By Dave Bowden
If you’re not familiar with Jocko, he’s a former Navy SEAL, a Brazilian jiu jitsu black belt and now a corporate consultant that helps CEOs manage their companies the way he used to manage military personnel.
Jocko shot to fame a few years ago after being featured on the popular podcasts of Joe Rogan, Sam Harris and Tim Ferriss, then started a show of his own, appropriately entitled The Jocko Podcast.
Since then Jocko’s popularity has exploded, as he’s become known for his no-nonsense, no excuses style of personal development.
He derived the name of this book, Discipline Equals Freedom: Field Manual, from his personal mantra, so it’s fitting that the book expounds on both his philosophy and his approach to living a disciplined life.
The first half of the book focuses on the philosophical – it’s dedicated to helping you cultivate the right mindset. Jocko shares his thoughts on motivation, dealing with hardships, perseverance, and other elements that affect the way you feel about yourself and your ability to perform tasks that you know will make you better.
In the second half of the book, Jocko shifts his focus to putting his philosophy into practice. Here he focuses almost entirely on the value of fitness and nutrition and offering advice, including extensive workout plans that range in intensity from beginner to intermediate.
The Pros
One of the best things about Jocko and his message is that it’s so straightforward. Yes, it’s one of self-improvement. But no, this absolutely isn’t fluffy, new age, nonsense feel-goodery.
His message is clear: you can be a better version of yourself, and you probably already know how: wake up earlier, work out more, remain true to your values and work to achieve your goals. The tricky part, of course, is in the execution.
The promise of this book, and of Jocko’s brand in general, is that he can help you do it. And he delivers.
I can honestly say that the first half of this book is, easily, one of the most inspirational texts I’ve ever read. If you’ve ever listened to Jocko’s podcast or heard him speak, you can probably understand how and why men would follow this guy into war.
He has an almost mythical commitment to improving the lives of both himself and others, and hearing (or in this case, reading) about the lengths to which he goes in order to accomplish those twin missions is incredibly motivating.
Jocko’s example and encouragement will light a fire under your ass and make you want to better yourself. Don’t think you can wake up at 5 a.m.? Read Jocko’s book. Struggling to start a workout plan? Read the book. Want to start eating clean? Guess what you should do…
The reason that I find Jocko so motivating is that his message seems to stem from a place of honesty. By all accounts, Jocko really does wake up at 4:30 each morning, hit the gym each day, train BJJ frequently, etc.
And his message is simply that if he can do it, you can too. You have more willpower and discipline than you give yourself credit for, you just have to train yourself to tap into it more often.
There’s a lot of power in relentlessly pursuing simple but fundamental goals like working out frequently and staying true to your mission, and Jocko presents himself as evidence that people – even mere mortals like you, me, and yes, Jocko himself – can do it.
The Cons
No book is perfect, and while the philosophy/mindset stuff that Jocko shares is unquestionably powerful, the second half of the book, in which he provides fitness and nutrition advice, is less robust.
He provides three different workout series that stem from his strength-building philosophy: one for beginners, one for advanced exercisers and one for intermediates.
While he does describe the number of sets and reps to do for each move, the descriptions of each move can be a little vague, and unlike fitness magazines or blogs, there are no photos or illustrations to help clarify.
My other gripe about the workouts is that he doesn’t indicate when to do each one. Presumably you would start with the first beginner workout and then do one each day, but he doesn’t make that clear.
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