Jocko Willink Saved My Life
The Fall of 2016 was a major milestone in my life and career. This marked the year that I became a “full time employee” of the fitness industry. Up until this point I had one foot in retail and another in the fitness space. I would soon go on and enter a management role at San Diego State. As my career continued to move forward, in many ways my personal life fell apart. I would spend the weekends partying with complete disregard to how my actions affected those around me. My own physical practice wan in shambles. Needless to say I lacked discipline. I convinced myself of every excuse in the books. It was clear that the missteps of my personal life would eventually spill over into my professional life. That was until early 2017 when I watched the TED talk titled “Extreme Ownership” by Jocko Willink for the first time.
Jocko’s baritone voice shook me to my core. “ War is a nightmare”. He goes on to describe how an element of his SEAL team, which he led, was involved in a blue on blue incident, where a friendly Iraqi soldier was killed and 3 other friendlies were wounded. He continues to describe how his leadership calls a meeting to figure out how and why the situation unfolded the way they did. Instead of shirking responsibility he stands at the front of the meeting and takes ownership of the situation. Jocko’s final few words go as follows.
“Don’t blame any other person or any other thing get control of your ego don't hide your delicate pride from the truth take ownership of everything in your world thew good and the bad take ownership of your mistakes, take ownership of your shortfalls, take ownership of your problems and take ownership of the solutions that will get those problems solved.”
These words led to a major shift in how I dealt with all aspects of my life and career. Instead of waiting for things to happen to me. I knew that I had to take charge of my life. Naturally I went head first into Jocko’s “teachings” from his podcasts to his books immersing myself in extreme ownership. So much so I began to question, can some one take too much ownership?
I do recognize that Jocko’s personality is not the most welcoming or palatable at first glance, and his teachings can be extreme. Afterall it is the main adjective used to title his first book. Once you peel the lairs behind waking up at 4 AM, taking no days off, and the black and white photography at its core there are many valuable lessons to be learned and applied. As I read through Extreme Ownership I could easily make parallels of when I was and was not already applying these simple principles to my daily life. Over the course of the following year I will be writing an essay every month based on each principle laid out in Extreme Ownership. Each essay will contain anecdotes based on my life and career were I either implemented or failed to implement that particular principle of extreme ownership.
Weight of Love-The Black Keys
The first entry to The Blacks Keys 2014 album Turn Blue. Weight of Love was the first time I truly appreciated this longer format of music. The hints of psychedelic rock paired with their signature blues sound sets your soul on fire as Dan Auerbach narrates a tale of loss, echoed by a howling guitar solo leaving you wondering what just happened as the instruments fade away. I fucking love this song, so much so I played it every morning for a year straight after it came out.
C/S