80 Jocko Willink Quotes From The Motivational Navy Officer

Jocko is a retired US Navy SEAL who teach people leadership principles.

Along with that Jocko is also a renowned author of many motivational books. He wrote seven books in total.

His book 'Extreme Ownership' topped the chart as a New York Times bestseller. His other books include 'Discipline Equals Freedom', 'The Dichotomy Of Leadership', 'Mikey And The Dragons' and more.

At present he co-owns a leadership consulting company, 'Echelon Front' and creates podcasts to inspire people. Here is a list of Jocko Willink quotes that will help you to get going.

For similar content, check out the articles on Chris Kyle quotes and Chesty Puller quotes.

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Best Jocko Willink Quotes

Here is a list of famous and encouraging Jocko Willink quotes that will help you find your inner strength.  

1. "When personal agendas become more important than the team and the overarching mission's success, performance suffers and failure ensues."

- Jocko Willink.

2. "Don’t ask your leader what you should do, tell them what you are going to do."

- Jocko Willink.

3. "It's a lose-lose situation to get in a confrontation on the street. If you can break contact and get away, break contact and get away. That's what you should learn self-defense for."

- Jocko Willink.

4. "Instead of letting the situation dictate our decisions, we must dictate the situation."

- Jocko Willink.

5. "In war you are forced to see humanity at its absolute worst."

- Jocko Willink.

6. "The more you practice, the better you get, the more freedom you have to create."

- Jocko Willink.

7. "If you get your ego in your way, you will only look to other people and circumstances to blame."

- Jocko Willink.

8. "That answer came and it hit me like a slap in the face."

- Jocko Willink.

9. "Fight weak emotions with logic; fight the weakness of logic with the power of emotions."

- Jocko Willink.

10. "Departments and groups within the team must break down silos, depend on each other and understand who depends on them."

- Jocko Willink.

11. "There was only one person to blame for the confusion, only one person to blame for the wounded men, and only one person to blame for the dead Iraqi soldier. And I knew exactly who that person was."

- Jocko Willink.

12. "Stop checking social media and stop watching one more Youtube video."

- Jocko Willink.

13. "All animals, including humans, need to see the connection between action and consequence in order to learn or react appropriately."

- Jocko Willink.

Jocko Willink Leadership Quotes

These Jocko Willink quotes on leadership will help you boost your confidence.

14. "A leader must be humble but not passive; quiet but not silent."

- Jocko Willink.

15. "A leader must care about the troops, but at the same time the leader must complete the mission, and in doing so there will be risk and sometimes unavoidable consequences to the troops."

- Jocko Willink.

16. "Leaders must own everything in their world. There is no one else to blame."

- Jocko Willink.

17. "War teaches you about honor, brotherhood, and humility, and leadership."

- Jocko Willink.

18. "The goal of all leaders should be to work themselves out of a job. This means leaders must be heavily engaged in training and mentoring their junior leaders to prepare them to step up and assume greater responsibilities."

- Jocko Willink.

19. "To implement real change, to drive people to accomplish something truly complex or difficult or dangerous - you can't make people do these things. You have to lead them."

- Jocko Willink.

20. "A good leader has nothing to prove, but everything to prove."

- Jocko Willink.

21. "Leadership requires belief in the mission and unyielding perseverance to achieve victory."

- Jocko Willink.

22. "This firefight wasn't between us and the enemy, this firefight tragically was between us and us. "

- Jocko Willink.

23. "To be a good SEAL you sort of have this criminal mindset that you've somehow harnessed."

- Jocko Willink.

24. "The leader must pull the different elements within the team together to support one another, with all focused exclusively on how to best accomplish the mission."

- Jocko Willink.

25. "A leader must be calm, but not robotic. They must be confident, but never cocky. A leader must be brave, but not foolhardy. They must have a competitive spirit, but be a gracious loser."

- Jocko Willink.

26. "Leadership requires finding the equilibrium in the dichotomy of many seemingly contradictory qualities, between one extreme and another."

- Jocko Willink.

27. "A leader must be attentive to details but not obsessed by them."

- Jocko Willink.

Jocko Willink Motivational Quotes

Below is a list of motivational quotes by Jocko that will let you overcome any fear.

28. "When things are going bad there’s going to be some good that comes from it."

- Jocko Willink.

29. "Prioritize your problems and take care of them one at a time, the highest priority first. Don’t try to do everything at once or you won’t be successful."

- Jocko Willink.

30. "Who wants to leave the door open to being dominated physically by another human being? Jiu Jitsu gives you the ability to not be dominated by that person, and to me, that's real peace of mind."

- Jocko Willink.

31. "War teaches you...it teaches you about the preciousness and fragility of human life"

- Jocko Willink.

32. "The fog of war rolled in with its confusion, and chaos and mayhem."

- Jocko Willink.

33. "When setting expectations, no matter what has been said or written, if substandard performance is accepted and no one is held accountable—if there are no consequences—that poor performance becomes the new standard. Therefore, leaders must enforce standards."

- Jocko Willink.

34. "Admitting mistakes, taking ownership, and developing a plan to overcome challenges are integral to any successful team."

- Jocko Willink.

35. "Step aggressively towards your fear – that is the step into bravery."

- Jocko Willink.

36. "Staying ahead of the curve prevents a leader from being overwhelmed when pressure is applied and enables greater decisiveness."

- Jocko Willink.

37. "There was three things that I felt let me transition from being you know mentally insecure about who I was as a person to being okay I'm actually good with who I am." "

- Jocko Willink.

38. "To this day as I can look around and actually overlay the understanding on the way I've carried out my life is very helpful to me."

- Jocko Willink.

39. "I could then believe in the mission. If I didn’t believe in it, there was no way I could possibly convince the SEALs in my task unit to believe in it."

- Jocko Willink.

40. "When you are counting on motivation to get your goals accomplished, you will likely fall short."

- Jocko Willink.

Jocko Willink Quotes From His Book

In this category, you will find quotes from his book like Jocko Willink 'Extreme Ownership' quotes and Jocko Willink quotes from 'Discipline Equals Freedom'.

41. "Freedom is what everyone wants – to be able to act and live with freedom. But the only way to get to a place of freedom is through discipline."

- Jocko Willink, 'Discipline Equals Freedom'.

42. "Stop researching every aspect of it and reading all about it and debating the pros and cons of it … Start doing it."

- Jocko Willink, 'Discipline Equals Freedom'.

43. "Although discipline demands control and asceticism, it actually results in freedom. When you have the discipline to get up early, you are rewarded with more free time."

- Jocko Willink, 'Discipline Equals Freedom'.

44. "People do not follow robots."

- Jocko Willink, 'Extreme Ownership'.

45. "While you continually focus on what everyone else is doing – I’ll focus on what I can do right."

- Jocko Willink,'Discipline Equals Freedom'.

46. "They must believe in the cause for which they are fighting."

- Jocko Willink, 'Extreme Ownership'.

47. "Use the stress to make you a better you."

- Jocko Willink, 'Discipline Equals Freedom'.

48. "Effective leaders lead successful teams that accomplish their mission and win. Ineffective leaders do not."

- Jocko Willink, 'Extreme Ownership'.

49. "But I learned that good leaders don't make excuses. Instead, they figure out a way to get it done and win."

- Jocko Willink, 'Extreme Ownership'.

50. "A good leader does not get bogged down in the minutia of a tactical problem at the expense of strategic success."

- Jocko Willink, 'Discipline Equals Freedom'.

51. "Don’t fight stress. Embrace it. Turn it on itself. Use it to make yourself sharper and more alert. Use it to make you think and learn and get better and smarter and more effective."

- Jocko Willink,'Discipline Equals Freedom'.

52. "The most fundamental and important truths at the heart of Extreme Ownership: there are no bad teams, only bad leaders."

- Jocko Willink, 'Extreme Ownership'.

53. "Our freedom to operate and maneuver had increased substantially through disciplined procedures. Discipline equals freedom."

- Jocko Willink, 'Discipline Equals Freedom'.

Jocko Willink Quotes On Determination

Going through these encouraging focus and discipline quotes by Jocko will make you more determined.

54. "One of the best mental disciplines for people to implement is simply putting together a schedule or a task list and actually executing it."

- Jocko Willink.

55. "His realistic assessment, acknowledgement of failure, and ownership of the problem were key to developing a plan to improve performance and ultimately win."

- Jocko Willink.

56. "Be dangerous but disciplined."

- Jocko Willink.

57. "Discipline is the pathway to freedom."

- Jocko Willink.

58. "When individual members of the team are highly disciplined, they can be trusted and, therefore, allowed to operate with very little oversight."

- Jocko Willink.

59. "Humans can withstand almost inconceivable stress—and you can too."

- Jocko Willink.

60. "Once the wheels were in motion... I could then determine the next priority, focus the team's efforts there, and then move on to the next priority."

- Jocko Willink.

61. "You gotta be able to tamper and temper all those things in such a way that they can be controlled and disciplined. "

- Jocko Willink.

62. "Ever since I was a little kid, I wanted to be in combat."

- Jocko Willink.

63. "What makes you disciplined person is choosing to be disciplined."

- Jocko Willink.

64. "Don’t count on motivation. Count on discipline."

- Jocko Willink.

65. "It doesn't matter where you background it is what you decide to do."

- Jocko Willink.

66. "I know that it can be very very frustrating to try and become disciplined."

- Jocko Willink.

Inspiring Jocko Willink Quotes

Here is a compilation of the best Jocko Willink quotes that are very inspiring.

67. "Overconfidence was risky in such a hostile environment, a mistake most often made by warriors who had never truly been tested."

- Jocko Willink.

68. "Faster. Stronger. Smarter. More humble. Less ego."

- Jocko Willink.

69. "If you're not active throughout the day you won't be tired."

- Jocko Willink.

70. "Weakness is strong. I must be stronger."

- Jocko Willink.

71. "You need to sleep. I'm not anti-sleep."

- Jocko Willink.

72. "Plans and orders must be communicated in a manner that is simple, clear, and concise."

- Jocko Willink.

73. "We all have a tendency to avoid our weaknesses. When we do that, we never progress or get any better."

- Jocko Willink.

74. "Even if you can’t perform at a high level, showing up and doing something is still a thousand times better than not showing up at all."

- Jocko Willink.

75. "Combat is reflective of life, only amplified and intensified."

- Jocko Willink.

76. "War is hell. But war is also an incredible teacher, a brutal teacher. And it teaches you lessons you will never forget."

- Jocko Willink.

77. "A person shouldn’t think they are the best thing in the world, but they shouldn’t think they are the worst either. Is that right?"

- Jocko Willink.

78. "It’s not what you preach, it’s what you tolerate."

- Jocko Willink.

79. "Even when you have a chain of command that you don't like as well, its your responsibility to work with the up chain of command."

- Jocko Willink.

80. "But if you get out there and do your best, you will either win, or you will learn."

- Jocko Willink.

Here at Kidadl, we have carefully created lots of interesting family-friendly quotes for everyone to enjoy! If you liked our suggestions for Jocko Willink quotes then why not take a look at warrior quotes, or strong man quotes.