Jocko Podcast - Jocko Underground: Why Do People Refuse to Learn or Talk About The Future Of The World Around Us?

Episode Date: August 10, 2026

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This is the Jocko Underground podcast number 225. Sitting here with Echo Charles and we have a variety of questions from the front, from the front lines of life where people are out there in the trenches, trying to make things happen. They need to maneuver their elements out there on the battlefield of life. And we are going to give these questions some answers, some recommendations, or at a minimum, some courses of action that they can follow to win that battle.

Yeah. So let's get into it. And at the very least, avoid some of the pitfalls. Yeah, avoid enemy ambushes. Enemy ambushes. Avoid terrible terrain to where they'll get plunging fire upon them. Bro, I'm here to tell you. We're trying to watch out for those things.

Correct. All right. First question. Hello, Chalka. I'm 49, married, and an empty nester. My industry has been going through major changes. I've spent a lot of time studying what's coming. because I want to understand it and be prepared.

The more I learn, the more I learn, though, the more frustrated I become with the people who don't seem interested in learning or even discussing it. I've noticed this mindset spilling into other parts of my life. Instead of trying to convince people, I increasingly keep to myself because it feels easier than arguing with closed-minded people. I still work out golf and stay active, but my social circle has gotten much smaller. How do you know when it's wise to stop wasting energy on people who don't want to learn versus when you're becoming too isolated?

Is this just a normal part of getting older or is it something I should actively push back against? Well, it sounds like you're getting after it. So that's good. It sounds like you're growing and evolving in the right direction because sometimes people devolve. Right. So you're going to watch out for that. So it sounds like you're going in the right direction. So that's good.

And when that happens, some of the people in your life and in your world, they don't grow or they don't evolve in the same direction as you. Might not be the wrong direction, but it might not be the same direction. So they at that point may begin to fade from your life a little bit, right? What does that look like? That's the nature of life in general. That's the nature of life in general. You're going to have people in your life that you all are into, crochet, but then you kind of grow out of crochet,

and you don't really hang around with that person anymore. So that can happen. You go through stages of evolution. You're going to get new interests, new hobbies, new focuses. You're going to abandon some of your old focuses, some of your old interests, some your old hobbies. And some people are going to come along with you, and some people won't.

And that's the way it works. And by the way, you will eventually meet some new people that have the same new interests that you have. and are in this new hobby that you're into. And that might take a little bit of time. It won't happen immediately, but eventually you'll meet a different social circle. Might not be totally different.

There'll be some Venn diagram, you know, there'll be some people that you're still into Jiu-Jitsu and they're into Jiu-Jitsu, but they're also into kayaking and you're into playing guitar. And so the Venn diagram will still overlap in J-Jitsu, but, you know, they're not playing guitar with you and you're not going kayaking with them. And that's okay.

That's all good. And at some point, your social circle might end up a little bit smaller, but it'll be a little bit tighter. With a bunch of people that have some aligned interest because you're going to also have some friends that are into jih Tjitsu and into Qatar. So that's cool. It might tighten up a little bit. So I don't think you have anything to, you know, be concerned about becoming isolated. Because you're just going to find some new friends out there. Now, that being said, I think it's very important.

to remember to keep an open mind because I can tell you what I have all kinds of different friends I got all kinds of different I got I got I got friends that are hippies I got friends that are metalheads I got friends friends that are finance bros I got Jiu Jitsu junkie friends I got surf bum friends I got musician friends I got I got friends that smoke pot all day long I got friends that do mushrooms what's it called Micro dose mushrooms. I've never even done any drugs in my whole life other than caffeine and alcohol. I'm definitely not microdosing mushrooms all day or doing other hallucinogenics on a regular basis.

You see what I'm saying? I do. I got friends that are working construction all day. I got friends that are, you know, in police, law enforcement, obviously friends that are in the military. I got friends that are millionaires. I got friends that are billionaires. So it's all good You know

Some of my friends have no You know to talk about To talk with them About working out Wouldn't even It wouldn't even be a It would be an Mutually unintelligible

Discussion Like they wouldn't know What I was talking about Yeah I understand They would have no I could talk about squats And they would not even They would not know what that means

Yeah You see what I'm saying? Literally. It's like if you start talking to someone about an umapata, there's people that have no idea what an umapata is. There's people that have no idea what a squad is. And I'm friends with all those kind of people. And those different people that are all different that have different interests,

they bring different things to the table, man. And I appreciate that. And am I going to, here's the thing, you know, go into the question here is, am I going to argue with somebody that has been, micro dosing mushrooms for a decade. Am I going to argue with them and try and change their mind about what they're doing? I'm going to give you a hint.

No, I'm not. Am I going to argue with someone that loves playing music and hasn't, you know, has kind of made kind of a partial career out of playing music. You know, maybe they're a music coach or a music instructor, but their band never quite made it and they're kind of getting, you know, am I going to try and consider it, Vince them, but you know, what you should do is you should get into an insurance sales. No, I'm not going to do that

Yeah. Am I going to talk, you know, I got friends that are crazy left-wing liberal. I got friends that are crazy right-wing conservative. Am I going to try and bring them more to the center? Nope, I'm not. I'm going to hear their viewpoint. I mean, it's going to be interesting to me. I'm going to learn from them. But this, this question sounds got a little sprinkle of judgment in there. You feel me? A little sprinkle of judgment. Just a little sprinkle, right? This mindset of, of, you know, arguing with close-minded,

they're close-minded. You know, you're working out, you know, wasting energy on people who don't want. Of course people don't want to learn. Nobody wants to learn. Apparently, you don't want to learn either because you don't want to hear what they have to say. So keep that in mind. Don't be super judgmental with people. You can learn from anybody.

And you know what? I enjoy. these different lives that people live, these different perspectives that they have. They tell me stories that are freaking crazy, like crazy. Crazy stories that I enjoy listening to that teach me about the world.

So I guess what I'm saying is, you know, as you grow and as you evolve, don't become jaded and certainly don't get a superiority complex, which is very tempting. Because, you know, I would say, when my kids were maybe like let's say 15 years ago maybe even 20 years ago my I would I had a little bit of the you know what is it the the the food religion right you know you can't believe you're eating sugar you're giving you okay you know you're oh you I don't know if you want to let your kids eat that I had that right and it took me a little my wife was like hey you're not allowed to talk about food with my friends yeah I was like oh I'm an asshole you see what I'm saying?

Because they don't, they're like, bro, I'm trying, my kids are eating a freaking, they're, you know, I got three kids. They're, they're, whatever, stabbing balloons with knives. Like, things are crazy when you got three kids, you know? And I'm over here like, you sure they want to eat those Doritos? That's probably not the most, you know what? No, no, that's not my world. Leave them alone, man.

Now look, if someone's like a really close friend of mine and like, hey, man, we, you know, can you talk to them about nutrition for their kids? You can. Again, danger. Danger. It's a real sensitive topic, especially when you talk about raising kids. Because no one wants to, you know, your suggestions are going to make people mad. So be careful of that. Don't become jaded.

The idea of, let's see, how do you know it's wise to stop, stop wasting energy on people who don't want to learn? You can't, you shouldn't waste energy on people that don't want to learn. But that doesn't mean you should cast them out of your life. You should just not try and walk around trying to educate everybody because that's not fun for anyone. It's really not even fun for you, apparently. So, and you say, is this just part of getting older or is this something I should actively push back against? Yeah, the thing you should push back against is just like be more open-minded, chill, people aren't going to be on board. If I only hung around with people that fought like me, I'd have zero friends.

You know what I mean? I would have zero friends. I would have zero friends. my social circle would be one, me, and my dog, two, because he's down. You get single like that. Yeah, he's a carnivore. He likes to run.

He likes to get after it. He'll attack things, you know? So you see what I'm saying? The world is filled with people. None of them are exactly like you. Don't be frustrated by the differences that you have with other people. Just enjoy, man. Enjoy the differences that you have with other people.

instead of letting them frustrate you, and you will have a much more enjoyable life. And that's where I got. Yeah, so right. Especially that that two-way street kind of scenario where it's like, oh yeah, they don't, and what did he say? People, I get frustrated with people

who don't seem to seem interested in learning or even discussing. Like, you don't wanna learn about what I'm interested and what I've been studying, like how dare you, you know? Like I'm so, superior so it's like and you brought up the you know as an example whatever insurance right like it's kind of like if you're not into insurance someone like hey bro there's some new developments in that insurance you know those guidelines and these these regulations man you should see this is this

and that and you're like boring people with your insurance knowledge that you've been studying and you know seeing on the news like all this stuff and then saying like bro what's wrong with you like this is the future literally the future and like you're not interested and you're not interested What are you ignorant? No, no one wants to talk about insurance right now at the freaking barbecue or whatever. You know, this is, I mean, I'm just guessing. My, recently my industry has been going through major changes. I spent a lot of time studying what's coming because I want to understand and be prepared.

90% chance. This is some AI situation, right? It's in 90% chance. But I remember there'd be some, you know, even in a seal-o-pil-tire. Like, I'm super into some new radio that came out. The guy's not the radio, man. They're still in a seal-pil-thoon. They're a frog man.

They need to know how to operate radio. They don't care like I do. Yeah. Some new weapon site comes out and the sniper's all fired up. Hey, you guys want to, hey, I'm going to get the range for tonight. So that is a little excerpt of what we are doing on the Jocko Underground podcast. So if you want to continue to listen, go to jaco underground.com and subscribe. And we're doing this.

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