Jocko Podcast - Jocko Underground: It's ALL a Test.

Episode Date: April 29, 2024

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This is the Jocko Underground Podcast number 125 sitting with Echo Charles. I was talking to some young military personnel recently. I was talking about combat, talking about war, talking about how that's what we wanted. And these guys were young because I guess what they wanted. Combat war. I get it. And part of it is it's the ultimate test. You actually hear that.

You ever heard that? The war is the ultimate test. Combat's the ultimate test. And if you're in the military, especially if you're in combat arms, specifically like an infantryman or special operations, then it is full on. This is the test.

This is the test. Like, how do you compare the football game with the combine? Right? So you do the combine. Did you guys do the combine in college? Wasn't a thing yet? Yeah, yeah. We do the combine.

Test you do the testing college right? Yeah, but the combine is an event an actual event Then there's the combine like even like exercises that you do it started as just like a test Yeah, it's a test, but it's a test held at a certain time for a certain reason now It is. Yeah, yeah, didn't used to be that. Oh, yeah, it always was ever since I ever knew but okay So it's a test it's like you're you're learning where what your capabilities might be on the real field right? Yeah, yeah, yeah Otherwise, you see Tom Brady with like a nine inch or whatever, a four inch vertical jump or whatever he had. Sure. And you're like, well, this dude.

But inside, he's thinking, put me on the field. Put me in the game. Give me the ultimate test. Not the test of my 40. Right, right. Not the test of my 225 bench for reps. He doesn't care about that test. Yeah.

He cares about, let me go into combat for him, which is on the field. So if you're in the military, like I said, if you're infantry, if you're special operations, And look, you do the shooting drills. You do the rock. You do the run. You do the swims. You do the land warfare, the land navigations. You're doing all the stuff.

You're doing like basically you're doing a combine all the time. Yeah, that makes sense. But you don't really know. And you want to know. You want to know. You want to know how good you are shooting tactics, your physical strength, your mental strength, your ability to detach, your ability to think,

you're building, ability to problem solve, to be disciplined. To get along with other people, to figure out what your weaknesses are, admit them. So it's a great test. And so listen, when you're a young special operations person, your young Marine, your young soldier, you want that test, the real test, the combat test. Here's the thing. You don't always get to take that test. And even if you get to take the test, you don't get to take it very often.

it just doesn't happen that way. And I was talking, again, talking to these young military guys, and I'm like, I'm kind of a little bit realizing what I'm saying, because you're kind of getting people fired up for the big test. In the back of your mind, you're like, hey, some of these guys aren't never going to get that test. And I realize as I'm talking to them, and what I told them was, everything's a test. Everything's a test.

And that is a good attitude to have. The alarm clock going off in the morning's a test. The last rep of the workout, it's a test. The donut that's trying to get down your throat, that's a test. The emotions that you're having that trying to dictate your life, that's a test. The people that are trying to drag you down and pull you into the bar. Keep you out until two o'clock in the morning or if you're not in California five o'clock in the morning That's a test the comfort to test

Comfort to test The laziness and the inertia and I think if you if you see it that way and you think about it that way Each and everything that you do is a test and the answer What it answers you what it reveals is who you are Who you are? Do you give up? Do you give up? Do or do you push through do you get frustrated or do you get better? It's a good way to frame things and this is like you know I wrote about this in discipline goes freedom field manual like the alarm clock goes on goes off it's a test But that was just one little test that I talked about it's all a test

Because it helps you when you think of the alarm clock as a test it helps you yeah you go this is a test right now I'm being tested So see things as a test a test of who You actually are. Everything you do, everything you say, every day, every action you take, it's all an opportunity to fail the test and let yourself down and become less and get a lower grade. And look, you know, you might be kicking out of A minus right now. We can float through on an A minus.

Maybe you're getting a B plus, you know, C. These get degrees, I've heard that before, but let's face it. It's not where we want to be. Let's win. Let's strive. Let's become who we actually know we should become. Take the test aggressively, max out the score, and rip down the world looking for the next test. That's what I got.

Yep, very useful way to look at it because like that, you know how I, because I got, I got to admit. You failed the alarm clock test today. A lot of the time when people, you or whoever, you know, will say, you know, because that's not the first time I've heard you say that. And it's been a while, but when I first started hearing, oh, it's a test, this is that. So I'm like, cool, I get it, man. I get what you're saying. And I agree. But it's not all a test.

Sometimes it's not that serious and all this stuff. But when you really think about it, it is all a test, literally. So think about what a test is. So, for example, let's say you're, I don't know, exploring in the wilderness or whatever, and you come to like a bridge. And it's like, shit, this bridge goes over this big, like, I don't know, what do you call it, a valley canyon, whatever. And if you walk across a bridge and it breaks, you die, right?

We'll just say hypothetically. So this is the first time you've seen this bridge. What are you going to do? you're going to kind of push on it first you can see, can this bridge hold me to get to the other side, right? Can this bridge be relied upon?

So what are you going to start doing? Bro, you're going to start testing it. You can have a small test. If it fails a small test, bro, I'm not going on this bridge at all. I want to take one step on this bridge. See what you're saying? Smallest test it failed, right?

What happens when it passes the small test? Bigger test. Bigger test, exactly right. Until you've tested it not only enough times, but with enough intensity that that bridge can be relied upon to take you to the other side. There you go.

Echo Charles. And I'm like, oh, this mother. He is correct. Jocko is correct. It is a test and you better start passing them. Because a lot of times these, yeah, a lot of, just like, and just like how you say, it is up to you. Like, you can pass an alarm clock test.

It's not hard. Like, you can tell yourself it's hard. It's not hard. But just all it has to do is be important enough to you. Yeah. And if you look at it all as a test, bro, you'd be surprised. Be surprised. You know, have you ever seen the movie A Bronx Tale?

Yes, sir, I have. Because that's one of the main tests for the female is, does she open the door for you? So you open the door for her, she gets in the car, does she reach across and open the door for you? It's like a little test. And it's in the movie, he's watching her through the back, and she opens the door for him. So it's a little test. One of my favorite, I don't know, this is an extreme statement. I really like the scene.

It is one of my favorite scenes in the movie Willy Wonka in the chocolate. And the chocolate factory. Which one? Old school. The original one. Come on. When he gives him that test at the end where Charlie comes in to get his reward. And Gene Wilder is like, you know, you stole, you fail.

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