Moment 175: How To Build A ROUTINE You’ll ACTUALLY Stick To!: Navy Seal Jocko Willink

Steven Bartlett (0:00)

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For it is this idea of waking up early. Now, I'm not someone that wakes up early.

Jocko Willink (0:58)

I know you, no alarm clock and you're usually up by 11

Steven Bartlett (1:02)

Well, so no meetings before 11 Okay, got it. So I stay up quite late.

What's the best case you could give me for changing that? And do I need to change that? Because what I do is, you know, I flew into LA. I'm jet lagged. I'm flying back in a couple of days. I'm going to be jet lagged when I land as well. So what I'm trying to do is just protect my sleep at all costs, because I've come to learn that it's really the foundation of my performance. So if I'm unslept and I show up at work, the chance that I'm not going to show up correctly in a variety of ways, emotionally, creatively, whatever, is high and that for me is the greatest risk. So in the last sort of year or two of my life, I've just said, OK, prioritize sleep, because then everything else seems to follow. But when I heard that you wake up sometimes at 4.45 or 4.30, like pretty much all the time, and I've literally seen you on social media upload your alarm clock day after day after day, OK, shit, maybe I should rethink.

Jocko Willink (1:59)

No, I think if you've got a system that's working well for you, and then I wouldn't change anything, right? If you feel like you're performing well, you're physically healthy, you're getting all the work done that you need to do, you're naturally more of a late night, late morning type person, I'd run with it.

If you were telling me, yeah, sometimes I get up, sometimes I don't, sometimes I work late, sometimes I don't, I'm not, don't work out every day. You know, sometimes I feel groggy. If you were telling me that kind of thing, I'd say, okay, pick a time and start waking up at that time every day. Doesn't have to be 440, it could be eight o'clock, could be seven o'clock, doesn't matter. Could be 11 o'clock. But try and go to bed around the same time and try and wake up around the same time. And that's going to be a great foundation for everything that you're doing. And I would say when you wake up in the morning, do some kind of exercise. Because I think that is very helpful in getting your day started correctly.

Steven Bartlett (2:59)

What are your non-negotiables in your life in terms of habits, routines, disciplines?

Jocko Willink (3:04)

I wake up early and I work out every day. That's kind of my, those are the minimum requirements in my life. Train Jiu Jitsu, I don't get to train Jiu Jitsu every single day, but if I can train Jiu Jitsu, I'm going to train Jiu Jitsu. I'm going to work out every day. If I can surf, I'm going to surf.

I obviously have to work every day. I work every day doing something. I've got a bunch of different companies. I've got to write books, podcasts, so I work every day.

Steven Bartlett (3:41)

Are you ever undisciplined?

Jocko Willink (3:43)

Oh yeah, yeah, chocolate chip cookies. They're a discipline lapse for me. Yeah, so yeah, I'm not a cyborg.

Steven Bartlett (3:58)

When people look at someone like you that's done all the things you've done. You've been in a seal and you've written all these books and started these companies. Actually, the drink I'm drinking now is one of your products, which is the... What's that in front of you?

Jocko Willink (4:08)

Yeah, it's an energy drink called Go.

Steven Bartlett (4:12)

Delicious, by the way.

Jocko Willink (4:12)

Thank you.

Steven Bartlett (4:13)

I think my mouth has been connected to my brain during this interview, so I think it's working. I understand these misconceptions that people have of me, because they assume... It's kind of like the halo effect. We assume because someone's done something well, they do all things well. But there are so many things that I think would really liberate people and make them inspired if they could see how deficient I was in so many things in my life. Because they just assume that if you've done one thing well, you have a good podcast, you must be like the perfect picture of... What are the big misconceptions generally, moving away from this idea of imperfection, but just generally about Jocko? Because you realize you've become a bit of a character, right? You know, like Navy Seal that comes with an identity package.