44 Jocko Willink Quotes That Will Make You Feel Unstoppable

Jocko Willink is best known for his service in the United States military as a Navy SEAL. He also has a podcast and has written numerous non-fiction books. Willink was born and raised in New England, and he first enlisted in the U.S. Navy in 1990. He formed the company Echelon Front, and co-authored a book on leadership with Leif Babin.

His weekly podcast, which is called The Jocko Podcast, covers topics that range from war to exercise and leadership. He is highly decorated from his military career and participated in Special Operations in the Iraq War. When he returned from Iraq, he served as Officer-in-Charge of training for West Coast SEAL teams.

Willink has earned the Silver Star and Bronze Star from his military service, and he now focuses on helping individuals and companies with leadership solutions. He is one of the most highly respected members of the military in recent history.

Jocko Willink Quotes on Leadership and Discipline

1. “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

2. “The best leaders understand the motivations of their team members and know their people – their lives and their families. But a leader must never grow so close to subordinates that one member of the team becomes more important than another, or more important than the mission itself.” – Jocko Willink

3. “When a team takes ownership of its problems, the problem gets solved. It is true on the battlefield, it is true in business, and it is true in life.” – Jocko Willink

4. “The temptation to take the easy road is always there. It is as easy as staying in bed in the morning and sleeping in. But discipline is paramount to ultimate success and victory for any leader and any team.” – Jocko Willink

5. “We all have a tendency to avoid our weaknesses. When we do that, we never progress or get any better.” – Jocko Willink

6. “One of the key qualities a leader must possess is the ability to detach from the chaos, mayhem, and emotions in a situation and make good, clear decisions based on what is actually happening.” – Jocko Willink

7. “Your success, or lack of success, is your responsibility. Even when you have a chain of command that you don’t like as well, its your responsibility to work with the up chain of command.” – Jocko Willink

8. “One of the things I definitely think of as a driver of me is fear. And it’s fear of failure, fear of being overtaken.” – Jocko Willink

9. “Put your leaders in stressful scenarios. Make them figure out solutions under pressure. See if you can make them frustrated, angry, and flustered, and then demand decisive leadership from them. They will be challenged at first, but they will get better over time.” – Jocko Willink

10. “There is one thing that gets you out of bed in the morning, and that is discipline. Because your dreams and your goals are not there waking up for you in the morning.” – Jocko Willink

11. “If you get your ego in your way, you will only look to other people and circumstances to blame.” – Jocko Willink

12. “That nice, soft pillow and the warm blanket, and it’s all comfortable, and no one wants to leave that comfort – but if you can wake up early in the morning, get a head start on everyone else that’s still sleeping, get productive time doing things that you need to do – that’s a huge piece to moving your life forward.” – Jocko Willink

13. “Since the team understands that the leader is de facto in charge, in that respect, a leader has nothing to prove. But in another respect, a leader has everything to prove: Every member of the team must develop the trust and confidence that their leader will exercise good judgment, remain calm, and make the right decisions when it matters most.” – Jocko Willink

14. “Perseverance is also key to success in any endeavor, but without perseverance in combat, there can be no victory.” – Jocko Willink

15. “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

16. “One of my direct subordinates, one of my guys that worked for me, he would call me up or pull me aside with some major problem, some issue that was going on. And he’d say, ‘Boss, we’ve got this, and that, and the other thing.’ And I’d look at him and I’d say, ‘Good.’ – Jocko Willink

17. “Just do some kind of workout. Doesn’t matter if it’s going for a walk around the block, going for a jog, doing some calisthenics, lifting weights, going to a pool and swimming – you name it. But do something that gets your blood flowing and gets your mind in the game.” – Jocko Willink

18. “Freedom is what everyone wants – to be able to act and live with freedom. But the only way to get to a place of freedom is through discipline.” – Jocko Willink

19. “Discipline starts every day when the first alarm clock goes off in the morning. I say ‘first alarm clock’ because I have three, as I was taught by one of the most feared and respected instructors in SEAL training: one electric, one battery powered, one windup.” – Jocko Willink

20. “If you wake up whenever you want, and you slept for 10 hours, and you’re lazy getting out of bed, then I believe that affects your whole life in a negative way.” – Jocko Willink

21. “Don’t think in the morning. That’s a big mistake that people make. They wake up in the morning and they start thinking. Don’t think. Just execute the plan. The plan is the alarm clock goes off, you get up, you go work out.” – Jocko Willink

22. “Things won’t get better dwelling on the past. Accept what has happened. Then move forward.” – Jocko Willink

23. “When I checked into SEAL Team One many years ago, one of the things that I noticed was there was this old guy, who was younger than I am today, who I decided that I was going to be like. I wanted to emulate what he was doing, and one of those things was he got to work before anybody else.” – Jocko Willink

24. “I don’t pick up toys. I crush them.” – Jocko Willink

25. “Why do you want to get a good workout early in the morning? Well, because it sends more oxygen to your brain; it releases endorphins. It puts you in a state of mind where you can crush things, which is where you want to be.” – Jocko Willink

26. “While discipline and freedom seem like they sit on opposite sides of the spectrum, they are actually very connected.” – Jocko Willink

27. “When things are going bad, don’t get all bummed out. Don’t get startled; don’t get frustrated. If you can say the word ‘good,’ guess what? It means you’re still alive. It means you’re still breathing.” – Jocko Willink

28. “Don’t worry about motivation. Motivation is fickle. It comes and goes. It is unreliable – and when you are counting on motivation to get your goals accomplished, you will likely fall short.” – Jocko Willink

29. “Getting out of bed is like the foundation of the discipline, and I think it carries over into everything else.” – Jocko Willink

30. “If you continue to keep low performers on your team, that are actually dragging the team down; you’re failing the whole team, and eventually, the whole team is going to fail.” – Jocko Willink

31. “We named the book ‘Extreme Ownership’ because we really found that when we looked at not only at leaders but at teams that were the most successful, we found that the ones that had this attitude of extreme ownership were the ones that did the best, and it’s definitely an attitude that I had.” – Jocko Willink

32. “Leadership is hard. It’s a skill. It’s a technique.” – Jocko Willink

33. “I would venture to guess that the biggest reason creative types don’t produce isn’t because they don’t have vision… or talent… in most cases, it’s a lack of discipline.” – Jocko Willink

34. “The more you practice, the better you get, the more freedom you have to create.” – Jocko Willink

35. “If you’re going to wake up early all the time, and you’re working hard, and you’re working out, sometimes you’re going to get tired. It’s OK. It’s acceptable – somewhat. We’re all human, unfortunately.” – Jocko Willink

36. “The moment the alarm goes off is the first test; it sets the tone for the rest of the day. The test is not a complex one: when the alarm goes off, do you get up out of bed, or do you lie there in comfort and fall back to sleep? If you have the discipline to get out of bed, you win – you pass the test.” – Jocko Willink

37. “One of the best mental disciplines for people to implement is simply putting together a schedule or a task list and actually executing it. Write the list or the schedule the night before, and then do what you said you would do. Life becomes much better when you do that.” – Jocko Willink

38. “It’s really hard to guarantee things in life. I guarantee if you get up in the morning and you work out, and you work hard, you will have a better day – 100% guaranteed.” – Jocko Willink

39. “When I was running training, we would fire a couple of leaders from every SEAL team because they couldn’t lead. And 99.9% of the time, it wasn’t a question of their ability – it was a question of their ability to listen.” – Jocko Willink

40. “When things are going bad, there’s going to be some good that’s going to come from it.” – Jocko Willink

41. “It’s not fun to get out of bed early in the morning. When the alarm goes off, it doesn’t sing you a song: it hits you in the head with a baseball bat. So how do you respond to that? Do you crawl underneath your covers and hide? Or do you get up, get aggressive, and attack the day?” – Jocko Willink

42. “Just as discipline and freedom are opposing forces that must be balanced, leadership requires finding the equilibrium in the dichotomy of many seemingly contradictory qualities between one extreme and another.” – Jocko Willink

43. ” Waking up early was the first example I noticed in the SEAL Teams in which discipline was really the difference between being good and being exceptional.” – Jocko Willink

44. “If I’m going to get you to do stuff, I need to lead you. I can’t just order you to do it.” – Jocko Willink