515: Discipline, Detachment, and the Power of Going From "Why" to "What". W/ Dakota Meyer

This is Jocko Podcast number 515 with Echo Charles and me, Jocko Willink. Good evening, Echo. Good evening. When I'm out performing fire flighting duties, I don't hear the alarms and ask, why did this fire start? Who caused it?

Why did it have to happen now when I was in the middle of dinner with my family? No. I act, I don my gear, climb into the engine, and immediately start to formulate a plan based on whatever problem I am told that I am headed into. The only questions I ask en route are solution-based. I rely upon experience, preparedness, and training rather than on anxiety and nerves.

Instead of asking, why did this happen? I ask, what can I do? Or what is my role in preventing this problem from getting worse? This movement from why to what strips away our emotional thinking, eliminates hypotheticals, and empowers us with the flex the ability to fix the problem rather than wait for it to snowball and become too big for us to handle.

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