How To Make Zero Progress | Jocko Willink Reads Ego Is The Enemy

0:00I got an amazing night's sleep last night. One, because my six-year-old fell asleep in the car at like six o 'clock and he transferred him from the car seat to the bed and it stuck, which is just magic. So he's in bed way earlier than normal. But I sleep really well every night because I have a 8 Sleep Pod 5 Ultra, which is 8 Sleep's best product. I've used 8 Sleep for many years now and it's just totally transformed how I sleep, made me sleep better, made my wife sleep better. It's amazing. So basically, Eight Sleep is this topper that goes over your mattress. It can heat and cool both sides separately.

0:38It can raise and lower each side separately. So it helps you fall asleep faster, stay asleep, and then wake up better. Eight Sleep buzzes me to wake gently every morning, as opposed to some loud blaring alarm. And then I can check the app and it tells me my sleep score. It even helps me optimize my day based on how I slept. If you want to survive the holidays like a pro and just generally sleep better, head over to 8sleep.com slash Daily Stoic and use code Daily Stoic to get$350 off your very own Pod 5 Ultra. The best part is you still get 30 days to try it at home and return it if you don't like it.

1:19But I know you will. Trust me, your body will thank you for this investment in better sleep, shipping to many countries worldwide. See details at 8sleep.com slash Daily Stoic. Look, if you're listening to this podcast, you've probably heard of HelloFresh, right? They're the number one meal kit in America. They make home cooking easier with chef-crafted recipes and fresh ingredients delivered straight to your door. This fall, they're serving up even more to love. It's not the HelloFresh you remember. It's even better. HelloFresh is bigger. They've doubled their menu. You can choose up to 100 options each week.

1:52It's healthier. You can choose from 15 plus high protein recipes, and they now help you eat greener with veggie packed recipes that have two or more veggies per week. And it's tastier. You can get steak and seafood recipes delivered every week for no extra cost. They have three times the seafood options. They also have hearty fall recipes like classic beef chili or honey glazed pork tenderloin. We just got home from a week away. We're trying to think about what we're going to eat this week. It was such a relief to see that HelloFresh box sitting on our doorstep when we got home. They've got everything you need for the recipe that they pick out.

2:28There's no last minute trips to the store. Plus, the meals are delicious and easy to make. The best way to cook just got better. Go to HelloFresh.com slash stoic10fm to get 10 free meals plus free breakfast for life. One box with active subscription. Free meals applied as a discount on the first box. New subscribers only varies by plan. That's HelloFresh.com, Stoic 10 FM, to get 10 free meals plus free breakfast for life. Welcome to the Daily Stoic Podcast, where each day we read a passage of ancient wisdom designed to help you in your everyday life. On Tuesdays, we take a closer look at these Stoic ideas, how we can apply them in our actual lives.

3:11Thanks for listening, and I hope you enjoy.

3:23How to make zero progress. For nearly two years, Brent Underwood had made no progress on restoring the buildings at Cerro Gordo, this abandoned mining town in California. I had been telling myself he writes in Ghost Town Living, Mining for Purpose and Chasing Dreams at the Edge of Death Valley, a wonderful book. I've been reading it to my son, actually. He said that, I just felt we needed to raise money, hire contractors and preservations, and then it all get done in one big frenzied crush of can-do spirit. Not a very good plan, he said, because after two years, I made precisely zero progress.

3:59The one thing all fools have in common, Seneca said, was that they were always getting ready to start. It's not that these fools aren't busy. They are. They're running around like crazy. They've got a million ideas, a million things they're doing. The problem is that none of them concretely moved the ball forward in any way. It was only when Brent threw all these plans aside and got serious, got small, that any progress was made. He stopped thinking big, and he started working on the front porch of one old building. As he writes in the book, which again is awesome, he says, it was a small feat in the grand scheme of things, but it was a start, a good start.

4:34The sense of pride I derive from seeing a space go from unusable to usable, the sense of autonomy that accomplishing this small task left me with felt like life, like rebirth, like my own personal renaissance. I felt competent and effective that something, anything had finally happened here and that I was the one responsible for it. It gave me the first taste of satisfaction that comes from working with your hands, from working meaningfully, diligently, patiently, incrementally towards a big goal. My dreams had an integrity now that they lacked before. They weren't pie in the sky. They were boots on the ground, hands in the dirt.

5:11We all have some version of what Brent told himself. When I have more time, I'll write my book. When I have more resources, I'll start my company. When the circumstances are just right, I'll make a career change. When I get this other stuff done first, then I'll be set. Marcus Aurelius talked about how we can't wait for perfection. Because if you do, that's all you'll do. You'll wait. Instead, he said, be satisfied with even the smallest progress. Action by action, step by step. He said, that's how we assemble a life. Zeno, well before Marcus said that these small steps amount to no small thing.

5:46And the little things add up. Why? Because they're real. Brent was actually at the Painted Porch on Tuesday. We did a nice little event and we talked stoicism and our history. If you didn't know, Brent actually started as my intern. He became my partner in Brash Check, my marketing company. He helped get Daily Stoic off the ground, and he's someone I collaborate with and talk with on a regular basis. I love his videos. They're awesome. I'm one of the investors in the town of Cerro Gordo. It's become a place. My family's gone a bunch of times. We absolutely love it there. And I think if you're not following him on social or on YouTube, you're missing out on a lot.

6:21You can check out Ghost Town Living on all those platforms. But his new book is great. It's called Ghost Town Living, Mining for Purpose and Chasing Dreams at the Edge of Death Valley. And I think it's a, you know, Desert Solitaire-esque book or Wild by Cheryl Strayed. It's just a great book. I think you can check it out. And we've got some signed numbered first editions that we are selling at The Painted Porch. I'll link to that in today's show notes. I hope you check it out and enjoy.

6:51In 1953, Dwight D. Eisenhower returned from his inaugural parade and entered the White House for the first time as president late in the evening. As he walked into the executive mansion, his chief usher handed Eisenhower two letters marked confidential and secret that had been sent to him earlier in the day. Eisenhower's reaction was swift. Never bring me a sealed envelope, he said firmly. That's what I have staff for. How snobbish, right? Had the office really gone to his head already? Not at all. Eisenhower recognized the seemingly insignificant event for what it was, a symptom of disorganized dysfunctional organization not everything needed to run through him who was to say that the envelope was even important why hadn't anyone screened it as president his first priority in office was organizing the executive branch into a smooth functioning and order driven unit just like his military units had been not because he didn't want to work himself but because everyone had a job and he trusted and empowered them to do it as his chief of staff later put it the president does the most important things I do the next most important things the public image of Eisenhower is of a man playing golf In reality, he was not someone who ever slacked off But the leisure time he did have was available because he ran a tight ship He knew that urgent and important were not symptoms His job was to set the priorities to think big picture and then trust the people beneath him to do the jobs They were hired for most of us are not the president or even president of a company But moving up the ladder in life, the system and work habits that got us where we are won't necessarily keep us there.

8:32When we're aspiring or small time, we can be idiosyncratic. We can compensate for disorganization with hard work and a little luck. That's not going to cut it in the majors. In fact, it'll sink you if you can't grow up and organize. We can contrast Eisenhower's system in the White House with the infamous car company created by John DeLorean. When he walked away from GM to produce his brand of futuristic cars, a few decades removed from the company's spectacular implosion, we can be forgiven for thinking the man was just ahead of his time. In fact, his rise and fall is as timeless a story as there is.

9:10Power-hungry narcissist undermines his own vision and loses millions of dollars of other people's money in the process. DeLorean was convinced that the culture of order and discipline at GM had held brilliant creatives like himself down. When he set out to found his company, he deliberately did everything differently, flouting conventional wisdom and business practices. The result was not the freewheeling creative sanctuary that DeLorean naively envisioned. It was instead an overbearingly political, dysfunctional, and even corrupt organization that collapsed under its own weight, eventually resorting to criminality and fraud and losses of some 250 million.

9:48The DeLorean failed both as a car and as a company because it was mismanaged from top to bottom with an emphasis on the mismanagement at the top by the top. That is, DeLorean himself was the problem. Compared to Eisenhower, he worked constantly with very different results. As one executive put it, DeLorean had the ability to recognize a good opportunity, but he didn't know how to make it happen. Another executive described his management style as chasing colored balloons. He was constantly distracted and abandoning one project for another. He was a genius. Sadly, that's rarely enough. Though probably not on purpose, DeLorean created a culture in which ego ran free.

10:29Convinced that continued success was simply his buy right, he seemed to bristle at concepts like discipline, organization, or strategic planning. Employees were not given enough direction and then at the other times overwhelmed with trivial instructions. DeLorean couldn't delegate except to lackeys whose blind loyalty was prized over competence or skill. On top of all this, he was often late or preoccupied. Executives were allowed to work on extracurricular activities on the company dime, encouraged specifically to chase side projects that benefited their boss at the expense of the company. As CEO, DeLorean often bent the truth to investors, fellow officers, and suppliers, and this habit was contagious throughout the company.

11:13Like many people, driven by a demon, DeLorean's decisions were motivated by everything but what would have been efficient, manageable, or responsible. Instead of improving or fixing GM's system, it's as if he threw out order altogether. What ensued was chaos in which no one followed the rules, no one was accountable, and very little got done. The only reason it didn't collapse immediately was that DeLorean was a master of public relations, a skill that held the whole story together until the first faulty cars came off the assembly line. Not surprisingly, the cars were terrible. They didn't work.

11:47Cost per unit was massively over budget. They hadn't secured enough dealers. They couldn't deliver cars to the ones they had. The launch was a disaster. DeLorean Motor Company never recovered. It turns out that becoming a great leader is difficult. Who knew?

12:05You hear that? That's not just a Toyota truck. That's the sound of no crowds, no alerts, no distractions, and no telling what you'll find next. You know, like a detour. So why would you ever take a tour when you could take a detour? Toyota trucks. my family owns a 2023 toyota forerunner and honestly it's my favorite vehicle that i've ever owned around town it's smooth and reliable but where it really shines is on our trips into the backcountry we've taken it on backpacking adventures to colorado new mexico loaded up with gear and never had to think twice about whether it could handle the terrain that's what toyota trucks are built for off-road confidence rugged durability and the freedom to explore toyota has a long history with the outdoor community and they're committed to helping more people get out there and experience what nature has to offer.

13:03From remote trails to scenic byways, Toyota Trucks empowers you to take the detour, roam freely, and discover places that still feel wild and untouched. And they're not just making great trucks, they're working to expand access to adventure so more people can connect with the outdoors and pass that passion on to the next generation. Discover your uncharted territory. Learn more at toyota.com slash trucks slash adventure dash detours. That's toyota.com slash trucks slash adventure dash detours.