Jocko Podcast - Jocko Underground: Sometimes You Have No Good Options, But You HAVE TO Make a Move.

Episode Date: July 3, 2023

Sometimes You Have No Good Options, But You HAVE TO Make a Move.How to effectively deal with constant mishaps and frustrations.How to turn a shabby day into a productive day with momentum.How to effectively and reliably train your dog.Pulling rank VS Taking the high ground.Taking a job that is morally wrong to get ahead??Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/jocko-podcast/exclusive-content

This is the Jocko Underground podcast number 94 sitting here with Echo Charles. And we're going to talk about Zug-Zwang. You know what this is? I do not know what this is. This is a German word. I guess technically it's two words in German, but German, I think, combines words together to make one big word sometimes. But it comes from two different words,

Zug, which means move and swang, which means compulsion. So Zugswang means a compulsion to move, meaning you have to make a move. And this will make a little more sense when I tell you that this is a term

that comes from the game of chess. So in chess, there are times where you have to make a move, and no matter what move you make, it's going to put you in a worse position. This just happens sometimes in chess But guess what? It does happen from time to time in life as well

We get stuck in positions Where we are going to be forced to make a bad move You've got to make a move And you don't have any good choices So what should you do When you get in those situations And the first one's real obvious

and this is sort of like the jiu jitzu answer you get sometimes avoid it right when someone's like how do you get out of rear naked choke you got to avoid it right are there escapes from rear naked chokes sure kind of i mean if someone locks up an RNC on you you're look people get out of them from time to time yeah but it's an unreliable you're very unreliable you're very unreliable you're in a bad way. So the primary thing to do is to pay attention to your surroundings and by surroundings I mean what's going on in your world what's going on in your life pay attention to what's going on and don't allow yourself to be painted into a corner

where you're going to have to walk into that paint. You have to. I mean I guess you could wait until the paint dries but then like whatever there's something going on that you need to stop. There's you know the oven's on with the chicken in there now you paint yourself in a new corner. You're either going to have to mess up the paint or you're going to have to let the chicken burn. It's like, you know, and probably get a fire. So pay attention, look around, be situationally aware, be detached enough to make sure that you don't get flanked on four different sides and now you've got no good way to go. Okay, so that's number one. Don't let it happen. Number two, if it happens, take a step back, detach, and realize

the situation that you're in. Sometimes people won't accept the fact that they've got to do something that they don't want to do and that they have no option They can either do this bad thing or this bad thing. They got to do one of them You've got it so then they end up doing nothing and that ends up being worse Worse than doing one of these two bad things that you have the opportunity to do So detach Recognize the situation for what it is don't panic obviously stay calm Look for

look for opportunities. Reframe it a little bit. Look for some opportunities. Maybe it's an opportunity for you to get rid of something that you don't actually want. Right? Maybe there's a positive sacrifice that you can make. Maybe in a leadership situation, you can take one on the chin and kind of prove as an example, a highly valuable example, how you're going to handle taking one on the chin.

So you can look at things and you can frame them in a way in your mind to go, okay, I have to make a bad move, but here's a bunch of benefits that I can get out of this bad move. This other bad move I'll get no, none of these additional benefits. Okay, I'm going to go with this bad move A instead of bad move B. You also have to make sure you're thinking about things from a strategic perspective and not a tactical perspective because sometimes the tactical bad move, Seems better because it's going to give you some immediate relief.

Yeah. And the strategic bad move seems going to be painful, more painful. Some prolonged pain or something. But you realize when you get done with that prolonged pain, you're going to be out of it. You're going to be a totally different, better spot. Then that short-term pain that you get over it real quick and you're like, okay, cool. But now you didn't improve your position at all. So pay attention to that as well.

And here's what I think is the, I don't know if I don't necessarily say this is a black belt move. Sure. But I think there are opportunities that I have taken in my life when I was caught into a bad versus bad decision I had to make. Do something unexpected. Do something unexpected. Sometimes you have a bad choice and a bad choice and you've got the choice that no one even thought of. It's totally unexpected. It's so unexpected that people aren't thinking about it.

You're not even thinking about it. So you don't see, you don't see this unexpected choice. If you only think about the two choices and which one is going to be the best of two bad choices, if that's all you're thinking about, you might not see this other unexpected thing, which may actually give you an option that you didn't think of. So try and look to do something unexpected. That's my point. You know, we did that one podcast where we talk about being a contrarian just because. it opens up your mind. This is a similar thing.

Think to yourself, I'm going to do something no one expects me to do. And that will at least open up your mind. Hopefully you can see some possibilities. The other thing is totally unexpected. If you're in a competitive environment, you know, if you're in a competition of some kind, you're in a marketplace trying to sell something or you're in a jiu-jitsu match, you do something that's unexpected.

You ever catch somebody with just an unexpected move that they didn't expect? Yeah. I think I arm locked you one time and you just did not expect it and you were bummed out. Yes. I remember that too. Yeah, very much so. Straight arm lock. Why didn't you expect that?

Because I'm just such a Kimura person. Yeah, especially at the time. And I remember that very specifically. So you kept, okay, so we went through a phase not to go too far deep. We went to a phase where you'd get me with Kimura or a guillotine, right? Every time. Like pretty reliably. for a long time.

And I remember thinking, man, let me at least like find it within my skill set or improve my skill set to at least mitigate one of these, you know? So the Kimura. So I remember I went for a long period of time with you never came here with me. You only guillotined me the whole time. And I remember thinking, fuck, I think I got it down. Like the defense. And I said it.

Like after you guillotined me one day, I said it. I was like something along the lines of like, I finally got to the point where you can only get the guillotine. I said something like that. Then you did that off the block. Literally the next time, man. It was kind of a flying one. Yeah.

But you're right. Like just like how you're saying, that's a perfect example because, um, sure, I wasn't expecting it. And I remember thinking, oh, that was unexpected. I remember thinking that a little bit, but the more prevailing thought was like, oh, okay, he, he had to prove to me. And, hey, you did it too. I was there, I wasn't mad.

You took it personal. No, I was the, it was the opposite. it. I actually learned from it. Like, it's not all, you know, like in your mind, and this goes for, he just said yourself, damn, he actually can get me with a bunch of other things. Exactly right. Just doing whatever he wants. Yeah. Like, don't start telling yourself. And this goes for outside of Jitza, dude. Don't start telling yourself this big elaborate story just because you have one little proving point. Very small proving point, too, you know. And then so, yeah, it was just a little humbling reminder that, oh, okay, like, don't, don't look at it like that. Look at it. There's a big

picture here. You, I don't know what's going on with you. Probably trained more than me anyway. Like, what the hell am I thinking about? I'm just like, that's my litmus test. Well, what's interesting, I'd already been down that whole road with Dean Lisch. I understand. So, like, you know, I would get Dean Lest with the Camura. And then, you know, he just is able to defend it.

And then one day I just tossed out that straight arm lock. It was unexpecting. It's like, there you go, Dean List. And Dean List did that with heel hooks to me. He'll hook, heel, hook. And finally, I started like, okay, I can turn. out of this I've learned a good pretty good defense then one day he goes back four years worth of training straight footlock because the defense is opposite brings it

back just straight footlocked unexpected so that's what we're talking about here doing something that's unexpected doing something that's bold here's here's one you get caught in the L-shaped ambush do you know what that is get caught in an L-shaped ambush what you need to do is assault you need to do the unexpected which is We're, oh, we're cotton-andle-shaped amp-book. We are going to assault the enemy right now. That's what we're going to do. It's unexpected.

It's highly aggressive, and you can get the upper hand quickly. I mean, look, your carton-en-shaped ambush. You're in a bad freaking spot. You don't have too many options. But doing something bold and unexpected is a good mindset to have. When you have two bad choices, think, okay, what else could I do? What freaking crazy move could I make? By the way, how much risk is there?

Like, I have a lose-lose situation. Can I take a high risk? What do I stand to lose anyways? I'm going to lose? It's like if you're in a jiu-jitsu match and you're getting just smashed and you try and toss some footlock at the end of the match. Like you're already on the bottom.

It's a no-risk move. You're already down nine points to zero. You're going to lose. Might as well try it. Right? Do something, but don't try and pass anymore. You haven't been able to pass a guard for seven minutes. He'll hook.

Like that's the type of attitude. And of course, don't give up. That's also important. You can find a way. There are ways to win. You have that mindset as well. There's a way to win. There's a way to win.

And sometimes you've got to take a loss to win. Sometimes that happens. Sometimes you've got to take a loss to win. But there are ways to win. Go find one. That's what I got. That's what I got for today. So the L-shaped ambush is that,

Does it matter where they're coming from or as long as it's just in the shape of it? They're in the shape of an L. Okay. So it can be the side and behind you, the side in front of you, kind of a scenario. It's either going to be one of those too. Yeah. Because they can't be, they can't be in front of you and behind you. Yeah.

What do you call that interlocking? And it's not in the shape of an L either. No, that would be. Age. Yeah. But they're shooting at each other. Yeah. So people, well, the Muzge would set up ambushes like that, like on both sides of a road.

Unexpected. It's unexpected for sure. But we came to expect it. But see, they don't care if they're shooting each other. Collateral, they don't care if they have a blue-on-boo. And there you go. That's a little taste of what we are doing on the Jocko Underground podcast. And if you want to listen to the whole thing, go to jaco underground.com and subscribe.

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