Don't Get Caught Up in Things That Don't Matter - Jocko Willink

as leaders I see people getting caught up all the times in little things that will not affect the outcome unless they let it so I see some white belt below them in the chain of commands going all crazy grabbing their sleeve and this leader on the top like it gets concerned about it and puts time and effort into something that doesn't matter whether it's a little personality rub a little ego uprising should we do it this way or should we do it that way it doesn't matter that's a little sleeve grab it doesn't matter and I see people getting caught up on things that don't matter all the time and what I've realized is it's something that I figured out a long time ago I don't know win but a long time ago I figured out you know what that thing doesn't matter I'm not gonna worry about it that thing doesn't matter I'm not gonna worry about it that thing doesn't matter I'm not gonna worry about it that thing matters I'm gonna focus on that thing mm-hmm and that makes that makes a big a big big big difference it's its leadership capital because if I'm investing my leadership capital and getting your hand off my sleeve or trying to do it my way instead of your way or trying to keep your ego in check if that's what I'm investing my leadership capitalist I have nothing left invest in the thing that's actually matters just like if you're a black belt and someone guys grabbing your sleeve and you focus on pulling that hand off your whole time you're gonna waste energy and maybe you even give up position because you're because you're focused on something that did not matter so it is important to realize and to learn to differentiate between things that don't matter and things that do matter in an order to tell the difference between those two things you have to be able to detach and step back and obviously this is the same thing not just with jujitsu not just with leadership not just with combat because it's the same thing in combat you're gonna have things that don't things are happening on the battlefield that don't matter little hey guys moving here instead of there that doesn't matter oh this guy's moving there so it doesn't matter the enemy's doing this okay it doesn't matter oh wait the enemy did that say that matters one of my guys did this thing that matters so how do you learn to discriminate between the two you have to be able to detach from it that's what you have to do you have to be able to detach and if you if you don't learn to detach you're gonna constantly get tripped up on things that don't really matter and I'll tell you the more the better you get the less things matter the better you get the last thing is matter and the better you get the more the more important things matter hmm so you you end up just wasting no energy on things that don't matter and focusing all your energy on things that actually matter and this is the difference man this is how you win in jujitsu this is how you win as a leader this is how you win in combat and this is truly how you win in life think about all the things you know what you used to talk about a lot you haven't done in a while you talk about distractions how things can distract you that's totally true that's what I'm talking about the things that distract you from what actually matters so you have to you have to figure out how to detach from those things I was doing some reading as is per norm and there's a guy named Keith Douglas he was a British soldier World War two he's kind of a badass he was stuck in an administrative position in October of 1942 during the Second Battle of El Alamein and so he's stuck in this administrative position so he's in when AWOL and went to the frontline and joined the fight and got after it and one of the things that he wrote he said to be sentimental or emotional now is dangerous to oneself and to others so what is he talking about you can't get emotional you can't get sentimental you can't get caught up in things that don't matter after his return from Africa this guy Keith Douglas he wrote a book about his experience here's a little excerpt you can kind of think about what this guy has been through that taught him these lessons here we go as I came up to them I recognized one of them as Robin the observation officer whose aid I had been asking for earlier in the day I recognized his fleece lines fleece-lined suede waistcoat and polished brass shoulder titles and then his face strained and tired with pain his left foot was smashed to a pulp mingled with the remainder of a boot but as I spoke to Robin saying have you got a tourniquet Robin he answered apologetically I'm afraid I haven't Keith I looked at the second man only his clothes distinguished him as a human being his face had gone in place of it was a huge yellow vegetable the eyes blinked in it without lashes into grotesque huge mouth dribbled and moaned like a child exhausted with crying so there's an example of a horrible situation that you have to learn to detach and you have to be able to focus on things that actually matter because as Keith Douglass said to be sentimental or emotional now is dangerous to oneself and to others now as I was digging into a little bit of Keith Douglass and up we'll get to Keith Douglass fully on the podcast but he he added to that line he added another line that I want to hit as well to be sentimental or emotional now is dangerous to himself and to others and he continues to trust anyone or to admit any hope of a better world it's criminally foolish as foolish as it is to stop working for it so right you know that's a little tangent that's a tangent but it's powerful and like I said we'll get to Keith's Douglass's book and that book got published after the war and unfortunately Keith Douglas never saw that book get published because he was killed by enemy mortar fire On June 9th just a few days into the d-day invasion of Normandy which he took pardon but again luckily he left us a lesson which is to control your emotions and I think as a as a person and as an individual if you can start trying to discriminate between things that matter and things that don't matter and the way that you do that is by detaching from everything and then you can pay attention you can assess logically not emotionally what's important what's not and you focus on the things that matter and it's gonna make your entire life a lot easier it's a great lesson from Keith Douglas

Channel: Jocko Podcast

Views: 543,664

Keywords: leadership, discipline, freedom, defcor, jocko, jocko podcast, echelon front, self improvement

Id: WAiZqtxbvYQ

Length: 7min 54sec (474 seconds)

Published: Mon Dec 03 2018