"If you want to be better, get after it"
About this Quote
The subtext is an argument about agency. "If you want" sounds permissive, even soft, but it's a trapdoor. Desire becomes a test: if you truly want change, you will accept discomfort, routine, and the daily indignities of starting before you're ready. "Better" stays deliberately unspecific because the point isn't a single goal; it's a posture toward effort. That ambiguity is strategic: it lets the listener project their own standard while removing excuses about the "right" plan.
Context matters. Willink comes out of a military culture where outcomes aren't just personal branding; they're tied to team survival, competence, and accountability. "Get after it" is the language of urgency and ownership, the kind used when there's no time for theory and no tolerance for self-pity. In civilian life, that voice sells because it cuts through a crowded marketplace of curated wellness and algorithmic productivity hacks. The quote works by stripping improvement of romance. It treats progress as something earned through repeated, unglamorous aggression toward the task - and it dares you to prove you mean it.
Quote Details
| Topic | Motivational |
|---|---|
| Source | Book: Discipline Equals Freedom: Field Manual (2017) |
| Cite |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Willink, Jocko. (2026, January 24). If you want to be better, get after it. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/if-you-want-to-be-better-get-after-it-184087/
Chicago Style
Willink, Jocko. "If you want to be better, get after it." FixQuotes. January 24, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/if-you-want-to-be-better-get-after-it-184087/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"If you want to be better, get after it." FixQuotes, 24 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/if-you-want-to-be-better-get-after-it-184087/. Accessed 13 Feb. 2026.









