Jocko Willink
Retired Navy SEAL officer · Jocko Podcast
Retired Navy SEAL officer, co-author of Extreme Ownership and host of the Jocko Podcast. His method is a strict daily routine: fixed early wake time, daily training, jiu-jitsu, and after-action reviews of anything that went wrong. He posts a photo of his watch at 4:30am most mornings.
- Entries
- 17
- Does
- 13
- Recommends
- 3
- Discusses
- 1
The gear and products they use
All 5 products in this stack
- SupplementDoes it$$$Cheap: Roughly under $50, or under $15/month.
Protein powder
Shakes around training, a straightforward way to hit a daily protein target.
Source: Jocko PodcastView item: Protein powderBacked by 16 of 44 stacks - SupplementDiscusses$$$Cheap: Roughly under $50, or under $15/month.
Caffeine
Tea rather than coffee, and he says he does not normally take caffeine; caffeinated drinks were saved for long patrols.
Source: The Tim Ferriss Show #107 transcriptView item: CaffeineBacked by 11 of 44 stacks - GearDoes it$$$Cheap: Roughly under $50, or under $15/month.
Kettlebell
Kettlebells live in his home gym for swings, carries and presses; he favors equipment that works anywhere.
Source: The Tim Ferriss Show #107 transcriptView item: KettlebellBacked by 5 of 44 stacks - BookRecommends$$$Cheap: Roughly under $50, or under $15/month.
Extreme Ownership
Leaders own every outcome in their world, including the ones they did not cause. His own leadership book builds on that principle.
Source: jocko.com: booksView item: Extreme OwnershipBacked by 2 of 44 stacks - BookRecommends$$$Cheap: Roughly under $50, or under $15/month.
Discipline Equals Freedom
Short field manual of his own: getting up, training and acting regardless of how you feel about it.
Source: jocko.com: booksView item: Discipline Equals FreedomBacked by 1 of 44 stacks
Protocols
9 entriesRepeatable, mostly free routines with a defined trigger and dose.
Pull-ups, press-ups, dips, deadlifts and squats, first thing every morning: fixed infrastructure rather than something to be motivated for.
Source: The Tim Ferriss Show #107 transcriptBacked by 37 of 44 stacksDiscipline as much as recovery: cold showers and cold water immersion.
Source: The Tim Ferriss Show #395 transcriptBacked by 23 of 44 stacksHunger does not arrive until mid-morning, and he eats in a compressed window most days, framing it as simplicity rather than a metabolic protocol.
Source: The Tim Ferriss Show #107 transcriptBacked by 21 of 44 stacksWake time is fixed every day, weekends included, and bedtime is what moves rather than the alarm.
Source: Discipline Equals FreedomBacked by 19 of 44 stacksMeat, eggs and vegetables in a simple, repetitive high-protein diet, with minimal decisions involved.
Source: The Tim Ferriss Show #107 transcriptBacked by 19 of 44 stacksMobility work daily, treated as the price of continuing to train hard and grapple in his fifties.
Source: Jocko PodcastBacked by 7 of 44 stacksBlack belt, training and teaching regularly, and he describes grappling as the most honest feedback loop available.
Source: The Tim Ferriss Show #275 transcriptBacked by 2 of 44 stacksRucks with a 75 to 85 pound pack as conditioning that carries over directly to real-world capability.
Source: Business Insider interview, syndicated by AOLBacked by 2 of 44 stacksHe advocates blameless debriefs of what was supposed to happen versus what did. Teams, or your own week. Same either way.
Source: Echelon Front: The Debrief courseBacked by 3 of 44 stacks
Habits
3 entriesDaily practices held long enough to become default behavior.
History and military accounts, constantly, and much of the podcast is built directly around books he is working through.
Source: The Tim Ferriss Show #107 transcriptBacked by 19 of 44 stacksAsked directly whether he drinks alcohol, he says no. He does not drink, and orders water at a bar.
Source: The Tim Ferriss Show #107 transcriptBacked by 12 of 44 stacks4:30am every day, with a photo of his watch at that hour posted for years as a public accountability device.
Source: The Tim Ferriss Show #275 transcriptBacked by 9 of 44 stacks
In their own words
Checked word for word against the linked source
“Okay, I’m definitely a believer in contrast baths, if you know what that is. Contrast baths are going from hot to cold. … Do I believe in cold and heat therapy? Yes. I have a jacuzzi at my house and I have an ice bath at my house.”
The Tim Ferriss Show #395 transcript (opens in a new tab) · 25 Nov 2019 “Stage your workout clothes so you don’t even have to think about them when you get up. Write down a list of things you need to accomplish the next day. Set your alarm clock for 4:30 a.m. and go to sleep. When the alarm clock goes off, get up.”
The Tim Ferriss Show #275 transcript (opens in a new tab) · 2 Feb 2018 On Early rising
“I talk a lot about jiu-jitsu, which I think is the best base to have for martial arts.”
The Tim Ferriss Show #275 transcript (opens in a new tab) · 2 Feb 2018
Latest episodes
All of Jocko Podcast (opens in a new tab)- 555: The Nature Of Man Is War (opens in a new tab) · 1h 30m
- Jocko Underground: The Safety Protocol for Your Kids When They're On Their Own. (opens in a new tab) · 12m
- 554: Maximum Efficiency On The Front Lines of Battle and Life (opens in a new tab) · 1h 45m
- Jocko Underground: Jonah Hill's Tough Talk About His Jiu Jitsu Skill. (opens in a new tab) · 25m
- 553: Becoming Brothers Through Battle, Death, and Honor in Ramadi. With Miguel "Pitbull" Santana. (opens in a new tab) · 3h 23m
Stack notes are paraphrased. Anything in quotation marks is a short excerpt copied from the transcript it links to. Not medical advice. Not affiliated with, endorsed by, or reviewed by anyone listed. How this works.