It’s been a while since I have posted on here. For a very good reason; I simply have been to busy to do so. What led me to create this post, was a thought that has been on my mind for quite some time now.
I get messages all the time about self-discipline.
“How do I get disciplined!?”
How do you become the person that does the right thing. The kind of person that when they know they need to do something, they just do it. Clients have asked me this, acquaintances have asked me this and people on reddit have asked me this. Very often, they will say something along the lines of “I know what I need to do to improve, but I just don’t do it! Help me!”
Let’s hope that by the end of this post/rant, you will have some insight in how to get more disciplined. Let me show you how me as a person, that comes from slaving away his hours playing Runescape and Call of Duty transformed himself into a disciplined guy that owns multiple businesses and is in great shape.
I was considered to be one of the least disciplined people among my peers. My family and friends considered me a “funny guy”, but never disciplined. I never did my homework on time, I postponed projects, always pushing things until the very end. Procrastination was a word that could be used to describe my former self.
Now I’m here. I own multiple companies, of which my main company serves hundreds of clients a year, I hit the gym 4 times a week and my diet consists out of clean, whole foods. How do I do all this?
--
Learn to sacrifice quick dopamine.
-- These days, there are way too many external factors impacting your life. Instant gratification is the new cigarettes. Most people wake up with their cellphone and go to sleep with their cellphone. Hell, a lot of people lack the attention to finish watching a 10-second Snapchat video. Exactly this is the problem that a lot of people have.
--
Discipline is no more than swapping out the concept of “short-term comfort, long-term suffering” with “short-term suffering, long-term comfort”
--
You can have six pack abs.
But only if you decide to count macros for the following 3 months.
--
You can make six figures in a year.
But only if you decide to work your ass off for as long as it takes.
--
You can close HB9’s
But only if you stop being an autistic fuck and start approaching.
Do you see what I’m getting at?
When I was working my ass off, hitting the gym consistently, building up a company from scratch, counting my macros and improving my social life, what do you think my peers were doing?
-- They were doing jack fucking shit.
-- They were keeping up with the latest celebrity news, watching sports, partying, not working hard etcetera.
I have had to give up those thing for a brief period because I knew what the endgame was. You should do so too.
Finally, you need to learn that discipline is not end all be all. Discipline is a transition phase. You need HABITS. Habits is what really make a man. Your discipline will only last for so long. When you fully engrain an activity into your life, you won’t even try to resist. Going to the gym used to be something I needed discipline for. Nowadays, as it has been so engrained into my life, I would need discipline to NOT go.
I wrote a post on TRP nearly a year ago about building habits.
Check it out over here.
TLDR: Use discipline as a stepping stone. Get used to doing what you hate to get the results that you love. Build habits, and watch yourself change.
DropDeadTyrant 5y ago
As highschool arrives to an end, I find that I can't sit around when I know I have schoolwork to do. If I try to get up and watch a video before getting schoolwork done, I'll immediately feel guilty and start the work. But, when it comes to writing my stories and thoughts down or doing chores, I can't work up the effort to even open my notebook or grab some windex. It's crazy. I've convinced myself to write one short story a week and have been for two months. Though, it still takes working up the ambition to do it, whereas with homework it happens automatically. Discipline is weird.
ex_addict_bro 5y ago
It is very simple. Just do it before anything else.
t_jones730 5y ago
It’s because the homework has an end. The other stuff is part of a larger picture so you have to break it up into sections and decide both their quantity (or value) and/or time length based on when your desired deadline is for that entire goal. Then you’ll know how much per day or week you have to do. Or you can do it the opposite way too and decide how much you’re going to do each day and then let that dictate your deadline.
And then there’s deadline-less long term goals. These are the tricky ones. What you’ll need here are adaptable progress checkpoints. Each subsequent checkpoint is re-evaluated and modified when the last checkpoint is met. The closer in time a goal or checkpoint is to your present moment, the more motivated you are to do it.
Man; I didn’t expect to type that much when I started.
scissor_me_timbers00 5y ago
The cognitive-behavioral link is weird
Hyper_Sonik 5y ago
I've noticed a huge influx of younger guys on here.....
odaklanan_insan 5y ago
Yep, lotta newbies recently..
DigitalDragonSlayer 5y ago
Rule based living helped my take out the cheap dopamine. No more checking my phone first thing in the morning, no more eating sugar, no more porn (still jerk off tho)
Discipline equals freedom. If you haven’t heard of Jocko Willink, check that mother fucker out ASAP.
odaklanan_insan 5y ago
I remember that name from "Extreme Ownership". Nice book..
t_jones730 5y ago
I take it you don’t believe in unconditional love then. (Rule-based loving)
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spooky-102 5y ago
Discipline is a fight, an internal conflict: your natural inclination is one action, and your intention is another, usually it's opposite.
All Habits must be broken even the good ones. Habits mean you live on autopilot mode.
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PEACE-ImOut 5y ago
I decided to run a 5k in a few months (under a specific time) to increase my effort/discipline regarding cardio.
Decide what you want to achieve first (then focus).
"Most goals are never achieved because they're never clearly defined."
ElXToro 5y ago
This is the most important thing. You must first define yourself. When you say that you're great, how you are great, where exactly & etc. Only then you can be great because you are clearly defined and have drawn a strict shape/form that you want.
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OSaraiva 5y ago
I still struggle a lot with discipline, and it annoys me to no end. Any ideas to create a routine of good habits?
ElXToro 5y ago
As for the routine, only Peterson comes to mind. He recommends making a schedule of the perfect day/week/year/whatever that you would like to have. Include work & entertainment/relaxation, so that it's balanced & you don't feel guilty of not doing anything.
OSaraiva 5y ago
I don't think i could predict what would be perfect for an entire week or year, but having a schedule seem the way to go.
ElXToro 5y ago
First you need to define yourself. Choose the exact habits you want. State your reasons. Say what you are & why you are & why you do this. This can also serve as motivation. PEACE-ImOut wrote just above:
I also added:
This is the most important thing. You must first define yourself. When you say that you're great, how you are great, where exactly & etc. Only then you can be great because you are clearly defined and have drawn a strict shape/form that you want.
OSaraiva 5y ago
Sounds good. i'll try setting up a mid term objective or objectives, then trickle down to immediate objectives towards that goal. Always with the end game in mind.
ElXToro 5y ago
Exactly like that. I wish you best of luck, have fun!
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t_jones730 5y ago
The Getting Things Done Methodology is great for organizing the multiplicity of shit in your life and just knocking things out. The book is awesome. I recommend the paper version.
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krimpenrik 5y ago
So true and for me i have periods with high discipline and periods without. Been traveling/switching countries for the last 17 months and find it really hard to be consistent.
Blackwhitesimple 5y ago
Not having an internet connection usually cures all of the aforementioned problems regarding procrastination.Try it.
Loze1 5y ago
You're already disciplined if you got 99 Runecrafting on RuneScape. Tbh I myself was an addict in my teenage years. I lived online because my reality was shit(still is, working on it). Even had multiple LDRs, plating them as well. Funny as it sounds, got to Skype a few of them. Even had a serious LDR(2 years) with the last one. Well, by now you know how that ended up.
DigitalDragonSlayer 5y ago
Jesus Christ a RuneScaps comment on TRP. I’ve seen it all
ReformSociety 5y ago
Don't sleep on OSRS. That was the shit.
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valourtore 5y ago
Bruh
If your discipline is about anything you can use in reality for yourself it would’ve been a thumbs up. Anything virtual don’t count precisely because it don’t exist, not sure about LDRs but I think they are basically virtual too.
Edit: If you are getting laid through LDRs keep going
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AveLucid 5y ago
What is up with the format
Of this post