[REPOST] Discipline Now...Freedom Later
Note: Originally written August of 2023. This fits the theme of procrastination and how to arm ourselves against it. This blog hyperlinks of other blogs I’ve written that can help support the point. Engage with them for a deeper understanding and greater impact.
You can read the books. You can watch the videos or hear the podcasts. Discipline is hard. Moreover, self-discipline. Which is what discipline is based from, where it’s born from. Where it all starts, within you. Zig Ziglar had a line on motivation , “that it doesn’t last, well neither does bathing which is why we recommend it daily.” The same applies to discipline.
Discipline, rather, self-discipline is simply the ability to keep the promises you decided to make for yourself. By doing what you said you would. Each and every day. Discipline alone doesn’t last, which is why you should reinforce it daily.
Today its discipline, tomorrow its freedom. That is what we’re after.
How do you do that? I’ll share what has worked for me.
Sleep
It’s common sense and as we know common sense is not so common. Go to bed at the same time, preferably early each day and wake up early. This is fundamental. Put down the phone, put down the TV remote and go to sleep. Waking up early allows you to have slow time in the morning that can be yours. So that you can do be with yourself or so that you discover the time you have always wished you had. Don’t sleep less than you should. My mistake was sleeping in the realm of 4-5 hours per night for years. I do not recommend that.
Set Yourself Up
Each night you should set yourself up for the next day. Meal prep. Set up your work bag or work station. Pack kids lunches. Pick out your clothes. Have a firm bed time and a wake up time. Know what you will have for breakfast and set up the coffee in advance. You may even want to buy a coffee pot that turns on automatically each morning on its own. Set yourself up with a routine.
No Phone
For the first hour that you are awake don’t look at the phone. Emergencies obviously take precedence. But all else, can wait. Email, texts, social media notifications. It can all wait. Do not invite the outside world into your mind so early after waking. It’s about control, about exhibiting self-discipline. And when you look at your phone first upon waking up, you’re giving your control away. You’re inviting something, anything, to take you out of the rhythm you want.
Do the essential
This has been referenced many times on this blog. Do the work that matters to you and that’s important. Say yes to the things that matter to you and no to the things that don’t. Derek Sivers has a filter, “hell yeah or no,” as a way of deciding. So if you’re presented with a few options, do any of those meet the hell yeah benchmark? Hell yeah, you want to do it. Hell yeah, you cannot pass that up. Or no. It’s not for you. Now is not the time. No, your plate is full enough. No, you are managing all that you can at the moment. By saying no you have the double benefit of doing what you say yes to, better.
Do the hard things first
This one is helpful. Your goals, ambitious pursuits or creative projects, when you do the hard things first, it gives you a boost of confidence. The hard thing is gone so the rest is easier and the rest of the day is smooth. The hard thing could be waking up early. Or reading since you don’t have time the rest of the day. It can be the workout, the meditation, or writing towards your book. By tackling the hard thing first you prepare yourself for what’s to come the rest of the day. You show up with no fear. With Confidence and courage.
Baby Steps
Dave Ramsey and his company, Ramsey Solutions have revolutionalized the way people handle money and pay down debt. The end goal being financially independent. Baby steps work. His program of getting people out of debt works because there is a map to follow. Steps to walk and they happen in baby steps. Taking this approach allows for the build up in momentum towards paying down debt. Cultivate this same approach to anything you want to do. Lose weight. Save money. Read. Organize your room or home. Start small and work your way there.
Be flexible
Some days you’ll come up short. And that’s ok. In matters of discipline or the pursuit of it, you won’t always make it. You won’t always hit the mark. So be flexible that you might miss a day. You may not be your best. Be flexible that what worked yesterday, won’t today. Be mindful and accept that today will require something different. Michael Jordan has missed shots. Beyonce has missed a note. Tom Brady has thrown to the wrong team. Jerry Seinfield failed 66 times before becoming a star. Be kind to yourself. And learn from what didn’t work.
Paul Graham’s advice
Paul Graham recently wrote what it means to do great work and what I like to call, find work you love. Approach the work you do with curiosity, delight and desire. Not only will you do great work, you’ll also find work you love. When it comes to discipline, nothing gets easier than when you’re good at the thing and love the thing. Just be about the work. Nothing else matters. Be about the task in front of you, everything else can wait.
Be strict with yourself
Turn the handle in the shower all the way to the right. Take that cold shower. Do one more rep on the squat rack. Run one more lap. Do one more question. Make one more cold call. Have a high bar that you hold yourself to. Be on time. Be early. Stay later. Do what needs to be done so that you can keep the promises you made, to yourself. Seneca would say, “treat the body rigorously so it’s not disobedient to the mind.”
Put your ass there
Steven Pressfield wrote a book titled, Put Your Ass Where Your Heart Wants To Be. Meaning get in the saddle. Sit in the chair you need to sit in. Or stand in the position you need to be in. Show up, courageously. Be obsessed. Do you want to be there or don’t you? If you think you can, if you think you can’t, you’re right. Commit. Surrender.
Walk with your head high
You will fall. You will stumble. The odds will be stacked against you. Stand firm in your place. Walk with an erect posture and regain control of yourself and the situation at hand. You will not bat .1000. You will not make 100% of the shots you take. But, stand up and dust yourself off and try again.
Don’t aim for perfection
Too often many of you will not try because you’re waiting for things to be just right. Others will work themselves to the bone and burn out chasing perfection. Well, your guaranteeing that you’ll fail. Strive for progress, even if it’s small. Not perfection.
Try your best
Admiral Rickover wants to learn about Jimmy Carter and his time at the Naval Academy. Rickover, basically invents the nuclear navy and he interviews all prospective candidates himself. So as Jimmy Carter is being interviewed, he feels proud, so he goes down the list of accomplishments while at the Naval Academy. His grades, his performance and being 59th in a class of over 800 students. Rickover asks, “did you always do your best?” Carter, who would later become President of the United States, answers with a no. And this haunts Carter for the rest of his life.
Do your best, each day, in all that you do. Well being is realized by small steps, but it’s no small thing.
Gain evidence, not confidence
It’s game 5 of the 2006 NBA finals and the series is tied 2-2 between the Miami Heat and the Dallas Mavericks. There is 1.9 second left in the game and Dwayne Wade, Miami Heat star is about to go to the free throw line and take two shots. As a professional basketball player you know the game. As an elite pro like Wade, you know it better than most. Wade knows that games like this are decided at the free-throw line. So the night before, it’s midnight and Wade is in the gym, practicing his free-throw shots.
Wade knows the work is the reward.
This is how you cultivate discipline. So in that gym, after midnight, the night before game 5 of the NBA finals, Dwayne Wade is taking practice shots. He has his cousin with him trash talking the entire time as he is taking his shots. Why? To prepare himself for what’s to come. So that he can simulate the environment he will be in before it happens.
Back to game 5 with 1.9 seconds left. Dwayne Wade is confident because he has the evidence. He took 200 of these exact shots last night, before the game. Wade makes both of his free-throw shots and the Miami Heat wins 101-100 and takes the lead in a seven game series, 3-2. In the next game, game 6, Dwayne Wade scores 36 points and leads the charge to win the championship for the Miami Heat, the first championship in team history.
Don’t be lazy
It’s quite expensive to be lazy. You’re deferred action or maintenance will come due, at some point. And when it does, it will cost you, plus interest. Moreover, you lose so much by being lazy. Time slips away. Procrastination sets in. And you begin to hate yourself. On the road to a disciplined life, you will have moments where you want to stop. Quit. Take a day off. Do not fall for it. Stay on track. Do not fall off the wagon.
Balance it out
Too often, just like in this very blog post, discipline is talked about in one way. Simply doing the thing and nothing else. Well, in being a disciplined person, you also have to know when to stop. For example, athletes are often injured due to over training than they are actually playing. They don’t know when to turn it off. However, rest, is just as important as a rigorous training regimen. Give yourself an order. Discipline, rather, self-discipline is the act of balance. The right amount. Are you disciplined enough to stop just as you are to start?
Read
You’ve made it this far in the blog. You enjoy reading. It’s a great way to live many lives, by reading. This blog is a discourse on life. And it’s struggles because we all have them. Reading is a great way to explore the world and our minds. I love what Bismarck has to say about acquiring experience. Through the experience of others we learn a great amount. So go do that. Read or listen to audio books. Go have conversations with the living and dead through a book.
Health is wealth
Generally, what you do to your body you feel. If you don’t drink enough water or smoke, your body will show signs of that. Self-discipline actually starts with the body, with yourself. With the choices you make of how much sugar to eat, water to drink, or bad foods to consume. If you put junk in you get junk out. If you often feel like crap after eating, then you will often approach everything you do with that attitude. And that can be a great way to ruin things before you get started. Find a meal plan. Go on long, wondering walks. Join a gym or a workout group. How you do anything is how you do everything. And in order to get there, you first have to start with yourself, here.
Thought Provoking Questions : What does your disciplined life look like? What are you working towards now?
Daily I write and release a daily meditation. A quick read. Sharing wisdom and asking thought-provoking questions. Influenced by the obstacles, success and failures in my life and of others. Using history, books, current events, philosophy, and ancient wisdom. These writings are actionable, thought-provoking, designed to make your life better.
These writings are not to push a way of thinking on the reader or to force you into a certain philosophy or methodology. Rather to give you practical and real ways to handle life. This is an added tool. My writing is simply a discussion, a discourse, with all the material I read, watch, hear and consume.
What are your thoughts on this piece? Comment below…