If you’ve listened to an episode of the Jocko Podcast, read Extreme Ownership, or ordered protein powder from Jocko Fuel, you’ve probably heard Jocko’s mantra: “Discipline Equals Freedom.”
It’s a powerful statement, but it sounds like a contradiction. Discipline is often defined as training yourself to follow rules or a code of behavior. It means doing what you know you should do, even when you don’t feel like it. That seems completely opposite of freedom, the ability to think, act, and live without restraint.
But here’s the truth: if you want to be free, you must be disciplined. When you do what needs to be done, when it needs to be done, you gain the ability to do what you want to do, when you want to do it. By taking control of your actions and impulses, you create space for real freedom. The freedom to hit your goals, build the life you want, and lead effectively.
How does discipline equal freedom? The answer is that in order to be free, you must be disciplined. By applying structure and accepting responsibilities, you unlock opportunities and gain flexibility. Discipline Equals Freedom — or DEF — applies to every area of life: fitness, diet, time management, finances, and of course, leadership. Discipline Equals Freedom — or DEF — applies to every area of life: fitness, diet, time management, finances, and of course, leadership.
What Does Discipline Equals Freedom Mean?
At Echelon Front, we believe that Leadership is a skill. And, just like any skill in life, if you want to get better at it, you must be disciplined in the way that you practice it. You have to do the right thing even when it is difficult, because deep down, you know that taking that action is what is best for the people that you care about.
So, what does discipline equals freedom mean? Quite often, this means that you have to restrict yourself from doing whatever you want to do in any given moment. But living a disciplined life today opens up even more possibilities in the future.
How does discipline equal freedom when it feels like a sacrifice in the moment? The truth is that those sacrifices are investments, and they yield returns in the form of long-term autonomy.
So, what does discipline equals freedom mean in practice? What does this look like for leaders in the day-to-day execution? You must say no to procrastination, so you can say yes to progress. You may need to follow a budget, so you can enjoy financial independence. You should be training, even when you’d rather rest, so you are healthy and capable for years to come. You should be building habits that protect you from chaos, weakness, and regret, so you can achieve the goals and future you dream of.
Why Discipline Equals Freedom: Freeing Myself from the Wheelchair
After I lost both my legs above the knee in an IED blast, I was eager to heal and make milestones in my recovery. The first was a transfer from my hospital bed, along with two WoundVac machines, a catheter, and an IV pole, to my wheelchair. It required the assistance of two nurses, a grabbing handle that dangled above my bed, and a high level of coordination over the course of several minutes, but after all that, I sat upright in my wheelchair, able to move around the post-surgical ward.
At first, I loved my wheelchair. It was the only way that I could escape my 10’x15’ room and get out into the world. It also allowed me to head down the hallway to the physical therapy room where I could access a wider variety of therapeutic options. And, early on in my recovery, that was all I needed to feel satisfied. However, as weeks became months, the various tubes were removed from my body, the pain receded, and my physical capabilities increased; naturally, I wanted to do more things. Including leaving the hospital.
In order to leave the hospital in my wheelchair, I would need to be driven by a friend or a family member. In order to get into their car, they would have to open the passenger door, I would wheel up to the seat, put the brakes on the chair, transfer myself into the seat, and the other person would have to roll my wheelchair back to the trunk, put it in the car, then go to their seat. All of this effort, having to be performed by another person to facilitate my freedom, didn’t make me feel good about myself. It made me feel like a burden.
The greater my desire for freedom of movement became, the more I came to resent my wheelchair. I felt that it was holding me back. It made me feel like a burden. It embarrassed me. I knew I needed to escape from it. Fortunately, there were medical devices expressly made for that purpose: prosthetic legs.
There were several drawbacks to prosthetic legs, however. Early on, they hurt to wear. There was a steep learning curve. There was a long process of graduated steps that required diligent practice to achieve. They were tiring to use. For now. I knew from seeing other double above-knee amputees in the clinic that these challenges were only temporary. I also knew that there was no escaping the difficult and painful work required to bypass those challenges.
I knew that, if I worked hard enough, I could ultimately wear bionic knees that allowed me to walk everywhere I went, get into a car easily, go up and down stairs, and essentially tackle any terrain. All things that the wheelchair struggled to facilitate. However, while I did have that vision, that didn’t prevent me from having sore muscles. It didn’t stop the blisters on my stump skin from waking me up in the middle of the night. It didn’t shut out my reluctance to do the hard work in therapy that I needed to be able to use the bionic knees.
In fact, there were many days when I woke up at 6 AM looking for ways to get out of my 7 AM therapy session. I formulated a wide variety of reasonable excuses that I could text to my therapist as to why I wasn’t going to be there that day. Excuses that I knew they would accept and not push back on. However, I also knew that if they accepted the excuses, and I accepted the excuses, then I would be one day further away from achieving what I wanted to achieve: self-reliance, self-confidence, and freedom. Freedom to do what I wanted to do without requiring someone to assist me. Freedom from that wheelchair.
So, when I had those thoughts, I remembered that goal. I drew upon that incredibly powerful desire for freedom, and I sat up. I got in my chair, wheeled it to therapy, put my legs on, and did the work. I was disciplined.
Four months after I started therapy, at the end of a Friday session, I left my legs on as I wheeled myself back to my room. I parked my wheelchair in the corner of my room. I put the brakes on. And I never got back in it. I was free.
That is the lived reality of how does discipline equal freedom.
Why Does Discipline Equal Freedom?
When I lay there in bed, concocting excuses to avoid therapy, my mind and ego were trying to convince me to be free to give in to my base desires of ease and comfort. However, to achieve what I wanted to with my life, I knew I couldn’t give in to those desires. I knew, deep down, that I needed to be Disciplined. I knew I needed to force myself to do the thing that would move me closer to my strategic goal. I knew I had to go to therapy and put myself through pain and fatigue.
I had to restrict myself from freedom. I had to apply discipline to myself. However, the freedom that I gave up was the type that would make me weak. It would make me worse. It would move me further away from my goal. And, by having the discipline in that moment to do the work I needed to do, I slowly gained true freedom. I gained the ability to leave my wheelchair behind. I gained the ability to do what I wanted to do and go where I wanted to go. I gained the ability to make a difference in the world with my life.
That is the kind of freedom that you gain through discipline. Freedoms that will make a difference in the world for your family, for your friends, and for you.
That is why discipline equals freedom—because it trades weakness for strength, hesitation for action, and comfort for growth. And that lived reality is the proof of why does discipline equal freedom for anyone willing to do the work.
