Jocko Podcast - 406: Refer To The Things That Ground You As A Person. With JP Dinnell.

Episode Date: October 4, 2023

>Join Jocko Underground<JP Dinnell is a former U.S. Navy SEAL and now a Leadership Instructor, Speaker and Strategic Advisor with Echelon Front, where he serves as Chief Training Officer. J.P. is also a pro team athlete and spokesperson for Origin Maine and Jocko Fuel, an American clothing and supplement company. J.P. has a signature Energy Drink flavor “Sour Apple Sniper” with Jocko Fuel.Jeremiah spent nearly a decade in the SEAL Teams with three combat deployments. Sent to the violent terrorist stronghold of Ar Ramadi, Iraq in 2006 with SEAL Team Three’s Task Unit Bruiser, J.P. served as point man, machine gunner, and lead sniper for Delta Platoon opposite the American Sniper, Chris Kyle, who was in Charlie Platoon. For his leadership and courage under fire, JP was awarded a Silver Star, 2 Bronze Stars with Valor and the Army Commendation Medal with Valor helping Task Unit Bruiser to become the most highly decorated special operations unit of the Iraq War.He worked closely with SEAL Officers Jocko Willink, his Task Unit Commander, and Leif Babin, and was the driving force on many of the daring combat operations Jocko and Leif wrote about in Extreme Ownership.Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/jocko-podcast/exclusive-content

This is Jocko podcast number 406 with Echo Charles and me, Jocko Willink. Good evening. Good evening. Also, joining us tonight is J.P. to know. What's up, y'all? Good evening, J.P. Seal. Point man, lead sniper and Delta platoon task unit bruiser, close quarters, and urban combat instructor at Trade.

At Trey, at Chief Training Officer at Eschlam Front. And, of course, my brother, JP, thanks for coming down. We are going to talk today about a, well, a new book and expanded edition of a book, a book that I wrote called Leadership Strategy and Tactics Field Manual. This is the second edition, the new edition, the expanded a dish that's out there. And there was a time, actually, when this book wasn't out yet, but someone at Echelon Front had found the file for the book on our shared drive, like where I was writing it and it shared it.

That's where I knew that the book was going to resonate with people because the team was reading it and like teaching it and using it and implementing it. So that's leadership strategy and tactics, field manual. It's the reason it's a field manual is it's something that you can just refer back to. Like in the military you have field manuals and you get to an operation that you haven't done in a long time or you haven't done in a while. You can just go to a field manual and look up. Okay, what am I supposed to do here?

Or you're having a problem with a weapon system. You can go to the field manual and figure out what that problem is and you can get it fixed. And that's kind of the way that I wrote this leadership strategy and tactics field manual. So there you go. JP, what do you think of this book? I think it's great.

It's a great resource and tool. I know I've used this book many times over the years, just working through some problem that I had as just a human. And, you know, it's, I mean, like you were just saying, field manual it's a resource for you to be able to go back to and and look up and see what's going on and there's be times where I'm working through something personally or somebody would reach out to me and say hey I have this going on and I would use it as a reference to what I think the answer was and I go back and I'm like all right cool yeah I align with that and there's other times I go back and

like man I was my perspective was off on this and I'd have to actually think about it and say okay you know this is what's in the training manual how was I off based on this and kind of evaluate it but It's a great resource and tool because at the end of the day, leadership is a solution to every problem that we have. That's one of the things that we teach at Eschalon Front. It's one of our core values and beliefs is leadership is a skill set and leadership is the solution. So I look at the training manual as a tool and a resource. It's helped me with my skill sets as a leader, as an instructor, and as a member of the Eschalon Front team, but it's also a great resource for not only developing my skill set, but finding the answers. and then broadly being able to expand my horizons in regards to my thoughts on leadership

and different scenarios and understanding like, hey, my perspective is flawed. Let me look at this from a different perspective. And it's really helped, I would say, probably open up the way I look at things in life. And, man, I can't tell you the amount of people I have referred to this book. I usually have a few of these on hand. I order 10 of them at a time from Amazon and just have in my house and I give them to people. And I mean, we had a guy come and do some maintenance at a new house and some stuff. And, you know, we just talked to them a little bit about some stuff and went and grabbed the book, signed it, gave it to them.

I said, hey, you know, my boss wrote this book is going to help you. I mean, I give out this book regularly. And the reason why I give it out is because it has value. And I know it's going to provide value to somebody's life. No matter what they have going on in their life, they will be able to use the book. And I'm excited for this new expanded version. Yeah, that's awesome. And that's definitely the feedback that I get is people like, yeah, this is what I have on my desk.

This is what I have on my nightstand. This is what I keep in my locker. Like, this is the book that people can go, oh, what's going on? Why am I thinking this way right now? What's this problem? What's my boss's problem? What's my boss's problem? What's my buddy's problem?

What's my wife's problems? What's my husband problem? Why are they so messed up? And they pull out the book and they're like, oh, hold on a second. Yeah, one of my buddies from church, you know, who's in the Air Force, and now he works for Lockheed Martin. and he just got a promotion. And I was talking to Brian about some stuff. And this was the first thing I said, hey, it was like,

hey, I know you've read Extreme Ownership. I know you know the principles. Have you read the field manual? Leadership strategy and tactics? He was like, no, not yet. I'm like, order the book right now. And then I saw him, I don't know, I think maybe it was like a week later. And I brought him like a copy of it.

And he had already ordered it, I think, but I didn't care. Like, hey, cool, two is one. One is none. Like, or go give it away. Like, I didn't care if he already had one. And it's just the value. That's the value I see in this book. And everybody that's read the book, they say the same thing.

Like, man, that book was incredible. And obviously, the base and foundation of what we do actually on front is out of extreme ownership and economy leadership. And this just gives different perspectives and ideas and ways to handle those problems. Yeah. And it's very pragmatic. It literally, there's sections of this book that actually tells you what you should say here. Yep.

It's like, oh, you're the scenario. Here's, don't say this, blah, blah, blah, blah. Say this, blah, blah, blah. Yeah. Like, at least give you an example of, oh, yeah, you're talking this way. That's not good. You should do it this way. That's going to be better.

So it's very pragmatic and very implementable. Is that a word? Echo Charles, check with you. In Echo Charles's a dictionary, we're a word. Yeah. You know, that's why I get some leeway with your approval over there. So I appreciate it. Very implementable, the book.

whether that's word or not, I know I'm going to start using it. And you know who will correct this? Leif Babin. Oh, he'll come in hot. No, he'll know. I mean, well, you know, I grew up with a speech impediment and sometimes I mix up my words and I have heard you make up words before. Yes.

The cool thing is, well, there's two things. Number one, like I went to school and studied English in college, right? Yeah. The English language is made up of made up words. Yeah. There's words that just get developed out of whether it's convenience, like people blur two words together or they're trying to describe something that really hasn't been in existence before, but they know what it means. So whenever you use some weird word that I know doesn't exist, everyone in the audience nods their head. Yes.

Because they understand what you're talking about, even though this word has never been used before. And it's funny because sometimes I'll do it and I'll pause or somebody will kind of look at me and I'll just stop them like, that way. that wasn't a real word, was it? And it's funny because of the position I'm on the stage and I'm speaking to them, like, people feel like they need to back me up on. I'm like, no, it's okay. I make up words sometimes. It's a really cool gift to have when you speak for a living

and everyone laughs. And I've had a few people go, well, hey, it's a real world. It's a real word now. It makes sense. But Leif and I were doing a workshop one time. And he pulls me off on break. He's like, hey, you keep saying this. He goes, that's not an actual word.

Did you remember what the word was? No, I feel like we talked about this on one of the other podcasts. I have, like, tried to just remove it from, man, there's an actual video. I was speaking at an event, and I used the word, and they had captioning of it, and they typed out the word on the captioning. Man, I'll think about it. We have to figure that out. No, it was awesome.

But in, like, good, true leadership form, like Leif, like, he just pulled me aside and was like, hey, man, just, you know. goes, it's not a big deal. Nobody notices. He's like, I'm just giving the feedback so that you can correct it if you want. And I'm like, well, if it's not an actual word, I actually want to correct it. So your word, implementable. Implementable. That's kind of sounds like a word, doesn't it? It flies. Well, we're going with it. Well, all right. I wanted to jump into this book a little bit. And so there's additional material. I added a bunch of information into this book. And I want to go into some that right now read this excerpt which it's gonna this is gonna give you some background on

kind of the way things develop in my head and then kind of go out into the world a little bit so I'm gonna read a little one of the new sections in the book leadership strategy and tactics here we go this section's called developing leadership instincts shortly after the release of leadership strategy and tactics field manual I was at the council an exclusive event where several members of the instructor staff of Eshlam Front, my leadership consulting company, were joined by about 20 successful leaders from around the world who work in a broad spectrum of industries.

We do these events one or two times a year, spending three days at a remote site in the mountains discussing leadership issues, challenges, and solutions. Because the group is small, we are able to drill down, get very granular, and spend time on aspects of leadership. We may not have previously explored in depth. The conversations are generally based around stories

from our collective experiences, we explain specific situations we've been in, the problems we've faced, and how we've worked through them. On the second day, during our afternoon session, Laif Babin, my co-author on Extreme Ownership and the Dicotomy of Leadership, told a combat story from our time together at SEAL Team 3, where I had made a decision that kept our troops from getting into a potential crisis. Soon after, Andrew Paul, another former SEAL Team 3 officer, who is now a leadership instructor at Eschlawn Front, told a story where my decision allowed our seals to get out of a bad situation unscathed.

Finally, Jamie Cochran, our chief operating officer at Eschlam Front, recalled a business decision I had made that saved us a significant amount of money and simultaneously helped our client. To me, these stories reinforced the fact that everyone on the team knew that decision making was the crucial function of leadership and that, just as we teach at Eschlam Front,

leadership is the most important thing on the battlefield in business and in life. But after this session, two of the attention, knees pulled me aside. They wanted to talk to me, or more accurately, they wanted to compliment me. They retold the stories they had just heard and emphasized the decisions I had made. They flattered me, noting my decisiveness in each situation, and commending the inherent leadership ability they thought I was so clearly born with. I was a bit taken aback at first, but as they continued to commend my leadership acumen, I simply nodded and thanked them for their

kind words. My ego could not have been more delighted. And as I walked back to my cabin, my ego smiled with satisfaction and whispered kind words into my brain. You are such an incredible leader. Your leadership skills are unmatched. You truly are a great natural leader. This is what it's like to be born a leader. I almost started to believe it. As my ego, like most egos, is very persuasive. But it didn't last long. I know my ego is a liar. So I pushed back. I knew that I had not always been decisive and I knew that I had made many bad decisions

as a leader. And I knew that I was absolutely not simply born with the ability to make consequential decisions. It was something that I had learned through trial and error. Decision making was a process I had developed, a mental checklist that over time had become so automatic that I was barely cognizant of it anymore. I pulled out my notebook and reviewed the exact steps I work through when I need to make a decision. After a few minutes, I'd written down my methodology in a checklist that I run through over and over again as I think through a decision.

So the checklist is not a static one-time process, but is actually a loop that I repeat over and over again. An hour later, we reconvened the group and I explained this thought process I used to make decisions, which is the backbone of how I lead. decisions and then steering as subtly as a situation allows those decisions into execution is what leadership consists of. I call this process the extreme ownership leadership loop. While most of the components of this checklist should certainly be familiar from my books

and podcasts, assembling them together into a checklist protocol that guides decision-making is something people have found very useful. It forces leaders to continually analyze. the decisions they are making constantly considering if the decision makes sense in a comprehensive way that is in keeping with the principles of extreme ownership here are the components of the loop time the laws of combat leadership cover move simple prioritize and execute decentralized command ego and humility emotions perspective mission tactical and strategic relationships and then repeat these are my primary considerations when making a leadership decision so that's a kind of an interesting story yeah um that happened it was actually two years ago i think at the council that this wasn't this past council was the one before and it was so weird the other thing that i didn't write about was when these guys were talking to me you sure wasn't at

the first council it might have been at the first council it might have been at the first council that's This one. Okay. Yeah. So it's three years ago. Three years ago. The other thing that after when I got back to my cabin and I was kind of like thinking how awesome I was, I was also, you know, as my ego, I started putting my ego and check. I'm also like, hey, wait a second.

If all this stuff is just a natural capability, then you can't teach it. And I know I've taught it. I know we've taught it to thousands and thousands of people. It's not like being tall, right? Like I can't help you be tall, echo. Like you just, like you just are. what you are, right? You're just going to have to deal with it. Yes, sir.

But it's true. And it's the same thing with leadership. It's leadership. It's not just, you're not just born with it. And that was another component that made me think, hold on. There's, there was another inflection point in my head that I said, hey, this isn't just your ego. Look at this. If this was really what

you were born with, you can't teach it. So what good are you? And why have you been able to teach this to so many people? So that's kind of where it came from. That's awesome. Before we get into the loop, we're going to go through the components of the loop. I want to take a minute to talk about these lines in the book. It says, I explained this thought process I used to make decisions, which is the backbone of how I lead.

Making decisions and then steering, and it's in parentheses here. It says, as subtly as the situation allows, end parentheses. Those decisions into execution is what leadership consists of. And this is a part It's in parentheses And I think a lot of people have this Not even in parentheses that thought's not even there This idea of

Of leading as subtly As the situation appears I often use And we often use the phrase minimum force required Right so from a leadership perspective If you got to be barking orders That's a problem It doesn't land right

And what does it mean if you have to barren orders? And what does it mean if you have to barque? Telling what to do. That's just not good. Leading with the as subtly as the situation allows with the minimum force required That's what we're doing that that's what we're doing and I know so JP look are there times when you when when you as a leader have to step up and like this is what we're doing and you got to make that perfectly? Yes, there are. Yeah, but you see me all in all kinds of situations over the years for how long? What since 2015? No, it's been since 2000. No, it's been since 2000 Or so 2005, 2004? Yeah.

2005. Because we didn't be until 2005. No, yeah, I'm sorry, sorry, 2005. April, I was thinking of the fourth month of the year. Okay. April, see, my brain. Yes. April of 2005 is when I first met you.

That's when he came in to be our tasking and commander. And so you've seen me through all that and then at Trade It and then at Eschlam Front. And you've, you've seen that this is what I do. You've seen me do things where I've had to be like, hey, everyone be quiet. This is what we're doing. You've seen that. Yeah. You've also seen like, like, like, you've seen.

Like, looked around and been like, hold on a second. We're actually doing something that I thought I thought of. But this was actually Jocko's idea like two months ago and now we're doing it. You never said a word about it. You've seen all that stuff. Yeah. As you've grown up, as you've gotten older, as you've been in more and more senior leadership positions, how have you developed more subtle leadership?

How have you noticed it? What part does it play in your day-to-day life? Um, you know, for, for me, it's just, it's, it's the reminder, uh, that the indirect approach wins. And, and, and, and for me, um, seeing that from you and then over the years, seeing that from Laif and Seth and other, and then just, especially with what we do at Eschleon Front, like I, it's, you never said the indirect approach back when I was working for you in the teams. Like, you didn't use that verbiage. At least I don't remember us ever having a conversation or me hearing you talk about it.

But you did it. And so it's one of those things where that's what you saw. So you're like, all right, cool, I should maybe try to emulate that. And I remember you did pull me aside, you and one of the other senior chiefs that was, that was running training. And you're like, hey, man, when you're like yelling and screaming at these guys, like, you're like, I get it. Like, I understand why you're mad and frustrated. But like, that doesn't work. That doesn't work at the level that it could work.

You know, and you also have to remember, like, these guys are your bros. And these are your teammates. So how you talked them. And for me, that was just like, oh, okay. Like, I don't need to be yelling and screaming at people because what we look at because of movies and or like, you know, coaches and teachers and people over the years, like, people think, like, the good leader is a guy that's sitting up front or the gal that sits up front. Hey, listen up. I'm in charge. And everyone's like, okay, cool.

Yep, echoes in charge. And they're going to go run over there. But that's actually not what good leadership is. And what I've seen over the years and I try to do is the indirect approach. and just asking questions and asking people what they're thinking and getting their insights and their opinions. And you can use questions to guide people to get where they need to be to where they see the answer themselves. And they're like, oh, yeah, actually, this is how we should do it. And then when you've done that with me over the years, then it's one of those things where it's now

my idea and I'm going to have ownership over it. And, you know, my wife and I, we do that with our kids. And it's like, hey, do you think, you know, boom, boom, boom. And they're like, well, you know, And it's like, okay, there's going to be a little bit of pushback. And that's fine. It's not because they're being defiant, but you're dealing with other humans. And they think their ideas are the good way to do it. And their ego is getting evolved. And so you're just massaging that ego by saying, no, I'm not, I'm not saying this is a horrible idea.

Like, what are your thoughts if we did it this way? Or, hey, what about this? And then you slowly guide them towards that. And so the indirect approach always wins. And it's something that I've been trying to be more mindful of. Cody's really good at that. you know, the guys that all the guys and gals that we work at Echalon Front are good at implementing it and using it. And sometimes like it can be to the point.

Like, Meg and I were doing an event the other day. And it was like this back and forth. And she goes, okay, we can do this for the next 40 minutes. She goes, let's, you know, what do you think about this? And I'm like, I like it. Let's go. And it was just, you know. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah, the kids thing. And I just got done with an event. And I ended up with some of the families, actually, from this group. and it was interesting because the kids were in the room. Kids probably between the ages of, let's call it, seven and maybe all the way up to like 20-year-old kids. And then the parents were in there.

And they were asking me questions. And, you know, I was telling them this. I said, listen, the more you empower your kids, the better human being you're making. And you want your kids, look, do you, I use the old let your kids brush, up against the guard rail as a failure. Oh, your kids want to stay up all night and play video games?

Okay. Cool. You still have to get up in the morning. You still have to do your chores in the morning. Like, you can stay up all night if you want to, but that doesn't mean you get to sleep all day. That means you function as a human being. Treating your kids as adults.

And look, I'm not getting crazy. Don't go extreme with us. But, oh, your kids don't want to help clean up. Cool. They don't get to eat. Like, what is wrong with you? Like, no, first of all, your kids are not going to starve to death in one day. Yeah.

And believe me, after they miss. after they miss lunch because they didn't want to clean up, they'll be cleaning up for dinner and they'll get to eat. Yeah. But just setting up some consequences, some life consequences. And hey, this is what's going on. Like, you know, your mom is not a slave that is here to just clean up after you. And so you either help clean up or you don't get to eat.

Okay, whatever. Okay, cool. Let's see how that works out for you. Those kids get hungry. Yeah. It's very rare. It's very rare that Amanda and I will. actually have to have to tell our kids, hey, go to sleep now.

Very rare. Most of the time it's like, hey, this is what time it is. Do you think it's time that we start getting ready for bed? And they're like, well, you know, and I'm like, hey, like, this is when you have to get up. And they do the math. And they'll be like, oh, yeah, I need to go to bed. Yeah. Because there's been a few times.

Like, we're like, all right, cool. You want to stay up? Awesome. Yeah. You're still waking up the next day and, like, having a struggle throughout the day. And, you know, Amanda's really good at how she handles that because I'm gone all the time. And so she has to deal with this all the time without me. And the way Amanda does this indirect approach with our kids is, it's incredible.

That's like the old trick with like, oh, your kid, you know, is smoking a cigarette. And so you make them smoke a whole pack of cigarettes and like crazy. In buds for me. Somebody, I didn't chew tobacco. And somebody brought chewing tobacco to San Clement Island, which you weren't allowed to do. Like, and they brought like a full month supply for probably two or three people. and they got us out on the grinder and they started making us do eight-count bodybuilders and then the instructors put dip like packed our mouths full of chewing tobacco and Yeah, I was doing eight-count bodybuilders and I'd never done it never done chewing tobacco and it was absolutely freaking

horrible and disgusting and I'd be huge and I didn't puke, but I never, ever had the urge to do chewing tobacco again. That's an extreme example. Yeah, I know. I think Cody's dad made him do that. Like he, like, I think something along with a cigarette, he's like, all right, cool. Took the filter off and made him smoke, like a full cigarette or a full pack without the filter.

And he's like, bro, I was so sick. Never, never again. Yeah. It's just like. Yeah. Now, that's a, that's the powerful thing about the indirect approach. And the other thing, when you were talking about people being in charge and like, the stereotype is like, oh, they're up in there telling everyone to do.

When someone's a really good leader, they don't even say, they never have to say that they're in a leadership position. Because everybody knows. Everybody knows. They're not like, hey, listen up, I'm in charge here. Or, hey, as the CEO, you know, like, when you hear people say that, you're like, uh-oh, this is a problem. Like, there's problems.

Yeah. There's problems going on. And if you feel yourself wanting to say that or you catch yourself saying, just know that you failed. And the best thing that you can do is immediately apologize to say, hey, you know all guys, I'm sorry. I should never have to use my position like for that. Yeah. And then why are you having to do that? Because you're insecure.

Yeah, you're insecure. But there's also something wrong with your idea. Yes. If I'm like, listen, JP, I'm the OIC. I'm the officer in charge. This is the plan we're going to use. If I have to do that, what's wrong with my plan? because it's not like JP wants to use a plan that sucks.

It's not like you're like, no, I want us to get in contact with the enemy and get killed. No, you're not thinking that. So if I'm saying, no, this is the way we're going to do it. And the only way for me to flex that on you is to use my rank, there's something wrong with my idea. Yeah. So or there's something. Or like you said, there's nothing wrong with my ego. Yeah.

Well, and I believe those literally feed into each other because if I know there's something wrong with my idea, but I still want to run it, I'm insecure about my idea. getting exposed because if we start talking about my idea and thinking about it and you start asking questions and expose my bad plan, it's just easier for me to impose my authority so we just go execute it. And you're secretly hoping it works and you're hoping your people are smart enough to adapt. And it's just, that's the horrible thing. I mean, that's what's just we talk about all the time like your ego is, now our ego drives us

for sure. But when you can't control and subordinate your ego, that's when bad things happen. It's a problem. Yes. That's a problem. All right. I think that covers what I wanted to touch on there. All right, let's get into this.

The leadership loop here and starting off with this section. Time. Time is the first thing I consider when making a decision because it's the one thing I have almost no control over. There is no getting back time once it is lost. Time is also the key driver of the need for many decisions, whether or not to act and how. Time makes some situations get worse. Time makes other situations get better. This makes time a double-edged sword.

Sometimes it helps me, but sometimes it hurts me. So I need to consider what impact time will have on my decision and its outcome. Some people have an objectively good sense of time. And I'm lucky to be one of those people. I constantly hear the clock ticking and I profoundly understand the incessant nature of time. I know that things tend to take longer than it seems they will. I know that wasted time cannot be recovered. I know that time creates pressure

and I know what can happen when pressure builds unchecked and explosion. So I am and always have been acutely aware of time. Contrarily, some people do not have an accurate assessment of time. They don't feel the clock ticking. They are often late, late to meetings, late to events, late to complete tasks and projects. They repeatedly misjudge how long things will take

estimating something will take 10 minutes when it will take an hour or that it will take one month when it'll take three they end up in scenarios where the clock applies the kind of pressure that causes things to break these leaders seldom succeed without having people on their team who under who do understand the impact of time left on their own they will lose the battle with time over and over again i go on to talk about this is something that i learned right like i hate the feeling of fighting against time because you can't stop it And the only way to to not have that feeling, because there's nothing you can do about it. There's nothing you can do about it. The only way you can overcome that is to be ahead of it. That's why when it comes to decision making, time is always the first thing that I think about. Like, do I need to make this decision now?

How much time do we have? That's the first thing I think about because once it goes, it's gone. That idea of the power curve, I talked about it with Dave Burke. Good deal, Dave Burke. Yeah, good deal, Dave Burke. It's a thing from flying, right?

And it's like at a certain speed, you have to be going a certain speed with an aircraft in order for that thing to fly and not fall out of the sky. And your engine can also hold you up like by applying power so that you're moving forward enough. But at a certain point, you're not going fast enough. There's not enough movement over the wings. And they call that the power curve. And if you get behind the power curve, you can't recover. You crash. So you can't get behind the power curve.

And I first heard that I didn't know that it came from aviation But in the SEAL teams when I was young they used that expression a lot like oh you're behind the power curve And once you get behind the power curve bro, it's like you can't catch up Yeah it's like when you're doing Jiu Jitsu and you get behind the like someone's initiating Offense on you and you're trying to and you just all of a sudden you're just behind and you can't catch up You're going down I feel triggered right now I feel like you're exposing my Jiu Jitsu game Trigger

And some people might take a little bit of issue with me saying you can't control time because of course I can say like, well, you know, I get up early and I'm going to get this done ahead of time and you can, but you're still not controlling time. That clock is still freaking ticking. You can't control time. And there's nothing you can do to stop it.

Like you said, the only thing you can do is try to get ahead of it. The only thing you can truly do with time is make the most of it. It's just to understand, hey, this is what I have. I'm going to make the most of it. And if that's, you know, just understanding what the priorities are in your life. Like that's what you can do with time, but you actually can't control it. And people that get offended by that are the ones that understand that they've been wasting time and that they're not willing to be disciplined enough to make the most of that time.

Those are the only people that are going to get offended by saying, oh, you can't control time. Well, I'm sorry, but that's factual. Yeah. Yeah. Wasted time is like a sin. It really is. It actually is. It's in Proverbs.

I don't know the exact, like, chapter and verse, but it's in the Bible, like, wasting time. He says, you lazy bones. He talks about how ants prepare, even though, like, it's going to drive me crazy. But yes, it is, it is a biblical principle. So it is a sin. Yes. It's a waste time. Because think about it, this is a gift that God's giving you.

For sure. Like God's saying, hey, I'm giving you this time. I'm giving this opportunity. Go. And you're just like, I don't know. I'm just going to. that's it's ridiculous that's why one of our mindsets for victory is default aggressive because our natural tendency is delayed action our natural tendency is delayed action however

if we're being default aggressive making the most of the time that we have with us like that's what we need to be doing yeah we were on the academy call the other day and the topic on the academy call is how to stay focused at work and we got on this tangent where people were asking questions like well you know you know it was kind of funny because it's on a call with a bunch of people that believe in the principles of extreme ownership yeah And everyone kind of started saying like, well, you know, the thing is with the phones these days and it's the email chimes and they got so many. And the collective, there was a collective blame on the phone. Zero ownership.

Zero ownership. And this one guy was like, you know, we put apps on and I said, finally I was like, hey, everybody, we're all sitting here saying that the phone is the problem. Not the phone's problem. It's your problem. It's my problem. It's our problem. And that phone is going to keep doing what that phone does. us and if you keep listening to that phone then you keep looking at that phone guess what's

going to happen all your time is going to be wasted that's what's going down so don't waste any time that's what i got i also quoted bc yeah yeah do it it'll be done do it it'll be because for me one of the things that is in for the way my personality is if i have to do something tomorrow like if something is due tomorrow i have to get it done tonight like i won't like preparing for a podcast if we're recording a podcast tomorrow in the afternoon I can't go to sleep mentally until it's ready today I just can't there was another thing right that you brought what you do looming yeah I don't like looming bro I never forgot that and it's true it's just another version of do it and it'll be done it's kind of like they're you know kind of related yeah you know in that

way but that goes deep do it it'll be done it goes deep because like the feeling I always got was be like when it really landed and be like oh yeah it is done when you already did it you know yeah so glad I did that big one daily is like working out right working out in the morning which I try to do I try to work out before lunch I don't do the 430 sometimes I do but anytime it's early brother feeling later like after we record after we do the stuff you do during the day and you're like holy I already did my workout I don't have to work out right now such a good reward it'll be done and that's yeah huge massive bail BC BC all day.

BC all day coming in hot. All right. There's in Ephesians. Ephesians 5.15. So be careful how you live. Don't live like fools, but like those who are wise. Verse 16. Make the most of every opportunity in these evil days.

Don't act thoughtlessly, but understand what the Lord wants you to do. Don't be drunk with wine because that will ruin your life. Instead, be filled with the Holy Spirit. Singing Psalms and Hems and spiritual songs amongst yourself and making music to the Lord. your hearts and give thanks for everything to God, the Father in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. And then it just talks about moral, like spirit guide relationships for his wife, the husbands. In Ephesians, it talks about it.

But I know they're in Proverbs. It does talk about it. Yeah, I mean, I got Ephesians right here. Don't waste your time on useless work, mere busy work, the barren pursuits of darkness. Expose these things for the sham they are. It's a scandal when people, it's a scandal when people waste their lives on things they must do in the darkness where no one else will see. That was Ephesians 511.

Ephesians 511. All right. All right. So we're going to have to take this from the top and you're going to have to read. Yeah. Read 511 through 16. Okay. So I'm going to go.

Cool. You good? You got it prepped? You can actually say here it is. Yeah, here it is. Ephesians. Hold on. All right.

Let's go on to the next one. But before, did you pull up that biblical quote? Let's hear it. So I'm going to find the one from Proverbs, but we found in Ephesians, 5-11, take no part in the worthless deeds of evil and darkness instead expose them. It is shameful even to talk about the things that ungodly people do in secret, but their evil intentions will be exposed when the light shines on them. For the light makes everything visible. That is why it is said,

awake, oh, sleeper, rise from the dead and Christ will give you light. So be careful how you live. Don't live like fools, but like those who are wise. Make the most of every opportunity in these evil days. Don't act thoughtless, but understand what the Lord wants you to do. Here's a modern version of that. Imagine if you were being filmed and watched all the time, like what's the Jim Carrey movie?

Dude, Truman Show or whatever. Yeah, Truman Show, right? Imagine if everything that you were doing, people were watching and judging. Like the show Big Brother. What made me think about that is if you're doing things in the darkness, right the things you do in the darkness the things that you don't want people to know you're doing

it's probably wasting a bunch of time probably right yes look some of it might just be downright freaking you shouldn't be doing that's right downright nefarious i found it proverbs six um oh proverbs six is great but here it is proverbs six six take a lesson from ants you lazy bones learn from their ways and become wise though they have no prince or governor or ruler To make them work, they labor hard all summer gathering food for the winter. But you lazy bones, how long will you sleep? When will you wake up? And a little extra sleep, a little more slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest, then poverty will pounce on you like a bandit. Scarcity will attack you like an unarmed,

like an armed robber. What are worthless and wicked people like? They are constant liars, signaling their deceit with a wink of an eye, a nudge of the foot, or a wiggle of the finger. Their perverted hearts plot evil and they constantly stir up trouble, trouble, but they will be destroyed suddenly, broken in an instant beyond all hope and healing. And then it just keeps going on. I mean, it's awesome. Like Proverbs. Proverbs is great.

If you don't even know where to start in the Bible, just whatever day of the month it is, read that Proverbs. Today is a 29th. I'm going to read Proverbs 29 later today. So that right there, they weren't playing around when they wrote that one. It starts off saying, like, hey, you should work hard. And then it's saying you're perverted and evil. Like, you go straight down, right? And it's where it's going.

And it's actual because that's, as humans, yeah, we're flawed. This is where it's going. All right. So, don't waste time. When making a decision, going back to the book, when making a decision, consider time and ask yourself, how much time do I have? When is the deadline? Is there any way to buy more time?

How does time impact the situation? What will happen when time runs out? There's, you know, again, is there, can I buy more time? Well, how do you do that? You just said you can't control time. But there's times where you can buy more time. You can push out a decision. You can make some small adjustments.

You can hang on a little bit longer in the current situation. Like there's things you can do to buy more time, but you just have to be cognizant of it. All right. The next whole section is very familiar to those of us that study and live by the laws of combat leadership. The first one is cover and move. And I read about cover and moving here. Everyone knows what cover and move is now.

But when I am making a decision, I need to make sure that my decision is not going to leave any part or parts of any team unsupported. To leave teams unsupported is all but guaranteeing they will fail. Cover and move also ensures that the team comes first. If I am making a decision that only benefits me, Me, I am clearly not covering the rest of my team. A good leader puts the team above themselves.

The team comes first. That is the essence of cover and move. Making sure that your decision allows people and teams to support each other is critical for success. And this is one of those things that, I think it was Laif was telling the story. He was listening. I was on a podcast with Jordan Peterson. And Laif, I think it was Laif was telling me he's listening to it.

And I think Jordan asked me, like, what's a good seal? And he was kind of thinking, like, oh, what's talking to say? Because we never really talked about, like, what makes a good seal? And finally, I said, oh, you know, I said it's not the best shot. It's not the fastest, not the strongest. What makes someone a good seal is when they put the team above themselves. When they don't leave you hanging, when they cover for you. Like, when they cover for the team, that's what makes a good seal.

It's number one law of combat leadership. And this is something that, man, when I recognize this, And this is thanks to, well, I mean, I guess Roger Hayden, Vietnam SEAL, who was like, he didn't make some big deal out of it. Like I was doing something and he's like, we weren't covering and moving. I wasn't covering for somebody. He's like, you've got to cover for that guy. And I was kind of like, and for some reason it just hit me that, oh, that's what you're doing.

That's what this whole thing. That's what everything we do is. Like all of our immediate action drills moving down the hallway and security, everything that we're doing, entering a room everything is based on you got to cover for your friend that's what it's all based on when you're going through basic seal training you have a swim buddy you never leave them no matter what happens you support them you cover for them so when i'm making a decision and then it then it carries out into squads and platoons and teams and that's the way the world works and then even when we're working with the army or working the marine court it's like

Oh, are we doing everything we can to make sure we don't leave them hanging? Yeah. I mean, there's operations that we did where it was like, you know what? We got to do this because the Army needs, the Marine Corps needs us out there. We're going to tell the Marine Corps like, hey, sorry, you guys can cover your own. No, no, we're not doing that. Zero chance. So it's a very, it's a very important thing to consider when you're making a decision.

And there's so many decisions that you can go, oh, yeah, I'm going to leave JP hanging. Can't do it. Think about that. I'm going to leave JP hanging on this situation. Yep, I can't do that. It's not a good decision. Oh, I'm going to provide support to this part of the company, but not that part. Oh, no, that's not good.

We can't do that. So thinking about this is, that's why it's high up in the pecking order. Yeah. And I think as humans, we need to be very intentional with implementing this into who we are. You know, as you're saying this, like one of the guys that helps us out at Eschon Front regularly, Josh Strausberger, he helps out with all the musters. He's there at every muster helping out. He helps out at every FTX.

This is like, as you're saying that, I'm like, this is Josh. Now, I have a lot of friends, a lot of people I could add to this list. But as you're saying, I'm like, this is Josh to his core. And it would just as you're talking about this, as I'm listening and I'm thinking, he does what a lot of us as humans need to be more mindful of his. He's very intentional about this principle, about taking care of around all the people. around us. The men's event that I went to, I've talked to you about it called Pursuit, I've gone back and served and Josh went through and he was serving. And part of that was he's like,

hey, I'll pick up people along the way that need to get there because he just, you know, that's part of like some of these guys maybe not want to go last minute. It's like, but you know that if I'm picking you up, you're going to be ready. And so he's, he's picking these guys up. And while he was driving, it was last winter when we had some pretty bad storms in Texas, he totaled his truck. Like a semi-truck almost hit him. He went to to move out of the way. It caught ice, spun out of control,

totaled his truck. So he gets towed. He takes an Uber to get a minivan rental. He goes and gets a rental vehicle and still picks up everybody and shows up to the event, serves, gets everybody dropped off back home

and then he's like, all right, I got to figure out what I got to do next. Like, you know how many people would have just been like, I'm done, man. Hey, hey,

I totaled my truck. Echo, I can't pick you up. And you would have been like, all right, man. Okay, cool. Is everything okay. But instead, he's still got the job done. And I think if we as humans, now everything on this list, we need to be intentional about everything on the list.

But if we're not one, obviously the time one is, I hope, very apparent. But if we miss cover and move, all these other things fall apart. And that's why you said it's the tactic that we use all of the time. All of the time. And I would have loved to have put cover and move, simple prioritize next year, decentralized command as number one. I would have loved to have done that. Yes. Here's the problem.

You have to think about time first because you might have to that's the most important thing that you got to handle right now. I might have time to make a decision. I might have time to decide between what I'm going to do this or I'm going to do that. So you have to think about time first. But immediately after that, it's like am I providing support for the people around me? Yeah. And if I'm not doing that, this is probably not a good decision. Yep.

There's probably there's probably an issue with this decision that I'm about to make. And if you move forward that decision, you are wasting time. Yeah. which is the limited resource that we don't have enough of. Yeah. So often, like when we were running trade at, you know, fire team ends up on their own. They're going to die. Like, they're just going to die.

If they lose support, they're going to die. It's in the business world too. Oh, we got this project going and we really can't support this element because they're doing this project that no one really cares about. Cool. You might as well just cut them off and just put them out of their misery. Because when people are alone or when a team's unsupported, they cannot be. be successful. So cover. Cover. Cover so people can move. Going back to the book here, when making a decision, consider cover and move and ask yourself, am I putting the team before myself?

Are the teams able to support each other? So in a leadership position, you sometimes, like, I might be saying, echo, you do this, JP, you do that, but I'm putting you both in isolated areas. That's a mistake. Look, it's not necessarily I can't cover for you, but maybe you can't cover for each other. So that's a problem. And then finally, is any person, team, or element being left alone? So there you go. Cover and move. Remember that.

Next one is simple. The next check I am going to do when making a decision is for simplicity. Complexity is a killer on the battlefield in business and in any leadership situation. So I almost always want to choose the simplest course of action. And this really plays a huge role in the fact that when things go wrong and you have a complicated plan, it's going to be 10 times worse or 50 times worse or a thousand times worse. You have to keep things simple. And if you're starting to veer into a complicated decision, well, there's going to be issues. I break it down in the book here.

when making a decision, consider the complexity of the situation, and ask yourself, and again, I'm fast forwarding, I forgot to say this, I'm fast forwarding through a bunch of other information here about these topics, but how can I simplify this plan?

Is there a simpler solution? Imagine that. You're about to make a decision. You just ask yourself, hold on a second. Is there a simpler solution? I can just about guarantee you the simpler solution is better. I can just about guarantee you.

You're looking at three different options, which one is the simplest option? Next one. If this is a complex problem, how can I break it into simple components? Because there are things in the world that are complex. We work with companies that do some incredibly complex things. Sometimes you've got to take complex things and break them into simple components. Next one, am I conveying the plan in a simple, clear, concise manner?

And how can I make sure my team understands? So there you go, simple. Yep. Next one, prioritize and execute. Third law of combat leadership. Fast forward a little bit here. Trying to solve all problems at once leads to a lack of focus, resources being spread too thin and too many things happening at the same time.

I do not allow that to happen. I prioritize and then execute according to those priorities. There you go. Pretty straightforward. This is an easy one to lose your mind on because we're distracted. You know, we talked about your phone distract. Your phone distracts you, right? But guess what else distract you?

Nine different problems that you got going on. And they're all pulling at you. And if you try and solve them all, it's not going to work. So get your focus together, prioritize and execute. When deciding how to solve a series of problems, consider them all and ask yourself, what is the highest priority problem I have? Is solving that problem going to have the biggest impact in bringing the team's success? You ever seen somebody get sidetrack?

on a problem that really, it's a complicated problem, but it's really not going to have a huge impact. It's like a breacher at a door and it's a really crazy door to get through and it's going to take 15 minutes and meanwhile you could have taken two steps to the left and gone through a window in three seconds.

Yeah. That happens in life, bro. Like, I'm one of those people that will like watch for a little bit as people are trying to solve some big crazy problem and then be like, hey, why don't we just not do that? You know what I mean?

Hey, let's just go around that. Let's not, let's just not engage with that client or let's not produce that thing. You know how many times we've been going to make something and oh my gosh, it's this big giant freaking problem. It's going to take so many resources and so much effort, so much time. And it's like, hey, I got to let's not make that. That thing, which by the way was going to have a tiny amount of revenue, which very niche group of people actually want and need that thing.

So why are we putting all this time and effort into something that doesn't really matter? So just because something is a big problem doesn't mean it's an important problem. So that's why I put that in there. Is solving that problem going to have the biggest impact in bringing the team's success? It's a good question to ask. And then is my decision going to focus the team's resources to get the problem solved? So think about that from a leadership perspective. When you make a decision on something, is that decision going to focus the team?

Because that's true. Or is it going to scatterbrain them? Is it going to send them in a bunch of different directions? It should be focusing them. Now I also made a note here, other methods. Because we always talk about the primary methodology of prioritized and excuse to take the biggest problem and get that problem solved. You have to tie to that. Is it going to have the biggest impact on the situation?

Because like I just said, the biggest problem isn't necessarily going to have the biggest impact. But there are times. where solving some of the little problems and just getting them off the plate, right? Let's get that thing out of the way. There's times where that's a beneficial methodology. Sometimes I do that, depending on what the scenario is.

But I'll look at all the issues and be like, hold on a second. We could get this thing done in 15 minutes. Let's just get that thing done. Let's get it off the plate. And then we'll have this other thing that's going to take nine minutes. Let's get that thing done. And then we'll be able to focus 100% on this big thing that's going to take three hours.

Yeah. there's a guy I know he is a a billionaire with the B right legit billionaire and one of his rules is if I can get it done in between less than three to five minutes I do it right now it's just boom execute get it done get it done and it gives him the freedom to think strategically for the bigger problems that he knows he's going to have to attack throughout the day and and then so that just reminded me of that and I try to remind myself of that is like hey if it can take if this is going to be be three to five minutes. Like, let's just go get it done. The cool thing with, you know, the next law of combat that you're getting ready to talk about, decentralized command is, hey, can my team be doing some of these things? Can I delegate these smaller tasks that I know my team is more than capable of getting done? So that allows me to look at these bigger pitchers more strategically, which feeds back into prioritizing execute of like, okay, hey, what's going to have the biggest impact to the overall accomplishment of the team, which

feeds into cover move because then if I'm taking care of my people my people are number one then I know I have to get the job done so yeah yeah uh here's something else when it comes to priorities this is like on a daily basis kind of scenario thinking about doing the long-term strategic things first and this is a very difficult thing to do because the easier thing to do and what seems like the biggest thing to focus on is what's due right now, what I got to do right now. So let me give you an example. I'm writing a book and I'm getting ready for a podcast, right?

So I have to write a certain amount a day. I got to write an hour a day. Right. Got to write a thousand words a day. Cool. It takes me about an hour. And I've got a podcast that I'm going to do with Echo Charles tomorrow and I got to get a book, finish reading a book and taking the notes on the book.

Okay, cool. And then do the like actual prep. That's going to take me four hours. five hours something like that what but the podcast is due tomorrow yeah so that's the bigger bigger priority right clearly what do I do first what do you think I do first echo Charles podcast no nope you're doing that but you're right I'm doing that book I'm doing that book and here's why I'm gonna the freaking podcast is gonna be done no matter what gonna be done I'm not gonna like have I ever rolled in here echoed and been like hey bro

I'm not quite ready no like that's not happening It's gonna get done. You're putting yourself against the wall. Yeah, knowing that you will perform based off of your capabilities. Yep. Got it. I know that I can also like, yeah, you know the podcast is the priority for today. So then guess what?

Now instead of taking four or five hours to prep that podcast, I'm like, maybe I'm able to check some emails in there. Maybe I'm looking at, look, look, look to do some little exploration about the freaking whatever, and I start doing some weird tangential thing. And all of a sudden it takes seven hours. And then I get done, well, you know, I can just, yeah, the book's not due for a new, another few months so I don't have to worry about that I'll work extra later. Oh yeah you're freaking liar no you're not discipline is rude in the truth that we tell you're a freaking liar because now it's like 10 o'clock at night and you're like okay yep you said you're gonna do this no well you know actually I need sleep too

and I gotta get up in the morning got to go tomorrow's leg day like you could just run in excuses so what do I do the freaking long-term thing first I do the strategic thing first it's kind of like when uh When people talk about saving money, right? They're like, they look, they make their budget. The first thing you're supposed to do is what they call pay yourself, but it's really pay your future. Like, it's put the money in savings first, right?

You don't say like, hey, I'm going to buy that new freaking surfboard that I wanted. I'm going to take my wife out for dinner. I'm going to make sure that whatever, blah, blah, blah, this other crap. And then whatever's left over, I'm going to put in savings. And if I don't quite have enough, I'll just double it next month. which is a lie. No, so you don't do that. You put the long-term stuff first and you get it done.

That's how you roll. So just some of the other methodologies that you can use with prioritize and execute, the thing is that you have to prioritize an execute. You have to look at what's actually happening and to use your word of the day, intentional. You've got to be intentional about what you are going to focus on. And focusing on things in the proper order that actually makes sense. is what you need to do.

So there you go. I just smiled when you said it takes you about an hour to type right up a thousand words because I just started doing that the other day. And I was like talking about that and it's funny, it took me right at an hour for a thousand words as well. Yep.

And you know what? I just, I mean, I'm writing right now and I wrote a thousand words the other day and my estimation is 750 of them were junk. They were just like, I don't even know. I lost my train of thought and I was just being stupid

and I was tired and I was a plane and whatever. And I was like, you know this, and in my mind I was like, oh, you know what? You're not even, this isn't even worth it right now. That's what my liar. Yeah. My little lying loser self was like, dude, this isn't even worth it right now.

I was like, oh, check, liar, weak. And then I just wrote. And 250 words were good. 250 words that didn't exist before now. exist because I gutted through it. I hope 250 of mine are good too because it was for my podcast, not just to write for, I'm not writing a book and I know someone heard that like is. I don't know.

But then as I was talking to you, like write the damn book. I'm like, I don't like it when he says that to me. Anyways, I just thought it was funny as like the timing and just going back to like you said my word of the day is like I had to be intentional. When I was writing, like I had to be very intentional when I was typing up and thinking about these things. Putting your long-term goals at the top of your priority, this is the same thing when we talk about strategic.

You got to think strategic all the time? Yep, you absolutely do. You have to think strategic all the time. You have to do, you have to execute on your long-term goals. If you're always executing on the short-term stuff that do today or do tomorrow, that stuff is not get you where you want to go. So think strategic, act strategic, prioritize the strategic things in your life.

prioritize your decisions properly. When you're making a decision, look at your priorities. Right? So even when I'm deciding, should I do, should I prep a podcast or should I write? I have to think through that decision. What is the priority? Oh, sure. The immediate priority is I got the podcast to tomorrow.

The long-term strategic goal is to complete this book, which needs to take hundreds of hours to do. So therefore, I need to prioritize the long-term goal. goal, the strategic goal, and I do that first. That's decision making. That's why that's in this loop. Next one, decentralized command to the book. My goal when making a decision whenever possible to is whenever possible to delegate that the action of solving the problem to one of my subordinate leaders.

I know that if I take direct charge of implementing the solution, I become directly engaged And when I am directly engaged, I am likely too close to the problem and might have a hard time seeing the bigger picture. So when I'm making a decision, part of my decision making is can I, can someone else on my team do this? Like, oh, we got to take down another building. We hadn't planned it. Oh, okay. Sure, I can go take down that building. I can be like, hey, squad come with me.

Or I can be like, JP, go take down the building. You go, cool, got it. The minute I go and start trying to take down that building, guess what I'm doing? I'm taking down a building. Now who's looking up and out? Now who's tracking the aircraft. Now who's tracking the other friendly forces. So the minute that you get focused on actually executing something yourself, you've pulled yourself down out of seeing the big picture.

So as I'm making a decision, I'm like, okay, can I decentralize this? Can I delegate this? JP, you've had some issues freaking getting out. of the weeds. I remember like you're running the entire FTX program at Eschelon Front and you're like setting up the battery charges for the weapons in your room. And I was like and you're like, yeah. Yeah, I like to work. I like to do the work. And that's that's a good thing. That's a good characteristic to have. You know, I learned to work really hard for my parents. But I also realize that when I'm in a leadership position, if I'm doing all the work, I'm not able to lead. And I have

have a hard time with that. It's funny that you just brought that up because I was literally sitting here thinking as you're talking about like an indicator. You know, so as as leaders, we also need to be detached and thinking and assessing ourselves. We have to be doing honest self assessments of ourselves. And yesterday, an indicator to me was, you know, I was texting with Justin who works for us full time in actual front. He's, you know, acting as an executive system for me, but also running all the logistics and the operations for the field training exercises that we run and supporting Cody and all that stuff. And him and I were just texting about just some upcoming FTXs and stuff that was going on. And he said, he was like, man, I feel

bad. I didn't. He's like, let me read through the text message where I screwed this up and I didn't communicate this to you. And I said, no, no, no, like you don't have to like, I just, I was literally talking with one of the other guys randomly. about some stuff and then they made a comment and we just were talking and I and him and I were bringing it up and so for me just as reaction to that told me that I'm still a little too hands on with the guys in regards to the program or I have they still feel like they have to feed me all this information and they and I just reiterated back to him like hey man dude I trust you 100 percent I trust Cody and Danny and you guys 100% you guys run great training.

This was just more of a casual conversation. And for me, I was like, okay, cool. Like if that was their reaction that they should have run it through me, then I've actually caused a problem that I need to fix of just resetting expectations and letting these guys know. Like, hey, dude, like these are, oh, by the way. And that's why I told them, I'm like, hey, this isn't something you got to run past me. This is more of a, hey, oh, by the way, conversation.

You're just letting me know because I still do. I, as a leader at Eschelonfront, I need to have information as to what's going on so that I can communicate to you and lay and have understanding for strategic reasons, but I don't need to be in the weeds in regards to all the decisions and the gear. And yeah, for a long time, I was super hands-on with all the gear and literally charging all the taggers and doing all the battle maps and flying the drone and doing all those things, literally every single thing. And Intel had Cody.

and we hired Cody Gandy full time and he started taking stuff off my plate and Cody's a great example of a good leader who leads up the chain of command because he knew I was hands on not because I didn't trust him not because I didn't think anybody else could get it done like I did it's just because I felt

like I needed to be doing that work and he was like hey boom and he would constantly just take things off my plate and Cody did a really good job at leading up the chain of command of just in hey JP I got this like hey I need you to be focused on getting us more clients.

Hey, go and go and sit and talk with the client. We'll do all this setup and prep. Like, we don't need you doing any of this stuff. The most important thing that you can be doing is building the relationship with the client so that they want follow on work or we can get some workshops or some LDAPs from these FTCs to further grow and expand echelon front. And so as Cody and Danny and Justin and the guys have been doing that, they have a rule. There's like this internal rule on the FTCX team that I'm not allowed.

to do anything when I show up to training. I'm not like, it's like they're a little, like they've got this like, hey, JP's not allowed to do anything because they know that if I'm able to sit and talk with a client and build a relationship and just listen to what they have to say and kind of have a better understanding of the issues that that client is dealing with, then we can modify and tweak our scenarios to deliver greater impact to them to further solve their problems, which at the end of the day, that's what we want. would we want to provide value to our clients.

I can't do that if I'm tweaking the gear and unloading the gear or putting ice in the coolers or, you know, picking up trash or taking a trash out because it's overflowing, you know. And so the culture that we have in the FTX program is, it's incredible. And, you know, like we just got down with a week long, well, it was a full week. We did three of them. It was one-day field training exercises that we provide the echelon front. So we have the two-day individuals, and now we have a one-day individual option. And it was awesome because, you know, a different price point, you know, a little bit cheaper than the two-day.

And also it's just a commitment of one full day with travel. More people could do it. And it was awesome to see the impact that Cody and his program has created these guys. And I didn't do anything. I think one time I took the trash out just because I was like, come on, man. Like, I'm going to go, you know, and even then, like, I hear footsteps. And I had guys sprinting after me to grab the trash. and it was a good reminder that, you know, the culture that Cody has developed with that program is awesome.

But for me, it's like, hey, strategic, strategic, strategic. And, you know, I struggle with that because I was never in that high position. I was never in a high leadership position in the military. I was at, you know, when we deployed to Ramadi, I was an E5. I was one of our youngest guys and one of the most junior ranking guys. And then when I was at Trayda, I was still an E5. And then I made E6 and I was in E6. you know, petty officer, first class petty officer. So I was never in that chief, senior chief,

master chief role. You know, I was never in an officer role. So I never experienced that high leadership position. So for me to fully detach and delegate was very hard for me. And it's, it's still a struggle that I have because my whole life, it's been do the work, do the work, do the work, do the work. And I'm, I've always been fine with that. I like that. Like, hey, you're my boss. Hey, just tell me what you want me to do. And I'll go do it. And I would take pride And I still take pride in thinking, I'm not saying I do this, but thinking that I, that I'm going to work harder than everybody else. And I'm fine with like, hey, you know, you need me to get this gear to an FTX. Cool. I'll drive 18 hours straight to make sure we're there.

I know all the gears set up. I had to do that one time. I know. Remember that first one? Yeah. First big one. And so while that, while the characteristics can trait that my father and my mother have instilled into me and my brother and my sister, that's a great thing, there also needs to be a balance. because if I'm always just doing the work, then I'm failing my people because I'm not leading them.

And if I'm not leading my team, I'm actually failing you in life. And when I really think about that, that bothers me because I don't want to, I don't ever want to be viewed as like, hey, JP, like, you're not actually leading your people. Therefore, you're failing echelon front. Yeah. My wake up call came when I was head boss, I was just become an officer. and I went from Seal Team 1, Steel Team 2. And I'm at Seal Team 2, and now an assistant platoon commander,

which makes me the number two guy in the platoon. Let's go. And I was still like 100% like an E5 in my head, especially when it came to working. Like, hey, we're going to make shit happen. And we were building a pallet. And as we were building this palette, I was also like, you know,

kind of had the pride of ownership you know when it comes to building a pallet you want that thing to be squared away and you kind of know what should go where and I built a million pallets in my life and blah blah blah blah and so now my platoon at team two we're building a pallet

and I start with like hey get that box over here like no push that one and hey put the engines and all of a sudden my LPO who's a great dude unfortunately passed away Scotty Neal just freaking just a great guy to work with and we had an awesome

relationship but he just like walked over to me And he was like, hey, sir, go ahead and let me do my job. And I was like, I was 100%. I was like, check. And I shut my mouth and I just did what he told me to do. And that was like such a great wake up call for me because that was, I realized 100%. Thankfully, I had enough self-awareness to be like, oh, 100% he's right.

I should not be doing this. I should be working. It's cool. Like you get your hands dirty. Like you do manual labor, yep, all day long, but that's not my job. And if I'm doing this, if I'm down here, not only I'm just interfering with undermining him. He's the LPO. Dude, he's running shit.

He's supposed to be. And now I'm down here. Freaking going to start trying to hone in on things that he's supposed to be responsible for. That's bad. So you hurt the people below you. Like you talk about, oh, you're letting me a life test. out never mind that when you are micromanaging and you're getting the weeds the people below you in the chain of command can't develop yeah you know when we were in task unit bruiser you know layf and i talk about this all the time i could have directed every single like planning thing like this is what we're doing i had been doing this for 15 years at that point layf and seth were two years deep in the teams they didn't know shit right but if i would have done that all i would would have actually done would hinder their growth. And they wouldn't have become freaking capable

leaders because I would have been known it the whole time. And so that's just terrible. So, and not only that, but what was I doing instead? Well, I was talking to our commanding officer, talking to the brigade commander, talking to the battalion commanders, developing those relationships, figuring out what the plans were, figuring out where we're going next, figuring out what the strategy is doing things that I actually should be doing instead of looking down and in and focused on what's going on with the platoons. So this idea of decentralized command and putting it in your decision loop, if you don't think about it that way, you're going to, most people are going to drag themselves back down

into what they're used to, what they're comfortable with and what they've been doing their whole life. And that's another part of it is even if you're not a hard worker, even if you're lazy bones, you, we people have tendency to do what we know. Like, well, I know how to build a palette. Like, that's, I'm comfortable with that. You're like, hey, I know how to freaking charge the batteries on. I know how to drive 18 hours to get this done.

You know how to do that. It's very comfortable. Like, you're actually awesome at that. Think about that. You're awesome at getting all that stuff set up. And when that happened, that was like five years ago, whatever. It was a long time ago. But even at that time, I was like, yo, JPs got all the batter.

packs and shit in his room in his hotel room I got 45 minutes of sleep that like because I was doing everything yep yep it was terrible yeah but you let it happen because actually that was the one situation where I almost had to do most of it because it was our very first FTCS nobody knew how to do anything I barely knew how to do what I need to do with the taggers because we just learned it and you gave me the feedback on the next FTX you're like hey you need to boom and then Jamie Cochran also was like, hey, on this FTCX, you don't need to be going and doing all this stuff. Like, one of the time, I went and ran and grabbed ice.

Bro, what the heck was I think? Like, we had a whole team of people that you go run to the gas station and grab ice. And also, it's important to remember that, like you just said, there's a lot of people that can go grab ice. Only you can work that new scenario that you want to put in that's developed for a client that you had spoken to on the phone that was having this issue. You're the only person that can do that. Well, there's one person that had talked to that client that understood their issue and knew the scenario scenarios that we had the options for and how we could adjust. There's only one person could do that. And that's you.

And here you are going to get ice or whatever. So don't let that happen. Right. The FTX is when you guys do the one day FTCs, the individual FTCs is, what's the protocol for that? What does that day look like? If I'm showing up for one day, what does it look before I come and when I get there? So one day the day before people are, we do a little check in registration thing and then we have some time allotted for like a brief like introduction class. So let me back it up.

They sign up for it. They get email sent to them and they have videos that Cody did and we're working on some more videos that Cody and are going to do where it's all the leadership principles that we teach at Echelon Front. So we don't have to do that class in the morning. It's like, hey, watch this video. They understand all the principles that we teach at Echleon Front. I believe we're working into where they'll also have access to some of the videos on a stream ownership academy so they can get prepped on some of the courses, the free courses that we offer on the academy. And then so they check in on Sunday.

Let's say it's a Sunday night. They're checking in, do their registration, get their swag bag that we have set up for them all their gear. And then we have about an hour, hour and a half of like, hey, here's the weapon systems that we use, the gear, and just kind of just working through some stuff. and then in the morning on the shuttle ride to it, which this was a forced detachment for Cody and I, we ride in with the client on the shuttle. So instead of us being there early like we normally were,

like getting everything set up, dude, Justin, Danny, Cowie, Jesse, Josh, James, all those guys, they are more than capable. And they have everything set up. Justin and his guys have everything set up when we showed up. So Cody and I rode the shuttle in with them and we literally just talked through these principles and these thoughts and got them ready for the day and hey here's the purpose of the training and we show we arrived

there at like 645ish we have breakfast out there for them coffee and then boom 7 a.m. We're starting and we're kicking off the day give some brief classes on patrolling gear prisoner handling just some basic basic things it's not focused on tactics we're not teaching tactics we don't really care about your tactics you know we have jessie remember who's a former green beret who's a full-time Denver PD SWAT officer who takes time from work to come help and he's teaching some of these classes. He literally looks like the rock. He's like, I think he's bigger than the rock. Oh, he's definitely bigger than the rock. Yeah, absolutely bigger. And he's cooler than the rock. And a legitimate badass. Like the rock plays who Jesse really is in life. Think about that. The rock would play who

Jesse Rembert really is in life. Yeah. Which is incredible. So shout out to Denver SWAT. Those guys are insane what they have to deal with. So that would be another podcast to talk about life. For sure. I didn't know this this year. Him and his guys have been in five intense hostage situations. Five. I was talking to another police officer about that. They're like, you know, like getting one of those in a career is like crazy. And this is five this year so far.

And we're in September. So anyways, these are the guys that we bring out that are helping with the scenarios and teaching the classes and then boom, right into runs. And we go, we go until like five, five, 30. And we're getting seven, eight runs in and a day. So everyone is in all different leadership positions. And it's cool because we explained to everybody like, hey, everybody's not going to be the officer in charge or the assistant officer in charge. And that's actually a good thing.

And that's by design because the most impactful position. And we always refer back to, hey, you listen to Jocco's podcast. The squad leader makes a difference. Everybody will be a fire team leader and a squad leader. And that's that position in the training that is truly the hardest position because you're leading up, you're leading down, and you're leading across. And that for most humans is their actual real life. Most people aren't that CEO position that literally all they have to do is most people aren't in that role. The people that come to our training are that squad leader, that fire team leader that are trying to lead up the chain of command.

They're trying to lead down the chain of command. They're trying to lead across the chain of command with their peers. So that's where the bulk of our people get those positions. And while we do have some CEOs and higher executives that come, it's really cool because their feedback is, man, now I know how my people feel. Now I know how my people feel. And they go back and they're like, man, I've been failing my people. I need to actually drive moral ownership.

I need to be more intentional with my communication. And it's a really cool day of training. It's the hands-on application of all the leadership principles that we teach here at Eshchleon Front. And so, yeah, I mean, we're actually, we have an opportunity. You know, we have the muster coming up in January. and for muster attendees only, they're going to have the ability to attend a full day FTX on the back end. I know we'll work out those details later.

We'll have that schedule for next year coming out as well. But it's a great day of training. We'll also have the two-day option. And we also do this with companies where, you know, we have a few clients that are now bringing us out to their companies to do a full day or two or three days of all this scenario-based leadership training to help ingrain the principles into the culture. I'm sorry, to ingrain the culture of our principles and extreme ownership into their organization. Yeah, one thing I don't know if I've done the best job of communicating about this program is that this is not, this is not a physically challenging program at all. It's not intended to that in any way.

We don't actually, honestly, we don't offer a physically, we don't offer physically challenging training at Eshlam Front. That's not what we do. Maybe if someone requested us, if they want to do something physically challenged, we could do it. But that's just not what we do. We focus on leadership training. And what happens at the FTX isn't the stress and it is extremely stressful. Yes. None of that stress comes from physical exertion.

Nope. Literally none of it comes from physical exert. And you will likely be the most stressed you've ever been in your life. And you won't be breathing hard. You might be breathing a little bit hard. But that'll be from because of your mentality is panicking. It is mental stress. It is making decisions.

Everything that we're talking about right now in a very intense environment. And what's awesome about it is you'll be going through this loop in your head. You'll be trying to go through this loop in your head. You're going to fail at it. You're going to forget things. You're going to mess things up. You're going to be like, oh, I didn't realize I was,

yeah, I just made a decision. I didn't realize we left those guys hanging or I didn't, that seemed like the priority at the time. All these things that we're talking about are going to come into play. But what's awesome is, Imagine if you are doing jiu-jitsu and you're going against a guy that's a high-level black belt and you're like a white belt or a blue belt. You're just getting murdered, right? And then you go and you train with somebody that doesn't know anything.

The whole world slows down. It makes it easy. So what happens is you go in this stressful environment and the pressure is so high that you formulate some good habits from it. But when you put those good habits that you formed into a normal scenario, of life, bro, you are like seeing things in slow motion. What I love about the FTX is it shows you who you are because that's what stress does. In a stressful situation, there's no hiding. You can't hide who you are.

It shows everybody else who you are too. Exactly. Good and bad. And what's cool about the FTX program that we run at Echonfront, and again, that stands for field training exercise. We call it the leadership laboratory. It's we call it multiple things because we want to make sure it's very apparent this is not a tactical training thing. This is not a physical beat down type of session Yeah, if you want to learn if you want to learn how to shoot out of a car while you're tired

We'll do that we can do it or you can go to field craft survival or you can go to sheepdog response those guys are all doing it Yeah, those guys are our friends those guys are awesome. That's what they're doing Great if you want us to do it we can do it too. We also did that stuff our whole lives yeah, but that's not what we're focused on That's not the purpose the purpose is to to learn how to lead. In order to learn how to lead, you have to learn how to think under stressful situations in which you most certainly will be in.

And it's the awareness that you get as a human about how you need to be more intentional about these things that you're literally talking about right now. You will live this leadership loop all day long. And I still always think to the very first individual FTX that we did that we did in Dallas, you and Lafer there, we had the team there. And I just remember that couple that came through the training.

And I remember this guy when you look at him. He looks like a big grizzly bear. He's a diesel mechanic, awesome guy, Kevin, right? He was there with his wife. And I just remember him reflecting at the end of the day when we said, you know, what were your takeaways? Where are you going to learn from this training? And he stands up and he's just just massive human. And he gets super emotional and he looks at his wife and he said, I'm so sorry because I have been failing you.

or you know, he just goes into it. And for him, he had a lot of takeaways from the business, but for this guy, it was the understanding that how he had been failing his wife and his marriage and their family. And just to see that, I remember we're all like, I was like,

I couldn't look at you. I couldn't make eye contact with anybody because I was going to look. I'm an emotional person. You know that about me. But it was just this awesome like, wow, this is an exposure to your strengths and weaknesses. And like anything in life,

you have the choice. You have the choice to take that information on board. Knowledge is not power. The application of knowledge is power. That's what can make you a great leader. You can have all the knowledge in the world. It doesn't make you a good leader. It's when you decide to apply these principles,

when you decide to apply this leadership loop, when you read leadership strategy and tactics and you have that knowledge and then you apply it, that's what makes you a good leader. That's what makes you to have the power to help and to serve the people around you. Yep. There's not physical stress.

but there is screaming mostly from the people that are attending, not from the instructors. You start screaming at each other. There's explosions. There's smoke. There's gunfire. There's mayhem. It is absolutely, it happens.

And we've had all kinds of, there's a couple guys, two guys. We were running an FTX program, and I was watching these two guys, and they were like, totally professional, totally cool. And I finally started talking to him. and it turns out there from a very high level, the highest level special operations in their country. Yeah. And they had traveled here to do this FTX.

And I was like, oh, cool. And they, and of course, they also made mistakes and learned. For sure. But I could tell I was like, these guys have been in, and they'd served a lot of time fighting in Afghanistan. So, but even those guys had a litany of lessons learned. Yep. So, yeah, there is, it is stressful.

It's not physical stress. It's mental stress. stress and it will absolutely make the rest of your leadership life you'll seem it'll seem like things are moving in slow motion you'll be able to make decisions much clearer much more efficiently and if you bring a team with you or if you have us run this at your company you're just gonna get that times however many people you put through yeah and you're gonna start to get you're also gonna get some of that bonding right you go through stressful situations together with the team

you you become closer as a team You start to learn about each other. You start to know each other better. Your trust increases. So that's the FTX program. That's decentralized command. And continuing on with the book here, I said, when making a decision, consider decentralized command and ask yourself, should I be the one executing granular tasks or should I be leading

from an elevated position? That's a really good question to ask yourself. Can I delegate the action connected with this decision? Will this decision allow me to detach and look up and out instead of down and in? Straight up. Man, these principles, they're functional. Next one. Ego slash humility.

One of the most disruptive aspects of our lives and our decision-making process is ego. We might think that the ego is not strong enough to actually cause any problems. That is wrong. Each one of us has an incredibly power. ego that can certainly impact decisions. In fact, there are countless military examples throughout history where ego drove leaders to make decisions that cost people their lives and in some cases cost the leaders their own lives.

So if ego can lead to a decision makers getting their troops and themselves killed, it can certainly lead to bad decisions in less consequential environments. So people make decisions that they stick to because of their ego and they destroy their business. They destroy their family. They destroy their troops. That actually happens all the time. It's crazy to think about. It's crazy to think about.

That's why I bring up people like, well, I wouldn't let my ego make. Oh, yeah, okay. Okay. Okay, pal. I say this in the book. Our egos are addicted to glory. They want agency. They want us in charge to use our plan to get the credit.

To achieve these goals, they will lie to us. Reframe circumstances in unrealistic ways and even completely ignore reality. They might dismiss information, discredit sources, or paint inaccurate pictures. You ever had your ego tell you like, yeah, Echo doesn't know what he's talking about? You ever had your ego's like discredit discrediting sources around you? Yes. That's what your ego does. Dismisses information.

That won't happen. Like, oh, JP comes and tells me like, hey, the market's turning the other way. I'm like, that's not happening. This is just like my ego is just ignoring it. Or paint totally inaccurate pictures. This is just common. Your ego is like a Vincent Van Gogh artist in there. Is that a good example?

Vincent Van Gogh. He's like the only artist I could think of. He chopped his ear off, right? Yeah, Van Gogh chopped his ear off. My ego might push me to undermine another team in my organization so I can win. It might make me overbearing so that I get to be in charge. My ego might also ignore suggestions from others so that I can implement my own plan. It might diminish other people's efforts so that I can take the credit.

Man, that ego is a evil, evil thing. The ego is also, this is an interesting perspective. The ego is also driven by short-term gratification. It wants to look good now, not sometime in the distant future. This means that, like any addict, ego can be very challenging to reason with and is not reliable help for maneuvering through nuances. It's weird. I never really thought about that until I was writing this book is that your ego is like a short-term

immediate gratification thing. It's like an addict. It's addicted to glory. That's what I wrote. It's addicted to glory. It's like, dude, you need to be like getting this credit right now. You need full gratification right now. That's the way that thing works.

And then I say, to keep your ego in check while making decisions, ask yourself, what role is my ego playing in this decision? Is my ego in check? What is the root of my thought process? I actually, that question, what is the root of my thought process? I put that in there because that's like a double tap. The first one is what role is my ego playing in this decision?

I'm like, well, my ego is playing no role. Because you just lied to yourself. So I had to ask another question. Be like, what's the root of your thought process? Because you've got to start thinking like, well, it's not my ego. So what's the root? And you start thinking, wait a second. You have to like double confirm that it's not.

That it's not your ego in there. Here's one. Why am I having a hard time agreeing with other people? Isn't that interesting? Because if JP and I work at the same business, we have the same company, we have the same goals, we both want to take care of our client, we want to take care of our team, and we want to be a profitable organization so we can stay in business, why are we having a hard time agreeing on something?

Why can't I agree with JP? Just a good question to ask yourself. because does J.P. want the organization to lose money? Nope, he doesn't want that. Does he not want to take care of our team? Nope, he doesn't want that. Does he not want to take care of our clients?

Nope, he doesn't want that. So why can't I agree with him on something? Hmm. Could it be? Could it be? What did you do for ego control? What did I do? Or do I do?

What do you do? Just that reminder of what you're talking about. I mean, this book has helped me, I mean, And obviously working for you and lay for, you know, as crazy is this. So this will come out next Wednesday, which will be the month of October. It's been seven years, you know, at the end of October, October, I believe it was 20th and 21st. Was the first muster that you guys did? That was seven years ago.

So just the, just working for you guys and being in this environment has been just a good reminder. And, you know, I mean, I have on my wrist. tattooed this too shall pass as a reminder of like hey when times are bad like dry keep your head up they'll get better but also when times are good remain humble because things can quickly change and I mean we've talked about this on previous podcast we don't need to dive into it but I mean six and a half seven years ago I was delivering pizzas to make ends meet and I still have my hat from marcos pizza that sits in my closet so my wife and I just bought in a new home and when I walk into my closet my that hat is right there eye level so I see that every time I'm leaving for a work

trip I see that when I come home from a work trip I see that when I'm home and it says I see it every single day it's just a good reminder that are you going to get a Marcos pizza tattoo? No I'm not going to get a Marcos pizza tattoo. But yeah it was just for me it's just like putting things you know as a reminder I mean like the names that I have engraved on this bracelet that's a good reminder to stay to stay humble because it's a reminder of that time that time is fleeting and so I put little things in my life as as reminders. But for me, you know, doing, doing hard things that are going to humble me like a hard workout where you're just like, okay, I am, I'm actually not in that good of shape.

I'm not that strong. I'm not that good at jujitsu. I'm not, you know, just having the ability to do hard things that remind me because fatigue makes cowards of us all. And when we're tired and exhausted, we do stupid things. And, you know, fatigue makes cowards of us all is a good reminder to me of like, hey, I need, if I'm not taking care of myself and taking care of my team and taking care of my family, like, I'm going to, I'm going to do stupid things. And I've done a lot of super things over the years. And I think me being able to be detached and look and assess and humble and transparent and share my lessons with people like when I'm on this podcast, like, I would, I don't know, like I think I'm pretty transparent and just I don't have a problem like

sharing, you know, the mistakes I've made. And that's, well, I'm not. I'm, I started my own podcast, you know, like it came out today. And it's, you know, just to share like the lessons that I've learned in my life, like, growing up and in the SEAL teams and working for you and life. And like what I've learned from other people is like, and to also share the mistakes that I've made. And I think for me, for me, when I share the mistakes that I've made with others to try to help them learn those lessons and to talk through those things, it reminds me of just what I did that allowed me to make those mistakes so that I don't make. them again. And the awesome part would be to where if somebody that I'm sharing these lessons with,

whether it's through echelon front or me being on your podcast or somebody listening to my podcast or another podcast that I'm a part of, like if they can hear these stories and say, hey, you know what, JP made this mistake in his marriage because he violated every law of combat. He allowed complacency to creep in. And his wife served them divorce papers because he stopped doing the things that he was doing initially in that marriage. Like if somebody can hear that story and go, man, you know, when's the last time I took my wife on a date? When's the last time I told my wife, thank you for everything that you do for our family. And I know I'm gone a lot. And I know that because of you doing all these things that allows me to do these things. If somebody can go do that and it saves their marriage,

it's worth it. If somebody can listen to you and I talking about, you know, time is fleeting. and they realize, you know what, I need to be more intentional with my time when I'm at home with my kids. And that allows them to create a core memory that their kids like hold on to. It's worth it. If somebody can go back to their team and say, hey, you know what? I'm sorry. I've been way too hands on. I've been in the weeds.

And it's actually taken away from me being able to lead you guys. And I trust you guys. And I'm, you know what? Here's what I'm going to do moving forward. Boom, boom, boom. And then they can implement something that allows them. them to be more detached, allows them to drive more ownership to their people, then cool, it's worth it.

So for me, it's just sharing. It's just being open and transparent and just sharing the mistakes that I've made and and try and just help provide value to other people. And because I also remember, my man, man, life is humbling. I mean, I've been where, like, we had 17 cents in our bank account. I've been where I've had my bank account negative. And you sent me a, you sent me an image the other day. And I think your balance was zero.

It was zero. Like, I don't even know how you get a bank account to zero. It's when you spend all your money. Yeah. Yeah. But it was like, I don't know, it was 2000 or whatever. It was like five years ago, seven years ago. I guess, well, no.

No, it wasn't five years ago. It was, yeah. Yeah. So seven or eight years ago before we were working together, you sent me like a text of like, hey, bro, just FYI. This is eight years old or whatever. And it says your bank account is zero point zero. That means you had to go in there and like withdraw.

your last like $17.32. You're like, no, I need it all. They're like, sir, you have to have a minimum balance of $1. You like close the account. I need that $1.32. So that's a lot different than where you are now. With a brand new freaking awesome house. When I think about ego, okay, this is Echo Charles.

Yes. Star Wars. Fan? I get down with some Star Wars, yeah, for sure. I love that response. You know, and I don't know if this is like a main theory of it, but you know how I think Yoda, Yoda? Yoda, hell yeah.

Yoda says there's a disturbance in the force, or maybe Obi-Wan Kenobi says that. I think so, yeah. There's a disturbance in the force. Yeah. For me, like when I feel there's something like, doesn't feel right. Like there's some kind of disturbance in the force.

Oh, like in you? Like, oh, I'm, something's frustrating me or something's like. Like there's some disturbance in the force. Right. That immediately is like, oh, just, I just need to go. Okay. Yep. Oh, well, let's go find this because I know what it is.

The disturbance isn't the force. Isn't some other problem. Because all other problems I can handle. Right. What's going on? Oh, there's a problem with this. There's a problem with that. Okay.

Cool. The only thing that causes the. disturbance in the force is, oh, your ego is involved here. This is your ego talking. Yeah. And one of the things I've learned from you over the years in your podcast and working for you in Laif and Dave, I don't remember who said it and how it was said. But I started and you were just talking about this in the book is not that if it's driven by my ego because factual 100% my ego is in play for everything that I do in my life. But how is my ego deriving this response?

That's something I've been trying to be more mindful of because I have to recognize. And I know we've talked about this before on this podcast. And on Extreme Ownership Academy sessions that we do is my perspective is flawed. I know that because it's only my perspective. And so I have to be mindful that my ego is coming in and play. And my ego is like, I got to be careful because that ego is kind of lie to me. Oh, yeah. And, you know, I have to understand that one, my perspective is flawed.

And then just assess and say, okay, how is my ego? driving my response. And I have to detach from my emotions. That's why detachment is a superpower and allows me to pull back and go and get different perspectives to see the big picture so that I can try to respond with all that information instead of just one little bit. Oddly enough, the next section and the next topic on the leadership loop is emotions. And I write this.

Emotions such as anger, frustration, sadness, and joy can all impact our ability to lead and make good decisions. Ego, as you just pointed out, is often the driver of our emotions, especially our negative emotions. When our egos are offended, we get angry. When our egos are impatient, we get frustrated. When our egos feel lost, we get sad. Isn't that interesting?

So often those things, those negative, my immediate check on. negative emotions is ego. I'm like 100%. I'm feeling negative about something. I'm feeling frustrated. I'm feeling impatient. I'm feeling angry. I'm immediately like, this is an ego.

That's the first check I'm going to make. And there's a 99% chance that, that cause of that emotion, that negative emotion is ego. 99% chance. 1% it's like, oh, you know, some freaking guy hit my car, you know, in the parking lot. And I'm frustrated because now I got to like go get his insurance. This is a whole thing. It's just going to be a pain. Yeah.

That's not like any of it, right? This inconvenience. I don't like inconvenience. You know, it's one of those things where I'm like, so when something gets thrown at me like now I got, think of all the stuff that just got added into your day, into your life, when someone like hits you in the parking lot

and now your front quarter panel's all bent up. Sure. Your whole, there's a whole series of things that are now going to just be inconvenient in your life. Yeah. Wait, so you're saying your ego doesn't play a part and not part of it? Like that's the exception kind of a thing for me. Yeah, that's not an ego thing like me like somebody hits me in the parking lot like let's say we we get done with the podcast. I walk into the parking lot and my front quarter plan is all scraped up. That's not an ego reaction to be like oh damn it. You know like to me I could be wrong. You think I'm wrong. Oh, you think that's ego. Yeah. Well, how is that ego? But well and I didn't come just come up with this right now. Because at one point I went down deep the ego rabbit hole. And bro, I discus. I discus.

discovered a bunch of egos everywhere. So that is like, okay, so do you, and here's the questions I was asking myself. So I'm just going to ask you so because I could be wrong. So, okay, someone bumps into your car, quarter panel, jammed up, whatever. Super inconvenient. Yep. Super, right. Yeah.

Do you live in a world that inconveniences don't exist? The answer is no. You want me to be honest with this? Yes, sir, please. My life is very mitigated when it comes to inconveniences. Of course, of course it is. Hell yeah, it is. Can see where he's going?

Is there? Okay, right there. I'm just saying, hey, you make a good point. You know, your life. Hell yeah. So therefore, therefore, in a world with inconveniences every single day, when they affect you, let's face it, that's a problem. Yep.

See what I'm saying? The rest of the world, that, well, you know, whatever, it's all, you accept that part of it, right? Don't we? But when it happens to you, it's unacceptable. Sounds like ego to me. I don't know. I could be wrong.

Yeah, you're in there. So, yeah, so at the end of the day, again, like, and that. That was the question I kept asking like, okay, do I believe in a world that this never happens under any circumstances? And then it's like, okay, no, probably not. And then you kind of, you know, you go deeper and deeper. And then it always arrives at, okay, so I think I'm special. Therefore, I'm allowed to react like this. Yeah, yeah.

Well, when you go into that mode of, yeah, you're actually right. Yeah, right. When you go into the mode of I'm allowed to react. You know what my reaction is? It's not like I actually react in any way. I go, well, I got to go and freaking it. You know, it's like I don't get mad. I don't yell at anybody.

I just kind of carry on. But I suppose there's a completely ego-free world where, you know, I look at that Brent quarter panel and I say, this is great. I'm going to add to the economy. I'm going to get this thing fixed. Some people are going to make a little extra money. I get to experience, I get to exercise my patience in the world. So basically what we're saying is good.

My front corner panel got smashed. Good. Life gives you the opportunity to train. Yeah. Gives me the opportunity to be patient. All that stuff. But and obviously, you know, that's funny and everything. And I don't think that that's kind of the expectation for you to just automatic.

And in fact, you have an ego. We all, JP, we all have an ego. Of course. Like how you just said, right? The key isn't to not have an ego. The key is to control your ego, subordinate your ego, that. So in an incident or in when an incident happens where your ego has to be subordinated, what's it going to look like right away,

like right off the bat, what's it going to look like that. Ego's going to at least open its eyes at the very least. That's that feeling. He's probably taking a breath through because he's getting ready to lash out. Oh, yeah, getting ready. Especially if you got a good, healthy one. He's ready. And right before he springs into action, as far as behavior goes,

that's what it looks like, behavior. Right before that, then you can, quote, unquote, check your ego, subordinate your ego. Then your behavior will follow suit. So yes, quarter panel smashed. And you're about to be like, I couldn't believe this happened to me. On this day of all days, you see what I'm saying?

I'm busy or whatever. Before that goes down, your ego goes, it's about to make it happen. Then you go subordinate your, it's okay. It's okay. This happens to every way it happens. You got to expect this kind of stuff that, you know, and then the eagle gets subordinate.

So even the quarter panel. So I guess we could trace from what you're saying. Basically, it's not 99% of negative emotions. It's 100% of negative. Let's throw 99.9.9.0.1. Put it this way. The only reason why you can't really say 100 because it's like that's a bold statement to be like there are no exceptions ever under no circumstances.

You know, so I don't know. But put it this way. The rabbit hole I went down. What was the rabbit hole? Just the exploration of ego. Yeah. You know what just came to mind as you were telling the whole thing is there's the one of the worst possible like violations is, is do you know who I am?

Oh, yeah. I want to say that. Yeah. What you just said, like the way that. Like the way that leads, like that would be the worst case is like, oh, I go out there in my front quarter, some guys backed into my front quarter panel. Like the ultimate, like, violation and my ego comes flying out.

What does my ego say? My ego says, do you know who I am? Yes, right? Whenever, like, a movie star says that or like a rich person says that, we just are disgusted by them. Oh, yeah. You know, if you get caught on camera, like you're a movie star and you're trying to get into the club or you're,

even something stupid like I'm trying to get. Yeah, speeding ticket. Yeah, the politician that's like, do you even know who I am? Do you know who I am? That's like the worst violation of ego. So this is going to be one of my, I'm going to try and incorporate this,

is I'm going to ask myself that. Like when shit's going sideways, I'm going to say, do you even know who I am? And I'm like, that's right, you're not anybody. And your front quarter panel is no more precious than Joe Schmo's quarter panel. And this happened. Good.

You could exercise your patience. Yep. And look, by no means is, does anyone expect you, even yourself, I think, anyway, expect you to be literally happy that it happened. Yeah. You know, good things happen that make you happy, you know, right away. And things happen that make you less happy and not happy, unhappy, you're straight up. Oh, yeah. And I'm not saying I would like it.

In fact, I would straight up dislike it, you know, straight up, dislike it. But at the end of the day, you know, the old question, like, okay, I understand your feeling, but how are you going to behave now? You see what I'm saying? So this section is about emotions, though. And what's interesting is so many emotions, whether it's 99%, whether it's 100%, whether it's 98%, so many of them are tied to your ego. It's freaking actually ridiculous. And I think a lot of times, like I am a relatively, like I don't get super emotional about

stuff. And I think it's because I am running through a little check before I get freaking mad or before I get angry or before I get frustrated. I'm going, dude, I know what this. I know where this is coming from. You don't want to be wrong. You don't want to be shown up. You don't want someone else's plan.

You think you already thought you don't want to look like all those things. All those things. That's what's going on. So that's why when making a decision, you go through this checklist. And you go, hold on a second. Am I being emotional? I added joy into this. Because you know people make dumb decisions when they're happy, right?

Like I've made dumb decisions where I was super happy and stoked and like, yeah, let's go ahead and buy that thing. because you're happy. You're like, oh yeah, dude, this is going great. Go ahead. Order another round. Like that kind of thing. I've never done that. So to avoid letting emotions drive your decision making, ask yourself, am I being emotional?

Why am I feeling the way I'm feeling? Is this decision based on logic? If I were a robot, would I make the same decision? So some good things to think about from the emotional perspective And I'm not saying you got to be devoid of emotions In fact, what I've been saying for the last couple years I say it in the book too You got to put you got to put the emotions in the calculus of your decision

Right here in a if you're in a leadership position and you know that this decision is going to make everyone mad You better put that in your calculus You can't just be like hey you can be mad but we're not counting your emotions in this decision That whole team's mad now or the whole team's frustrated now That's not a good decision. It's crazy that some leaders, they know that and they don't care. Because again, that goes back to the ego thing. Like you've heard this before.

Like, hey, you might be mad and that's okay, but it doesn't matter. You're like, wait, what? Do you hear what you're saying? There are people that are just, and what's sad is that skill set. It's a bad skill set. But that skill set is actually been taught because that. They saw it from somebody else. They saw somebody.

Oh, the skill set to not to ignore the emotions of the team. Yes. And I'm saying skills. It's a bad skill set. I'm sorry. Let me. The habit. The trait.

That trait, that habit is, that's a bad trait. That's a bad habit that's been taught because they saw somebody else do it and they thought, man, that's cool. Yeah. Or hey, I'm going to do that one day. Or hey, it actually worked. And when I say it worked, means the team went and executed this thing, they were all mad. Yeah.

Because the people we think. think about it, the people that work for us, they're good people, they're hard workers, they're smart, they like to win, and they want to get the job done. And those people will do, they'll, they'll allow that, um, that environment that they'll allow that culture. For a little while. Yeah. And yeah, most for a little while, some for a very long time, but here's a deal. Like if, if you thought that the best way for you to provide for your family was to stay and the current, let's just say you had a regular job and you're the average person and you have this good job.

It provides for your family. You know it has some stability. Are you going to tolerate bad leadership? Yes. Most 100%. People will tolerate bad leadership because what's more important to them is their family. And they'll go endure that now. They will be keeping their ear open for another job.

They will put in a resume out there. 100%. Absolutely. I agree, not arguing that at all. But there's a lot of people out there that just tolerate bad leadership in a hostile work environment because they want to take care of their family.

But as soon as that good environment and that good opportunity comes up, boom, gone, done. Because they have no loyalty. Guess what their loyalty is to their family. And if they can be happier and be in a better environment, bye. And by the way, who performs better as a team? So if I make my team do something

and they're mad about it and I don't address it, Because look, my team can be frustrated and mad. And I go, hey, listen, I understand why you're frustrated. Here's why I had to make this decision. I know it's going to be a real shock to our system in the short term for the next three weeks while we work through this. It's going to be longer. If I explain that to them and we talk through it, okay, cool. We made a hard decision.

We had to suck it up. And the team is going to work harder. Like when they're happy. Yeah. And they have ownership and buy-in. So there you go. don't make emotional decisions. But that's what's cool.

Sorry to interrupt, but that's what's cool about is when you drive ownership, you're actually, it's calculated into this step of the emotions, not just your emotions, but the emotions of your people. 100%. And I'm building up the emotions

in a positive manner of my people when I give them ownership. People like to have ownership. They like to have control. And now that they are in a good emotional place, it's a better work environment, which affects all these other things in a positive manner.

So they do a better job. Yes. Period. End of story. Good perform. All right, check. Fast forward a little bit. Perspective. In the SEAL teams, when performing reconnaissance of a target building,

we observe the target from as many possible angles as we can. We do this so that we can better understand all aspects of the target. If we only observed the north side of a building, we wouldn't comprehend what was on the south side, where there might be an enemy fighting position. If we only observe the west side of a target building, we wouldn't understand the east side. So we endeavor to observe the target from the north, south, east, and west.

We want to understand every different perspective and its possibilities. Similarly, when making business decisions, we have to understand the problem we are faced with from as many angles as possible. We do this by collecting inputs from the people involved with the problem. So listening to other people, finding out what's going on, understanding their perspective. It's everything we just talked about. If I see that my team is angry, what's their perspective? Why are they mad about this? They should be happy.

Like, we got a new client. There's more work to do. Everyone's going to make more money. Oh, they're mad because they haven't had a break in nine weeks. Right? And it still doesn't cash out with as much money as they're making compared to how hard they're going to have to work. So understanding other people's perspectives, absolutely critical. And I say this, to ensure you see the fullest possible picture,

when making a decision, ask yourself, what can I do to see and understand more? What do my subordinates see? What do my peers see? What does my boss see? What does my competition see? Have I asked enough questions? What am I not seeing? Just asking yourself, like when you said earlier, your perspective's flawed.

Of course your perspective's flawed. You only have your perspective. We have to ask questions and try and understand other people's perspectives so we can make better decisions. Next one. Mission tactical and strategic. The term mission creep originated in the military but is morphed into civilian vernacular. It refers to situations where organizations expand the scope of their goals beyond their originally intended mission.

As the mission objectives expand over time, there is less and less focus on the original intent of the mission, often causing a failure to achieve the original mission. So when making a leadership decision, it is critical to assess the original mission. mission objective and ensure that the decision supports the original intent and that it will not squander resources required to achieve the actual mission. So again, if you're making a decision, you've got to think about that decision. Is this helping us get to our long-term strategic goal? Is it what we're supposed to be focused on right now? And this is something that throws off all kinds of people.

It wrecks companies sometimes. It wrecks families sometimes. because we're thinking short term or we're doing things that we shouldn't be doing. So you've got to always ask yourself, is this our mission? This is another one when we were talking earlier about like, hey, we're going to build this thing

and it's going to take all these resources and I'm like, hey, I got an idea. We don't want to just not build that. You know? Or like, hey, instead of like trying to hammer on this door for the next 30 minutes, why don't we just walk through the window or go through the window in 30 seconds.

This is another one. It's like, people will start talking about something. And I'll be like, hey, is this even our mission? Is this even our mission to do this? Like, is this what we want to do? Do we want to focus on this right now? Because we, obviously, we can do it, but is this what we are doing?

Is this what our mission is? Because if it's not our mission, why are we doing it? And oftentimes, like, well, we just kind of, you get a little target fixation, right? There's some niche product to make. There's some niche need in the market. And you're like, oh, I think we could do that. And you probably could.

but is it your mission? So thinking about that, intentionally thinking, like, okay, is this actually my mission? I have a construction company that builds, you know, I have a roofing company. Cool.

And all of a sudden you get someone that's like, hey, when you get done with our roof, can you do our gutters? And you can. Yeah. And you can say, you know what? We can do that. And maybe that's an expansion that you make.

But maybe you run the numbers. And maybe you say, look, Gutters is kind of a little bit more niche market. We live in Arizona. There's not a lot of rain here. Gutters last a long time. You know what?

Why don't we subcontract out this gutter system, right? And instead of now investing in a bunch of equipment and research and people and training to get the guys up to speed where they can do, no. It was a waste. So let's not do that. Let's not allow mission crew. reap in. Brad Cabner was really good at reminding guys I traded that.

In what way? He would just say, hey, is this what we need to be focused on? Like, it was just a very simple, and, I mean,

he's out, he's retired now, but I'll use his nickname wink. He would literally do the same thing. Hey, is this what we need to be focused on right now? And guys would be like, oh,

okay. I remember they set up a breaching scenario one time, and guys were just having the hard, like, they were so focused on like this section of the door, getting through the problem. 18 inches away, like a little bit over. So at an angle up on the wall was the key on a little thumbtack,

the key that unlocked the door. It was right there. And I remember they put together that scenario. And I was just like, man, this is awesome. And guys were like just fighting on trying to get the door unlocked. And they can't get it. And they're trying to kick it. And they're trying to do all this stuff.

And they're getting ready to call it the breacher. But they had the breachers focused on some other bigger problems. So they couldn't get those resources over. and right there and I remember wink and Brad just pointing at the key and these guys are and it was just a good reminder from hey detach step back and and just look at the big picture and it was just I just remember Brad when you know running trading just just reminded like hey is this what we need to be focused on hey what are we working on right now guys and it's just and that's what good leaders do it's okay to say that to your people hey guys what is this what

we need to be focused on is this what we need to be focused on like what are we supposed to be working on right now. You're not being direct. You're not saying, hey, this is what you need to be focused on. It's that indirect approach. And hey, guys, what do we need to be focused on right now? And you're like, well, clearly not this right now. Yep.

I always know, like, if you're in life for asking me questions, I'm probably not doing the right there. Or you don't know why I'm working on something, which means I have failed to communicate to you guys why we're working on something. I know it's one of those. You're asking questions because you don't have information or you want to understand. Yeah, you don't understand it. truly don't understand like because in your mind it's like one you don't have enough information or two

you don't you don't understand why would I be doing this and so instead of going direct and saying hey that's stupid why would you be doing that you're like hey what what does jp know that I don't know and so you're asking me a question so anytime you guys or anybody jamie dave any anybody in my life has asked me questions i'm like oh they they don't have enough information we don't have alignment we are not aligned and that's my fault yeah and another thing talking about about like that key on the thumbtack that will get nine out of ten people that they won't see that thing this is this is one of those situations where being you in a if you're in a seal platoon you can literally afford to be if you you can be afford to be detached the entire time

because no one else is like like a bunch of sled dogs everyone they see that freaking door with a bunch of freaking with a lock on it and there's There's noise behind the door. They know there's something going on. They want to get in there. Nine out of ten guys are going to just, they're going to, how do we get through this door, how do we breach this thing, get the sledge hammer up, what kind of charge am I going to put on this thing?

You can afford to be the guy that's just like constantly at Highport looking around because no one else is going to see that key. Yeah. And it's so weird to be in that situation. You'll see so much that other guys aren't going to see. So it's the same thing in your company. Chances are in your company when you've got some product that everyone's all of Like, hey, you think we could make this?

Do we think we could? Well, do we have the right tools for this? Yeah, we have the right tools. Hey, where do we need to order from? What? How is it built? How long will it take? And everyone's going to focus on that problem.

And they're going to start working on it. And they're going to start moving down that path. And the next thing you know, you've created a product with a bunch of expenses and a bunch of time and a bunch of effort that seven people in the world need. And it's freaking worthless. And if you would have just took a step back and like five minutes into this, pulled a Brad Kavana and be like, hey, is this what we should be focused on right now? And everyone look at each other. And as soon as people look at each other, they're like, oh, yeah, you're right. Yep.

As soon as Brad points up the key and you're like, oh, I'm an idiot. You don't think like that's trickery. No, you think like I'm an idiot. Yeah. I'm an idiot. Yeah. So check. Rest and peace.

Next section here. Relationships. This is the last thing I consider when making a decision, but it is the most heavily weighted of all the items in this leadership loop checklist. I know this might seem strange. After all, the stereotypical priorities of a leader are things like accomplishing the mission, managing resources, and ensuring timely execution.

But for me, building and maintaining relationships is the most important thing a leader does because relationships are the force that holds the team together. The stronger the relationships, the stronger the team. The stronger the team, the best. better the results the team achieves. Because of that, it is important to remember that every decision a leader makes either builds or denigrates relationships.

I want every interaction I have with anyone on my team up down or across the chain of command to build our relationship. This is not to say I'm always able to do that, but I absolutely always try. So this is one of those things that I think is counterintuitive for people. that when you're in a leadership position and you're making a decision, you can, should, and must weigh how this is gonna impact the relationships that you have with the people on the team.

And it's sort of like the person that we just talked about that might be like, oh, I don't care what, you know, I don't care if you're mad or not, this is what we're doing. There's some people that are like, hell yeah, bro, that's what a leader does. You know, it's like, leader makes those hard decisions, right? We hear that shit all the time.

Like, no, a leader's not gonna freaking just cowtown because someone's frustrated, it's like, okay, Okay, okay, I get you. Here, are there times where you're going to make decisions as a leader that are going to make, that's going to make the team mad? Yep. Are there times where that relationship's going to get sacrificed a little bit? Yep, there are. There are.

I have made decisions in my life that I know negatively impacted my relationship with somebody. And I had to work through to build it back up. I've been through that countless times. We all have. But to not recognize that and not be intentional about saying, hold on a second, there's six and one. half dozen the other but if I choose six echo's gonna be frustrated or J P's gonna be be angry or our relationship is gonna be negatively impacted why don't I just go with a dozen or half dozen why don't I just do that people make decisions all the time

without considering how it's going to impact relationships and this is the biggest mistake you can make so what is a relationship again the book I talk about it trust, listen, respect, influence, and care. What's interesting about to build these, and I'll fast forward a little bit, to build relationships with these attributes, one must take a slightly counterintuitive approach and proactively give first. If you want someone to trust you, you must first put some trust in them. If to get someone to listen to you, you have to listen to them.

The more you talk, the less people listen. Respect must be given to be received. Trying to demand respect does not work. In fact, it backfires, by the way, you better freaking respect me. To become influential over someone, the first step is allowing that individual to influence you. And obviously, if you want someone to care about you, you must first display how you care about them. And then I go on to talk about your ego stifle, can stifle these efforts. It's so interesting, right?

If I don't want to put any trust in JP, well, why not? Well, because I don't think he can do it as good as me. That's ego. JP should be listening to me since I've been doing this longer because I have more experience, because I've been in this position. He should be listening to me. That's ego, by the way. JP better treat me with respect. I've earned it.

Okay. That's your ego. Your ego thinks it's earned all kinds of shit that it hasn't earned. Why should I be influenced by JP? He should be influenced by me. me. That's ego. And obviously, I'm supposed to put J.P.'s needs above of my own, which is a weird thing to think about, right? Think about that. There's a whole, like, road we could go down of, what's

that saying? Got to look out for number one. Right? You know what I'm saying? Who's number who's number one? Hey, man, look, I got to look out for number one. So that's my ego. So when I say, look, you know, JP's going to kind of get screwed on this deal, but you know, I got to take care of me. Okay. Okay.

How's that going to work out? How's that relationship looking? How's that trust going? Like, it's just a disaster and it's all ego. Well, and that's where people will twist what you said earlier because they hear from other people, like pay yourself first.

And that's a mistake that people will make is like, well, I got to make sure. Hey, I got to get mine. Yep. I got to get mine. And they take that the wrong. way and it's they don't understand the the major leadership withdrawals that they're making and just how bad that actually is ruining relationships because people see that and they know they know exactly

what you do as you said hundreds of thousands of times your intent has a smell and if it stinks none of us like it no it's like that sweaty geese sitting in the back of your car in the summer Texas summer yeah yeah there's uh probably nothing worse than a ghee that like got left somewhere. Burn it and just order a new one from origin USA. That's what we got to do. I go on to say this. To ensure you are protecting and building relationships instead of diminishing them,

ask yourself, how will this decision impact my relationships? Again, I say this is the most heavily weighted thing, which I think throws people off, right? Because as a leader, it's like, no, I'm going to get the job done, right? We're going to save. We're going to get the resources.

It's weird. Everyone thinks. It's like, no, actually make your priority. Let's make sure we're building that relationship. Because if we're not building a relationship, what do we have? What do we have? We have a shitty team. If the impact is negative, are there any options that will more positively impact relationships?

If the impact is negative, is it worth the return on investment? Like I said, I've made decisions that have hurt relationships that I've had with people. where I've been like, look, dude, Echo, I know that, like, the video, look, the video that you made, it's a really good video and I appreciate it, but we're going to use Carrie's video. Like, there's some times where I've got to, like, that's going to hurt our relationship. Like, Echo's mad. You know, like, our relationship just took a step back. But, like, let's face it, his video wasn't as good as Carey's in this whatever situation.

And that's going to hurt our relationship. But for the business, that's what we're right. what we got to do and that's the way it is so I've had to make decisions I've had to make a lot of decisions like that but I only do it what's the ROI because you know what if echo made a video it was pretty good and Kerry made one that was better but I knew that echo was like super emotional and attached this video that he made and like the difference wasn't that big video I'd be like yeah echo man your video's good let's launch that thing and there's some people right now they're like yeah but if your ROI would have been better it's like okay but we have to think strategically because if my

ROI was a little bit better with Kerry's video than it was with Echoes. And so we, we did a little bit better. We did 4% better. But now, now Echo, he's a little bit pissed off. How much effort is he put in his next video? It's getting worse, right? Matter of fact, he probably, he might not even make it. You know, you'll echo, this is after Echo made 10 videos and they were all better than Carey's

and Kerry's videos like, we're just like, hey, that's good. We'll throw it on the back burner. Finally, Kerry comes out with a big win. And, but we, so we use his video and I'm like, Echo, sorry, dude. This is not the time. Echo's frustrated, man. That relationship just got hurt. What are we doing?

Is it worth it? Long term, is it worth it? So is it sometimes worth it? Yes, sometimes it's worth it. Sometimes you have to make those decisions. Most of the time, it's like, I'm going to protect the relationship. That's my number. That's like I said, it's the heaviest weighted thing I have.

And I'll tell you, like this is the way you have to operate. If you're not operating like this, look, you're going to be successful for a while. You can leave a scorched earth policy and everywhere you go, everyone hates you and you have no true friends and it's just a nightmare and a disaster. And by the way, where that ends up, you make some money along the way or you'll build your business or you'll get promoted or whatever it is you're looking for, you'll get it short term. And you look up in three, four, five years and it's just scorched earth and there's nothing else to burn, right?

Yeah. There's nothing else to burn. Well, you'll always be chasing that fulfillment that you can't actually achieve. Because when you do what you're talking about, there's fulfillment. When you do what? When you all these things you're talking about. Everything in this loop. When you do those things, when you're an actual leader, and again, you don't, a title

doesn't make you a leader. Doing these things is what makes you a leader. You know, building trust, you know, listening to your people, showing them respect. like influence on them. That's what that's what makes you a leader is your ability to build the relationships with people around you and instill belief into them, belief in the mission and actually go inspire them to take action. That's what makes you a leader. And, you know, when you do all these principles that you're talking about, that brings you fulfillment. When you violate all these things, you're going to be chasing fulfillment until the day that

you die. And it doesn't matter how much money you make. It doesn't, all these things will not matter. but you can also get all of these other things that some people like that matters to them while also being a good leader and what we've seen is the people that have good intentions that are taking care of their people and they're out there serving people they tend to get what they need and want in life and like that's the true thing is like the happiness comes from peace not from all the like the things that people are chasing like that the happiness comes from peace of being a good leader and serving and taking care of people. Yeah.

Yeah. And if you prioritize your relationships and part of inherent in relationships is caring about other people. Yes. If that's what your focus is, I'm going to promise you. I guarantee you. I guarantee you you will end up better in the long term. Period.

End of story. Yep. When you sacrifice relationships, when you don't listen to people, when you hurt, when you don't care about people, when you do those things in your life, I'm going to tell you, like I said, you're going to get some short term wins. Sure. You know, I freaking came out better with the business deal and, you know, JP was building this thing for me and I kind of like pushed back on what he wanted to charge and he came

in and finally he got it done and I didn't pay him what he really wanted. Okay. Dude, I won, right? You built my deck for me. You built a deck on my house and you wanted five grand and I got you to do it for 4,200. I won, right? You know what I'm saying? I won.

Short term, right? I saved 800 bucks. You know? What happens? What happens? Well, you know, my roof's leaking one day and I need some help. And I call JP. What does he say?

Sorry, man, I'm busy. Or, you know, this is the way life works. You know, I sacrifice the relationship for me, right? I sacrifice the, I make a decision that's good for me, not good for you. Yeah. And that's not going to work out good. Now, you could also be saying, you know, Jock, I'll do it, but I can only do your deck for, you know, $6,000. And I go, man, I mean, we ran the numbers and I looked at the labor and the cost of the stuff.

It's like, five grand is really fair. And you're like, I can only do it for $6,000. Sorry. Okay. So I pay you $6,000, you know? And yet, you and I both know that's not fair. We don't have the same relationship that we did an hour ago before we shook hands on this deal. So now who's building my, you know, my next house in three years when I've become wealthy?

And I'm like, actually, I need a whole house built. Yeah. Guess who's not getting the job? J.P.'s not. Try to get that extra little bit of something out of me. So if you make decisions and you consider relationships and you wait that heavily, again, dude, are there times? Yes, there's absolutely times.

I get it. All you people that are right now like, that's not good leadership. Sometimes you got to just freaking close. the door. You're on the ship gets hit with a torpedo and there's guys in the engine room and you seal that freaking door and those guys are going to die now. That's a decision that gets made. And you do that to save the ship.

I get it. And some of the guys on the ship are going to be filled with hatred. You made that decision. There are times when you have to put those things aside. We get it. We understand that. But I'm telling you, when you're running, this decision loop in normal life, prioritize these relationships.

That's the way it works. There was a few times where you'd be in this situation. Obviously on a very small scale, but what I did notice that Jocko would do, JCP. And you'll probably vouch for this as well. Anytime where there's a decision that maybe I wouldn't necessarily agreed with

or be like right on board with, you'd always explain the bigger picture. Kind of like, like, okay, you know, hey, look, This is what we're doing. This is what we're doing. Hey, follow me. This is why. And because of this.

And the more you explain kind of the big picture, the more acceptable it starts to become. And it's like, okay. And just like I said, yeah, yeah, they won't. You said they might not like you for it, but I would say, in my experience, it's not that they don't, I wouldn't like you or I'd like you less.

It would be that I wouldn't like it necessarily. Oh, that's good. So the relationship is essentially maintained. But even though I'm doing something that I really don't want to do. do, but I know why I'm doing it. So it's kind of like, okay, I get it's kind of like telling your kids to clean the room, right? Hey, we're going to go to Disneyland today.

But before you go, you got to clean your room. They'll be like, what? Like, oh my gosh, that's excited for a day. No, no, no, clean the room. If they understand, hey, you got to clean your room. Clean room's good, all the stuff. And they understand. They're like, okay, they don't like cleaning their room all of a sudden.

But at least they'll suck it up. They'll do it. Get it done. Do it'll be done. And then boom, Disneyland time. You see what I'm saying? Yeah. Yeah, that's why communication is the number one skill set of a good leader.

Like you have to have the ability to communicate. And if like you're saying, like when you do those, you explain the why and you can clearly articulate that to your people, they may not like what has to be done, but they understand it. And then they can actually get on board. And then if you can drive ownership down to them in regards to what we're doing and why we're doing it, then there's going to be less pushback, more buying. And a great example that is like, hey, here's what we got to do, here's why we got to do it. How do you guys want to get it done?

Right? I mean, that's something that I use almost 100% of the time. Like, hey, look, I know there's a lot of debate about us doing this thing. Here's why we got to do this thing. Let me know how you guys want to do it. But we got to get it done. Like, that's just good leadership right there. And the point is there that the relationship part of it gets maintained.

Even though they're doing stuff they don't want to do. You told them to do stuff they don't want to do. They got to suck it up. Like even with like kids, for example, like, you know, dessert, right? You're the dad who says no to dessert. Man, they're not going to like you, you know? So you think, oh, these kids, they're not going to like me. I'm going to say no to their dessert on the weekend.

Oh, my gosh, you know. But if you explain to them, here's one, a little hack. You can borrow it. I mean, I'm sure a little bit more advanced than me. But for anyone listening who might want to use this one, this works. Be like, hey, I don't know. What's unhealthy? freaking don't sugar cookies donuts for sure but donuts aren't for dessert yeah people

have them for breakfast okay cupcakes so cupcakes so cupcakes um you know for what no cupcake it'd be like why oh why you're not gonna let us have cupcakes that's what they're focused on right you didn't let me have this pleasure cupcakes be like hey we hey we know we know how bad cupcakes are you know nobody's perfect i get it but we know how bad cupcakes are would i be a good dad if i just willingly gave you these unhealthy cupcakes would that make me a good dad. It's very hard to refute that for little kids. A little bit older kids,

they might be more clever. They might think up some stuff, but little kids it works. Hey, here's a mistake I made with my kids. It's just like, good one to remember too. It's a little hint is I've done the like,

I'm taking ownership. Yeah. And been like, listen, obviously I haven't done a good job explaining to you why this is important or something like that. And like my oldest daughter

when she was young, she'd be like, I'm not a bad person. Like, as if I'd be like, I'd be like, you know, hey, obviously I haven't done a good job

explaining the importance of whatever. And she'd be like, Dad, I'm not like a bad person. Like, you don't have to say that as if you have failed as a father because that's the way I would make it sound. Yes, that makes sense to me completely. Okay, I get it.

Didn't you get scolded for like the type two diabetes speech or something you'd give to your kids? Didn't I get scolded? Yeah, like by your wife. Probably. Or somebody. But I'll tell you, I would give the type two diabetes speech to my kids.

Like, you know, oh, you want a cupcake? Cool, you want that type to diabetes, too? Like, I must have said that a lot when they were going on. So, okay, so here, and as funny as that is, like, the serious part of that is, I mean, obviously, that's partially joking the way you always do it or whatever. You might go a little bit too hard for some people. I get it. But nonetheless, I recognize it. So.

Well, earlier on this podcast, we were talking about, oh, you didn't clean your room. Cool. You don't eat or whatever. You don't help clean it up. You don't eat. We're going to get some shit on that one. I guarantee people are going to be like, you're the sick person. Yeah.

I mean, obviously, there's more to it. You know, like some kids, they're kind of picky eaters and they'll just starve themselves. They'll be like, whatever, starve myself. Meanwhile, they're losing weight. And look, it's nuance. Hold on. That's not what we're talking about. We're not talking about a kid losing weight because they didn't clean up the dishes at lunch and now they're not getting dinner.

That's what I'm saying. We're going into a whole different realm right now. No, no, no. The point of making is there's more to it than just like, okay, you don't eat. You know, this is a process. Okay. So you go and. But just for the record, none of my kids have ever lost weight because I, you know,

Because I freaking guilt trips out. Yes, I understand fully. And that's part of the point. Like, different families are different. Different kids are different than your kids, you know, specifically, whatever. Yeah, you know, there's going to be adjustments. And by the way, there's all, there are, you know, people out there that they need to do the opposite. They need to eat, right?

They have, like, eating disorders and stuff like that, which are really horrific. So we have to be careful around this subject. Yeah. So, but the point is, as far as you. You know, halfway joking, you go hard, you know, all this stuff or whatever. And you said, oh, yeah, you want type two diabetes. You know, every time, shoot, frick, man, we just wanted a little bit of that frozen yogurt, you know, right now, whatever. And so, right, you don't have to go that hard.

So if you go too hard for your kids, I could see, I'm not saying it will, but I could see how that could kind of jam up the relationship a little bit. Could jam up a little bit. Could get rebellion. Exactly right. We're just sugar addicts now. Yeah, exactly. And that's what I'm saying. And really wouldn't be focusing because it's what you're talking about is the relationship, right?

that you're trying to maintain. That's why I came up with this clever one, be like, would I be a good dad? You know, like, because I'm trying to be the best dad. Isn't that what you want? It's hard. I mean, you get a smart like, out of like,

but the kid's not going to be like, no, I don't want you to be a good dad. So it's like they have no rebuttal, you know? So you say, would I be a good dad if I just fed you this terrible, unhealthy stuff? It's just really hard to refute, you know? And the relationship gets maintained. Check this out.

Here's a hole. Do you want to open up a can right now? Yes, sir. here's uh you no doubt check this out hey you're supposed to be their their dad or their mom not their friend right this is another one of those things I and look I get the concept right I get the concept because people say the same thing about leadership too like hey you're not you're not you're supposed to be their leader not their friend you're supposed to be their platoon chief not their friend you're supposed to be their platoon commander not their friend

you're supposed to be their CEO not their friend you're supposed to be their department head not their friend. This is a very common, and there's a common theme of like, you're supposed to be their mom, not their friend, or their dad, not their friend.

Yeah. And I get it. I get what they're trying to say, right? What they're trying to say is like, hey, I'm not trying to make, you know, JP my buddy by being like,

hey, buddy, like, I'm your boss, but, you know, can I, blah, blah, blah. Can let's, you can leave work early.

Like, like, like, oh, it doesn't, oh, you're my son. Hey, JP, son. Oh, you want your buddies to come over and have beer? Cool. I'll have some beers with you guys. That attitude, right?

When people say don't be their friend, that's what they're talking about. Like, oh, you guys want to go see whatever. I'll take, oh, guys are smoking pot. It's no big deal. You know, I'm like, cool with that. Like, that's what they're talking about. But to think that you wouldn't want to have a relationship with your kids that isn't like a.

being their friend is an aspect of it to me is crazy I'm friends with all my kids like my kids are my friends 100% and I just want to warn people and by the way everyone that works for me

you know everyone that's my employee which I never say that but everyone that works in the companies that I own they're like my friends there's not like well you know you got to remember I'm the boss here

never said it I've ever said anything like that before? Like, that's a crazy thing. No. And for me to, so I would just keep that in mind. And again, I know that there's people right now that are like, I'm going to be a, you know, I'm meant to be the dad, not the friend. It's like, I'm telling you, you can be both.

And I would encourage you to be both. I would tell you that there's things that your daughter or son may not tell their father, but they'll tell their friend. 100%. And so when your kid might be going through some kind of trouble and, you know, whether they're getting picked on, whether they're having a hard time with something, whether they're like breaking up with their boyfriend or girlfriend, whatever those things are, you're not, if you're not their friend and you're just their dad, you might not hear about it.

So I'm saying there is a element of friendship as a leader. And it's a positive thing. it's not a negative thing. And it's part of relationships, right? The components that make up a relationship and a business relationship are the same components that make up relationship in a friend relationship

and the same things that make up a relationship in a father, mother, daughter, spouse relationship. Trust, listen, respect, influence, and care. That's what a relationship is. Don't you want to have that with your kids? Don't you want your kids to trust you? Don't you want your kids to listen to you? Yep, you do.

Guess what? you better listen to your kids then. But my kid's only nine. He doesn't know anything. Okay. Don't listen to him and see how that works out. When your nine-year-old kid has an issue about something, tell him, shut up. You don't know what you're talking about.

You're too young. That doesn't matter. When your kid gets called a plate face in school and comes home and is a little bit teary-eyed and you say, what's wrong? You say, I got made fun of. And you go, hey, shut up, sticks and stones, break your bones. Names can never hurt you. Don't worry about it.

And that's your reaction. I'm telling you, you're not listening to them. And therefore, guess what? They're not going to listen to you. So this relationship thing is universal. And the better relationships you have with people, the better things are going to be in your life. Period.

End of story. And it also includes people that you may not necessarily like. So you might work for someone that you don't necessarily like. I work for JP, JP's arrogant, he goes, flies off the handle, he yells at me and the rest of our employees. The rest of my peers. So, what do I try and do? Well, I don't like him, so I'm not going to build a relationship with him. Okay.

So then where does that get us in life? Do things get better for me or worse for me? Do I have more influence over him or less influence? Can I get him to stop yelling at me when all I do is not listen to him and disrespect him? No, yelling is going to get louder and worse. If I treat him with respect, maybe, just maybe he'll start to treat me with respect. If I listen to him, he's yelling at me and I get out my notebook and start taking notes. He's like, what are you doing?

I just want to write down what you're saying, boss. I want to make sure I got this. That's an attitude changer. Does this make me an ass kisser? Nope, it doesn't. It means that I want to win. It means I want to improve my situation for me and for my team. That's what it means.

So these relationship things, even when it's someone that you might not love, Like I have worked with a lot of people in my life that I didn't like I've worked with a lot of people in my life that I didn't like Jamie and Dave are always wondering if it's them They joke about that they're like is it me is it me? No It could be but I'll never tell them You might you work with people that you don't like what good is it if they know that What good is it if you're not trying to build relationship the best thing to do is build that relationship and move things forward? You have no influence over people that you don't have relationship with. They don't listen to a word that you say.

So build relationships. This is a winning. This is a way to win. Or you can go through life like, I don't do that. I know who says I don't do that? My ego says I don't do that. My ego says, J.P. yelled at me. I'm not going to listen to a damn thing.

He says, that's my ego. Instead of being like, oh, J.P. yelled at me. I wonder what kind of bosses he worked for that he thinks that's a good move. I wonder what kind of childhood he had where he loses his temper all the time. I wonder what's going on in his house with his wife and kids where he seems real short with the rest of the team. Hmm. I wonder if everything's perfect in JP's life where he's coming into work late. He's mad.

He's yelling at people. I wonder if he's just got a great thing going on right now. Like you think through these things and it's really easy to say, hmm, you know what? Maybe I can be a little bit better of a human being here. So prioritize those relationships. Last thing on this list. It's repeat. Once I have run through this checklist loop, I will make a decision and then run through

the checklist loop again and again. As a leader, I must continually assess these components over and over again and consider the feedback I receive with each decision and how the decisions affect the situation. To do this, I must do two things. Detachment and keep an open mind. Detachment is a superpower as the failure or inability to detach causes a failure to see clearly. Don't get too absorbed in any one aspect of the decision. a step back and breathe to assess the components of your decision from a broad and unemotional

vantage point. And to integrate your observations into your decision-making process, you have to keep an open mind. Keeping an open mind is always a challenge. Outside ideas feel threatening to our beliefs. Don't be intransigent or let those feeling close your mind, invite those thoughts and recognize that challenges, test your ideas, and make them better. Open mind and detachment to very difficult things for human beings. It's very difficult to keep an open mind and it's very difficult to detach.

And in order for this leadership loop, in order to get the feedback, you have to detach and you have to keep an open mind. New ideas, we don't like them. Challenging ideas. We don't like them. Differences of opinion, we don't like them. We literally surround ourselves with people that have the same opinions as us.

Go on to social media. Who are you following? I'm following a bunch of people that are the same as me. That's what we're doing. What news do I watch? I watch the news that has the same opinion as me. It's like that's what we do. Because our mind wants to be closed.

It wants to just not hear anyone else's opinion. because we think we're right. So there you have it. That's a little section of this new addition that I added to leadership strategy and tactics. Field Manual. Pragmatic. It's a pragmatic book.

And that's how the book's designed. And you know you were saying this earlier, JP talking about referring to books. And sometimes we got to go back to the book. Sometimes we've got to go back to the book. The harshest example I have of that is the book, Discipline equals Freedom Field Manual was coming out. And it was coming out like October 15th of 2017.

And I had the book and showed up at my house, had boxes of the book. And it was like, you know, signing them or doing whatever. And stoner died. And so it's like September 3rd. And so I had a whole bunch of press and all this like trip to the East Coast and all this stuff That I was doing for for promotion of discipline equals freedom field manual and so whatever that's all happening or supposed to happen and You know stoner dies and kind of

Maybe a day goes by so Sort of like all these initial kind of like calls, you know where all you know, we're all you know, we're all you know we're all talking to each other, we're figuring out what's going on, we're starting to plan stuff and like that time had gone by, that first like day had gone by of where you're kind of in the reaction mode of we have administrative stuff that we've got to do. And then it was, so now like that was gone and it was the first like time where I was left alone with my thoughts. and I remember I was in my room I don't know where my wife and kids were gone or whatever

and I'm just in my room by myself and I'm laying on my bed in the afternoon which I don't normally do and laying in my bed in the afternoon and I started to just freaking go down the the spiral

of anger and resentment and just unproductive terrible darkness and

I literally felt the abyss like opening up like dude I'm this is it just

it's just all this is all shit it's all dark it's all horrible and I felt that I kind of like felt the dream of that and I like stopped myself and I actually sat up and I had this big box of

Discipline equals Freedom Field Manual and there's a whole section there about death and I had to I had to open that up and read that section of myself and get a freaking grip on reality and that's the that's the way life is you are going to to need help. You're going to need reminders. You're going to need support and for me to be able to refer back to a book, you know, for that terrible moment in my life. That's kind of like what the, that's kind of what these books are for. And the leadership strategy and tactics field manual, obviously a much more positive book because it's about positive things. It's about leadership it's about moving forward but over time you can develop these instincts and

over time you can learn to deal with tough situations but you might get into a scenario where you need some help you need some support and you know from a leadership perspective that's what that book leadership strategy tactics is about you might get really good at that leadership loop when I'm having trouble making a decision, I'll whip that thing open and be like, hold on a second. Let me think through these steps. If you think through those steps, you get to the end, you're going to have a pretty good idea of what to do. Yeah. So leadership strategy and tactics field manual. Sometimes you got to refer, you know, I mean, we referred to the Bible today. It's a book. Many, many people refer to.

Yes. Right. There's, you can be rooted in things. We need reminders. You have a tattoo on your wrist to remind you of things. You have a hat in your closet from Marco's Pizza to remind you of things. We need to put those things in our lives. And when we stray, that's what happens, right? We stray. We stray from what we know we should be doing. We stray from remembering where we came from. We stray from our humility. We stray from leadership principles that we've talked about or lived or read about over and over again. We stray from the understanding of life and death. We stray from these things and we have to bring ourselves back to them.

And it's not easy. But this is another part where I think feeling that disturbance in the force. Well, what I talked about, if you have some, for me, if I have some sort of emotional disturbance in the force, I immediately know, okay, this is a, this is my ego. If I'm having trouble making a decision, if it's not clear to me, okay, guess what? Maybe I need to get out the field manual and go through this leadership decision making loop. that just bring me back. So you've got to set these things up. But most important, if you don't detach, if you don't detach,

you won't be able to see what's happening and where you're straying or that you are straying in the first place. You know, when I was sitting there thinking about stoner, I was straying from what I know is the right thing to do in that situation. And luckily, I was detached enough to go hold on a second.

You're not going to a good place right now. This is not good. You're straying from what you know is good. You're straying from the light and you're moving towards the dark. And this is not good. If you're not detached and when people aren't detached, when we watch people go down spiral into destruction,

that could be from a leadership perspective, that could be from a personal perspective, that could be from a family perspective, Most of the time they haven't had the ability to detach and take a look at themselves and go What am I doing right now? You know they always put in a movie scene like a guy looking at himself in the mirror or a woman looking at themselves in the mirror Right? It's like that's where they see oh God what am I doing right now? What am I becoming or that catch the reflection? That that we have to do that We have to look at ourselves and examine ourselves and you have to detach to be able to be able to

do that. When you're not detached, you're just caught in the moment. You're doing, you're wasting time. You're doing evil things, right? You read that passage. It's like, that's disturbance in the force. We're doing things that we are hiding. We're doing things in the dark. And a lot of times, you're lying to yourself. You're ignoring the fact that you're wasting time. You're ignoring the fact that you are doing something you shouldn't be doing. You're doing something you shouldn't be doing. And you're lying to yourself and you don't think anyone can see you. But it's having an impact. And the number one person that needs to see what's happening is you. And if you cover your eyes to it, you're not going to see it. So keep those things in mind. Don't stray from the path

and be aware. I'm telling you, that's the thing is people, they don't make a right turn off the path. They're not like walking down the path and they take a right turn and then they're off. That's not what happens. They take like a three degree turn. And they can't really tell.

And they're kind of like, well, you know, it's like I'm still kind of on it. And then they travel more distance and they're not looking around. They're not paying attention the next thing. You know, they're totally off the path. And their life is going in the wrong direction. So find some ways to ground yourself.

Find some things to some references to refer to. Write things down. Hang things up. Give yourself reminders. Refer back. What do you say? You read a psalm or a proverb of a day. Yeah.

That's a methodology, right? Here's a book with timeless information in it. Yeah. And instruction and guidance. Open it up, read it. It takes you 38 seconds. Okay. We just reminded ourselves where we're supposed to be going.

Do that. Do those things to keep yourself on the path in all aspects of your life. Probably good on the books, leadership strategy and tactics. Feel me I'll get a brand new additions out. It's got a cooler cover. two by the way echo Charles so we agree yeah yeah like it the original a dish was olive drab O D green you know and then this one we went we went a black ops tactical tactical the more it's you know you know black is not actually a good

tactical color in most cases actually you know where he got the year watch Robocop not the old school in the newer one I did not watch it he was like when they were formulating the Robocop suit suit which is classically silver Or stainless steel, whatever. Michael Keaton was like, oh, I mean, we need to change it from the silver. Is there anything a little bit more tactical? But black. So that's where I got it from.

Yeah, they went black. But black stands out a lot. I got you. I understand. Yeah, I think this to us, what do you call them normies, people not in the game or whatever. Like we just feel like, oh, it's at night black, you know, can't see you. It's more tactical. I'm saying.

I don't know. Anyway, please continue. Yeah, but this one is black. I can say tactical. Maybe it's not the best tactical color, but it's the coolest color. It's dope. Let's face it, that looks cool. And it's got the night vision green on it too, which actually looks really cool.

I like that a lot. So that's the expanded edition. I always refer people to page 157, 158 in Leadership Strategy and Tactics Field Manual. It's like the list of 12 things to do as leader. What's going on? What are you doing? No, no, these two are different. Well, okay.

So the one that you have in your left hand is a, Fake copy. Okay, got you. It was like a like a proof copy of what the cover was going to look like Yeah, yeah. But you can see the the fake one is glossy the real one is a little bit more matte black Yeah, that's too so there you go. J.P you got other stuff going on right now obviously got all your stuff at Escalon front going on yep Running the training you're the chief chief training officer there which puts you like you've already talked about the ftx You've got the battlefield events you got the council building out of training facility Laph and I have been talking about that recently

and you know driving that you know Cody Danny Justin I know Justin's working right now on building out like the specs for kind of what we want trying to get an idea you know working with Mike and our you know our accounting department of okay hey what is this training department going to look like or like a training location where people can come

and not just only have access to our field training exercise but having a nice awesome training facility with classrooms and being able to host and facilitate all aspects of the training that we do at Echelon for I mean I guess the only thing that we couldn't replicate would be a battlefield review because well yeah we're not gonna be on the battle you got to be on the battle but these days with some of the uh technology that's out there yeah being able to give really good briefs and vantage points and 360 degree like the camera that you have echo Charles we could walk someone around an entire battlefield no problem actually yeah

And it'd be virtual, but dude, it'd be. So we got all kinds of stuff. We're working there. And then so you got, you mentioned it earlier, the J.P. Dinell podcast. Yeah. Yeah, started. It actually came out today. Today, it's really, you know, had it to where every Friday it's going to launch.

We're on iTunes, Spotify, YouTube. Yeah. Yeah. So if you guys want to check it out, you know, and, you know, and if you like it, like, subscribe to it. Leave us a comment, leave us a review. But yeah, the purpose of me starting my own podcast was what we've been talking about today is just to provide value. It's just my perspective, my insight on what we do at Echleon Front, you know, to share the stories from me growing up as a kid, the lessons I learned for my childhood, and also like the lessons and stories and experiences I had

from being in the military, specifically in the SEAL teams, you know, when I got out, you know, which I know we've covered a lot of those stories over your podcast, but just to be able to elaborate and just as we say, pull the thread on different stories that I have from my life, my perspective on, on things. And again, just pulling it all back to what we teach at Echleon Front. My, my intention is to provide value to people through the lessons that I've learned, the experiences that I get to have because of what I get to do at Echelon Front, to share people's stories, pull the leadership lessons out of people's stories and tie it back into what we do at Echonfront and just also be able to share my faith and just have a different

platform that it just hopefully reaches more people to provide value and bring them back to what we do at Echelon Front. And, you know, my buddy Lucas is, you know, producing and co-hosting it all with me. It's, I met him because of the Jesus and Jiu-Jitsu podcast that I do with my buddies, Stephen, Isaac, and Josh. And it's a, he literally does everything. And I remember when I saw like the place that we record, it's in, they convert a room in their church. You know, he's a pastor of a small Baptist church in Denton, Texas. And he created this when COVID hit for it.

Hey, it's a way for us to get the message. out to different people and provide value to people. And anyways, the guy's awesome. If you're watching on YouTube, you'll see he doesn't, he does not look like your typical pastor. He's got long hair, beer. He looks like a biker. Like, you know, and, you know, it's just, it's a cool opportunity.

And I'm thankful that I have someone like Lucas to be able to do this because there's zero, zero percent chance I'm going to be able to do all the things that he does. Like, I mean, could I learn how to do it? Yeah. Could you learn how to do all the things Echo does? Yeah. But yeah, obviously. But when we look at a priority,

he just presses record, dude. Dude doesn't do jazz. And it just magically is uploaded, right? messed up while you said that so quickly. Immediately. But you act like you're shocked and surprised. It's like I already knew. The quickness was pretty impressive.

It was impressive. Bro. Yeah. So I, you know, I'm very impressive how quickly I can insult you. You're just ready. And it's just.

Oh, good time. So yeah, I'm thankful for that. And then, you know, other things that we've talked about before, Little Cattle Co launched a few weeks ago, Beef Company, I'm doing Stephen Little. And that's been awesome. And then... So where do people go to get that?

Littlecattle.co. So littlecattle.cote. It's just our name as a way. So Little Cattle Co is the name of the company. So you can find us on Instagram, but if you want to order beef, it's littlecattle.com. And what's cool is like, hey, if you just want to order two fillets and five pounds of ground beef, You can do that. You want to order we we had somebody recently reach out and you know they wanted to order a bunch of ribbyes for for the team. Of course that person named Jocko. No, not yet. I have failed to get you any of the beef yet. We are. Hey, when you get an order for 27 ribyes, I'll know. You'll know. Well, it's just crazy. I mean, it's only been a couple weeks and we we're getting everything literally Stevens right now getting all of our resupply. I mean, we sold out of ribies and sirloins and tomahawks and brisket and I mean, I mean, It just was pretty cool to see how that happened.

We were able to, when we had the one-day FTXs last week in Texas, you know, because we wanted to provide, you know, as we do at Oshon Front, it's like, hey, take care of the client, provide really good value. Part of it was like, you know, we realized on the FTX is like we could increase the types of meals that were providing to our clients. Now, the hard part is how do we duplicate this? Because last week, it was good because Stephen was out there. they're cooking hamburgers and sirloin and ground beef for everybody.

So everyone had a half pound hamburger from Little CattleCo, sirloin. Even Laif was like, he's like, man, is that ribby? And Stephen was like, no, that's sirloin. He's like, there's no way. I mean, as you know, high quality beef is different than what people are used to. And so it's, you know, it's Texas, Black Angus that has no hormones, no antibiotics, no steroids. His uncle, Uncle Rocky, he's been doing this for 30 years. And that's how we have access.

to all the steers and just good quality beef. I didn't know this. This is disgusting. But, you know, according to some of the experts out there when it comes to ground beef that you get from a grocery store or, you know, some of the higher, like the bigger names that prove like in high volume that you buy in bulk, try not to say names, you can have up to a thousand different steers that you're at ground beef is being combined to make your ground beef, which that is increased.

the risk for cross-contamination and all this other stuff. Our ground beef comes from one steer. It's not even mixed with the four steers that we slaughter at a time. It is all, it's from that, that chuck roast and the fat, like it's good quality, high-quality ground beef. Big different, like a big difference, as you can tell. As I know, you're in the beef game, you know, and you understand the value of like that high-quality beef.

And, you know, Stephen and his uncle Rocky, you know, handling all the, um, the business. and you know of the of the steers and the beef and then Tyler and I you know we invested into the company and helping with the business aspect of it and it's cool that all of our families are involved in the night before we you know um started fulfilling orders like all three of our families are up there and we prayed over the warehouse and we prayed over the orders and prayed over our customers because we also understand that this is an opportunity that we get to to serve other people through our products and so I'm thankful for that and man it's It's been really cool to see how it's, I mean, God's definitely blessed business already.

Yeah, awesome. And then the other thing that we talked about is, you know, the on the path printing that Josh and I've been doing. And, you know, both of us, you know, we just, it couldn't make it as a, it wasn't a top priority. And that was hard for us because our ego wanted it to be, hey, done, done, done. But we really both had to step back and like, okay, hey, what are the other priorities that we have going on in our life? And I also had to listen to people that were like, hey, man, you got a lot of stuff going on. like yeah I know. And then I realized, I'm like, okay, are they saying that because they're envious or are they saying that because they care about me? And I realized that the people were saying

it was because they cared about me and they were seeing something that I didn't see. And I, Josh and I had to put on the path on the back burner. Because it wasn't, you know, could we have made it happen sooner? Yes. But it would have impacted other stuff. And as you said, hey, a lot of stuff going on, including what we do at echelon front. Eschon front is my number one. It is my number one. And I had to reiterate that to most people, the reason why I'm doing my own podcast is to provide value and bring people into the ecosystem that we have with Eschlon Front, origin, jaco fuel. And yes, the other things that I do, the ministries I help out with, you know, my buddies, you know, walking in truth ministry, those pursuit events, Jesus and Jiu-Jitsu. I'm trying to help.

But my main focus is always going to be Eschalon Front. And I think I share this with you. If not, I'm sharing it with you now. I also realized if something was that happened to me, what do my family happen? I mean, I know you in life would take care of my family. I was going to say you don't got to worry. I know, I know. But I hear you.

The reality of that is at what point? I mean, I know I have investments in Amanda and I, we've been good stewards with our money. God has blessed us. we tithe as an act of worship and we also are trying to be good stewards with our money in regards to investing and saving. But if something was to happen to me, what would my family have? No, my wife, she's a rock star, she's gangster, she'll make it happen. I don't want to put that burden on her and the kids.

And so I looked at Little Cattle Coas because I knew the intent that Stephen and his wife, Amanda had was it's a legacy play. They're not building it to be able to sell it. Now, we all say that and they could, hey, some company comes in and like, hey, we're going to give you $100 million for it. I'm like, hey, Steve, we need to have a conversation, dude. You could probably take care of your family with some of that money. Yes.

Yeah. My equity would probably turn out to be very well. But it was looking at it from a different perspective of like, hey, I love what I do at Eschleon Front. I mean, you guys provide for me. You guys take care of me and you bless me for sure. And I know you guys would give me the opportunity to earn it. but I wanted to look at, you know, these different things as a, hey, if something was to happen to me,

or let's just say I couldn't, like something happened to me and I couldn't continue doing what I do at Eschonfront, how do I ensure, like, stability for my family? Like, how do I provide stability for my family? And I was like, okay, well, little catacow is an option. On the path printing is an option. The investment that I made into Jocco fuel is an option. other companies is an option. And so it's a lot of little different things that if something was to happen, my family

still has stability to where I'm not a burden. Like I never want to be a burden. And I've been a burden in the past because of stupid decisions. And I'll never, never, I don't ever want to put my family in that position again, ever. And so just trying to be diligent and a good steward of what God has given, Amanda and I. And that was for me, little cattle co on the path. I mean, without, I hope it's very apparent, everything that you guys allow me to do at Echelon front. But then origin and Jocko Fuel and other companies I've been able to put funds into, you know, for me, it's, I just want to be a good steward of what God's given me.

Yeah. Well, that's frigging, of course. That's like always got to be a priority. Well, actually, let me take that back. It's not always a priority because at a certain point, we are in life and we don't have the luxury of being able to think that way. And, you know, if you look at you eight years ago, you were in survival mode. You know, that's the way a lot of people live. And so it's awesome that you can now like look up, look out and be like, okay.

And it wasn't an overnight thing. And that's why I try to explain to other people who are in hard, like tough situations. Like, I'll tell them, I'm like, hey, you're living my life that I was living. You're living the life that Amanda and I were living six and a half, seven years ago. Right now, I have friends right now that are just, who it's tight. And I'm like, hey, man, keep the main thing, the main thing. Yep. Don't keep, don't get distracted.

Just keep like doing what you're doing. You're on the right path. You know, just it takes time. Like the, what I've been able to do took time. And but it seems like this. It seems like this because all like my buddies, my friends, I'm talking about, they remember that. They were a part of those times.

And now it's like, hey, this took some time. And you and Leif both said that to Amanda and I. You're like, hey, this is, it's going to be, you know, three to five years of grinding it out. We build a team. And I built that team at the five year mark like we kind of thought we were. And then it's like, hey, there's still going to be another three to five years of grinding it out after you build the team to get us where we need to be to where we can be more

strategic. And with that, with the whole discipline equals freedom mindset that you have in the manual that you gave, Amanda and I were very disciplined with our finances. You know, we weren't in a rush to buy a house. The house that we bought, it was a blessing for sure. We did it over a handshake with this guy. And it's funny. Like there's some things that are coming about that were like, you know, we've got to work through these things with this new house.

But it's like, hey, that's just part of owning a home. And we also understand that it's, hey, you know what? because we've been diligent with our savings, we can, like, we're not stressed. Oh, like, you've got, you've got some, some, uh, surprises with the house. Surprise. Yeah. Yeah. You know, and I'll tell you what, like, you know, what you're talking about is like that,

like that, that, that feeling creeping in earlier. And, you know, it's everything that we deal with in life is spiritual warfare, man. And, you know, I started to kind of go down this bad rabbit hole thoughts towards this guy that bought our, that sold the house to us because I was like super frustrated. with some of these things that were popping up. And then I had to remind myself of the conversations I had with the guy. And when we walked through the house, they were playing praise and worship music. And I noticed that.

I'm like, hey, I like the music that you're playing. He goes, yeah, my wife said, if somebody doesn't want to buy our house because of the music, then they don't deserve to buy the house. And I'm like, okay, that's kind of cool. And then the fact that the guy honored, like when I, we got to the end of the house and I'm looking at it. man, it's a beautiful house. I've sent you pictures.

You've seen it. You're like, man, it's amazing. And I remember looking at Amanda and, well, because I asked the guy, I'm like, hey, what's the next steps? And we're like, we're literally looking at. There's people outside the gate waiting to come look at it. We were the first people. And he said, well, you know, talk with your wife.

And if it's something that you guys think you like, just make an offer this weekend. Well, I knew the amount of people that would be looking at this house. And I look at Amanda and she's like, like, tears in her eyes. I'm like, I'll get my checkbook ready for this one. And, you know, because we had lost a lot of houses from being outbid. and people come in with cash deals and I mean I was talking to you constantly like hey what do I do now and Leif what do I do now and every little black belt move that you guys had for real estate it just it just wasn't working and I both had to understand like okay then this isn't this isn't the home that God has intended for us and what I was able to do was you know look at Amanda and realize okay cool she wants this house and we're talking and I can picture Amanda. to just like tear you're like how do you like that she's just like can't even talk yeah just tears in her eyes and she's like it's yeah and so we you know talk back and forth and i just it was cool

because i just looked at the guy and i said sir can i buy your house which i know is like in a real estate you don't do that anymore well what was cool is he was a listing agent and it was his house so i was able to have it's just a unique amazing opportunity he puts his hand out we shake hands he goes the house is yours damn and now he knew that we had lost other deals and he said the house is And he goes, I just need to figure out what I'm going to, you know, what I'm going to tell these people waiting out there. I was like, oh, I can handle that one. Like just joking. He's like, no, you know, I'm going to let them look at the house.

He goes, I'm not going to lose my integrity over a dollar. He goes, this house is yours. I'm looking forward to you, like, raising your family in this home. So I have to remind myself of that because if this wasn't the house that God wanted a man and I ended up being in, he wouldn't have opened up all these doors. This wouldn't have happened. This guy easily could have been like, hey, place your offer. We'll see how it goes out. knowing and I'll tell you what the vehicles that were parked out front if that was a representation of their

livelihood and bank accounts I wasn't playing in that road there's Bugatti's out there it wasn't happening have you seen the Lambo SUV yeah yeah yeah that was parked out there the new new Porsche SUV a brand new raptor truck I'm like who is this group of people couldn't have played that game but I just have to remind myself like okay these things happen for a reason so while we're working through these little things. You know, it's cool. It's full circle. Amanda today, people are coming to check out some of the stuff.

It's one of the companies that Groundworks just acquired. One of our clients, they're going to come check out our foundation and the broken retaining wall in front of the house. And we're going to find some solutions and work through it. First world problems because my worst day is somebody's dream. Think about what I'm talking about right now. There's a family listening. There's some guy listening who his family is living in an apartment, which there's nothing

wrong with that been there done that who's going you know a jp i'd love to be in that house and i know that and i respect what you're doing sir i've been where you're at i'm not saying any of this stuff to brag or anything else but it's just just to remind people like hey man just keep keep pushing forward yeah and i and also as a reminder to myself hey my worst day is someone's dream i've got a i am i am blessed beyond belief right now you know what's that what's the swimming apparatus at that thing like It's like a pool, but it's not, what is that thing? It's not a spa and it's not a pool. This is what the guy called it.

No, because I remember, I was like, oh, yeah, it was a pool and you're like, no, it doesn't have a pool. And I was like, oh, okay, the next thing I see is a picture of your kids in a pool. And I was like, yo, what is this? Yeah, I clearly didn't communicate with that properly because actually our real, our realtor almost didn't. Renee, power. Shout out to Renee. She's phenomenal agent. She almost didn't show us a house because she knew how small that the body of water was.

Because we'd go look at other houses. They're like, yeah, this is a pool. And I'm like, no, that's a hot tub. Like, don't try to tell me that this is a pool. If I'll, hey, if I'm buying a house and a pool, I want a pool. I want it to be legit. And it's just one of my things. I wanted a space for a gym and a pool.

I got the space for the gym. Yeah. It's amazing. Yeah. And it's attached to the guest house, which is crazy. It's on two acres. But the guy, Dave, who sold us the house, he just had this, like, authority when he said it. He goes, and this is my spool.

I didn't want a pool. It's not a pool. pool, but it's bigger than a spa. I call it a spool, and I'm like, is the water hot or cold? Both. Whatever you choose. Okay. So it can be chilled or it can be heated.

At the same time? Is it separate at all? It's just one temperature. It's whatever you want. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. That's cool. You had a couple 20 pound bags of ice from Buckees.

It gets cold quick. Right on. It's awesome. Right on. Yeah. It's rad. I was shopping for a house years ago and there was a house that came up. and I was like, bro, this is like, I tell my wife.

My wife was like, you need to, like, same thing, like tears, like, you need to make this happen. I'm like, I will make this happen. So we go look at it and I'm like, yep. And I told the realtor, I'm like, hey, like, we don't need, he's like, we don't think about it. Nope, don't need to think about it. Like, we're ready to rock and roll.

And they're like, well, you know, like, we're going to show it this weekend and blah, blah, blah. And I'm like, okay, well, we'll put together an offer letter and blah, blah, blah. And so then like, I get home. I write a letter to the owner of the house. You know, I like, Google it, find out, blah, blah, blah, blah. I writer this letter, you know, you know, ma'am, I just wanted to let you know we came and looked at the house. It's incredible and we're from here and we, you know, this is, I got the kids and we want to raise them here and they, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

Just this really nice, you know, kind of heartfelt letter. And just, you know, I would really appreciate your consideration. I'm, you know, I just retired from the military, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. The whole nine yards. and they took a cash offer from someone else. I tried to get it. That happened to us, literally the week of this. The week of, I wrote a letter, Amanda wrote a letter.

All of our kids wrote letters, like just, I mean, you know, my kids were like, this is a... Dude, J.C.'s got his kids writing letters. Next level. Yeah, they had five letters that came. Our daughters, Coranola drew pictures of the house and, like, all this stuff. And I thought the same thing, like, that house, I'm like, this is... And it's still, that place was gorgeous. No.

And it just and even the owners Yeah Owners told our realtor they told Renee like hey We really like this family Like we want this family And then whoever it was That came in and got the house They just came in with a cash deal

And I'm like congratulations to you Yeah congratulations The moral of the story Well not the moral but the finishing The story that I just told is that house That I that we had written these letters And I was like really wanted Yeah we didn't get it

And then like three weeks later the house that I have. Oh, yeah. So it was just like, and it was, you know, crazy that it went the way it did. But it's the way things work, you know? Yeah.

And I even told him, I'm like, hey, like, how much over this asking price would you have wanted to go for us to get the house? And so we were talking about that. I'm like, okay, so even the repairs that we have to do,

even if this stuff isn't covered by warranty, which the house is less than three years old. So foundation problems, what warranty 10 year warranty on foundation so we're not going to come out of pocket it when ground works company that they acquired whatever one in Dallas that we're working with they come in and they have to do work they deal with like whoever did it like we don't have to pay and i even told i'm like okay hey because i thought i was like oh we're going to have to pay all this stuff out of pocket i'm like good lord and um and i told i'm like hey even if we go up to that amount

we're still good and my mind's i was talking we had a bunch of guys over from church we did a little Frogman Friday workout at my house where we just crushed everybody. It was cool. They came over. They prayed over the house, the property and everything else like that. And we did this awesome workout. And I was talking with one of my pastors, Pastor Drew. And I was just like, yeah, you know, like, I don't know what we're going to do with this.

I was explaining it. I mean, you pull it in my house. You see the broken wall. It's a broken retaining wall. You see it. It's very obvious. And, you know, a couple of guys. And it wasn't like that when you bought it?

Nope. Damn. They stopped watering the month that they did the lease back. I'm not saying that this is what. caused it. However, comma, like if you don't water your, your property in Texas, it dries up quick and it's going to cause these issues. Like the retaining wall, like cracked and broke. And it just doesn't matter what we've done. Like it hasn't been fixed. But yeah, there's no issues when we bought it. The month that they did the lease back there, they stopped watering. And then

a lot of these foundation things started to happen. But whatever. I mean, they didn't do it on purpose, clearly. And I was, but I was talking with Pastor Drew and Pastor Tyron about it. I'm like, well, you know, worst case, like I have some, like, dude, we got a great deal in the house. There's equity in it already. If I had to take out a loan, I'm just going to redo the whole retaining wall and the backyard and create the most epic backyard pool set up that I liked where it's what we want. And I never have to do like, like, cool. Why would I take a vacation when I have this setup?

So, so good. Yeah, we're getting wall broke. Good. Good. Build the backyard you want. When you're talking about how much money your wife is willing to spend, we kind of had, we were having this random conversation with my whole family. We're talking about like my dog.

And look, well, how much we, because one of our friends had a dog get sick, something, spent a bunch of money on it. And so the conversation starts getting fired up with my, well, what would you spend? What would you spend? Don't ask me that question. So my wife, my, uh, like one of my kids, well, what about you, mom? And my wife's like, I consider Odin one of my children. I was like, oh, no.

I was like, oh, no. It's like, that's, that's a big ass price tag, bro. Yeah. I consider Odin one of my children. I'm like, okay, so let's hope this dog doesn't get too sicker. I'm going to be freaking broke. That's what's going to be. Mine's like, what's the price of a nine-miller round?

Check. Awesome. I'm just saying, like, it's a dog. I'm just kidding. Somebody is losing their mind over that comment, right? I'm kidding. Somebody definitely is. You're kidding.

Check. Don't watch the YouTube right now. I'm just kidding. My facial reaction. Did we, what else? We cover everything. We have to speed. We got the stuff done.

Hey, if people are coming to the muster in October and they want to hang out, we're actually doing a Jesus and Jiu-Jitsu event the Saturday after the muster. So October 21st. Okay. This is in Tejas. And it's going to be no ghee. Right on. We usually do geese.

This will be no geese. It will be easy for people to travel with rash guards and shorts. And Stefan Banta, who is the number one ranked brown belt in the world's now a black belt under Joel Rocha. He's going to be teaching the seminar, which is rad. Where is it going to be? Is it going to be where we do the muster stuff or is going to be somewhere else? No, that would have been cool, but that would have cost us a lot of money, you know, or ministry.

We don't have a lot of money. But it's going to be at double five mid cities. Okay. So one of the affiliate gyms. How big is double five mid cities? I'm just thinking that when people hear this. I mean, if that's the problem that we have a sign up thing or is this all hands. All hands.

Like, hey, just show up. It's free. I mean, cool. No, that would be, hey, if we had it to the point. where there's so many people that we couldn't do Jiu-Jitsu, and we had to rotate people out. I mean, that's a great problem to have. Cool.

I just, you know, I did think about like, oh, maybe we could host it. Hey, here's a deal. If I get hundreds of messages on Instagram, and our Jesus and Jiu-Jitsu page gets hundreds of messages, then I'll do something to raise some money to where we can rent out Matt space.

We'll figure out something. I don't, I mean, who knows? If that happens, that's a good problem, and we'll work through it. So free, Jiu-Jitsu and Jesus Seminar. Yep. October 21st in Dallas, Fort Worth that.

And that's after. Double five mid-cities. Musters already sold up. We have the San Diego muster coming up, but it's selling out quick too. So just be advised to that. So cool. There you go. JP.

What else we got? We got Jock Fuel, obviously. We got hydrate. We got greens. We got Jock Go, which I've drank in one and a half at this point in time. I also got. What else we also got? That new pre-workout, dog.

The new pre-workout, look, I know you're a pre-workout. Guy. Right? Let's go. And I have now been toying with it, right? Because it's crazy. Experimenting with it. It's crazy.

Yeah. It's crazy. But it's freaking damn, dude. I only drank one go during this in case I was going to get like a little dry scoop header of that pre-workout. Dude. I didn't know. It's no joke. It's so good.

So that's the, we got the pre-workout that's out. We got mulk, which is a godsend. Yes, it is. Where else can you just get? 30 grams of protein in less than 30 seconds. Yeah. Less than 30 seconds.

Yes. And I didn't notice that too recently where you know how like, you know, I mean, I'm sure you've downed the RTD ones, right? You've downed a whole one in one, one hit. Right. Okay. So I've never done that with any other protein drink. Okay.

I've done this probably 50% of the time with this one. For real. Because it's a, and I was thinking, oh, maybe they're just smaller. I don't know, maybe. But it's because it tastes good. And here's the. another hack.

I don't know if you'd call it a hack, but you know how like after Jiu-Jitsu, right? You know, you're drinking your water or whatever. You go home and you're like, oh, I'm kind of thirsty for like a water or a cold ice, something like this. But try to drink a mok. It's actually kind of like on the refreshing side,

but it's still that hitter. And I'm going to put me a little on blast in the JoccoFuel team. Will there ever be a strawberry RTD? I think it's on the product roadmap, but you know what is coming? Coffee. Oh, that coffee one. I tried it when we went to the Origin Summit.

Yeah. They had it. Yeah. I've told a few people. I'm glad you said it because I've been very cryptic when I talk about it. It's probably secret. Whatever. Sorry.

If it is. Wait, is it coffee coffee, coffee flavored? It's, yes, coffee flavored with caffeine and protein. Okay.

I can't. I'm okay with that. I'm okay with that coming before. Okay, so I don't drink coffee and I don't like coffee. But of course, I had to try it just to see like what the deal is. Here's the deal.

Here's the deal. It Do you know what tiramisu is? Taramisu, yeah? Taramisu is good. Taramisu has some kind of like coffee in it, right? If there's something in it that's coffee, it's, wait, what's that other small coffee called? Expresso. Yeah, it's got something like that in it, right?

Tiramisu. This somehow tastes like tiramisu. Like it tastes sweet, it's good. So anyways, we got that coming. What else? Jock Fuel. Hydrate. So, hide.

hydrate, and I told you this, right? I told you my morning routine, daily, non-negotiable, hydrate creatine. If you're doing a workout first thing in the morning, you add the pre-workout. Boom. Where I report back with your success, bro. So you're saying you mix hydrate, pre-workout, and creatine all in one drink? If I'm working out first thing in the morning, if I'm not working out first thing in the morning, it's just the hydrate and the protein. Or sorry, hydrate and the creatine.

Yeah. Oh, yeah. So you're saying, hydrate, creatine, boom, water. Eidon's been on the creatine. 18 Molk train. Oh yeah. That kid's getting big as... Jack!

Yeah, he is. You're fucking legit. I can't wait. The senior wrestling season. I am so fired up. It's on. It is on. Yeah.

Damn. Oh, yeah. Speaking of hydrate, so I was talking to my daughter, my oldest daughter the other day. And, like, we were just talking and all of a sudden, and she was coming home from the... J-Jit. That's your shit. She's coming home for J-Jit-Too. And all of a sudden, you know, I'm like saying to him and she goes, yes.

And I was like, what? She's like, oh, I had hydrate in my... bag and anything I was like oh she's like I got that little addiction when you get done training yes bro when you get done training and you're just just sweat everywhere yeah so I also travel with them because travel dehydrates me I think it travel dehydrates most people so I always have one in my backpack and my fanny pack like I have a few of those little individual hitters just you mix that on the walk with your water on the flight yeah you're good and it's kind of a dessert thing

to again like I it's sweet it tastes sweet and it's freaking good and also it's got vitamin C it's got like a hundred milligrams of vitamin C in it too so when you're traveling it's like all good cross part anyways there we go joccofuel.com go check it out go to vitamin shop go to gnc go to military commiss airy b down in tejas thank you tejas people mire up in the up in the midwest thank you all crushing Harris teeter lifetime fitness shields small gyms uh jihitsu gyms CrossFit gyms Strength and conditioning gyms Just gyms

Just people Places where people get after it If you own one of those Just email JF Sales at joccofuel.com And we'll set up a wholesale account for you If you go to one of those places And you want it tell the owner Let's make this happen

So there you go Jock Fuel Get better, get stronger, get faster, get smarter Whole Nine Yards OriginUSA.com You need to get yourself Some American Made gear jeans, boots I was just hunting

was unsuccessful on my hunt. I did not harvest, but I had an awesome time. I was so close to elk. Cam, Haynes, he killed an elk. The elk was two yards from him. What? How?

Two yards. Because it walked up and couldn't see him because he's in full origin, Raptor Camo. Two yards. Two yards. It's on video. The video's not that great.

That could have been an awesome hatchet kill. Oh, it could have been. It would have been, but it's an awesome kill anyways. Uh, just freaking epic. Yeah, the, the camera work, Rihanna was doing the camera. God bless her. She was doing multiple things.

She was calling. She was filming. She had all kinds of things going on. But it is, it is a savage video. And anyways, Cam Haines, raptor camo, two yards elk screaming in his face, kills that thing. Just he said, he said, he goes, that was in self-defense, bro. I would be. Dude, you know, just freaking frontal shot on an elk.

Anyways, Origin USA. Check out the hunt gear. Jiu-Jitsu gear, obviously. We're doing Jiu-Jitsu. Get your Jiu-Jitsu on. No-Gie. Rash guards, boots, jeans. That's what we're doing.

All made in America. You're not going to support communism. You're not going to support the destruction of the environment. You're going to support freedom. You're going to support taking care of the environment. That's what you're going to do. That's what we're doing. OriginUSA.com.

Go get it. R.TX Gear 2, by the way. you're wearing that that thing right there. Yeah. Also, the t-shirt. It's super comfortable. But also the R-TX shirt, I wear as my undershirt for travel for echelon front.

So it's perfect. It's the black shirt under my echelon-front polo. You know, it's an anti-microbial. Yeah. You said something else, but we know what you were talking about. Antibrobiol.

Microbial. Anti-funk, right? So it's great because then after I get done, I could take off the polo, travel in it. It still looks professional enough, clean enough to where it doesn't look like unprofessional.

I can get a workout in there with that same shirt later that night and it helps with my packing. Do the RTX line. The shorts, Anthony Crock, he was at immersion camp. He helped as an expert.

One of my black belts under Formiga. I saw him the other day at the gym and they're Nogi because we got Nogi Nogi pans today and tomorrow in Dallas. And he's like, bro, I haven't worn any other type of shorts since immersion camp. These RTX shorts are incredible.

You know what's weird about the anti-microbial and anti-stank funk? The first set of RTX shirts. So Pete sends like two to me and two to Kip. And we get them and like three days later, four days later like we're on, just three of us on like a call. And I was like, yo, my shirt freaking stinks.

And Kip's like, yo, mine is heinous. And we were like, and Pete's like, I don't know. And anyways, it turns out the one, the initial ones that they sent us were just sewn, but they didn't have like the treatment to it. And so they just reeked, bro, I threw it away. But that, that anti-smell, that anti-funk, like, material or the treatment that it goes through is like totally legit. And if you don't have it, you would have a problem. Luckily, we got it.

So that's the RTX line. Anyways, Jocko, sorry, origin, USA.com, get some. Jocco store.com. Named and created by Echo, Charles kind of yeah sure okay what do we got there oh well you know we're all representing it in our own way oh true it's true there we go so if you want to represent the discipline equals freedom which is the roots the source like there you is as well there you go yeah we got shirts and hats and

hoodies and stuff like that a lot of short locker reminder shirt locker new new shirt every month it's the I think it's the only two shirts my father-in-law wears yeah my father-in-law Jeff he he loves all the design. I know I said this before. Jamie's dad's the same way. Jamie's dad is 100%. He's just shirt locker all day.

Which is awesome. All day. Hey, is the shirt that K dog was wearing today? Was that shirt locker? It said the discipline will not allow this. Yeah, shirt locker. Is that brand new? No, two months ago.

Okay. Some people around here don't have that. Hey, some people got it. Some people don't. But hey, you determine your own involvement. You see what I'm saying? Yep. Yep.

So yeah, if you are in, involved yeah new shirt every month designs are good last one yin yang oh I haven't seen that just one freedom in yang yeah yeah pretty solid right there actually it's not out yet it's not the first yet so yeah actually when this comes out it'll be out but anyway we'll see people seem to like the designs what I'm saying so yes it's on jocco store.com if you like something go ahead get something you yo if you need steak by the way you got some we got some options for you we got primalbeef.com Freaking legit awesome steak. I must have had nine of them in the past like six days. Yeah, I got mine too by the way. So the kid, you know how it comes with dry ice, right? A lot of time when you ship so it comes like the dry. Oh, bro, the kids love the dry ice. It's like a potion. You put in the water. Anyway, that aside, the hot dogs.

Bro, you can tell when it's like a sweat shop hot dog and like a primal beef. Oh, yeah. Bro, we chopped it up with in the chili. Oh, man. So. So. how they do it. Yeah, well, I know how they do it. Oh, yeah, the fruit finished. Yeah, they got all kinds. They got it going on. Oh, yeah. So we got primalbeef.com.

That's in Virginia. We got Colorado Kraft Beef, by the way, which is emerging onto the scene. Colorado Craft Beef, another just awesome, awesome ranch with awesome beef. And we got that work. And so check out Colorado Craft Beef, if you need beef. And then finally, obviously, little cattle co. We got some options for steak. Look, you need steak.

You need steak. So that's why you think I'm involved in some steak. I'm involved in some steak. We're eating steak. We eat a lot of steak. We're even eating beef hot dogs now. That's what's going down. Putting it in chili, apparently.

Actually, bro, I am not really that down for hot dogs in general. Not because they taste bad. But just like the thing. I don't mind the whole thing, the whole idea. bro, you ever look, you know how they say, see how the sausage is made? Bro, it should be see how the hot dogs are made. Bro, it's like 10 times worse. And ground beef.

That's what I've learned. Like, that's what Stevens educated me on. And since we launched Little CattleCo and, you know, obviously primal beef and Colorado craft, like, if you're not getting it from these companies, like, your ground beef, like, I would be just through. Just do your research. And you know what's, you talk about what's cool about this industry. When I first talked about Little Cattle Co, I think that was episode 376.

the guys from Colorado Craft reached out to me on Instagram. They said, hey, if there's anything we can, Jeff, he was like, hey, if there's anything we can do to help, let us know. And I was like, that's crazy. It just shows you their intent and how cool the agricultural just beef industry is because it's like, hey, we're going to help out. And instead of having this scarcity mindset, it's like, no, why don't we have the mindset of growing and expanding?

Like our customer base and our reach and people's knowledge of like, hey, why it's good to know what's going into your food and into your bodies and you're helping Americans. You're helping the smaller companies. Like you order for our company. You know, right now like Stephen and his wife are picking it up and his family is at the warehouse right now stocking the freezers. Like you follow us on Instagram. You'll see like his son Brody is literally going to the freezers and pulling out the orders and filling them up. It's just, it's a really cool thing. You know, and Aden's going to be working there this, you know, in the evenings

in the summer as well. Once wrestling season is over. Well, yes, that's his focus. During wrestling season, he's going to be eating. He's going to be consuming. Yes. But it's just cool. What way is he doing this year?

I don't know, man. What's he going to try? What's he going to try? In the 190s? Damn, dude. What is he 6-2? I think he's 6-2, yes. Sure.

Yeah. I don't think he's hit 6-3 yet. You're awesome. Six-2. He russled at 1-75 last year. Decompress. Let him decompress. Yeah, the industry is cool.

And those guys at Colorado Craft, I thought it was really cool. How nice and helpful. Great companies. Just great companies doing the right things. And same was Sean. Since he launched, we launched, it's like, hey, like, we're bouncing in stuff, stuff pass on each other. And it's just, I love it. It's awesome.

Yep. So get your good steak from one of those places. Subscribe to the podcast. Dejaco Underground. Check that out. Jock Underground.com. We control it. So that way no one can tell us what to do.

And look, we don't. We don't, we don't cause them problems over here, but you don't know what's going to happen. So, jockh underground.com, check that out. YouTube, subscribe to all the YouTube channels, psychological warfare. That's still in action, by the way. If you need a reminder, I talked about reminding yourself. There's a reminder for you. Check that one out.

It's on iTunes, Google Play, or all MP3 platforms. What year did that come out? Do you remember? 16, I think. Damn, dude. I was saying I was going to make another one of those, but I kind of stopped saying it. but I do owe the world. Well, I owe some people.

I feel like just generally speaking, you're a lot of the stuff you say, I mean, it's a, you know, it's a hodgepodge for sure, but it can be used for the same function as psychological warfare I found. Okay, okay, well, I like it. That's what we're doing. Flipside canvas, Dakota Meyer,

making awesome stuff to hang on your wall, written a bunch of books. Obviously, leadership, strategy, and tactics expanded a dish. Black, cool looking cover. Get it. Order it. Get this information that we talked about today and then all the other books that I've written,

especially the warrior kid books. Get your kids the warrior kid books. Please get your neighbors, kids, the warrior kid books. That is going to help them so much. And all the things that you know you should tell your kids to do and that you tell them to do and they don't really listen to you, they will listen to Uncle Jake. Proven fact. Proven fact.

They don't want to listen to you. They will listen to Uncle Jake. So get those warrior kid books for all your kids. Ashlawn Front, you've heard us talk about that today. We solve problems through leadership. All your problems are leadership problems. Go to Ashlandfront.com. Come to one of our gigs.

That's what we do. Bring us into your company. And also we have an online training platform. Extremeownership.com. You can learn these things that we talked about today. You can learn to utilize them in your daily life, in your family, with yourself, with your company, with your business, with your pickup basketball team.

These principles are for everything that you do and you interact with other human beings. When you are trying to build the relationships that we talked about. So go to extreme ownership.com and you can take these courses online. There's free courses on there, by the way. This isn't like a big money grab.

No. We just want you to learn this stuff. It's going to make your life better. Yeah. So check it out, Extreme Ownership.com. And if you want to help service members active and retired, you want to help their families.

You want to help Gold Star families. Check out. Mark Lee's mom, Mama Lee. She's got an incredible charity organization. Really helps out a lot of people that JP and I know personally. We've seen it transform them doing medical treatments that the government doesn't pay for. So hyperbaric chamber, just incredible support that she gives. So America's mighty warriors.org if you want to get involved in that.

Heroes and Horses.org, Micah Fink, up there in the mountains. He's up there in the mountains right now. He just got done like skinning an elk that he killed with a freaking carved stick. That's what he's doing. But he did just get out of the field. He took two groups this season, takes veterans up there into the mountains where they can find themselves again. And it's helped guys out so much.

So check that out. Heroes and Horses.org. Also, Jimmy May has got that organization that he started beyond thebrotherhood. Dot org. Jimmy May helping guys figure out what their next mission is going to be and help them get into that next mission. So there you go, beyond the brotherhood. org.

If you want to connect with us, J.P. is on Instagram. He's on Twitter at J.P. Denele, two ends, two L's. And little story behind two ends, two L's. That's what Stoner told me. I was like I was right I was about to write your name on something and I was like we got Danelle and he's like two ends two else and I don't know why I remember that but I just remember him saying he knew that I wouldn't know how to spell it yeah and he's like two ends two else check

so that's why I've never misspelled your name that's amazing uh echo is that echo Charles I'm at jaco willink on the social media things but just be careful because the algorithm the time waster, the dark pervert of wasted time is on there. It's in there. It's in Instagram. It's called an algorithm. And it's got your name and it knows what you're trying to think about. And it's going to intercede as much as it possibly can and waste and destroy your life. If you let it, if you let it, it will waste and destroy your life. That's what it'll do. He'll send you from one thing to the next thing to the next thing to the next thing. Hey, if you ever gotten lead out of an Instagram scroll session?

Have you ever gotten led out where it was like, hey, this just took me to something that's less interesting than the last thing. So I don't want to look at it anymore. No, it doesn't do that. Every single thing is selected based on the way you look at that screen and how long you look at something. And then it figures out what can entice you. And it shows you like an A, B. Like it first shows it. Well, maybe he's going in this direction.

Oh, no, he's not. He's going to. I'll give him four more of those. This thing is freaking evil. So just get off of it. You want to check in, check in. I'd rather you don't, honestly. I'd rather you don't check in.

I'd rather you just do more burpees. That's what I'd rather you do. JP, thanks for coming down. Thanks for joining us. Thanks for everything you've done for me, that you continue to do for me, everything you did for the teams, everything you did for our country,

and everything that you're continuing to do now with everything that you're doing. All the lessons that you teach, the principles, spreading the principles, just thank you. It's, uh, thank you. It'll always, it'll never cease to amaze me everything that you've done for me, and I appreciate it.

Also, thanks to all the men and women out there who are serving right now and who have served. And if I might say so, we didn't talk about this much today, but I want to give a special and solemn appreciation to the snipers and machine gunners. Right? which JP was both a sniper and a machine gunner.

And our machine gunners and our snipers kept so many Americans alive with their skills and their tenacity. So special thanks tonight to all you pig gunners out there and all you snipers in the military. Thanks for what you do. And also thanks to our police and law enforcement,

firefighters, paramedics, EMTs, dispatchers, correctional officers, border patrol, Secret Service, and all first responders. Thanks for what you do to keep us safe here at home. And everyone else out there, leadership is hard. Life is hard. And making leadership decisions is one of the hardest aspects of leadership, but it doesn't have to be. It doesn't have to be. You can follow the protocol. You can check the list. You can go through the loop. You can go to the book. You can refer to the book. You can use the book. And this

applies not just to leadership strategy and tactics field manual. Set up those reminders. So you don't stray from the path. Refer back to the things that ground you as a person. And then detach, detach, take a step back so you can really see what's happening in the world. Don't get caught up inside your own head. You've got to take a step back. That's what you need to do and keep an open mind. Closed minds don't make good decisions.

Closed minds don't see the mistakes that they're making. So detach. Keep an open mind and lead. And until next time, this is JP and Echo and Jocko. Out.