Transcript:
Navy Seals: Forget motivation, you need discipline
Jocko Willink: It’s not about motivation. Motivation is a fickle little emotional thing and if you get too hungry sometimes you’re not motivated, or if you get too tired sometimes you’re not motivated. Or if it’s been a long day you lose your motivation. So that’s why motivation doesn’t matter to me.
Leif Babin: One of the things we try to do in training was build those realistic scenarios that would put people in a really chaotic, overwhelming situation. There’s a dozen things that are bearing down on you, the pressure’s on. How do you do this? You have to prioritize and execute. And so you can’t take on those dozen problems simultaneously, you’re going to fail at all of them. You have to take a step back, figure out what the highest priority is, execute toward that highest priority, and then move on to the next priority. And then the next priority.
Jocko Willink: It’s about the discipline. It’s about the discipline of holding the course, knowing what you have to do, and making it happen.
Leif Babin: The battlefield’s going to change, and the priority will change. So, you’re getting shot at from one direction, and you start manoeuvring your troops to engage the enemy in that direction All of the sudden you get shot at from another direction. You’re going to have to be able to rapidly shift, be able to communicate to your team and be able to flex. And so life is like that. For any business it’s like that. Those priorities are going to rapidly change. And you’ve got to be able to rapidly shift that. Communicate that to your team. And it’s all about prioritize and execute.
Jocko Willink: Motivation is going to let you down. Discipline will stay by your side.
Reference: Former Navy SEAL commanders: When things get tough, forget motivation, you need discipline
