PDF Summary:Discipline Equals Freedom, by Jocko Willink

In Discipline Equals Freedom, Jocko Willink argues that the key to mastering your mind, reaching your highest goals, and discovering your full potential is unwavering discipline. Willink is an author, speaker, and podcaster that shares his lessons and philosophy of discipline acquired from 20 years of service as a US Navy SEAL. Through his military and leadership experience, he’s learned that success depends on disciplined, daily decisions like waking up early and putting off your break until tomorrow.

We’ll examine Willink’s principles of discipline, comparing them to a variety of psychological and philosophical perspectives from books like The Obstacle is the Way by Ryan Holiday. We’ll also explore what self-improvement experts say to support and challenge Willink’s advice and add effective ways to put his principles into practice.

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The fix, according to Willink: Don’t hesitate, take action. For example, get up when your alarm goes off. Throw your covers off and move to your feet before you can even think about slapping the snooze button. Starting your day with strict discipline will help you stay on that path for the rest of your day. For instance, because you got up when you were supposed to, you have plenty of time to get your workout in before work.

On the other hand, if you fall off the path early, it’s easier to spiral and justify abandoning the rest of your goals. For example, If you hit the snooze button once or twice, you might not have time to exercise before work. So, you skip the workout. Since you don’t have to worry about eating too much before your workout, you might as well have an extra breakfast burrito…or two. Can you see the slippery slope?

Willink says you can set yourself up for success by removing things that cause distractions or unproductive contemplation. For example, silence your phone and remove it from your desk when you’re sitting down to work in the office or at home.

A Note on Procrastination

When you think you need a break, take it the next day. Willink says that by the next day, you may realize you didn’t need the break and were simply lacking discipline in that moment. If you’re still tired the next day, rest. The point is to avoid giving in to the immediate gratification of taking a break, which might lead to the spiral of procrastination and cause you to abandon your discipline.

Is Procrastination Really That Bad?

Willink emphasizes the negative effects of procrastination, but psychological research suggests that this process is natural, and even shared with other animal species. One study that observed pigeons completing a task found that the birds were more likely to respond to signals given near the end of the task’s duration rather than signals at the beginning of the task. These results suggest that behavior is better reinforced closer to deadlines.

So, maybe procrastination isn’t as bad as Willink suggests? As long as there are deadlines to spur you into action, you can overcome your distractions and instant gratification during “crunch time” to complete the tasks that keep you competitive and help you reach your goals.

But what about goals that require a lot of work or that demand incremental progress to achieve? If you leave too much of a heavily demanding task to do at the last minute, this could be damaging to your health, relationships, and life in general. For example, if you’re writing a book and leave most of the work until a few days within the deadline set by your publisher, you may have to neglect your family and lose multiple nights of sleep to get the necessary work done. If your goal is to run a marathon in six months, you can’t put off the work of getting into shape. Your body needs time to incrementally adjust to your workouts and recover properly if you hope to run 26.2 miles without hurting yourself.

So, it’s important to adjust your long-term plans for procrastination by setting short-term deadlines in order to distribute the workload. Consider using the earlier example from the 12 Week Year to make a plan that works for you.

However, Willink’s concern that procrastination may prevent you from reaching your goals altogether still applies when you have goals without fixed deadlines. For example, maybe you want to repair your relationship with a loved one or start stand-up comedy. Without a deadline to eventually kick you into gear, you might put off these goals forever.

To give yourself a sense of urgency, consider a reminder that your life is finite and you only have so much time to accomplish your goals. Ryan Holiday, author of The Daily Stoic, suggests using a “Memento Mori Calendar” that displays the number of weeks in an 80-year life as boxes on one page. He checks these boxes as a visual reminder of the time he likely has left to live. This functions as a literal “dead”-line. Holiday also recommends carrying a reminder of your mortality with you throughout your day, like this coin that reads “memento mori,” Latin for “remember that you will die.”

Overcome Your Fear of Failure

Willink explains that another obstacle or excuse for not pursuing your goals is fear of failure. Maybe you fear applying for your dream job because you’re afraid you’ll botch the interview. Or perhaps you’ve been reluctant to ask the person you like out on a date for fear of rejection. These excuses, though they may be reasonable, can prevent you from applying discipline to become the best candidate for your dream job or a supportive, stable partner for the person you desire to be with.

Willink claims that fearing failure can stop you from acting at all. His solution: fear stagnation more than failure. Imagine in days, weeks, or years from now, being no closer to your goal or the best version of yourself, Willink says. Let the fear of all of this wasted time and potential spur you into action.

Understand Your Fear of Failure

Willink explains that fearing failure can keep you from pursuing your goals, but what causes your fear of failure?

Fear of failure is worry about foreseen consequences of not succeeding at our goals. Research shows that the consequences of failure that we fear most are embarrassment, inadequacy, being stuck, becoming irrelevant, and suffering material losses.

As Willink says, one of the potential results of fearing failure is that it can cause you not to act toward your goals at all. One psychologist describes this negative effect as a low-risk, low-reward life. Living this way limits our potential achievements and happiness. Further consequences of fearing failure include negative physical and mental symptoms like fatigue and dissatisfaction with life.

Building on Willink’s solution to fear stagnation more than failure, consider using this “time travel” thought exercise to remedy your fear of failure. With this exercise, you’ll imagine the future consequences of your actions now in order to make better decisions for your future self.

Decide to Succeed

The next obstacle to self-discipline is feeling inadequate because of genetic or environmental challenges. Willink asserts that, through discipline, you can adapt and overcome predispositions to live the life you decide for yourself. Maybe you don’t think you’re tall enough or you don’t come from the right kind of background for a certain goal. However, having these predispositions doesn't mean you can’t succeed. Willink says he has seen people from many walks of life succeed in the military and business—he argues they succeeded because they decided to. The decision to succeed manifests as many decisions along the way, like deciding who you hang out with and deciding to work and study hard.

Besides Willink’s anecdotal evidence, consider stories of people overcoming predispositions to achieve success. For example, Dustin Pedroia is a former MLB baseball player who was considered too short at 5 feet 9 inches to succeed at professional baseball. Despite his physical limitations, he worked hard and went on to earn the American League’s most valuable player award, as well as multiple World Series championships with the Boston Red Sox.

(Shortform note: Willink’s point that success is a choice rather than a matter of uncontrollable factors suggests that self-belief and adaptability can lead to success. Along with establishing self-belief—which is important for success—try capitalizing on your strengths in order to overcome your weaknesses. To do this, write a list of your strengths and weaknesses, then group your weaknesses with strengths that you think could compensate for them. When you encounter situations that challenge one or more of your weaknesses, try to apply one of your related strengths to the situation.)

A Note on Self-Sabotage

Even if you agree with Willink’s point that success is a choice, maybe you fear success and intentionally sabotage your progress to avoid it. Willink says that if you intentionally fail because you think you’re afraid of success, you’re actually doing this because you fear the work it takes to succeed. Therefore, Willink claims self-sabotage is laziness.

(Shortform note: Willink claims self-sabotage is actually your fear of the work it takes to succeed, but experts say there are other reasons you might fear success. For example, maybe you fear the new level of responsibility or public criticism that a job promotion at your company would entail. To overcome these fears, try approaching the element of success you fear in gradual steps. For example, if you fear taking on more responsibility at work, gradually increase your responsibility by incorporating one small responsibility into your duties at a time, rather than inheriting an entirely new role with all its weight at once.)

Broaden Your Perspective on Challenging Situations

The final obstacle Willink discusses is uncontrollable circumstances. Sometimes life tests your discipline with challenges and setbacks. Maybe you’re let go from your job, become very sick, or lose a loved one. Willink suggests that putting your situation into historical context, accepting what you can’t control, and embracing challenges as opportunities can help you overcome difficult times.

The first thing Willink suggests doing during a challenging time is considering historical examples of what people have endured. By suggesting this strategy, Willink doesn’t mean to belittle your stress. Rather, imagining examples of human perseverance through terrible conditions is intended to inspire you to withstand your situation with more confidence and grit. In his own life, Willink draws inspiration from examples of soldiers who persevered through difficult conditions and got their jobs done.

Thought Exercises for Strength and Gratitude

Although Willink’s examples of imagining warriors’ suffering are useful, It might be more helpful to consider examples that relate more specifically to your difficult situation. If you’re a new mother struggling to keep up with the exhausting demands of a child, imagining the trials that new mothers endured migrating across the Oregon Trail might inspire strength and help you feel less alone in your suffering.

Consider using this similar thought exercise recommended by a neuroscientist: When you’re feeling stressed out and unlucky about a situation you’re experiencing, try to imagine a few terrible things that haven’t happened to you. For example, think about how you’re not starving or how you haven’t lost your home and loved ones to a natural disaster. Then realize these things are likely happening to people somewhere in the world at this moment. Imagine that—if you were experiencing these terrible things—you’d wish to be back in the situation you’re in. This should help you feel gratitude and endure stress better.

Next, accept what you can’t control and embrace it as an opportunity. When you’re faced with a challenge or setback that’s out of your control, Willink suggests viewing it as an opportunity to develop a new plan and improve in some way. For example, if an injury or illness prevents you from performing your regular workout routine, use your rest time as an opportunity to catch up on your reading list.

Besides difficult situations in the present, Willink notes that we often struggle to accept moments from our past. Accepting the past will free your mind of unproductive, stressful thoughts and help you focus on the present. You can’t change what’s already happened, so learn from your regrets and move on.

(Shortform note: Stoics believe that every situation has a positive side—it’s just a matter of perspective. In The Obstacle Is the Way, Ryan Holiday explains that viewing challenging situations as opportunities for good also helps you overcome them. For example, if your car is rear-ended in traffic while you’re driving with your family, embrace this as an opportunity to handle the situation with grace and appreciate your family’s health. This will make the situation easier for you to cope with and allow you to support everyone involved more effectively than if you panic or get angry.)

A Note About Dealing With Stress

If you’re feeling overwhelmed by emotion or the difficulty of a problem, it’s a sign you need to detach. Willink suggests this strategy in order to physically and mentally remove yourself from a stressful situation, calm down, and think more clearly:

• Take a step back.
• Put your hands at your sides.
• Raise your chin to a vulnerable/open position.
• Look around.
• Take deep breaths.
• Listen instead of talk.
• When you do talk, try to ask a question in a calm state, rather than making an assertion.

(Shortform note: As a modification of Willink’s detach protocol, when you take deep breaths, prolong your exhale. This slows your heart rate and helps you calm down. For example, inhale for four seconds and exhale for eight seconds.)

Apply Discipline to Your Daily Life

Now that you understand why discipline is important, how to cultivate it, and what to do when your discipline is challenged, you’ll be better equipped to apply discipline in your regular routine. Although discipline is a principle that should affect all spheres of life, Willink highlights a few key areas of daily life in which to apply discipline for greater health and self-improvement.

Exercise

Exercise has tremendous benefits for physical and mental health. Because of this, it’s important to include some kind of exercise in your life. Willink suggests a few key tips for exercising in a disciplined way:

1. If you don’t think you have time to exercise, wake up earlier. In the early morning, fewer people are awake, there are fewer distractions, and you’ll feel like you’ve got a head start on everyone else.

What’s the Best Time to Work Out? It Depends…

Is the early morning really the best time to get your workout in?

Studies show that exercising in the morning is more effective for increasing metabolism and burning fat. As Willink points out, morning workouts allow you to work out consistently without distractions. So, if your goal is weight loss, maybe the fat loss benefits and scheduling consistency of a morning workout would suit you better.

When you exercise in the evening, your body uses less oxygen than in the morning, increasing the efficiency of your energy and allowing you to perform better. So, if performance is your goal and your schedule allows it, maybe evening workouts are best for you.

2. Set up a home gym. Willink’s overarching advice is to do what you can with whatever you have to get your workout in. However, setting up a home gym can add variety to your workout routine and it doesn’t have to be complicated. Willink’s home gym essentials include a pull-up bar, rings/dip bar, squat rack, barbell, and bumper plates.

Making a House Gym a Home Gym

The Cleveland Clinic suggests building a home gym around your goals. Willink’s equipment recommendations are probably best suited to strength and muscle-building. So, if your goal is to gain flexibility and stability from yoga, then all you’ll likely need is a mat, straps, and adequate space to perform poses. If your goal is to improve your cardio, you could get a jumping rope, treadmill, or stationary bike.

Whatever your goals, both the Cleveland Clinic and Willink make one point clear: You don’t need much for a home gym, so do what you can with what you have.

If you don’t have money or space to create a home gym, consider a routine with exercises that don’t require any equipment (pushups, situps, squats, burpees, and so on).

3. Practice martial arts. Besides practical defense skills, the author promotes martial arts for their benefits to personal development. Willink explains that not only are they a good form of physical conditioning, but they also develop mental fortitude and teach you to persevere through difficult situations. The martial art that Willink recommends most for personal development is Brazilian jiu-jitsu. This is a fighting technique that focuses on controlling your opponent through grappling and submission holds. Willink suggests practicing this martial art above others because it’s complex and mentally stimulating. Besides these personal benefits, it’s also good to know for self-defense, because the first goal of jiu-jitsu is to break free from your opponent and get away.

When choosing a place to practice jiu-jitsu, Willink says to research your instructor to make sure they’re qualified (preferably a purple belt or higher). Additionally, both the instructor and class should be friendly. Willink says that when done right, jiu-jitsu should be fun.

(Shortform note: Martial arts have been shown to improve health in many ways, but not much research has been done on jiu-jitsu. However, one small study found that jiu-jitsu is associated with many personal and social benefits, such as improved physical health, stress relief, and confidence, as well as increased tolerance and respect for others. A larger meta-analysis of martial arts research found that tai chi is the most studied martial art and has the most proven health benefits. This martial art is low-impact, mostly emphasizing balance and meditative focus. Its benefits include stress reduction and increased lower-body strength, as well as improved agility, balance, and posture.)

Diet

As with exercise, Willink has a few key tips for applying discipline to your diet:

1. Eat mostly fat, then protein; minimize carbohydrates and sugar. Willink bases his diet on the premise that human bodies aren’t adapted to eating many of the farmed and processed foods on the modern menu. So, he eats what he calls a paleo (or caveman) diet. The diet consists of:

• Meat (grass-fed and free-range if possible)
• Fish
• Eggs
• Vegetables
• Fungi
• Limited dairy (butter, cream, milk yogurt, cheese)
• Limited fruit

Willink suggests avoiding:

• Potatoes
• Grains
• Legumes
• Refined salt and sugar
• Processed oils

Paleo or Keto?

Willink’s diet is actually a loose paleo diet that more closely resembles a ketogenic diet. This is because Willink includes some dairy products like butter, cream, yogurt, and cheese, which are excluded from the paleo diet but are included in the keto diet. He also suggests limiting fruits and excluding potatoes, which are typically considered paleo foods, but are excluded from the keto diet.

The main goal of eating a paleo diet is to consume whole, unprocessed foods that resemble what people of the paleolithic age would’ve eaten. In contrast, the main goal of a keto diet is to consume a lot of fat with few carbs and sugars so your body uses fat stores instead of carbs for energy. The paleo and keto diets are similar in that they’re both high-fat, high-protein diets that exclude grains, legumes, and processed sugars. Paleo differs from keto in its exclusion of processed foods like dairy products and its inclusion of natural carbs and sugars such as starchy vegetables and honey.

While a paleo diet is more nutritionally diverse, the keto diet’s rigid restriction of carbohydrates (typically 5-10% of daily calories), can lead to nutrient deficiencies. Additionally, the keto diet’s near-total fat and protein ratio is taxing on the liver and kidneys, which could lead to related health issues.

On the other hand, the ketogenic diet has been shown to have worthy benefits for specific health cases. For example, this diet reduces brain inflammation, which is proven to benefit people with epilepsy. There are also studies indicating the keto diet’s potential use for treating type-2 diabetes and stroke victims. However, it’s worth noting that the data for these applications is based on studies with mice.

2. An occasional treat is okay, but only occasionally. When you do enjoy a treat, opt for a healthy option with less sugar, like dark chocolate. Willink suggests avoiding sugar because it’s addictive and unhealthy. Too much sugar can raise your blood sugar and insulin levels, which might lead to chronic health conditions like type-2 diabetes. After you avoid sugar consistently for a while, you won’t crave it as much.

(Shortform note: Research shows that sugar leads to increased risk of obesity, diabetes, and heart disease. One study shows that people consuming a high sugar diet (17-21% of daily calories) have a 38% increase in heart disease risk compared to people who only consume 8% added sugar each day. The American Heart Association suggests that women eat 24 grams of sugar or less, and men consume 36 grams or less.)

3. When appropriate diet foods aren’t available, use discipline to fast. Willink explains that humans can go up to 30 days without food. So, when you justify eating those complimentary company doughnuts at your work meeting because you haven’t had breakfast, hold off. You can make it to lunch. Besides being a good solution for maintaining diet discipline, fasting also has many of its own benefits that make it worth implementing into a regular routine. Willink cites its physiological benefits like reducing inflammation, lowering insulin levels, inducing cell repair, increasing endorphins, and so on.

(Shortform note: If you’d like to apply discipline to your diet and reap the long-term benefits of fasting regularly, Fast. Feast. Repeat. teaches you how to incorporate fasting into your daily routine. You can get started with a four-week program that eases you into the fasting lifestyle by gradually increasing your fasting window.)

Sleep

In order to practice discipline and have energy to perform well during the day, it’s important to apply discipline to your sleep habits at night. Adults need anywhere from seven to nine hours of sleep on average. Lack of sleep can lead to increased blood pressure, negative hormonal changes, immune system suppression, and cognitive effects like trouble focusing and thinking. Here are a few ways the author suggests to sleep with discipline:

1. Go to bed earlier. By going to bed early, you’ll be able to wake up earlier and vice versa. These two habits reinforce each other in a feedback loop. Don’t break this loop.

(Shortform note: Going to sleep early (and staying asleep) is easier if you go to bed when you first feel naturally tired in the evening. Ignoring this feeling and forcing sleep later can cause you to sleep less soundly.)

2. Work out at least once during the day so that you start to feel tired in the evening, but avoid a workout less than two hours before bed to avoid feeling too energized for sleep.

(Shortform note: Willink suggests avoiding exercise for at least two hours before you plan to sleep, but research shows you can complete an intense workout up to one hour before bed with no effect on sleep. So, put the kids to bed and go knock out some burpees.)

3. Be consistent with your sleep habits, even through weekends. If you stay up/sleep in late on Friday and Saturday, it’ll be harder to fall asleep early on Sunday. As a result, your sleep schedule for the work week will likely be compromised and require lost sleep to correct (for example, waking up early on Monday, despite not being able to fall asleep until late Sunday night).

4. Avoid viewing computer and phone screens in the evening. The light keeps you awake, and most of the content you use is designed to keep you clicking.

(Shortform note: While it’s good to avoid electronic light around bedtime, you can program your body for sleep by facing natural sunlight at two key times of day: at least once in the morning after you wake up and again in the afternoon for 10-60 minutes (depending on cloud cover). This will also help you sleep consistently by maintaining a healthy circadian clock, an internal system that determines our sleep/wake cycle among other processes.)

5. Read a book. This will reign in your thoughts and help you relax. Willink suggests choosing something that’s educational, but not too interesting because this might tempt you to keep turning pages and stay awake.

(Shortform note: Research shows that reading helps induce sleep. One study demonstrates that people who read before bed are 14% more likely to report improved sleep. Building on Willink’s tip to choose a book that isn’t too interesting, don’t read something that’s frightening or disgusting either. Finally, if you’re reading on an electronic screen, make sure your device doesn’t emit blue light, as this can also disrupt your sleep cycle.)