Why Discipline Equals Freedom

Why Discipline Equals Freedom






Jocko Willink knows a lot about discipline. He’s achieved things that required him to have a lot of it, such as commanding a Navy SEAL team during the Battle of Ramadi, leading training for all West Coast SEAL teams and launching Echelon Front as a leadership instructor, speaker and executive coach.

On the SUCCESS Live stage, he speaks with powerful conviction as Josh Ellis, editor in chief of SUCCESS magazine, makes an interesting point about something Willink strongly believes in: how discipline leads to freedom.

“It’s counterintuitive in a way,” Ellis says. “It almost seems like something that only someone who has lived that way can testify to.”

Willink quickly agrees. He says sleeping in every morning might sound like freedom, but it’s actually not. If sleeping in means you don’t get things done, you’ve become a slave to apathy. In his new book, Discipline Equals Freedom: Field Manual, Willink describes discipline in thought and action—from what he eats to how he trains and manages his day.

“Parts of my day are very disciplined, which gives me freedom in other parts of the day. Sometimes people will [say], ‘OK, I’m going to run a disciplined time management schedule.’ They schedule every single minute of the day, and I don’t recommend that…. There’s no room for error.” —Jocko Willink