Clarity and Willingness
Every failure traces back to not being clear on what it takes, or not being willing to do it
- Difficulty
- Starter
- Time to result
- ~days to results
- Steps
- 4
- Confidence
- 66%
Clarity and Willingness is a two-part diagnostic Eric uses to explain success and failure in demanding pursuits, from making it through BUDS to succeeding in an unrelated career like being a stockbroker or race car driver. The mechanism is simple: first get completely clear on what the goal actually requires, not just what you want the outcome to be, and second, honestly assess whether you are willing to do that specific work. If either piece is missing, the pursuit fails; if you're clear but genuinely unwilling, the healthy move is to walk away rather than force it. Looking back at his own setbacks, Eric found every one traced to insufficient clarity about the requirement or insufficient willingness to meet it.
Origin
Extracted from The Shawn Ryan Show, from Eric reflecting on why he failed to make a junior-college football roster despite hard work, contrasted with why he made it through BUDS.
Core principles
- 01Failure has exactly two root causes: lack of clarity or lack of willingness
- 02Clarity means knowing precisely what the goal requires, not just wanting it
- 03It's acceptable to be unwilling, as long as you're honest about it
- 04Willingness without clarity wastes effort; clarity without willingness wastes time
- 05Decide before you invest, not after you've already committed halfway
How to run it
- 1
Define the actual requirement
Get specific about what the goal requires in practice, not the outcome you want, before deciding to pursue it.
Pro tip Talk to people who've already done it to get the real requirement, not the public version.
- 2
Test your willingness honestly
Ask whether you are actually willing to do that specific, unglamorous work, not just whether you want the result.
Watch out Wanting the outcome is not the same as being willing to do the process.
- 3
If you're not willing, opt out without guilt
Recognize that being unwilling is a valid answer; forcing yourself into something you're not willing to fully commit to usually ends in failure anyway.
- 4
If clear and willing, commit fully
Once both conditions are met, commit without continuing to relitigate the decision day to day.
In the wild
Eric worked hard trying to make a junior college football team but wasn't clear-eyed about the size and speed gap versus Division I-caliber teammates, and in hindsight wasn't fully willing to do what elite football required. When he set his sights on becoming a Navy SEAL, he researched the specific requirements from a printed recruiter packet and built a summer training program around them with total clarity and willingness.
→ He never played meaningful college football, but made it through BUDS and a 12-year SEAL career, including DEVGRU.
Common mistakes
Pursuing a goal on desire alone
Wanting an outcome without researching its real requirements leads to effort that doesn't match what's actually needed to succeed.
Forcing willingness you don't have
Committing to a goal you're not genuinely willing to do the work for usually produces a slow, demoralizing failure rather than a clean decision to opt out.
Is it for you?
Best for
Anyone evaluating whether to pursue a demanding goal (career change, physical challenge, training program) before investing significant time.
Not ideal for
Goals where the requirements are inherently unknowable in advance, such as highly novel or unprecedented undertakings.
From the transcript
“when I failed at something, it's either I wasn't like crystal clear on what not just what I wanted to do, but what it would…”
“you have to know what it takes and then you have to be willing to do what it takes to succeed. And if you don't,…”
From the episode
#313 Eric Frohardt - DEVGRU Gold Squadron Sniper and Assaulter