Transcript
A (0:00)
This is the Jocko Underground podcast number 187 with Echo Charles. And we are going to. Well, we're going to read some questions from troopers out in the field and then we're going to provide guidance, we're going to provide answers, we're going to provide courses of action that you can use to get on the correct path and move forward. That's where we're at. Let's get to this first one helpful guidance.
B (0:23)
Yes, sir. First question, Jocko, I've been a fan of your work for a while. I love the good, quote unquote good mindset when adversity strikes. And I also use your supplement products daily. Okay. I'm a 26 year old pitching coach seen as a young, bright mind with potential. But I know potential means nothing without results. My life has had plenty of adversity. My father passed when I was 16. I've lived, lived with three learning disabilities and partial disability, deafness, and was diagnosed with a back disease that nearly ended my baseball career. Being half Native American also shaped me. My dad's family opposed his marriage and after his passing, their hostility drove my mom into deep depression. In college I. In college I battled depression, drug addiction and nearly took my life, my own life. But I've been clean since January 2025. Recently, I was let go from a job. My fault, and I own it. My girlfriend has been my rock through it. But my question is, if I didn't have that support system, how do you recommend picking yourself up as an adult?
A (1:35)
There's a little battlefield kind of mentality which is always improve your position. And it's something that applies to jiu jitsu as well. Always improve your position. Always, always improve your position on the battlefield. Always improve your position. It's something that clearly you can apply to your life as well. And you have to be careful because it's. When you get knocked down, it's very easy to focus on how far you've fallen. And it's also equally difficult. Or no, it's actually, it's actually equally easy. Easy to get focused not just on the fact that you've fallen down, but it's easy to get focused on how far you have to go to get back up again. And that's not going to help you. But going back to this battlefield saying if you can just focus on improving your position right now, just a little bit, then the overwhelming nature of these events will begin to fade because you're now focused on something that you can control, something just as simple as improving your position. Right now. And you've heard me say it, like, what can you do? Well, you've heard me say, wake up early and work out. Just do that. Just start with that. You've heard Admiral Craven say, make your bed. Just. Just get that done. Just make your bed. You've heard Jordan Peterson say, clean your room. Right? These are all. Each one of these. It's. It's. It's basically the same message, right? It's take control of what you can control and make that little thing a little bit better. And what that gives you is agency. It gives you control. It gives you personal responsibility. And what that does is it gives you ownership. That. That actually is extreme ownership, right? The. The. The recognition that the world does not control you. You. You can't let the world control how you react, right? The world does not control. The world cannot control how you respond. The world cannot control how you react to things. You control that. Now, look, the world can throw some mayhem at you. It can throw at you depression. It can throw at you girlfriends dumping you and your father's passing when you're 16. Like, the world can throw some adversity at you for sure, but it can't control how you respond to those things. You do. You control that. And here's the. Here's the thing. Here's the most important part of this for me is to know that and recognize that the support system is you. That's the way it is. That's the way it is always going to be. And that might sound overwhelming. It might sound overwhelming to hear that there is no external support system you can count on. There's not going to be any backup. No one's coming to rescue you. That can seem scary. But when you recognize that where you go and what you do and how you respond is all your choice, that is the most positive thing you can get to in the world, that you get to decide what you do. You don't need anybody else. You don't need that support system. What you need is that recognition that this is your life. That how you respond and the way you behave are choices that you get to make. And that's awesome. You are the support system. So own it. And then get after it one small step at a time. And that's where I'm at, man. And stay clean, of course. Next question.