Taha Pourjalali

“In combat, focus comes pretty easily because the battle is right in front of your face. You have no choice but to focus. But sometimes, in day-to-day life, you can lose track of the long-term goal. It fades from your vision. It slips from your mind. Wrong. I want that long-term goal to be so embedded in my mind, that I never lose sight of it. Ever. The little tasks and projects and short-term goals that you tackle need to lead toward strategic victory – winning the long war.

But we want results now. We want the shortcut to the winner’s podium. We need the instant gratification. And when we don’t get the short-term glory, sometimes we lose sight of those long-term goals. They fade. We lose focus. So we stop the daily tasks and disciplines that allow us to achieve those goals. And a day slips by. Then another day. And a day turns into a week and a week into a year. And you look up in six weeks or six months or six years … And you’ve made no progress. Maybe you even went backwards.

You lost sight of the long-term goal. And it faded. It faded from memory and the passion dried up and you began to rationalize: Maybe I can’t. Maybe I don’t really want to. Maybe this goal isn’t for me. And so you give up. You let it go. And you settle for a status quo. For the easy road. No. Don’t do that. Embed that long-term goal in your mind. Burn it into your soul. Think about it, write about it, talk about it. Hang it up on your wall. But most important: Do something about it. Every single day.
So I trained. And I prepared. And I did everything I could to be ready for that day. When I became a leader I took pains to prepare my men in the same way: brutally and without mercy so we could fight brutally and without mercy. And then that day came. We met the enemy on the battlefield. We fought, and we won.”
― Jocko Willink, Discipline Equals Freedom: Field Manual

“When I was younger, I was preparing for war. I knew that somewhere out there, another man was also preparing. That man was my enemy. He was working, training, planning and preparing to meet me on the battlefield. I didn’t know when. I didn’t know where. But I knew that at some point: we would meet. And I wanted to be ready. Mentally. Physically. Emotionally.

So I trained. And I prepared. And I did everything I could to be ready for that day. When I became a leader I took pains to prepare my men in the same way: brutally and without mercy so we could fight brutally and without mercy. And then that day came. We met the enemy on the battlefield. We fought, and we won.”
― Jocko Willink, Discipline Equals Freedom: Field Manual

“And The Warpath is a path—it’s a route—it leads somewhere. Where does it lead? Yes, it can lead to war. And that is fine. Because I am ready; I am waiting. But the war might not come. And that is okay. Because The Warpath is also a war against weakness— and so it leads to strength. It is a war against ignorance— and so it leads to knowledge. It is a war against confusion— and so it delivers understanding.”
― Jocko Willink, Discipline Equals Freedom: Field Manual

“This applies to when people are playing office politics or forming their cliques or working their personal agendas. Of course – sometimes you have to play those games too. But when dealing with people like this, let your first course of action and the fundamental core of how you handle things be very clear and direct: Outwork and outperform every last one of them. While you’re over there watching me and talking about me – I’m working. When you’re gossiping – I’m working. When you’re talking smack – I’m working. When you’re chattering – I’m working. While you continually focus on what everyone else is doing – I’ll focus on what I can do right. And when you finally look around at where you are and where I am – you will realize that you have nothing to talk smack about.”
― Jocko Willink, Discipline Equals Freedom: Field Manual