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Not gonna lie, there has been some tension in my home a bit with my husband over my reading and following Jocko Willink.
For those who don’t know, Jocko Willink is a retired US Navy SEAL officer, co-author of Extreme Ownership, Dichotomy of Leadership, and many others, co-founder of Echelon Front, and co-host of Jocko Podcast. (Excerpted from his blurb at Echelon Front’s website.)
I first found out about him on Tim Ferriss’ podcast, and (again) for those who don’t know, when I was a teenager I wanted to be a Navy SEAL. Yes, details were very sketchy back then and they were still the ‘quiet professionals’ but you know what they say about keeping secrets with three guys…? (If you don’t, contact me.)
The motivational speakers all said, “You can be anything you want to be!” So very naïve me said, “Sure, what do I have to do to sign up?” I found a website that had entry requirements for various US jobs, including military branches. For some reason, it’s not online anymore. Well, I found out that I had to be a US citizen (that was before the regulation changed), I’m not. I found out I had to be a male (that has also changed recently), I am female. I found that I had to be 18-27 years old, I was 15. I found out that I had to have good eyesight, I’ve been shortsighted since I was 7. I found out that the S part of SEAL was sea…the ocean has been actively trying to kill me every time I touch the water. (Horror stories for another day.) I found out that I had to have some level of American-based scholastic achievement that meant nothing to me, I’m homeschooled.
The long and short of it was that I was never going to be a Navy SEAL, no matter what the motivation speakers said and no matter how many affirmations I did (I didn’t do any of them, just to be clear).
I decided to join my parents in helping out in their mission works and trying to make their little corner of the world a better place. I branched out ‘on my own’ and joined mission bases all across the world, ending up in Africa, where I’ve been for the past 19 years.
All throughout this time, my relationship with Jesus has gone through its ups and downs, as with any relationship. I’ve had times when I felt close to the Lord, and times when there was a spiritual drought, or so it seemed. All these are stories in themselves that we will leave for another day, if at all.
Along comes Jocko on the Tim Ferriss Podcast and talks about Extreme Ownership, the book and the principles, the Laws of Combat (Cover and Move, Simple, Prioritize and Execute, Decentralized Command), Getting After It (without having to psych yourself up with motivation), etc. You know, the usual Jocko stuff which hasn’t changed in just over seven years. WOW! Where has all the time gone?!?
Like most everyone that actually listens to the podcast, I was sucked in. I still am. Right now, one of my side projects is cutting up the Jocko Podcasts and posting them bit by bit on YouTube. No money in it for me, just trying to get the word out there in bite sized portions for people who are scared when they 2 hours, 3 hours, 4 hours, 5 hours in the time bar. Couple minutes is a Trojan horse.
So the major issue at home was: I am still doing volunteer mission work in Africa, I still love the Lord and follow the Bible and try to live what it says. What am I doing listening to Jocko Podcasts and reading his books? What if I took the time to do other mission-related things?
My reaction is a verse from the Bible which says, ‘For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.’ The way I see it, you feed your spirit with Biblical related stuff, and you feed your body with food, you feed your mind with Jocko and all these things together help to keep things moving forward.
I will, at some point, do a series of articles on Jesus and Jocko comparisons, but in the meantime, please enjoy this clip of someone who expresses the sentiment very well. I don’t know the guy and I can’t endorse anything else he says, I only saw this clip and I agree with it.
Comment your thoughts on the matter: Jesus v Jocko, or Jesus AND Jocko.