MASTERING THE ART OF SELF-DISCIPLINE
“Destiny is not a matter of chance. It’s a matter of choice. It is not a thing to be waited for, it is a thing to be achieved.”~William Jennings Bryant
It’s early in the morning.
Your alarm goes off.
Beep, beep, beep.
You open your eyes, feeling groggy and disoriented.
Still half-asleep, you try to figure out what’s going on.
Last night, feeling particularly inspired, you decided you’d get up early and go for a run before heading to work.
Ahhhh shit.
Your bed feels so warm, so comfy, like a little cocoon.
You close your eyes again. You know you have to make a decision.
You can take the easy way out, hit snooze and go back to sleep…
Or take the highest road, put on your running shoes, and head out the door.
The choice is yours and only yours… What will it be?
***
Every single day, we’re faced with countless little decisions like this one.
In these moments, we have to decide between what’s good for us… and what’s easy, comfortable, or safe.
Individually, most of these decisions are fairly inconsequential.
But together, they add up. They compound.
And it’s the sum of all these micro-decisions that determines our destiny.
Consistently take the higher road and you’ll achieve your biggest goals, reach greatness, and maybe even change the world.
Take the easy way out too often and you’ll live a life of mediocrity,
constantly disappointing yourself… Until one day, you look back in
regret, wondering… “What if?”
***
Imagine for a second that there was a switch in your brain that would
allow you to efficiently smash through your daily to-do list, eat only
foods that are good for you, and never skip a workout again.
How would your life be different then?
You, my friend, have the power to develop that switch.
As Roy F. Baumeister, PhD, author of the book Willpower: Rediscovering the Greatest Human Strength tells us, “willpower
is not a personality trait, a skill or a virtue. Instead, it operates
like a muscle. And as such, it can be strengthened.”
How?
By implementing the strategies I’m about to share with you. Use them
consistently, and you will acquire superhuman willpower, extraordinary
self-discipline, and the ability to get anything done on command.
***
Right here, right now, as you’re reading this, you’re at a crossroads in your life.
You can stick to your old habits and patterns, knowing deep down you’re not living nearly at the level you’re capable of…
Or you can use this article as a springboard towards greatness by implementing the strategies it contains.
Today could be the day you start developing superhuman willpower and discipline.
The choice is yours and only yours… What will it be?
***
1. Meditate like a Zen Buddhist Monk
Kelly McGonigal Ph.D, who teaches a class on The Science of Willpower
at Stanford University, ranks meditation as the #1 way to increase
willpower.
She says, “Practicing mindfulness meditation for a few minutes
each day can actually boost willpower by building up gray matter in
areas of the brain that regulate emotions and govern decision making.”
2. Take the Magic Pill of Exercise
The more I research the benefits of exercise, the more I see it as a magic pill.
Not only does it increase our fitness and mental performance, improve
our mood and sleep quality, reduce our body fat percentage, anxiety
levels and likelihood of becoming sick… It’s also been shown to improve
our willpower.
In a 2006 study by Oaten and Cheng,
participants were given free gym memberships and personalized training
programs. The study participants who regularly exercised reported:
“Significant decreases in perceived stress, emotional distress,
smoking, alcohol and caffeine consumption, and an increase in healthy
eating, emotional control, maintenance of household chores, attendance
to commitments, monitoring of spending and an improvement in study
habits”.
Even 5 minutes a day will make a difference but I recommend shooting for at least 30 minutes, 3 times a week.
Find something you love (ie, if you hate running on a treadmill,
DON’T do that), have fun doing it, and work on making it a regular part
of your life.
If you don’t like exercising, it’s not because you’re “not made for
it”. It’s because you haven’t found the type of exercise that’s right
for you.
Keep looking. It’s worth it.
3 Harness the Power of Accountability
Admittedly, accountability isn’t the sexiest word in the English language. But the concept it represents is extremely powerful.
The idea behind it is that when we’re left to our own devices, it’s easy to come up with excuses not to do something.
“I’m tired, I don’t feel like it, it’s too much work, it’s too hard.”
Blah blah blah.
Let’s be real. 99% of it is just excuses our “small self” makes to stay comfortable and avoid stepping into greatness.
The solution is simple: build structures in your life that will hold
you to a higher standard and that will prevent you from coming up with
excuses.
There are several ways to do this. Here are a few to consider:
Get an accountability buddy, a workout partner, work side-by-side with a coworker (or friend), hire a coach, join (or create) a mastermind group.
Whatever specific system you use, the most important thing is that it
takes away your ability to procrastinate and make excuses, and that it
makes you stick to your plan and highest values.
4 Set SMART Goals
Why is it so important to have defined goals?
Because they give you a clear direction in life and help you connect your daily actions to a greater purpose.
A willpower author when he was at The Bold Academy remarked "I asked Ryan Ellis, a 28-year old entrepreneur who sold his first
company for $169 million what his number one advice for young ambitious
people was.
He said, clearly define your goals, print them out, and put them up on your bedroom wall.”
Simple enough.
When you create your goals, make sure they are SMART:
Specific
Measurable
Attainable
Relevant
Timely
Measurable
Attainable
Relevant
Timely
For instance, don’t set a goal of “I want to lose weight” or “I want to make more money”.
Instead, it should look more like “I want to lose 10 lbs of body fat by March 1st” or “I want to increase my monthly income by $5000 by June 10”.
Once you do that, taking action and staying disciplined every day
will be infinitely easier. You’ll be “pulled” towards the achievement of
your goals, and you’ll feel a great sense of purpose and fulfilment.
5 Unleash Your Inner Conquistador and Burn the Ships
In 1519, a Spanish conquistador named Hernan Cortez made a bold-as-hell, history-changing decision we can all learn from.
He sailed from Spain to South America with a fleet of 11 ships, and
upon arriving to the new land, realized that his troops would have to
fight the natives in order to claim the land.
His men were tired, malnourished and out of shape from the long journey across the Atlantic. Many of them didn’t want to fight.
Cortez knew they had to do this. He ordered everyone to go on the
beach, and once he was the only one left on the ships, he proceeded to
burn them all (!).
Now his men had no option to retreat. So they gathered up all their
strength and courage, fought, and claimed the land that is now known as
Mexico.
Pretty damn bold, right?
Now, how does this apply to you?
If you have a big project to complete, and you’re struggling to discipline yourself, burn your ships.
Engineer a situation that will prevent you from retreating and that will force you to get into action mode.
It’s astonishing what we
can do when we take away our escape route.
6 Remove Temptations and Distractions
All humans are subject to temptation—it’s just in our nature.
And in today’s world we’re surrounded by more temptations than ever.
Google gives us access to all the information in the world within a
few seconds. YouTube is filled with funny, entertaining, and interesting
videos. Our Facebook newsfeed gets updated every few seconds. Our smart
phones are full of apps and other cool things.
Knowing this, it’s imperative to figure out a system to bulletproof ourselves against all these distractions.
How?
First, identify what are your common distractions are.
Second, build a structure to mitigate them.
Here are a few of the particular strategies I use:
-Using Freedom, a web-app that allows me to “block out” my internet for a set period of time.
-Using Stayfocusd, a Chrome web-app that allows me to block out chosen websites for certain parts of the day (Thanks to Max Nachamkin from Inner Gladiator for the tip)
-Putting my phone on Airplane mode while working.
-Keeping only healthy foods in my fridge/cupboards.
Once the temptations are removed, you can direct all your willpower
to doing great things instead of fighting the urge to procrastinate yet
again.
7 Eat the Big Ugly Frog First
Another discovery Roy F. Baumeister PhD made during his research is that we only have a finite amount of willpower each day.
Our willpower is at its highest at the beginning of the day, and progressively decreases as we go about our business.
Knowing this, we want to engineer our day so as to do our most challenging tasks in the morning, when we are fresh and rested.
In his book The 4-Hour Workweek, Tim Ferriss talks at lengths about
Pareto’s Law (also known as the 80/20 rule) which states that 20% of our
input creates 80% of our output.
For more about Pareto’s Law, click here.
Every morning, get clear on what your 20% is. If you’re not sure what
that 20% is, it’s generally the most uncomfortable/challenging task you
have to do all day. Once you figure out what it is, roll up your
sleeves and get it done.
8 Eliminate Unnecessary Decisions
When asked about his productivity strategies, President Barrack Obama said, “I don’t want to make decisions about what I’m eating or wearing because I have too many other decisions to make.”
As Baumeiseter found, every single decision we make during the day
dips into our willpower reserves. Therefore, we need to cut down the
number of decision we make to a minimum, and focus on the most important
ones.
I never spend more than 15 seconds deciding
what I’m going to wear today. And I’m learning to empower my team to
take more decisions without seeking my approval.
As you go through the day, try to pay attention to where you are getting hung up in your decision process.
Try to eliminate or minimize all the unimportant, and preserve your brainpower for what truly matters.
9 Create Powerful Habits, Rituals and Routines
Building on the last point, creating rituals is a great way to remove needless decision-making from your day.
Once something has been turned into a habit, you don’t even have to
think about it. You do it without using any of your willpower.
Every morning, I start my day with the same 60-minute power routine
to get me in an optimal physical, emotional and intellectual state.
Look for all the ways you can “routinize” your life, and you’ll gain the
double benefit of having better habits while conserving more of your
willpower.
10 Hack Your Mind with the 5-Minute Rule
Our mind can be our greatest ally… and our greatest foe.
The trick is to be aware of its inner workings, both its strengths and its weaknesses, and optimize around them.
One of our mind’s greatest flaws is that it often struggles to get
things started. But once we’re in flow, it’s easy to keep going.
If you’re struggling to get started on some work you have to do, or
to start your daily meditation/workout, make the following deal with
yourself: you’ll do it for just 5 minutes.
Answer one email. Run 1 time around your block. Meditate for 5 minutes.
From personal experience and discussing it with others, I’ve found
that 80 to 90% of the time, once we’re in motion, we end up continuing
well past the 5-minute mark we had decided on.
This is truly a Jedi Mind Trick we can use on ourselves.
11 Go for 100% Commitment
Jack Canfield, author of the book Chicken Soup for the Soul famously said “99% is a bitch, 100% is a breeze.”
If you really want to do something, commit to it 100%.
If you’re just sorta-committed, there’ll always be a little voice in your head saying “aahh, maybe today I’ll take the day off“. You’ll waste a lot of willpower fighting off that little voice.
But the moment have you that 100% commitment, the game becomes easy. You don’t have to think about it… you just do it!
Conclusion
One of my teachers once told me, “our human spirit is the greatest gift we’ve been given.”
That human spirit is what built magnificent cathedrals, explored far-away lands, and created world-changing technologies.
That force is inside of you, it’s inside of me; it’s inside all of us.
And it’s your duty to put it to good use. For yourself, for those around you, and for the next generations.
You, my friend, have been bestowed with some unique gifts, talents
and passions. You can do things that no one else in this world can do.
Seriously.
And we need you to rise up and shine. To be a beacon of light, love and inspiration for others.
YOU ARE A LEADER!!!
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