willink
“Good leaders don’t make excuses. Instead, they figure out a way to get things done.”
∼Jocko Willink
Discipline Equals Freedom Meaning
We can choose our actions, but we can not choose the consequences. A wise person acts with the end in mind. They know that the right choice today means more freedom tomorrow
because creating and looking forward to a better tomorrow is the key to success and longevity.
Sacrifice is giving up something of a lower nature for that of a higher nature. It takes wisdom to see the difference and discipline to choose the right one. Discipline is not fearless. Because you are losing what no longer serves you, and you are gaining something far better.
Fear, comfort, and familiarity are like a leash. But this leash is only in your mind. Your brain is trying to protect you from what you believe to be unpleasant. Your beliefs are responsible for most of your actions.
Where to Find Jocko Willink
Check out Jocko Willink’s Podcast or follow him on Twitter @jockowillink. Every morning, he tweets a short motivational message with a picture of his watch showing the time he woke up.
Sources Cited