Jocko Underground: When You're Ready For a New Chapter | Battling Fatigue In Life

Jocko and Echo Charles open this episode of the Jocko Underground podcast with a question from a 28-year-old E7 who has served ten years in the military. He is married, owns a home, is debt-free, and financially secure, but he feels ready for a new chapter. Everyone around him says leaving before retirement would be foolish, but part of him wants to bet on himself. He is considering becoming a state trooper or a physical therapist’s assistant.

Jocko’s first move is to acknowledge that the listener is the only person who knows the answer, and that he will have to do some soul-searching. But then he lays out the tradeoffs clearly. Military retirement is “kind of awesome” — healthcare for life, family healthcare for life, a paycheck for life, stability for life. Jocko has known many people who got out at 10, 12, or 14 years and later regretted it. That said, “if you are not passionate about it, we only have one life to live.” The listener is squared away — made E7 in ten years, owns a house, has no debt — so he is probably going to win regardless of what he does. But Jocko warns against making a black-or-white choice. Instead, he recommends an iterative step: start the schooling needed to become a physical therapist, start the application process to become a state trooper, and talk to as many people as possible in those roles. Ask for the rough stuff. “The grass is always greener