So You Think You Can Have A Disciplined Life? Think Again
Third Of The Six Lies That Stand Between You And Your Success
"It's one of the most prevalent myths of our culture: self discipline." - Leo Babauta
There was a time when I dreaded the thought of exercise. There have been days where I returned home from my workout crying. I hated every bit of it.
But through patience and perseverance, I have come to a place in life now where I look forward to working out. Heck, I even laugh when I am working out. That's how much I enjoy myself.
Would I say that I was disciplined about my workouts? Nope.
Life has a way of messing things up. But I always made sure that I came back to it the next day when I missed a workout.
With my efforts to stay on track with my exercise, I didn't become a disciplined person. I became a person disciplined with her workouts.
The Myth Of The Disciplined Life
Look at your day, and you'll know nothing goes according to plan. Some days might, but not all days follow your order.
When we see people who seem to be disciplined, what we really see is "people who've trained a handful of habits into their lives." This may make them seem like a disciplined person, but they are actually not. No one can be.
The thought of having every aspect of your day planned, recorded and accounted for is a recipe for frustration.
Trying to force yourself to become something that is not in the nature of human beings will only lead to negative results.
Discipline VS Habit
When we say we need more discipline in our lives, what we mean is we need a habit of doing the activity we want to do.
"When you discipline yourself, you're essentially training yourself to act in a specific way. Stay with this long enough, and it becomes routine - in other words, a habit."
We think that to become successful, we need to be disciplined. That is not the case.
The trick to becoming successful is to find the right habit for you and bring in just enough discipline to make it stick.
"Success is about doing the right thing, not about doing everything right."
Time To Build A Habit
So to become disciplined about, let's say, exercise, you have to build a habit of exercising regularly.
It is said that, on average, it takes about 66 days to form a habit. Now don't take this number as set in stone. It can vary from person to person.
For example, it took me 90 days to understand that exercise has to be a part of my life. And then it took me three more years to become comfortable with it. That is when it turned into a habit for me.
What this means is it takes time to develop a habit. So don't give up to soon.
"If you are what you repeatedly do, then achievement isn't an action you take but a habit you forge into your life."
"Harness the power of selected discipline to build the right habit, and extraordinary results will find you."
(I recommend reading The One Thing by Gary Keller with Jay Papasan which inspired this article.)
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The Six Lies That Stand Between You And Your Success
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