I was introduced to Jocko Willink a couple years ago.

He’s a retired Naval officer and former Navy SEAL and now he runs a super successful consulting firm.

He’s also written a couple of really successful books and has his own Podcast — the Jocko Podcast.

My first introduction to Jocko was the book he co-wrote with Leif Babin entitled Extreme Ownership.

This was an eye-opening book for me.

To sum the book up in as little words as possible, Extreme Ownership calls you out for complaining and blaming your shit on other people, and it gives you a set of rules to live by which Jocko and Leif Babin pull directly from their experience in the military.

Those rules are things like: 

• check your ego
• there are no bad teams, only bad leaders
• accept and acknowledge that you are responsible for your failures
• discipline yourself

You know, stuff that makes sense and stuff that most people don’t want to do.

One of Jocko’s signature responses to just about anything anyone says — but in particular, when someone complains about anything — is one, simple, four-letter word.

GOOD.

Here is how he described his good philosophy on his podcast:

“How do I deal with setbacks, failures, delays, defeats, or other disasters? I actually have a fairly simple way of dealing with these situations, summed up in one word:

Good.

This is something that one of my direct subordinates, one of the guys who worked for me, a guy who became one of my best friends pointed out.

He would pull me aside with some major problem or issue that was going on, and he’d say, “Boss, we’ve got this thing, this situation, and it’s going terribly wrong.”

I would look at him and say, “Good.”

And finally, one day, he was telling me about some issue he was having, some problem, and he said, “I already know what you’re going to say.”

And I said “Well what am I going to say?”

And he said, “You’re going to say: ‘Good.’ ”

He continued, “That’s what you always say. When something is wrong or going bad, you just look at me and say, ‘Good.’ ”

And I said, “Well yeah. When things are going bad, there’s gonna be be some good that’s gonna come from it.

Didn’t get the high speed gear we wanted? Good.
Didn’t get promoted? Good… More time to get better.

Oh, mission got canceled? Good. We can focus on another one.

Didn’t get funded? Didn’t get the job you wanted? 
Got injured? Sprained my ankle? Got tapped out? 
Got beat? Good… You learned.
Unexpected problems? Good… We have the opportunity to figure out a solution.

That’s it. When things are going bad: Don’t get all bummed out, don’t get startled, don’t get frustrated. If you can say the word good, then guess what?

It means you’re still alive.

It means you’re still breathing.

And if you’re still breathing, that means you’ve still got some fight left in you.

So get up, dust off, reload, recalibrate, re-engage – and go out on the attack.”

I have been thinking about this a lot over the last few weeks.

There has been a lot to be upset about.

Championship swim meets that my kids trained for months for, cancelled.

No 8th grade graduation for Number 4.

No track season for Number 4.

There is possibly no summer swim season for any of the kids.

Y Nationals in August (a big swim meet) has also been cancelled.

There are plenty of disappointments to focus on.

I spent a lot of time that first week schools were closed being upset about mandatory distance learning.

I’m still not a fan.

But I also don’t want to exert any more energy being upset about it.

So I’ve been employing the philosophy of GOOD.

I often have to remind myself multiple times a day of this when my thoughts start going in a different direction.

A lot of good things have come from this situation for me and my family.

While I’m not a fan of online learning for my youngest two, they have both become really independent and self sufficient on the computer.

All the kids know how to print from every computer and every device in the house now, which I couldn’t say a month ago.

Because I have to make better use of my time, I am taking better care of myself than I have in a long, long time.

I have stopped watching the iPad in bed before I go to sleep.

That is a habit that has affected the quality of my sleep for a long, long time. I used to drift off to sleep while watching whatever the current Netflix binge was and sometimes wake up, rewind to the last place I remembered watching, and try to stay awake. 

I’d do that every night.

The first couple hours of my sleep were often like this.

I don’t do that anymore.

In fact, I have almost completely stopped watching television altogether.

I’m reading every night for pleasure.

I haven’t done that in forever either.

I’ve cut way back on the amount of time I spend on social media because I just don’t have time to waste with all the kids home and no alone time.

I am spending way more time being present with my kids.

I am killing it in the cooking department, and I realize I truly enjoy cooking when I’m not spread thin enough to see through and being pulled in a hundred different directions simultaneously.

My house has never been this neat for this many days in a row.

My kids are helping out around the house without any reminders at all. 

And they are getting along SO WELL.

My brain has been cleared of so much noise that I am able to finally see clearly and make some major decisions that I have been wavering on for months. Or years.

There will always be things to get your panties in a bunch over.

I need to employ the good philosophy now more than ever.

And when I forget, I’m gonna go back to Jocko for reminders.

When things are going bad: Don’t get all bummed out, don’t get startled, don’t get frustrated. If you can say the word “good,” then guess what?

It means you’re still alive.

It means you’re still breathing.

And if you’re still breathing, that means you’ve still got some fight left in you.

So get up, dust off, reload, recalibrate, re-engage – and go out on the attack.

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