Jocko Podcast - Jocko Underground: How to Mentally Prep for a Stressful Situation

Episode Date: July 10, 2023

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Here we go. This is Jocka Underground podcast number 95 sitting here with Echo Charles, who is contemplating starting to impose extreme ownership on me, possibly, but in life definitely. Yeah. So here we go. How do you mentally prepare for a stressful event? I don't get. stressed out about too much but I know people that get stressed out about stuff and I was trying to think of how you know what when I was doing stressful things in my life when I was had to do something stressful what did I do what I go through to mitigate that stress as much as possible and there was some things that I thought might help people out number one practice

Practice what it is you have to do. Practice that thing, rehearse that thing. Even the SEAL teams, man, we rehearse our actions at the objective to make sure we know what's going to happen. And you can do it. If you rehearse correctly, you can mitigate so many problems. And if you don't rehearse, everything can fall apart. It's funny how much walking through something one time improves your capability. at that one thing.

It's amazing. If you and I had to go and clear a house and we got to walk through that house clearance, we'd be 10 times better. If you and I had to dismount a vehicle, get through a street, move down a street and enter a building, and we rehearsed that one time,

we'd be 10 times better than if we didn't rehearse it. So anything that you can do that you have to do that's going to bring you stress, you should rehearse it. Let it turn into muscle memory. Then take a break from it and then go back and rehearse it again. You need a little breather. You need to give your mind.

I'm sure there's some physiological thing that's going on, some psychological thing that's going on, but you rehearse something, you practice it, and you take a break from it, then you go back and rehearse and practice it again. And you do that as many times as you can. Look, don't get crazy with it. because sometimes if you rehearse something too much now when the unexpected happens it throws you off in your disaster so you got to be careful of that but rehearse practice the physical like actually do it and then also mentally visualize what you're going to do like this is what I'm going to say is what they're going to say back okay this is what going on if you go if you're stressed out about a conversation you got to go have with your boss or with one of your supporters or one of your peers or your spouse stressed out about something

You got to go give a public speaking event thing. It's causing you anxiety. It's causing you stress. Rehears it. Practice it. Take a break. Rehears it. Practice it again.

So that's number one. The more prepared you are for something, the less stress you have about that thing. Another idea around this is review in your mind the worst case scenario outcomes. Like what is the worst thing that is going to happen? What is the worst thing that could happen? What's the worst thing? worst thing that could happen and then how am I going to deal with that and how bad are they really because sometimes we are more scared of the idea of that bad thing we

actually think about what that bad thing is not that big of a deal you don't put them in perspective right you're not gonna die and if you're going to some situation where you might die okay well you might die well okay can you accept that Tim Ferriss has a thing he calls it fear setting I want to say he made it up I'm pretty sure he made it up A cool term. I like it. What he talks about, when he talks about fear setting,

he talks about it in reference to big, kind of grand goals. So like, oh, you know, I want to move to Kentucky. But that's like a big step for me because I've never been out of my state and I don't really know. So you do this fear setting thing. We figure out what's the worst thing it could happen and you go through that and it's a way for you to come to terms with The worst case scenarios that could happen like I said he when when I've heard him talk about it He's talked about it in reference to bigger broader goals not really for like single events or missions or like a match that you're gonna play or a game that you've got to play But so so so some of the ideas that he talks about around fear setting

They're a little bit they're a little bit different when you take them to a smaller tactical situation that's causing you stress. Like, you know, one of them that you got to watch out for is what when he'll talk about like, okay, I'm going to move to Kentucky. Here's the worst case that can happen. Here's some things I can mitigate. Here's some things that can implement to mitigate this problem occurring. I could end up homeless.

Okay, we'll put some savings away and you can get a one-way ticket that's going to bring you back home if you need it. Like, there's some things you could do. You're not going to end up homeless. Okay. you solved that problem. It's a little bit harder when it's one stressful event, like you've got a wrestling match

because most of the risk mitigation of losing a wrestling match is done prior to. It's the training. It's months and months of training. You can't, now listen, can you decide you're going to avoid a certain position in wrestling? Can you decide can you work on one little escape that's going to help you with this guy's power move?

You can do that. But essentially what Tim Ferriss is doing in this fear setting thing is getting comfortable with the worst case scenarios. It's going to be okay. Sometimes I think about how funny it'll be if one of these worst case scenarios happen. Like it's going to be funny. Like I'm going to look dumb and it's going to be funny.

You know what I mean? And look at you. You're laughing. It removes a little bit of stress. And they will be a little bit funny. If you do something, if you make that big dreaded mistake in front of everyone, it's going to be kind of funny. If you can laugh at yourself and you're okay with that,

it's going to make everything a lot less stressful. as opposed to if I make this mistake, what if I trip, what if I forget part of my speech and I don't know what to say? And I say, you know what I forgot part of my speech? And everyone laughs. Then what are we going to do? But if you're like, dude, if I forget part of my speech, I'm like, hey, I actually forgot what I was going to say.

And people are going to laugh and I'm going to laugh too. So get comfortable with the worst. If you're going into a stressful situation, get comfortable with the worst case and they're probably not as bad as you think as you're building them up to be. And even if they are, okay, what is the deal with them? Okay, you're going to die. You might die. Cool.

What does that actually mean? How does that impact the world? How does it impact your world? Probably not as big of a deal as you're making it out to be. Then let go of what you can't control because there's a bunch of things in a stressful event that you can't have any control over. You don't get it. You don't control them.

So let them go. Don't think about them. They're a waste. Put them in a category. Write them down. These are things I can't control. I'm not going to worry about them. doesn't matter. I can't impact it one way or the other. So not going to worry about things I can't control.

Then I'm going to, here's what I'm going to do. This one's a little sensitive. I'm going to get just a little bit. And you might have seen this before. I go Charles. You've got to see this before. I'm going to get a little bit. Going to get a little bit arrogant. Just a little bit. Not going to get that go too far. But you know, I'm here for a reason. I'm in this position for a reason. I've got to this match I'm in the finals for a reason yeah I'm kind of kick ass I'm pretty good at this that's why I'm here right yeah so that's what's going on so don't let it go too far but recognize the fact that you are in this position for a reason there's a reason for that you've done some good you can be a little bit cocky you're here because you can kind of kick ass at this thing whatever this thing is so be a little bit cocky just a little bit this is especially like just prior to the event right so you don't want to get cocky two weeks away because now you're slacking you want to get cocky like four minutes out yeah

I'm gonna I'm about to run game on this fool you know what I'm saying yeah that's when you want to get cocky another thing that happens you have to deal you can that's gonna help you with a stressful event identify the little physiological reactions that you're gonna have as that stress starts kicking in. The heart rate goes up, the breathing gets heavier. You start sweating. Maybe you feel a little nauseous. Maybe the muscles get tense.

These are all things that happen. If you say to yourself, oh my God, I feel sick. This is terrible. I'm so nervous. That's the wrong attitude to have. If you say to yourself, oh, I'm feeling a little nauseous right now. That's the blood leaving my stomach going to my body and brain so I can function at a higher level. I'm prepared for combat.

I'm prepared to die. Let's go. If you know that those things are normal because they are. When you're going to a stressful environment, those are the things you're going to feel. Your heart rate's going to increase. Your breathing is going to get heavier. Or more rapid at least. You're going to start sweating.

Maybe you get a little nauseous. Maybe you get a little tense muscles. You look down and you realize and you're gripping your fist, clenching your fist. If you recognize that those things are actually okay, it's pretty cool. Those things are good. Those things are you preparing for combat. or whatever event that you're going into. So if you do that, go through those little steps.

You're going to have a lot easier time dealing with stressful situations. Think through them and then go get something. That's what I got. Yeah, as a person who probably gets more stressed about certain things, and let's say, here's a small element to, incorporate that does help mentally. So if you think of it's kind of, it is actually detachment, but while you detach,

you think of it in terms of this, where this experience, whatever you're about to go do, is part of a big picture. It's like one of the stepping stones, good or bad, because bad, quote unquote, negative stepping stones are actually good stepping stones. You know how it's like, I don't know, Michael Jordan or whatever when he got cut from his sophomore year.

Exactly right. So in the moment, no one ever wants to get. get cut from the basketball teams at any year, sophomore, junior, senior, whatever, ever. But big pitcher is kind of like, oh, that's kind of more dope. It's kind of more like, it's a deeper story, you see what I'm saying, than someone who just was good the whole time, you know, or whatever. Yeah, and he probably took away. I got a train.

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