Self-discipline, no money can buy it. It’s something you have to earn. While becoming self-disciplined isn’t hard, it is the long process, that requires continuity and dedication.
First time I started developing true self-discipline was the time I enrolled in the gym. I’ve learned the pleasure of developing my body, and every day when I skipped a workout, I felt like my body is decomposing, creating artificial pain. This artificial pain and the desire to improve me created initial motivation, that in the long run created the habit.
I’ve been to the gym with an idle mind. I’ve been losing motivation and gaining it back again. But what made my gym progress stick, was the fact that I had the habit of going there. Habit propelled with motivation.
Where in all of this do you see self-discipline?
It’s a cycle: motivation – habit – motivation – habit – motivation – habit… Nowhere in this cycle will you encounter the world self-discipline, but on a long enough timeline, someone who never in his life lifted a weight, will think about the pain required to push through that first round of pain is repeated forever (and I promise that first round of pain is the worse, everything goes easier after that).
In the eyes of someone who never did some weight lifting, it seems as if the person doing the activity is investing in superhuman efforts in order to achieve it. While it’s far from superhuman, and far from “that hard”.
After developing a habit of working out…
My reward was sweet. I can’t even connect myself to my former body. And I’ve learned the principle of commitment and I’ve learned to value the slow results it is building.
Often I hear people propelling other people to focus on “instant-results”, and taking massive action towards their goals. I believe that taking massive action and putting yourself through a lot of pain is not only unsustainable, it’s also the main course of the problem in our society.
More on self-discipline
My upcoming book is talking a lot about techniques and mindsets that one needs to acquire in order to develop the required mental muscle that will allow you to “acquire self-discipline”, and thus allowing you to accomplish even the biggest of your goals. If you are serious about developing your self-discipline, I urge you to subscribe to my newsletter, where you will learn among the first about my upcoming book. Find out the ways that helped me develop and grow self-discipline in my life, and in the lives of my friends and clients alike.
