• Jocko Willink is a retired Navy SEAL commander with a leadership consulting firm, bestselling books, and a hit podcast.
• His latest book is a "field manual" of routines for instilling discipline.
• Willink's daily schedule includes waking up before dawn to work out, studying military history for his show, and training in Brazilian jiu-jitsu.

Jocko Willink retired from the US Navy SEALs in 2010, but he hasn't eased his intense approach to life.

As the commander of SEAL Team 3 Task Unit Bruiser, the most highly decorated special operations unit in the Iraq War, Willink led his men with the mantra "discipline equals freedom." That is, by developing and sticking to routines and guidelines, you can free yourself to stick to the mission and not worry about protocol.

He realized when he retired that his leadership philosophy was applicable outside of the military, and today is a bestselling author, host of a hit podcast, head of a growing athletic brand, and is the cofounder of Echelon Front, a leadership consulting firm alongside one of his platoon leaders, Leif Babin.

Willink recently visited Business Insider to discuss his new book, "Discipline Equals Freedom: Field Manual," and gave us some insight into his daily routine.

It begins at 4:30 in the morning.

SEE ALSO: A retired Navy SEAL commander who wakes up at 4:30 a.m. to work out shares his weekly fitness routine

Willink wakes up every morning, even on the weekend, at 4:30 a.m.

It's a habit he picked up in the SEALs.

He wrote in his book "Extreme Ownership," cowritten with Babin, that he noticed as a young SEAL that the highest performers he served with were those who woke up earliest, beginning their days while everyone else slept.

To both hold himself accountable and inspire others, Willink posts a photo of his watch each morning to his Twitter page.

Then it's time to head to his garage, which he's converted to a full-blown gym. He'll work out for about an hour, not counting cardio.

Willink lays out his workout clothes before going to sleep each night so that he can get active as quickly as possible, regardless of whether he's feeling groggy or energetic.

He's got a four day workout rotation (pull, push, lift, squat), and each day's routine is preceded by a warm-up and followed with core exercises and cardio work. You can find a more complete breakdown of the routine on Business Insider, and an even more in-depth guide is in "Discipline Equals Freedom."

Willink takes advantage of living in San Diego, and regularly hits the beach after his workout for a quick surf session.

Willink grew up in Connecticut but moved to San Diego for the SEAL base there, and decided to stay. He likes to take advantage of living near the beach, and if it's not surfing weather, he might go for a run on the sand.

Jocko Willink, a former Navy SEAL commander, host of the "Jocko Podcast," and the author of "Discipline Equals Freedom: Field Manual," believes your best chances might be to run from a fight. Following is a full transcript of the video.

Jocko Willink: If someone attacks me and they want to punch or kick me, I can just run away. They're not holding onto me. I can get away from them. It's when someone grabs you that you need some technique to get out of there, or someone takes you to the ground — that's when you need some technique to get out of there. If someone just wants to punch me, well, I'll walk away from them or run away from them. That's OK.

Hi, I'm Jocko Willink. I'm retired from the military and just wrote a book called Discipline Equals Freedom Field Manual.

Obviously, I am a fan of jiu-jitsu. No. 1: It's very practical, like I said, for self-defense. And again, the goal of jiu-jitsu in self-defense isn't to take someone down to the ground — the goal in jiu-jitsu for self-defense is actually to be able to defend yourself on the ground, get up, and get away from an attacker. That's what the goal is.

Now, some people might think: “Well, Jocko, I don't want to run away if somebody wants to fight me. I want to fight them.” Well, let's think about where that might end up for you. No. 1: You don't know if this person has a weapon or not. What if they have a knife? What if they have a pistol? What if they've got three or four friends? And now you're getting either shot, stabbed, mutilated, or otherwise maimed and killed. That's not what you're looking for on a Friday night as you're walking down the street.

OK, so let's say you're so tough that the other guy — he doesn't have a knife, he doesn't have a gun, he doesn't have any friends — and you take him out and break his arm, choke him, and put him to sleep. Well now guess what happens? You're getting arrested. Now you're getting in a lawsuit. Now you have to pay this person money that you actually wanted to beat up.

So it's a lose-lose situation to get ina 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. Obviously, if someone is doing something that they're attacking someone in your family and you have to step in to defend yourself, well, that's why you continue training all the time — because that might happen, and you have to be prepared for that. Optimally, you get out of there: You break contact, you get away. If you have to stand and fight, you train yourself so that you're able to do it.

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• Jocko Willink is a retired US Navy SEAL commander whose latest book is a "field manual" for instilling discipline in your life.
• He says doughnuts are the No. 1 food he avoids because they lack nutritional value — but they're ubiquitous in offices.
• He recommended making a habit of avoiding free food in your office.

It's Friday, and your team had a great week. Your coworker brings in a box of a dozen doughnuts — glazed, chocolate, jelly, Boston cream.

"Donuts? Poison,"Jocko Willink, a retired US Navy SEAL commander, wrote in his book "Discipline Equals Freedom: Field Manual."

In an interview about the book — a collection of insights from his time in the SEALs and at his leadership consulting firm, Echelon Front — Willink told Business Insider why he thinks it's important to bring discipline to your diet.

"I would say there are some foods that I strongly recommend that you do not eat," he said. "No. 1 on that list, I believe, is doughnuts. Comfort food. Zero value. Don't eat them."

While doughnuts come in plenty of varieties, the base of fried dough is high in fat, about half of which is saturated.

High amounts of saturated fat have been linked to heart disease, and one doughnut can account for about a third of the recommended daily intake.

Doughnuts are one of the ubiquitous office foods that you probably shouldn't be eating, at least not regularly, and it's why Willink has made it a rule for himself to never accept free snacks.

When people want to be nice, especially in office settings, they'll bring in some comfort food to their break rooms, he said, but "they're actually sabotaging the health of their coworkers."

"So what do you do in those situations?" he said. "It's really easy: don't eat. Don't eat the doughnuts. Don't eat the bagels. Don't eat the slab of pizza.

"We have food all around us all the time, and if we haven't eaten for three hours we think we're starving," he said. "You're not starving — human beings can go for 30 days without food."

Either get something healthy or ignore the desire to consume a lump of fat and carbohydrates that will spike your blood sugar, he said.

Skipping that doughnut will not kill you.

SEE ALSO: A day in the life of a retired Navy SEAL commander, who wakes up at 4:30 a.m., trains in Brazilian jiu-jitsu, and doesn't eat for 72 hours at a time

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When America needs to break its way into an enemy country, these are the people who slip, kick, or explode their way past the defenses and blaze the way for follow-on forces.

SEE ALSO: Take a look at the grimy and grueling training the Army uses to turn soldiers into snipers

1. Marine Raiders

Marine Raiders are the rank and file of the Marine Special Operations Command. MARSOC fields three Raider battalions that conduct special reconnaissance, counterinsurgency, and direct action missions. The Raiders trace their lineage to World War II where Marine Raiders led beach assaults, conducted raids, and used guerrilla tactics against Japanese defenders.

2. Green Berets

The Army’s special forces soldiers were famously some of the first troops in Afghanistan where they rode horses to get to the enemy. They guarded Hamid Karzai when he was an unknown politician putting together a militia to aid an American invasion, and they’ve served in dozens of unpublicized conflicts around the world.

3. Delta Force

Composed of the Army’s best green berets as well as operators from around the Department of Defense, Delta Force takes on high-stakes missions far ahead of the rest of the military. It was Delta Force that led the hunt for Osama Bin Laden in the Tora Bora mountains in 2001.

• Jocko Willink and Leif Babin are former Navy SEAL commanders who are publishing the sequel to their 2015 bestseller "Extreme Ownership" in September. It's called "The Dichotomy of Leadership."
• Willink and Babin have a leadership consulting company called Echelon Front, and Willink has a popular podcast.
• After "Extreme Ownership," they realized some people interpreted their advice to mean a good leader is aggressive and unforgiving — but neglected to balance that with a more measured approach.

After their first book, 2015's "Extreme Ownership," became a New York Times bestseller, Navy SEAL commanders Jocko Willink and Leif Babin soon found themselves with a global fan base.

As time passed, and they had more interactions with devoted readers through their leadership consulting firm Echelon Front, their "Muster" live events, and social media, they would sometimes run into a problem they also faced as SEALs: People who looked up to them tended to solely focus on the aggressive side of their lessons, resulting in a total misunderstanding of some of their ideals.

Babin told Business Insider, "We see leaders doing that, where they say, 'I'm going to hold the line. Leif said, It's not what you preach. It's what you tolerate, so I'm going to crack the whip on my team and we're going to hold people accountable.' That doesn't work."

It's why they wrote a new book, "The Dichotomy of Leadership," that's scheduled to be released on Sept. 25.

It explores in-depth the 12-point list of leadership principles, each with qualifications that may initially seem conflicting, they used when they served during the Iraq War. These include, "A leader must lead but also be ready to follow," and "A leader must be confident but never cocky."

The upcoming book stands on its own but is also a sequel to "Extreme Ownership," and follows its same format of a lesson followed by a combat example and then a business example.

Willink was the commander of US Navy SEAL Team Three Task Unit Bruiser, a highly decorated special operations unit that fought in the 2006 Battle of Ramadi. Babin was one of his two platoon leaders.

We spoke with Willink and Babin about what to expect from their upcoming book.

The following transcript has been edited for length and clarity.

Richard Feloni: What's behind the title, and why did you start working on it?

Jocko Willink: The new book is called "The Dichotomy of Leadership," which is also the title of the last chapter in "Extreme Ownership." As we continued to go out and work with various companies and teams and organizations around the world, we found that one of the areas that people needed help with the most was the area of trying to balance that dichotomy. And the more we worked with people, the more we realized we needed to explore more cases and explain in more detail how people can go too far in one direction as a leader. The title of the book "Extreme Ownership"— obviously it's got the word "extreme" in there — yet as a leader, oftentimes being extreme is not good. What you have to do is be balanced.

Leif Babin: We're talking to people like the folks at Muster that have read the first book. Some of them have read it a dozen times. And yet they're still struggling to try to implement these lessons. And as we say, they're simple, not easy. But the most difficult part of it is trying to find that balance between things like extreme ownership, where you own everything in your world, and "decentralized command," where you actually have to empower others and allow them to step up and lead.

Where you've got to be a leader and take charge and not wait for others to solve problems, but also be a follower and go with others' plans and execute as if it's your own.

Feloni: Can you give an example of a lesson from the new book?

Willink: One of the things that we talk about in "Extreme Ownership" is being "default aggressive." That's a posture, an attitude, where you're going to attack problems and you're going to get them solved. But at the same time, there can be times where you can become too aggressive. In the SEAL teams, when we were training, we'd say to someone who was being overly aggressive that you're "running to your death." You're running towards the problem without thinking.

You've got to balance that aggressiveness with also being cautious and making sure you're assessing the situation.

Feloni: Could you share an anecdote from the book that illustrates that concept?

Babin: The combat example we talk about there is that we did a lot of things that were very risky, that people thought, frankly, were crazy, or that we took too much risk. We certainly tried to mitigate all the risk that we could control, but we understood the value of those combat operations in Ramadi and what we were doing out there with our Iraqi soldiers and our sniper overwatch missions, and how they supported that campaign.

What we don't really talk about is the ops that we turned down. We turned down a number of operations that we felt were too risky. And I talk about one of those in the book.

Willink: One of the business examples that I use in the book is a young CEO who was looking to expand her company, and she saw a lot of growth on the horizon, and so she went and hired a lot of people. She brought these people on board because she expected this big growth to come. There was just a very long turn time on collecting the money from products sold, and it didn't catch up in time. And so next thing you know, she was losing money. She had a default aggressive mindset, which was great, and at the time when I was working with her, I was excited to see that she was being aggressive. But when I actually started looking at the numbers, I realized hey, she's being overly aggressive, and she's brought too many people onboard, and now she's upside down and she needs to get rid of some of these people now or else it's going to be too late.

Feloni: What do you want readers to take away from it?

Babin: The biggest thing that we want people to understand in this concept of balance. Oftentimes people think they are doing what we would be doing in a situation, and it's actually the opposite. We saw that in the SEAL teams, where guys in Task Unit Bruiser attached to us at the end of our deployment and saw a little bit of our operations, and when they went back, they tried to do some things the way they thought Jocko would do them, or I would do them — and they actually weren't the way we were doing them. Because we really had to find that balance.

We see leaders doing that, where they say, "I'm going to hold the line. Leif said, 'It's not what you preach. It's what you tolerate,' so I'm going to crack the whip on my team and we're going to hold people accountable." And that doesn't work. If you're berating people, if you're an overbearing leader that's constantly in people's face or raising your voice and losing your temper with people, it doesn't work. It's not effective. So that's really what we're trying to get across here with "The Dichotomy of Leadership," are the realities of finding that balance of what is most effective, what works.

As we say often, leadership is not black and white. It's not as easy as, "Do these three things to lead like a Navy SEAL." It's a fine line that has to be balanced. It's a gray area. That's why we wrote this book.

SEE ALSO: A day in the life of a retired Navy SEAL commander, who wakes up at 4:30 a.m., trains in Brazilian jiu-jitsu, and doesn't eat for 72 hours at a time

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: I woke up at 3 a.m. to spend 12 hours learning what it takes to be a leader from former Navy SEALs

• According to information obtained from Lockheed at the 2018 SeaAirSpace expo, they're working with Submergence Group to market two "dry" submersibles for a number of applications.
• The S301i comes in at 29,500 pounds fully loaded, can operate for a day, and has a top speed of seven and a half knots.
• The S302 is 31,000 pounds, and features a 60 nautical mile range at five knots. It also boasts an endurance in excess of 24 hours.

When you watch the movies, SEALs usually have inserted into enemy territory via a free-fall jump, often the high-altitude, low-opening method of free-fall parachuting. But SEALs are maritime creatures and thus tend to also be very proficient in entering via sea routes.

The way this is usually done is through the use of the Mk 8 Mod 1 SEAL Delivery Vehicle. The problem is that this is a "wet" submersible. The SEALs are exposed to the water, and have to be in their wetsuits. It doesn't sound very comfortable, does it? Well, the SEALs are looking to change that through the acquisition of a dry manned submersible. This will allow the SEALs to make their way in without having to be exposed to the elements.

Now, this was tried before, with the Advanced SEAL Delivery System, or ASDS. This was a project intended to enter service in the 2000s, capable of carrying 16 SEALs inside.

However, the price ballooned bigger and bigger, and it was reduced to a prototype. That prototype was lost in a 2008 fire while re-charging its lithium-ion batteries. Thus, SEALs continued to soldier on with their "wet" submersibles.

But the need for a "dry" submersible remains. According to information obtained from Lockheed at the 2018 SeaAirSpace expo at National Harbor, Maryland, that company is working with Submergence Group to market "dry" submersibles for a number of applications. Two submersibles are currently available, each able to operate with a crew of two and up to six divers.

The S301i comes in at 29,500 pounds fully loaded, can operate for a day, and has a top speed of seven and a half knots. It has a maximum range of 45 nautical miles at three knots. The S302 is 31,000 pounds, and featured a 60 nautical mile range at five knots. It also boasts an endurance in excess of 24 hours.

While these submersibles aren't quite up to the promise of the ASDS, they could still give SEALs a dryer – and more comfortable ride – in as they prepare to go into hostile territory.

SEE ALSO: We took a rare tour of one of the US Navy's most dangerous warships that entered combat for the first time in Syria

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• President Donald Trump announced on Monday that he would award retired Navy SEAL Britt Slabinski the Medal of Honor for his actions during a 2002 battle in Afghanistan.
• Slabinski rallied his team to attempt a rescue after one SEAL fell out of the helicopter during the initial insertion, led a frontal assault on enemy positions, and repeatedly exposed himself.
• But members of the Air Force and Naval Special Warfare communities have taken sides and offered competing versions of events.

The White House announced on Monday that President Donald Trump would award retired Navy SEAL Britt Slabinski the Medal of Honor for his actions during the 2002 Battle of Roberts Ridge in Afghanistan.

On March 4, 2002, then-Senior Chief Slabinski was leading a seven-man reconnaissance team tasked with reaching a 10,469-foot peak, where his SEALs and an Air Force combat controller, Tech Sgt. John Chapman, could call in intelligence and direct air strikes.

But that plan almost immediately went to hell after the team encountered heavy al Qaeda resistance on the peak, and in the aftermath, the deadly tally for that day was seven American service members killed, 12 wounded, and two MH-47 Chinooks shot down.

Slabinski rallied his team to attempt a rescue after one SEAL fell out of the helicopter during the initial insertion, led a frontal assault on enemy positions, and repeatedly exposed himself, according to the White House.

But that’s only a snippet in what has become a more controversial story. Almost immediately afterward, the blame game started: Members of the Air Force and Naval Special Warfare communities took sides and offered competing versions of events.

For most people, this seems like armchair quarterbacking, but the second-guessing of decisions that day has been going on between special operators for years. Air Force combat controllers largely believe John Chapman alone deserves the Medal of Honor for fighting on after being left behind, while SEALs largely believe Chapman was dead when Slabinski made the call to leave.

As I reported last month, Chapman has been approved by the president for the Medal of Honor, and his family has been notified, though the White House has not yet made an official announcement. Meanwhile, Slabinski’s medal was announced first, leading one combat controller to angrily tell me: “Welcome to how every CCT guy has felt for the last 17 years. We’re never gonna be good enough to get the Medal unless a SEAL also gets it.”

A source familiar with the matter told Task & Purpose the White House will officially announce Chapman’s medal after Slabinski receives his on May 24.

And in an article published by Newsweek just hours before the White House announced Slabinski’s decoration, journalist Sean Naylor detailed the disturbing lengths that some in the SEAL community went to, not only get the Medal for one of their own, but also to bag on Chapman’s in the process:

What has shocked and angered some sources familiar with the battle is that Mattis has also recommended the same award for then–Senior Chief Petty Officer Britt Slabinski, the SEAL team leader who allegedly left Chapman behind. Some special operators blame Slabinski for not only Chapman’s death but also the lost lives of six other special ops on the mountain. Others say it’s absurd to recommend someone for the Medal of Honor for his bravery in a fight in which he left a teammate behind, albeit by mistake. Informed by a Newsweek reporter that Slabinski was in line for a Medal of Honor, an Army special operator who took part in the operation was aghast. “You kicked me in the nuts when you told me that,” he says. Mike, a former Air Force targeting analyst who monitored the Predator feed of the Takur Ghar fight in real time and re-watched it twice last year at the Air Force’s request, was similarly taken aback. “I’m completely shocked that the Navy is putting a package up.”

Some observers are angry at the Navy for even recommending Slabinski for the award, which they claim was part of a campaign to sabotage the Air Force’s effort on behalf of Chapman. Such a campaign would be unprecedented, according to military awards expert Doug Sterner. “I cannot think of a single instance in which one branch of service opposed a Medal of Honor for another one,” he says.

Beyond the Medal of Honor politics playing out in the foreground, some critics have questioned other facets of the battle.

First, there was the decision to land directly on the mountaintop. Slabinski’s plan was to land at the base of Takur Ghar and then hike up to the top, which is in keeping with solid tactics that would have put the team at far less risk. But, he told The New York Times, maintenance delays and pressure from his leadership led him to nix the safer approach and go straight to the top.

Around 3 a.m. as they prepared to deploy, the operators’ aircraft got peppered by enemy fighters’ machine-gun and RPG fire. In the chaos, as hydraulic fluid littered the helicopter’s ramp, SEAL Petty Officer Neil Roberts fell out into the snow. The pilot, struggling to keep the aircraft aloft, pulled away from the peak and crash-landed about four miles away.

About two hours later, Slabinski’s team returned to the peak in a different helicopter to try and rescue Roberts. Now on the ground, Slabinski and Chapman immediately engaged an al Qaeda bunker, then Chapman was hit by gunfire and went down.

At this point, Slabinski told the Times, he looked over and didn’t see movement from Chapman’s infrared aiming laser, and assumed he was dead. Under heavy fire and with grenades going off, he made the difficult choice to fall back. For some, especially in the Air Force, that meant Slabinski left a man behind — an unthinkable act. But others, including Chapman’s sister and even some combat controllers, believe it was simply fog of war.

While the SEALs eventually made their way down the mountain to be rescued by helicopter, confusion within the chain-of-command and poor communication led to a Ranger quick reaction force going straight to Takur Ghar — where two helicopters had already endured blistering enemy fire. That QRF helicopter was shot down by a rocket-propelled grenade, and in the daylong battle on that peak, five others were killed.

As Naylor wrote, “Army and Air Force special operators blamed their losses on poor decision-making by the SEALs. Some members of Chapman’s unit, the 24th STS, were so upset that they tried to avoid assignments with SEAL Team 6, says a former Delta Force operator.”

In the investigations that have played out in the years since, it turned out that Chapman wasn’t dead, but apparently knocked out during the initial mountain assault. In surveillance footage analyzed pixel-by-pixel some years later, he came to and fired at al Qaeda positions, alone, for nearly an hour. And as he heard the QRF helicopter coming in, he emerged from a bunker to provide covering fire.

“It was really grainy. But there was still somebody up there fighting, and you could see that,” Kenny Longfritz, Chapman’s first sergeant at 24th STS, told me of the Predator drone footage he viewed after the battle. There was no doubt in his mind, and the minds of many others in the squadron, that it was John.

The SEALs, however, maintained there was no way Chapman could have been alive and put up “bureaucratic roadblocks,” according to Naylor’s reporting. While acknowledging that Chapman was a hero worthy of an award, Naval Special Warfare opposed the Air Force pushing for it based on events after the SEALs left the mountain.

It will be interesting to see how the final language of both awards turns out. Air Force combat controllers will no doubt be curious to see how Slabinski’s actions are characterized. They and the SEALs will likely never agree on how Chapman should be described in his citation: Will he be recognized for what he did alone and surrounded on Takur Ghar, or only for what he did before?

“There should be no controversy here,” Doug Sterner, an expert on military awards, told Newsweek. “Awarding both of these men the Medal of Honor does nothing to take away from the prestige of the award and everything to highlight the true heroism of two very, very dedicated servicemen.”

There shouldn’t be any controversy there. But sadly, there is.

SEE ALSO: Why Green Berets are the smartest, most lethal fighters in the world

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As America's elite, U.S. Navy SEALs are constantly called for operations around the globe.

With a motto of "the only easy day was yesterday," the average day in the life of a SEAL is usually anything but. Whether they are deploying to global hotspots, honing new skills in some of the military's toughest schools, or going through training evolutions stateside, SEALs learn to be ready for anything.

Here are 19 photos showing what they do best around the world.

SEE ALSO: Why Green Berets are the smartest, most lethal fighters in the world

SEE ALSO: Step aboard the USS Zumwalt, the largest destroyer the US Navy has ever built

SEAL qualification training students from Class 268 take aim during a 36-round shooting test ranging from 100, 200 and 300 yards at Camp Pendleton. SQT is a six-month training course that all SEAL candidates must complete before being assigned to a SEAL team.

An East Coast-based U.S. Navy SEAL practices shooting drills at the Naval Special Warfare Eagle Haven Indoor Shooting Range at Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek-Fort Story.

Navy SEALs demonstrate a special patrol insertion/extraction from an MH-60S Sea Hawk helicopter during a capabilities demonstration as part of the 2009 Veterans Day Ceremony and Muster XXIV at the National Navy UDT-SEAL Museum in Fort Pierce, Fla. The annual muster is held at the museum, which is located on the original training grounds of the Scouts and Raiders.

When sailors hit the Navy SEAL training grinder, they'll undergo what's considered the hardest military training on earth in attempts to earn the Trident.

Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL (BUD/S) training uses the sandy beaches of Coronado, California, to push candidates beyond their mental and physical limits to see if they can endure and be welcomed into the Special Warfare community.

Roughly 75% of all BUD/S candidates drop out of training, leaving many to wonder what, exactly, it takes to survive the program and graduate. Well, former Navy SEAL Jeff Nichols is here to break it down and give you a few tips for finding success at BUD/S.

SEE ALSO: These are the 15 countries with the most troops ready to fight right now

1. Diversify your training

According to Nichols, the ability to sustain yourself through various types of physical training will only help your odds of succeeding at BUD/S. Incorporate various exercise types, variable rest periods, and a wide array of resistances into your training regimen.

2. Get massages

When candidates aren't in training, it's crucial that they heal themselves up. Massages improve the body's circulation and can cut down recovery time. That being said, avoid deep-tissue massages. That type of intense treatment can actually extend your healing time.

3. Find sleep wherever possible

If you can avoid staying up late, you should. Nichols encourages candidates to take naps whenever possible. Even if its only a quick, 20-minute snooze, get that rest in as often as possible.

• The first four boys have been rescued from the cave in Thailand where their soccer team has been trapped for two weeks.
• The Thai Navy SEALs, who are leading the rescue mission with divers and help from other countries, are posting encouraging messages on their Facebook page.
• A photo the Thai Navy SEALs posted shows three rescue workers grabbing each other by the arms in a show of unity.

The first four boys who have been stuck in a cave in Thailand for two weeks were heroically rescued on Sunday.

Before, during, and after the rescue, the Thai Navy SEALs leading the rescue mission kept people updated by posting encouraging messages on their Facebook page.

Right before the rescue mission started, the Navy SEALs posted a picture on their Facebook page of three people grabbing each other by the arms. According to the AP, the caption on the photo refers to the name of the boys' soccer team and says "We, the Thai team and the international team, will bring the Wild Boars home."

On Sunday night, the Navy SEALS confirmed on their Facebook page that four of the children had been rescued. They posted that "the 4th Wild Boar is out of the cave" and was rescued at 7:47 p.m. local time. A previous post from a few minutes earlier noted that the 3rd boy had been rescued.

A post following the rescue of the first four boys combined Thai and English. According to the AP's translation, the post begins by saying "Have sweet dreams everyone. Good night," in Thai. That Thai is followed by, in English, "Hooyah,"a morale-boosting word used by the US Navy.

According to the Guardian, the mission includes 40 Thai divers and 50 international divers with teams from Australia, the US, the UK, and China aiding in the efforts.

A former Thai Navy SEAL died on Friday while placing oxygen tanks in the cave in preparation for the rescue.

Officials said the operation would return on Monday to begin rescuing the eight other boys of the Wild Boars soccer team and their 25-year-old coach. Rescuing all 13 members of the soccer team could take days to complete, depending on the rainfall.

SEE ALSO: These photos show the scale and complexity of the efforts to rescue the Thai soccer team stuck in a flooded cave

SEE ALSO: Former Thai navy SEAL working to rescue soccer team trapped in a cave has died

Join the conversation about this story »

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• Jocko Willink is a retired Navy SEAL commander, best-selling author, and popular podcast host.
• The best advice he'd give his younger self is to not let his ego control him.
• He noted that you never outgrow thinking you know more than you actually do.

If you can't control it, your ego can destroy everything in your life.

That's according to former Navy SEAL commanders Jocko Willink and Leif Babin, who teach this fundamental lesson through their leadership consulting firm Echelon Front.

Business Insider recently sat down with Willink to discuss his new book "Discipline Equals Freedom: Field Manual." We asked him for the advice he would give his 20-year-old self, and he said it taps into this idea about ego.

While it may seem obvious that you know more about the world at age 30 than age 20, Willink said it's important to realize that you're never old enough to outgrow your ego — and it can make you susceptible to reckless decisions.

"If I went back to my 20-year-old self what I would tell my 20-year-old self is, 'You don't know anything,'" Willink said. "Because everyone when they're young, they think they know what's going on in the world and you don't. And when I was 25, I thought that 20-year-old didn't know anything but I thought my 25-year-old self knew everything. He didn't know anything either. And when I was 30, the 25-year-old didn't know anything. And then when I was 35, the 30-year-old didn't know anything."

Willink reflected on this in a previous interview with Business Insider. "When I get asked, you know, what makes somebody fail as a SEAL leader, 99.9% of the time it doesn't have anything to do with their physical skills or their mental toughness," he said. "What it has to do with is the fact that the person's not humble enough to accept responsibility when things go wrong, accept that there might be better ways to do things, and they just have a closed mind. They can't change."

He noted that being ego-driven can, at times, be constructive. You want to be competitive, you want to prove yourself, Willink explained — but you need to realize that your opinions may not be the best available.

Willink said that this really crystallized for him when he began training young SEALS and saw how some were headstrong about beliefs that his experience taught him definitively were incorrect.

"And I would do my best to help them along that road and realize, 'You're not quite as smart as you think you are,'" Willink said.

SEE ALSO: A former Navy SEAL commander says you can transform your life with 5 simple choices in the next 24 hours

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• Jocko Willink developed an intense daily morning-workout routine based on exercises that helped him as a Navy SEAL.
• Willink recommends everyone begin their morning with exercise.
• He broke down his four-day approach to working out.

Regardless of when you read this, Jocko Willink woke up today before dawn to get in a hard workout.

As a Navy SEAL, Willink learned the extent to which the human body and mind can be pushed. And after he retired in 2010, after commanding the most decorated US special-operations unit of the Iraq War, he decided to share with the public some of the lessons he learned about discipline.

His new book, "Discipline Equals Freedom: Field Manual," is a practical collection of the leadership philosophy he has taught with his former platoon leader, Leif Babin, through their leadership consulting firm Echelon Front, as well as exercise and diet routines he's discussed on his hit podcast.

The book contains three detailed sets of four-day exercise routines for beginner, intermediate, and advanced skill levels. Willink, who has a decked-out home gym in his garage and a black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu, typically will stick with the advanced exercises, but he'll work in some lighter basics when he's traveling or recovering from a string of heavy workouts.

Business Insider recently asked Willink about his overall workout philosophy and broke down his approach into components that could be adapted for any fitness level.

SEE ALSO: A former Navy SEAL commander says you can transform your life with 5 simple choices in the next 24 hours

Get out of bed while everyone else sleeps.

Willink shares an image of his digital wristwatch with his thousands of Twitter followers every morning, and it always reads about 4:30 a.m. It's a habit he picked up in the SEALs after noticing that the highest performers woke up the earliest.

As a civilian, it can be easy to have your entire day filled, and exercise usually doesn't get top priority. Willink's advice is simple: Start going to bed earlier, get your gym clothes ready before you go to sleep, get up while the rest of your coworkers are sleeping, and jump into your gym shorts.

Warm up.

You need to get your blood flowing and your muscles loosened up before you begin working out. Willink's typical warm-up is as follows:

• Hang on a pull-up bar or equivalent for 10 to 15 seconds.

• Hold a push-up position for 10 to 15 seconds.

• Get on the ground, face down, and stretch your hips, arching your head to ceiling to stretch abs.

• Raise hips to the sky and stretch your back (aka the downward dog pose in yoga).

• Do a slow squat and hold at bottom for 10 to 15 seconds.

• Do a burpee.

• Do a few jumping jacks.

• Do a pull-up, do a push-up, do a "dive-bomber push-up" (aka "chaturanga dandasana" in yoga), do a slow squat to the ground and up, do a burpee. End this cycle with five jumping jacks; repeat the cycle, now doing two repetitions of each exercise, each set followed by 10 jumping jacks; repeat the cycle, now doing three repetitions of each exercise, each set followed by 15 jumping jacks; repeat the cycle with this pattern until reaching five repetitions and 25 jumping jacks.

After warming up, consider doing very light movements of the exercises you're about to do, for the purpose of loosening up while also working on muscle memory.

Day 1: Pull.

Pulling exercises that Willink does are based on the standard pull-up motion. "And all you need to do pull-ups is a set of rings or a pull-up bar and you can handle that workout."

Willink is a fan of weighted kipping pull-ups, wherein you use a swinging motion with your shoulders and hips while adding weight to your body through a vest or other means, but it's important to first master standard pull-ups with various grips.

• Jocko Willink is a retired US Navy SEAL commander, best-selling author, and popular podcast host.
• His experience taught him there are two types of stress to deal with.
• Staying calm and focused required confronting these two types, and knowing when to prepare and when to accept.

As a US Navy SEAL commander, Jocko Willink had to approve and oversee missions for his two platoons, communicate with his bosses up the chain of command, and coordinate plans with troops from other branches and allied countries. He and everyone he worked alongside had to do their jobs under a near-constant threat of attack.

Despite these conditions, Willink led SEAL Team 3 Task Unit Bruiser to become the most highly decorated US special operations unit of the Iraq War.

The experience taught him, to put it lightly, how to deal with stress that makes office anxiety not really seem so bad.

Business Insider recently spoke with Willink about his new book about leadership and health lessons learned from his time as a SEAL, "Discipline Equals Freedom: Field Manual," and he explained how, most of the time, "We're either facing stress of things that we can control and stress of things that we can't control."

When it's out of your control

In war, the most ironclad plans can be shaken by a surprise attack from the enemy.

"If it's stress of things that we cannot control, what you have to do is you mitigate that stress as much as possible," Willink said. "You've planned, you've trained, you've done everything you can in your power to mitigate the stress that's facing you. And then after that, there's nothing you can do. So, you have to let that one go."

Willink may have learned this in an extremely high-stakes setting, but it's an insight that's applicable to everyone, both personally and professionally. Prepare, accept, and then adapt. It's not productive agonizing over what was out of your power, because "worrying about them is taking away energy from what you should be doing, which is concentrating on the things that you actually can control."

When you can confront it

As commander, Willink instituted a philosophy he dubbed "extreme ownership," which is also the title of the book he wrote with his business partner and one of his platoon leaders, Leif Babin. It's about taking full responsibility for everything that happens under your watch.

"A lot of times people have something that they're afraid of," Willink told us. "They've got a client that's mad at them. They've got a project that's due. And they let that stress hang over their head. I don't let that happen.

"If I've got a problem with one of my clients that needs to get solved, guess what I'm going to do? I'm going to call them up and I'm going to say, 'Hey, here's what's going on. This is the situation. This thing went sideways. I didn't expect it. Now it's going to take me some more time to get you what you need.' But I'm going to do that upfront."

Willink said the approach is a remedy for procrastination. "I'm not going to let that thing hang over my head and wait till the last minute and be scared of it," he said. "No. If I've got something do. I'm going to attack it. I'm going to attack that stress."

SEE ALSO: A retired Navy SEAL commander who wakes up at 4:30 a.m. to work out shares his weekly fitness routine

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• Jocko Willink is a retired Navy SEAL commander, best-selling author, and popular podcast host.
• His new book is a "field manual" for instilling discipline into your life.
• He explains why you need to stop accepting snacks at the office, and why he regularly chooses to go 72 hours without food.

As commander of US Navy SEAL Team 3 Task Unit Bruiser, Jocko Willink led his men with the mantra of "discipline equals freedom." It's the idea that by developing strict procedures and guidelines and sticking to them, you will actually benefit from a freedom to focus more clearly on the objective at hand, rather than how you're going to attack it.

Willink has been retired from the SEALs for seven years now, and passes on his philosophy of discipline through his leadership consulting firm Echelon Front, his podcast, and books. His latest project is "Discipline Equals Freedom: Field Manual," which includes insights into revamping your health through simple changes.

Willink told Business Insider how he approaches his diet, and what anyone can adopt from his approach to feeling good, having energy, and staying in fighting shape.

He ignores free food

One of your colleagues was feeling generous and decided to bring in a box of donuts, a bag of bagels, or a couple of pizzas into the break room for everyone to share.

"And they're doing that thinking that they're being nice," Willink said. "They're actually sabotaging the health of their coworkers."

As Willink put it, there's no good that can come from spiking your blood sugar with these carbohydrate-rich foods that, in the case of donuts or pizza, are loaded with saturated fat and sodium.

"So what do you do in those situations?" he said. "It's really easy. Don't eat. Don't eat the donuts. Don't eat the bagels. Don't eat the slab of pizza."

"We have food all around us all the time, and if we haven't eaten for three hours we think we're starving," he said. "You're not starving. Human beings can go for 30 days without food."

Skip the free food and either get something healthy for your breakfast or lunch, or skip that meal or snack completely, he said.

He cuts down on carbs in favor of clean protein and vegetables

Willink said that he "pretty much" follows the Paleo diet, which is based on the notion that our caveman ancestors stuck to eating meat, vegetables, fruits, and nuts.

Paleoanthropologists have disproven the basic premise that the modern human digestive system is the same as that of early humans, but research also suggests that a diet of unprocessed, hormone-free meat sources coupled with fresh fruits and vegetables has clear benefits.

There's a good chance, especially if you're an American, that your diet is filled with processed foods and excess carbs from comfort foods (like donuts and bagels), and they're probably making you sluggish.

Willink said he doesn't say everyone should follow the Paleo diet, but that he mainly does so because, "That's when I perform well. That's when I feel good, and so that's how I eat."

He fasts regularly

Willink told us that "when I was a young enlisted SEAL I carried a radio. Radios are heavy. The batteries that go with the radios are heavy. So the last thing on my list of things to bring was food. So I would eat very minimally out in the field."

He said that during some five-day missions, for example, he'd be averaging just 500 calories a day. "And what I'd actually end up doing is feeling better," he said. "When I came out of the field I'd feel good, and I realized then that there's probably something to this idea of eating less."

After the SEALs, he said, he came across research that indicated that his assumption was true. The latest research into intermittent fasting has proven that it is effective for healthy weight loss, and that there are strong indications it can also boost energy and muscle recovery, and improve sleep.

Willink said that while he doesn't strictly schedule his 24-hour fasts, he averages one every two weeks. He also does a 72-hour fast once per quarter. During his fasts, he'll drink plenty of tea and will allow himself to chew on sunflower seeds, which he said helps overcome the desire to eat.

As for those hunger pangs, he likes to personify them into a bully.

"When you're getting bullied by your emotions, you're getting bullied by your feelings, you should take a little bit of pride in that, he said. "So when you feel hungry and that hunger bully starts to creep up on you and and pull you towards the donuts, slap that bully in the face. That should feel good. You should like that. And that's for a good reason, because you did the right thing. You beat up the hunger bully. Let him have it."

SEE ALSO: A retired Navy SEAL commander who wakes up at 4:30 a.m. to work out shares his weekly fitness routine

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• Jocko Willink is a retired Navy SEAL commander, a best-selling author, and the host of a popular podcast.
• His new book is a "field manual" for instilling discipline in your life.
• He has a simple nightly ritual that prepares him for the next day.

As the commander of US Navy SEAL Team 3 Task Unit Bruiser, Jocko Willink coined a mantra for his troops: "Discipline equals freedom."

It's the idea that by developing and sticking to tested procedures and guidelines, you're free to focus on the mission at hand, rather than be distracted by the process, and therefore are ready to adapt to the unexpected.

Willink's new book, "Discipline Equals Freedom: Field Manual," is a collection of insights and routines he has shared through his leadership-consulting firm, Echelon Front, and his hit podcast.

Business Insider recently sat down with Willink, who says there are two things he does every night to get a running start the next morning — and that anyone can use them.

Prepare your gym clothes tonight.

As soon as Willink wakes up — at 4:30 a.m. — he heads to the home gym he built in his garage. And even if you don't want to try one of the workout routines in the "Field Manual," you should exercise, Willink said.

"Doesn't matter if it's going for a walk around the block, going for a jog, doing some calisthenics, lifting weights, going to a pool and swimming — you name it," he said. "But do something that gets your blood flowing and gets your mind in the game."

The biggest obstacle for a person developing a workout routine is putting in extra effort to make it fit into their schedule. To make it easier on yourself, Willink said, prepare your workout gear at night so you can throw it on as soon as you slide out of bed.

Start going to sleep earlier so you can get up earlier, Willink said. Your gym clothes will be waiting for you.

Finish making tomorrow's to-do list

As a SEAL, Willink developed a habit of kicking off his day by moving, not thinking. The way he sees it, you're defeating the purpose of waking up early if you gradually shake off your lethargy and plan your day over a cup of coffee. Go ahead and drink some coffee, but then go work out instead.

To facilitate this, make tomorrow's to-do list tonight. You already know what you have to accomplish tomorrow, and you're better off planning your day quickly and efficiently.

"Don't think in the morning," Willink said. "That's a big mistake that people make. They wake up in the morning, and they start thinking. Don't think. Just execute the plan. The plan is: The alarm clock goes off, you get up, you go work out. Get some."

SEE ALSO: A retired Navy SEAL commander who wakes up at 4:30 a.m. to work out shares his weekly fitness routine

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• In June, a US Army Green Beret stationed in Mali was killed by strangulation.
• Two US Navy SEALs are being investigated in the incident.
• Sources say the Green Beret turned down money from the SEALs, who were allegedly pocketing money intended for informants.

The mysterious death of US Army Staff Sgt. Logan Melgar is under scrutiny after the Green Beret, who was killed by strangulation, reportedly declined to accept money from a dubious scheme.

A Daily Beast report, sourced from five service members in the special-operations community, says that a portion of funds used to pay informants in Mali for intelligence were allegedly pocketed by members of the elite SEAL Team Six. The SEALs' actions were reportedly discovered by Melgar, who eventually turned down the money when he was offered a cut.

Prior to his death, Melgar reportedly told his wife of the problems he had with two of the SEALs, and was going to elaborate further when he went home, the Daily Beast said.

Following Meglar's death, suspicions were raised after two SEALs alleged Melgar was participating in combative exercises, the military's version of martial arts, while drunk, the report continued. However, Melgar's autopsy report said that there were no drugs or alcohol in his system, a former military official said to the Daily Beast.

The New York Times first reported that two SEALs were being investigated, due to the circumstances of the incident. According to The Times, investigators were looking into whether Melgar was strangled, and his superiors believed foul play may have been involved. Melgar's death was determined to have been "a homicide by asphyxiation," according to military officials cited by The Times.

The two SEALs were reportedly flown out of Mali and placed on administrative leave, shortly after Melgar's death.

Melgar, a 34-year-old Texan, deployed to Afghanistan twice. He was assigned to Mali with the 3rd Special Forces Group to help train locals and support counterterrorism operations.

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• Jocko Willink is a retired SEAL commander, bestselling author, and popular podcast host.
• His new book is a "field manual" of insights and routines to build discipline.
• He broke down his morning routine, which starts at 4:30 a.m.

As commander of US Navy SEAL Team 3 Task Unit Bruiser, Jocko Willink instilled in his men the mantra "Discipline equals freedom."

It's the idea that by setting and following strict procedures and guidelines, you'll free yourself to focus on the mission at hand, rather than be distracted by the process.

And it's why Willink still has an intense morning routine that starts at 4:30 a.m., even though he retired from the SEALs in 2010.

Business Insider recently sat down with Willink to discuss his new book, "Discipline Equals Freedom: Field Manual" — a collection of insights and routines from his leadership consulting form Echelon Front and hit podcast— and he explained why he considers the start to the day so important.

He wakes up at 4:30

Willink explained in the 2015 book "Extreme Ownership," cowritten with one of his platoon commanders, Leif Babin, that he noticed as a new SEAL that the highest performers he served with were the ones who woke up earliest, beginning their days while others were sleeping. Willink quickly adopted the habit and has long had his alarm set to 4:30 a.m.

"That nice, soft pillow, and the warm blanket, and it's all comfortable and no one wants to leave that comfort — but if you can wake up early in the morning, get a head start on everyone else that's still sleeping, get productive time doing things that you need to do — that's a huge piece to moving your life forward," Willink said. "And so get up early. I know it's hard. I don't care. Do it anyways."

Willink usually won't need more than five or six hours of sleep, but he clarified that he's not asking people to run on fumes. If waking up early leaves you exhausted, go to bed earlier, he said, and don't compromise your schedule on the weekend.

He holds himself accountable

After his alarm goes off, Willink will wash up quickly and then take a photo of his wristwatch to show his Twitter followers what time his day is starting. (It includes the date, so he can't cheat.)

It's a habit he started a couple years ago to both force himself to stick to what he preaches, as well as inspire others to wake up early.

He heads to his garage gym to work out

Willink throws on his workout clothes — which he conveniently laid out the night before to reduce procrastinating in the morning — and heads to his garage, which he's converted into a decked-out gym.

He's got a four day workout rotation (pull, push, lift, squat), and each day's routine is preceded by a warm-up and followed with core exercises and cardio work.

Willink's workout usually lasts around an hour, and the cardio portion can range from a few intense minutes to a half-hour run. All of this is typically wrapped by 6:00 a.m.

He might hit the beach

Willink grew up in Connecticut but moved to San Diego for the SEAL base there, and decided to stay. He's taken advantage of his surroundings and will often go to the beach for a quick swim or surf session. And if the weather's especially nice, he'll do his cardio on the beach, too.

He'll then clean up and get to work

After he's done exercising, he'll shower and get himself ready for the day.

He'll usually have a handful of nuts rather than an actual breakfast (if it's not one of his fasting days), and won't have a meal until around noon.

He'll begin work for Echelon Front or his solo stuff, like his podcast, by the time most people are just waking up.

SEE ALSO: A retired Navy SEAL commander who wakes up at 4:30 a.m. to work out shares his weekly fitness routine

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The two US Navy SEALs who authorities suspect killed US Army Staff Sgt. Logan Melgar in a diplomatic compound in Bamako, Mali, may face the death penalty if convicted, a legal expert told Business Insider.

Investigators have ruled Melgar's death a homicide by strangulation, and a recent report in The Daily Beast cited five sources in the special-operations community as saying the SEALs, who have not been publicly identified, killed Melgar after he discovered they had illegally pocketed money used to pay informants.

Lawrence Brennan, a former US Navy captain who's an expert on naval law, told Business Insider that although the Navy had not executed a sailor in more than 150 years, this case was extraordinary.

"If the reported facts were established, the murder of Staff Sgt. Melgar would be among the most aggravating factors and could justify referral to courts-martial as capital cases," Brennan told Business Insider.

According to the law, "the death penalty is available in cases of pre-meditated murder, as appears possible in this case," Brennan said.

Brennan said the SEALs could stand before the military equivalent of a grand jury, where capital punishment would be on the table.

Melgar, a 34-year-old Texan, deployed to Afghanistan twice. He was assigned to Mali with the 3rd Special Forces Group to help train locals and support counterterrorism operations.

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• In June, a US Army Green Beret stationed in Mali was killed by strangulation.
• Two US Navy SEALs are being investigated in the incident.
• A witness reportedly told officials that at least two Navy SEALs felt slighted by the Green Beret and planned on getting back at him.
• The witness' account comes amid a report that the Green Beret may have declined to accept illicit cash from the SEALs.

A witness in the investigation of the death of US Army Staff Sgt. Logan Melgar shed light on a possible motive, according to military documents obtained by NBC News.

The witness recounted that Petty Officer Tony DeDolph, a Navy SEAL, said he and others wanted to "get back" at Melgar, a Green Beret, for what they perceived as a slight against them, NBC News reported Monday. The witness in the report alleged that several people were upset at Melgar "after they felt he intentionally tried to evade them while he was driving to a party." DeDolph allegedly told a witness that he "choked [him] out," referring to Melgar.

DeDolph suggested that he and fellow SEAL Adam Cranston Matthews used duct tape on Melgar, the witness said, according to NBC News. The witness also said that the SEALs, who may have been afraid that their actions could be viewed as hazing, did not mention the duct tape in their interviews with investigators.

Investigators ruled Melgar's June death a "homicide by strangulation." While he lived in the embassy housing with the SEALs, he reportedly told his wife he was having issues with two of them, The Daily Beast reported Sunday.

"If true that the Navy SEALs were involved in the death of Staff Sgt. Melgar, this is something that would be a huge tragedy and something that I have not witnessed in my entire career," retired Brig. Gen. Donald Bolduc, the former head of special operations troops in Africa, said to NBC News.

Melgar's death is under heavy scrutiny after The New York Times and the Daily Beast reported that investigators were looking into whether the SEALs, members of the elite SEAL Team Six, were skimming a portion of funds intended to compensate confidential informants.

Melgar reportedly discovered their actions and turned down the money when he was offered a cut, according to sources in the Daily Beast.

DeDolph initially told investigators that he and Melgar were wrestling at 4 a.m., and that Melgar was drunk, according to NBC News. Matthews was also present, according to the report. DeDolph and Matthews said they all fell onto Melgar's bed before they realized Melgar was not breathing.

An autopsy report reportedly contradicts the assertion that Melgar was drunk. A former military official told the Daily Beast the document said there were no drugs or alcohol in Melgar's system. Melgar's friends and comrades told The Times that Melgar did not drink.

DeDolph and Matthews were reportedly flown out of Mali and placed on administrative leave, shortly after Melgar's death.

Melgar, a 34-year-old Texan, deployed to Afghanistan twice. He was assigned to Mali with the 3rd Special Forces Group to help train locals and support counterterrorism operations.

SEE ALSO: Green Beret killed by strangulation reportedly turned down illegal money from Navy SEALs

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• Jocko Willink is a retired Navy SEAL commander with a leadership consulting firm, bestselling books, and a hit podcast.
• His latest book is a "field manual" of routines for instilling discipline.
• Willink's daily schedule includes waking up before dawn to work out, studying military history for his show, and training in Brazilian jiu-jitsu.

Jocko Willink retired from the US Navy SEALs in 2010, but he hasn't eased his intense approach to life.

As the commander of SEAL Team 3 Task Unit Bruiser, the most highly decorated special operations unit in the Iraq War, Willink led his men with the mantra "discipline equals freedom." That is, by developing and sticking to routines and guidelines, you can free yourself to stick to the mission and not worry about protocol.

He realized when he retired that his leadership philosophy was applicable outside of the military, and today is a bestselling author, host of a hit podcast, head of a growing athletic brand, and is the cofounder of Echelon Front, a leadership consulting firm alongside one of his platoon leaders, Leif Babin.

Willink recently visited Business Insider to discuss his new book, "Discipline Equals Freedom: Field Manual," and gave us some insight into his daily routine.

It begins at 4:30 in the morning.

SEE ALSO: A retired Navy SEAL commander who wakes up at 4:30 a.m. to work out shares his weekly fitness routine

Willink wakes up every morning, even on the weekend, at 4:30 a.m.

It's a habit he picked up in the SEALs.

He wrote in his book "Extreme Ownership," cowritten with Babin, that he noticed as a young SEAL that the highest performers he served with were those who woke up earliest, beginning their days while everyone else slept.

To both hold himself accountable and inspire others, Willink posts a photo of his watch each morning to his Twitter page.

Then it's time to head to his garage, which he's converted to a full-blown gym. He'll work out for about an hour, not counting cardio.

Willink lays out his workout clothes before going to sleep each night so that he can get active as quickly as possible, regardless of whether he's feeling groggy or energetic.

He's got a four day workout rotation (pull, push, lift, squat), and each day's routine is preceded by a warm-up and followed with core exercises and cardio work. You can find a more complete breakdown of the routine on Business Insider, and an even more in-depth guide is in "Discipline Equals Freedom."

Willink takes advantage of living in San Diego, and regularly hits the beach after his workout for a quick surf session.

Willink grew up in Connecticut but moved to San Diego for the SEAL base there, and decided to stay. He likes to take advantage of living near the beach, and if it's not surfing weather, he might go for a run on the sand.