5 Ways To Stay Disciplined
Staying disciplined is challenging for most men. If it were easy, every man would be doing it
If you asked most men what they wish they had more of, most would say more discipline. Our perception of successful men has two things in common, robotic-like habits and stoic discipline. In my personal life, I also have noticed these things about men that I admired and respected. Just stay disciplined sounds easy yet it seems to elude a high percentage of the male population.
Make Habits a Habit
As humans, we are innately lazy. This is why starting a new habit is a struggle in the beginning. Anytime you start something new, don’t focus on the result or the goal. Focus on getting in the right mind frame to build a habit. I remember when I first started lifting weights, I had no idea what I was doing. I just showed up at the gym every day and started lifting. Putting your body through hell every day is not easy. Fitness in general is overwhelming with so much information out there. Thinking about these things alone will make any person quit. Me just showing up at the gym every day was the first habit that I had to build. I got into the habit of going to the gym every day no matter how I felt. After I took that small step of showing up every day, that’s when the real work began.
Remove the Emotion
Do you remember the feeling of watching a motivational video or listening to someone inspiring? You get this pep in your step and decide to take action on your goal or dream. At the beginning of creating your new habits to achieve your goals, you feel motivated and but then the momentum starts to slow down. This is where most men fail.
They think that they will be able to ride this wave of being high off of inspiration.
Another emotional trap men get caught up in is the roller coaster of emotions that come from forming new habits. One day they see some results from the habits and the next day they see no changes. This life cycle of creating new habits is normal. The goal here is not to get caught up in the ups and downs, just immerse yourself in the moment and chip away at the habit to build discipline.
Be Awkward
I saw a quote by habit author James Clear on Instagram that said, “The bad days are more important than the good days. If you write or exercise or meditate or cook when you don’t feel like it, then you maintain the habit. And if you maintain the habit, then all you need is time.” This quote reminds me of babies when they first learn how to walk.
When a baby goes from crawling to walking, it is awkward looking to adults as they fall and stumble over and over again.
Babies can’t think about how they feel so they can practice walking over and over again. Much like James Clear mentioned, if you can get through the early awkward stages of a new habit or behavior, it will eventually become second nature. The reason most don’t feel like doing a repetitive habit is that they have to put mental energy into it until it is done without thought.
Small Steps
Every goal starts with a vision. To make the vision come to fruition, habits and discipline need to be created. Mostly everyone has these giant goals with a vision and gets started right away. I mentioned earlier about people quitting due to fleeting motivation. Another reason people quit is unrealistic expectations. I once knew someone who had these goals having a six-pack of well-defined abs. As you are probably thinking, he never achieved that goal. His motivation came from seeing a guy in a fitness magazine. I would say this individual was thirty to forty pounds away from weight loss to accomplish this goal. After one day, I could tell he was already overwhelmed about the journey to having solid abs. Had he made a small micro goal such as losing weight to first make his abs visible, he would have relieved himself some of the stress of feeling overwhelmed. It is okay to have long-term goals. Long-term goals sound manly so the short-term goals get overlooked. Start small and give yourself something your mind can handle first before moving on to the next goal.
Plan Distractions
A man’s ego allows himself to be controlled by his natural strengths. It also blinds him from his weaknesses. Creating self-discipline involves knowing your weaknesses and making them work for you. The wear and tear of attempting not to break and keep plugging away at whatever habit you are trying to build will eventually cause you to get distracted. Our brain is a muscle much like biceps are or any other vanity muscle. When we think, we burn calories and get mentally fatigued if the mind is overworked. Think of it as mental fitness and just like fitness you will need breaks. Taking small breaks is standard but building discipline is the playing the long game. If you know how much your mind can take before you search for your distraction of choices such as social media, movies, or TV, you can plan for it and schedule it in. The point of scheduling a distraction is to break up the routine and give your mind a mental reset so you can continue the long game of staying disciplined at your personal goals and habits.
“Discipline is freedom”
- Jocko Willink
