Jocko Podcast - Jocko Underground: Try Not Having an Opinion About EVERY FREAKIN THING.

Episode Date: April 24, 2023

You don't have to have strong opinion about everything.How to implement a system change within a group without ruffling feathers.Dealing with someone who always "has to be right".Should "loyalty" to a group Hold you back?How to manage a weak boss.Family not supporting your Jiu Jitsu training schedule.Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/jocko-podcast/exclusive-content

This is the Jocko Underground Podcast number 87 sitting with Echo Charles and me. My name is Jocko. Here's something that can help you. You can actually help you a lot in life. Try not to have an opinion on every freaking thing. This is, this is, just put this in your brain. Because so many people, and this is an easy trend, to fall into so many people have an opinion on everything they got an opinion on politics they got

opinion on American politics they got an opinion on foreign politics they got an opinion on sports they got an opinion on food they got an opinion on diet they got opinion on working out they got opinion on everything and I'm talking like a strong opinion that they're arguing with other people about what do you actually know about any of this stuff, right? What do you actually know? What do you actually know that you have this big opinion? That you formulated this big, giant opinion. What do you actually know about that? Like, they have an opinion about all these things in the world. Then they also have a big opinion about something going on at work. Now, maybe they do know more about what's going on

about work, but is it really, you know, this new plan at work? You got this big opinion about it. No one's tried it yet. The plan hasn't been executed. It's just an idea. And you have a big, giant opinion about it. And it's letting you, it's, your opinion is affecting your emotions. It's affecting your attitude. It's affecting your mindset. So you have this big opinion about all these different things. And by the way, at work you've got opinion about Fred.

Right? You've got an opinion about Fred. And what he should do and what he shouldn't do and why he should do it or why he shouldn't have done it. You have a big opinion about that. And by the way, Jessica, who's involved with. Fred that we know about. You got a big opinion on that, right? Because of course you do.

Because you got to under, you're thinking about it. You think it matters. You think your opinion about Fred and Jessica. And what they've got going on, you got a big opinion about that. And for some reason, at this juncture in time,

and you know what? Maybe it's always been this way. I'm not sure. But it certainly seems like people are over opinionated right now. And here's what, here's the thing that you got to watch out for. the stronger opinion that you have, the less that you know. I'll say that again in case you missed it.

The stronger opinion you have, the less you know. And by the way, if you're talking to me with your big opinion, I know that the bigger opinion you is, the bigger opinion you have, the less you actually know about what you're talking about. Because if you really know a lot, you realize there's nuances. If you really know a lot,

you realize it's like someone that has a big opinion about a position in jiujitsu. when it's like Someone that actually knows a lot of Jitsu goes well there's another way to do that And there's another way and there's a thing that counters that And you also got to be careful of this And also an MMA, it doesn't transfer very well

There's a whole there a person that knows more in Jiu-Jitsu Has a more open mind Than someone that's a blue belt instructor And they're like no you got to do it this way No actually that's not completely untrue I mean sorry that's completely untrue You don't need to do it that way There's a point when someone

In Jiu-Jitsu as an instructor, there's a point when people start going, yeah, for me, this works well. For other people, this is not a great move. There's a previous point, a less mature point, when it's like, this is the way you do the move. That's a less knowledgeable person. Less opinion, more knowledge, more opinion, less knowledge. So the more. opinionated you are, the less you listen, the less you learn, the less you know. And by the way, the less time you spend arguing over stupid things, the more time you spend understanding them.

What's better to understand something or to argue about it? It's better to increase your understanding of something. But you've got a big opinion about everything about things that are so complex and so complicated that there are people that study those subjects for their entire lives and they don't have them figured out. And yet you do because you watched a YouTube video or because you read two books on the subject. If you read four books on the subject, you're going to realize that,

oh, the first two books that I read on that subject indicated this, then the next book actually countered that and the next one countered it even further. So even the people that write books on this subject can't agree to what's correct and what's not correct. But you do.

You you do you know for a fact Because you want to have this big opinion Because the big opinion makes you feel like you know something When in fact you don't And and you end up in dug our dumb arguments And you end up saying dumb things And you're not helping the team, you're not helping the mission, you're not helping your community

You're not helping your family By the way, how well when you when you attack someone with your big opinion, how does that impact them? Does it make them say, oh, thanks, you feel strongly about this. You must be right. No. They say you feel so strongly about this that you're blind to the facts or you're blind to this other perspective. That's what they think. So instead of going into the world with this big giant opinion, which by the way, just is a reflection of your big giant ego, instead try, try consciously to actually not have a big giant opinion about everything. Instead of saying, you know, I think,

or in my humble opinion, instead of saying that, say, you know, I've never really thought about that perspective before. Try saying that. Try saying that. Or try and say, you know, that's out of the scope of my knowledge, but that's very interesting. Hadn't heard that before. Try saying that. Or try saying something as rare to leave the human mouth as I'm not sure or I don't know or

I have no idea. And if you can say those things, if you can say I'm not sure or I don't know, your mind will actually open up. Your mind will actually open up. And then you can learn. And you can find areas of agreement. And then you can have actual discussions with people, open-minded discussions with people. And that will allow you to become a better, more productive, and more useful human being instead of just a person with a big ego. and a big opinion.

So there you go. Just a different way to approach things could be useful for you. Obviously, I'm not going to sit here and say, I'm never guilty of that scenario. However, though, it is, it sometimes can be one of those things, if not every time,

one of those things where it's super easy when you see someone else doing this. Oh, yeah. And, you know, and it's also super easy for you to miss when you do it, you know, kind of a thing. But, okay, that being said, it is one of those things if you can kind of reflect on yourself, you'll notice that there's going to be a big question mark as to like, what are we trying to get out of this whole thing?

And I know this scenario quite well, I think, because I've run into it from time to time, where you can almost sense that the person is maybe trying to express how smart they are. or express their knowledge, you know, and impress you kind of a thing. Yep. Like, I know this much. And kind of sometimes it can come down to like, hey, I'm smarter than you. Like that's kind of the underlying message, you know, I'm smarter than you. But I don't think it ever can land like that.

That there, you know, like, oh, if someone's doing it to you, it's unlikely you're going to end up with the idea like, oh, damn, you're, you're so smart, you know. When you have this huge like fired up opinion or whatever it's more you're probably gonna leave the person with It like that guy sounds kind of ignorant you know like you got all fired up brass not even that serious you know kind of a thing like none of us know about this stuff It's weird that you can develop such a strong opinion on things that are so unsure You know like things that are things that are unknown. Yeah like I said a real obvious example is like a plan Yeah, you know like a mission or a project that you've got. And echo comes to me.

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