Jocko Podcast - Jocko Underground: This Is Stupid and It Doesn't Matter | Flipping Over The Chess Board

Episode Date: September 25, 2023

Flipping over the Chess Board. Sour Grapes.Finishing what you started when you're so close to the goal.Keeping a secret for your boss about spying on your colleagues.Coworker still rubbing me the wrong way even after I took extreme ownership.Where does Jocko stand on Alcohol now days?Where does motivation come from?Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/jocko-podcast/exclusive-content

This is the Jocco Underground Podcast with Echo Charles and myself. Jocco Willink. There are things in life. There are opportunities in life to walk away from things and say, I'm not doing this anymore. I kind of mentioned this to you the other day. I call it flipping over the chess board. And the reason I call it this is because if you and I are playing chess and you start beating me in chess, Let's say you beat me once, you beat me twice, you beat me three times.

And the fourth game, I just go, I flip over the chess, go, bored, and I go, this is stupid. And I just walk away. And I'm like, chess is dumb, it's a waste, it's a blah, it's that, right? Which I can definitely do, right? I can absolutely justify it. It's easy to say it. And that's one example. And that's a limited example, right?

And actually, you could kind of say that. You can kind of say, well, you know, chess, it's a finite game. It doesn't really apply to what you're doing. It doesn't apply to other parts of your life. Sure, there's some metaphor. You can say that. You can legitimately say that. But you can actually say this about anything, and that's where you've got to be careful.

And by the way, I like chess. Chess is cool. It's fine. But think about big picture things. Like when you're growing up. School. this is stupid school is stupid

you look I might have got close to saying that kind of thing you know a little bit you know because I knew I was going to go in the military and I don't need to be doing this but there was some friends of mine that were legitimately like

this is stupid school is stupid it's dumb so it's a way of taking a challenge and just throwing it in the garbage can and therefore it's not a challenge anymore.

Politics at work. You know, like, oh, there's these politics going on at work. Oh, stupid, I'm not playing those games. Okay. You don't have to play those games. You don't have to. And it's actually easier

just to say, I'm not playing all these games and just not progress. Even right now, some people are listening like well I'm not that you see what I'm saying yeah it's true they're like oh that you're not playing you stupid okay hey man you don't have to play the game you can say there's too you don't have to play chess either mm-hmm here's one for me stretching like stretching like stretching like physically stretching yeah you know you know what I mean yes in the seal

teams some guys like running running breeds cowardice it's like kind of saying running is like oh we don't need to be able to run like running like running like running like oh well I'm not going to run away that's just an excuse um you ever heard anyone talk about jiu jitsu and they're like rolling around with a bunch of sweaty guys you ever heard that like people legitimately say that yeah fully that's flipping over the chest board it's flipping over the chest board uh things that are hard tend to attract this type of this is a type of excuse basically making money right now look should making money be the one number one goal of your life and you should prioritize no but when people

look I don't care about money it's a bunch of materialistic it's like okay well you're probably not going to make any then what I'm saying is when there's something because it's hard to make money it's hard to get a good job it's hard to start a business it's hard to have a skill or develop a that people need that people are willing to pay for so you can either say well I need to work harder I need to develop a skill I need to pour more into my career so I can make more money or you can be like well I don't care about money I get it I get it I get it but I'm just saying watch out eating right this eating clean do those people that eat like that are miserable really yeah really are they really miserable when they're like healthy

and feel good about themselves. You have to make sure that you're a little, this is me, I'm talking to myself, I have to make sure that my little flip into attitude isn't just a micro-excus or just a nice little rationalization of an excuse. We have to watch out for it. In jiu-jitsu, footlocks.

Dude, those things aren't real. Just remember that? I mean, it's kind of gone now, but for a long time, it's like, that's not real jiu-jitsu. I'm not doing that. I'm not doing it. It's stupid.

Squats. squats are dumb crossfit stupid cross it's a cult you ever heard that yes I have hey look you don't have to do crossfit I don't care but if what you say is like I'm not doing it's a cult just be careful yeah because those are some hard-ass workouts dead lifts are dangerous they say that same thing about squats squats are dangerous bro you better just check I'm not I'm not I'm not I'm not over here trying to keep up with the Joneses. Think about that one.

That's a societal one. And listen, there's a reason that that exists. I get it. We're not, you know, I'm not like, oh, Echo got a new car. I need to get new. I'm not saying that you should try and keep up with the Joneses. But at a certain point, if everything that takes effort is just trying to keep up with the Joneses, well, you just need to be careful. That's all I'm saying.

It's a small form of excuses. I remember when I was a kid, I'd flip over a lot of chessboards. You know what I mean? Sure. I flipped over way too many chess boards. You know, from just things that'd be, oh, it's dumb, this is stupid. Anything, like when I would meet a little bit, and I was, since I was like good at rationalizing, it was really easy just to flip over the chessboard. This is dumb.

We don't care about grades. I don't care about this. I don't care about that. Those things are dumb. And like I said, it's usually with things that are hard, usually with things that are challenging. So I'm just saying be careful. Just be careful. That's all it is. It's a little warning. Make sure you're not flipping over chessboards. There's going to be hard stuff. I get it. It's hard. There's going to be things that seem like they're tedious. There's a reason that they need to get done.

And by the way, a good, if you really want to figure out if something's dumb, get really good at it. You know, you want to be like, I don't really like, I don't really like. chess cool get good at it and then be like yeah you know what I played it for two years I got to a how they rate chess chess ELA so explain it's called the ELA it's a rating number I forget what it's you know what yours is right now well I'm on chess.com so I don't know how official these things are but where you're at uh I don't know yet because it changed because I have like five games going on at once and it changes every time you win and lose so I don't know probably 600 something right So maybe get to a certain point what would be like a solid like purple belt

1,200. Okay, so get to 1200 and then be like, wait, how much time and effort would take to get to a lot? Okay, well maybe that's not the thing then. Yeah, I feel like, you know, I agree with you. Yeah, and it's also like if you say hey listen, chess is not for me. I don't have the time and it's not, I'm not passionate about it enough that I want to follow up with it every day. that's that's more understandable than just a waste of time no jiu jitsu is rolling around with sweaty people no it's not it's a skill set well it is technically it is so that's my point listen my point is

just be careful just be careful of when you say something when you flip over that chestboard you say something stupid when you did this is the word i was looking for dismissing things when you dismiss things. Make sure that you're dismissing it for the right reasons. Make sure that your dismissal isn't just a excuse so you don't have to do something. That's challenging. Yep. So my dad used to use this word cop out.

Oh yeah. Oh yeah, for sure. My dad used that word too. Yeah. And it's a good one, man. So it's that. Like a lot of time anyway, it's like a cop out. Right.

This is dumb. So it's, you know, and especially just like you said, when you can rationalize it, when there's there's some truth in what you're thinking. There's some truth in it for sure. Like, yeah, what are you going to do? Spend all your time playing chess? Bro, we live in the real world. You got stuff to do, you know, kind of a thing.

And it's like, oh, there's some truth to that, you know? But to say it's stupid, it's like, I said you're doing there. So you ever heard the expression, sour grapes? You heard that, right? Sour grapes? Yes. So sour grapes, I didn't know where that came from, where even exactly what it was, even though when someone used it, I could kind of

understand. So sour grapes is like the kind of like, oh, like, it seems like you're bitter, so you dismiss things, you know, because you're bitter about them. So I thought, oh, bitter, sour grapes. So this is what the old fable. What do you call fables? I think it's a fable. So this fox, right, was trying to eat these grapes that was up on this arch, right?

Up on the grapevine, kind of high up. So the fox goes, oh, those looks like some good grapes. I mean, jump up and eat them. He jumps up, he can't reach them. So it's like, dang, he's like, all right, well, underestimated how high they are. So let me jump again. He jumps again even harder. Freaking can't reach them.

So he's like, no, this time, oh, I'm going to get them because those look like some good ass. grapes up there. He jumps, musters up all his energy, jumps up, still, not even close, doesn't get him. And he looks back up at him, he says, he says, fuck, they're doing it. He's like, walks away. He says, those grapes are probably sour anyway. And leaves, same exact thing in a way. Yeah, very similar thing. Where it's like, yeah, this is dumb, like freaking I don't need this. Not only I don't need this, it's dumb. In fact, me doing this would be a bad move kind of a thing, like going to that extreme. So that's when you know, you're copying out right there.

It's true. Anytime like it feels like anyway when you're like your feelings are kind of extreme about it, that's like a red flag. Yeah. Like if you're like, this is dumb. Like if you're like, oh yeah, chess seems cool, but you know, like I don't know,

it doesn't like spark my interest as much as it might, you know, the next area or whatever. That's one thing. But to be like to flip over the board and say it's dumb, it's a little red flag right there. And here's the thing. Chess is the metaphor, a little tiny, tiny metaphor.

what really concerns me is when people do this about things in life, big things in life. Yeah. Like, I'm not going to kiss ass and try and get promoted. It's like, is it just hard work? Is it just an extra responsibility that you're avoiding? Look, if you don't want to get promoted because you like where you're at and you like spending time with your family, you don't want to be on call and you don't want to be a salaried employee and you like working for it, cool. Yeah. But if you're just saying that as just a reason to not do it.

something that's going to be challenging and hard and risky because there's a risk you don't get promoted you know yeah like oh this is too like I like when I applied for the officer program in the military right it's real easy I didn't get picked up the first time you know it's just I don't want to be an officer in your guys okay I could have easily said that yeah but that would have been just sour grapes so yeah even look little things for sure but big things in life Make sure you're not flipping over the chestboard. Yeah.

That's what I got. Exercise is a big one too. Exercise is a huge one. You ever heard of the expression fit shame, fit shaming someone? You know, there's fat shaming. There's fit shaming apparently. Yeah, yeah. So it's like, I don't know, for example, like you see this guy who's really cut up.

Big muscles super cut up. Right. And people will be like, oh, that's kind of too much, you know? You're kind of doing a lot over there, you know, kind of a thing. Or, you know, some people, they are very much. very strict with what they eat and don't eat. So let's say you're at a dinner party or you're at a party or something. And people say, bro, relax a little bit, you know, freaking, whether it be drink alcohol or

freaking, bro, it's just cake, chill, you know, like freaking, it's not that big a deal. It's like you live for this, you know, it's like you kind of give them a little bit of a shame for staying on the path kind of in their own way. Because everyone's different, you know, people are different, people are on the path in different ways, is what I'm saying? And someone's going extreme for themselves in ways that other people might think is extreme. and then they shame them for it because you know it's kind of this little bit of it has the scent of sour grapes on the one it does and that's real scary because you know you ever heard that so that is a little excerpt of what we are doing on the jaco underground podcast so if you want to continue to listen go to jaco underground.com and subscribe and we're doing this we're doing this to mitigate are reliance on external platforms so we are not subject to their control.

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