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Discipline is the KEY to getting anything and everything you want in life. Every successful person in the world utilizes self-discipline. Bodybuilders like Arnold Schwarzenegger, actors like The Rock, and CEOs like Warren Buffett.
I had one thing on my mind - winning.
In 2014 I decided to enter my first Men’s Phyqisue fitness competition. I had trained for nearly a decade prior and wanted something to push my limits further than ever before.
I would wake up at 4:45 a.m. and go to the gym every day and was training anywhere between 10-14 times per week.
Training in the morning and again at night became part of my routine. We called them two-a-days because you’d be at the gym twice in one day.
My entire life started to revolve around fitness. I was meal-prepping constantly, eating 6 meals a day.
My 24 hours were all consumed with training, eating, and sleeping for months.
Not to mention I was working 40 + hour weeks and managing my life on top of it all.
Needless to say, I was disciplined.
Self-discipline is the ability to push yourself forward, stay motivated, and take action, regardless of how you're feeling, physically or emotionally.
I’ve exercised for 18 years and over 15,000 hours. I know all about discipline and I'll be sharing the 3 most important tools I’ve learned and experienced over the previous two decades. If you can be disciplined you can achieve anything you want.
It’s hard to be disciplined, isn’t it? We live in a noisy world. And I don’t mean noisy as in the sound. I mean busy, chaotic, fast-paced, ever-changing.
So much is happening day to day making it easier than ever to fall off track. Everything and everyone is trying to grab your attention.
From emails, DMs, phone calls, social media, interruptions, or dealing with other million-plus things in your business and life.
How could you possibly stay disciplined?
And that leads us to my first tool to be disciplined.
I’m going to guess about 90% of people who are reading this right now have Netflix, Disney +, Amazon, Crave, or one of the other many video streaming services.
How long does it take nowadays to pick something to watch?
I don’t even end up watching anything anymore. I just scroll through the menu for 45 minutes, give my wife the remote, she scrolls for another 45 minutes, then we go to sleep.
There are too many options.
And while this may be a good thing, it’s actually limiting what you do and how disciplined you are.
When you try and do everything at once, guess what happens? You don’t really accomplish that much.
By narrowing your focus to 3 of the most important items for your day, you’ll be more discipline.
Maybe your main goal is to launch a business.
With too many options these days, narrow your focus onto what matters most - and be disciplined at them!
The second tool I’ve learned in becoming self-disciplined is straight from a multi-billion dollar company Nike.
While I’m all for positive affirmations and believing in yourself, unless you act, you won’t get anywhere.
Action is very important to discipline because as I said earlier:
Self-discipline is the ability to push yourself forward, stay motivated, and take action, regardless of how you're feeling, physically or emotionally.
Just do it.
No more excuses, no more saying you can’t, no more waiting until you “feel” like it.
It could be waking up early, doing the dishes, cleaning your house, going to the gym, saving money, or learning.
If you can start to do things even when you don’t want to you’re well on your way to living a more disciplined life.
This leads me to the final tool that I learned for discipline.
You can narrow your focus, and you can take action, but if you're not consistent, you won’t get the results you seek.
Being consistent means doing something day after day. Repetition is your friend.
Are you familiar with Jerry Seinfeld?
Seinfield started as a standup comic and is one of the creators of the famous tv show Seinfield - a show based on himself.
This show is one of the most acclaimed and popular sitcoms of all time. Jerry used a simple technique to be consistent which I want to share with you.
He had a big calendar and but he posted it on the wall, his goal was to write just one joke per day.
For every day he wrote a joke he took a red marker and put a big X on the day. The more days in a row he wrote jokes, the longer his red chain became.
The longer the chain got, the more he wanted to stay disciplined in not missing one single day.
This is the POWER of consistency and discipline at work.
You don’t need to do it all at once, keep it simple and do it every day.
Discipline is important for everyone. And if you can be self-disciplined you can get ANYTHING you want in life just like the companies and people I’ve spoken about.
Being disciplined has allowed me to control my time, travel to different places around the world, and open up new and exciting opportunities!
If you can narrow your focus, Just Do It like Nike, and be consistent like Seinfeld, there’s no doubt in my mind that YOU can have it all.
Chris M Wilson
Chris M Wilson is a career coach, entrepreneur, blogger, author, creator, and doer. He is passionate about helping people leave the job they hate and jump into their dream careers!
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