The Art of Discipline.

The art of Discipline. How to take control of your thoughts and actions and set yourself on the path to becoming the person you have always wanted to become.

Whenever I set out to do something whether it's writing, working on my business, coaching someone, etc, I always feel some sort of imposter syndrome. What gives me the right to talk about a certain topic, or give "advice" on an aspect of someone's life? This time is no different, as I sit here and write, I am asking myself; "what business does a 23-year-old entrepreneur and wannabe triathlete have writing a blog telling people how to master the art of discipline which can help them live a better life". I don't think I'll ever get over this feeling of imposters syndrome, the best I can do is just talk from my personal experience and how I have achieved/overcome challenges and goals I have set for myself.

I am going to take a step back and bring motivation into the post. Many wonder how "successful", high-performing individuals are always motivated to keep working hard despite setbacks and adversities. What most don't realize is that motivation comes and goes. Motivation is like happiness, it's never constant, it's never guaranteed and it cannot be relied on for keeping you going when you start hitting obstacles in your journey to your success. Motivation is what will get you started in the process, discipline is what will keep you going.

How can you become a disciplined person? Contrary to belief, discipline is achievable by anyone, no matter their circumstances, education, etc. Being disciplined means you are willing to step out of your comfort zone and sacrifice the short-term comforts for something greater than yourself. Discipline is saying "no" to the thing that feels good right now, but is probably not very good for the long term, you get the point. Discipline is hard at first but rewarding in the long term. It can seem daunting and nearly impossible for some people to become disciplined, but I want to change that view. You can become disciplined by building habits around the path toward your goals. Let's use weight loss as an example. Losing weight comes down to moving more and eating less, simple in thought but challenging in practice. If you look at the overall long-term challenge of losing weight, you will most likely start doubting yourself and wondering if you'll have the motivation to see it through. However, if you break things down into little increments and build habits around those things, then the weight loss journey will start becoming less daunting. The reason building a habit around your life that relates to your goals is so important is because a habit eventually becomes something you automatically just do, no question asked. Start by making a non-negotiable rule of at least 8k steps per day. At first, this might seem challenging, but the more you do it, the more it becomes an automatic action in your life, it becomes a habit, allowing you to become more disciplined. I will go as far as to say being disciplined is just having a set of non-negotiable rules in place for yourself that eventually will become a habit.

Forming habits around your life is vital. Especially in the world we live in where everything is set up to keep us distracted, lazy, unhealthy, and undisciplined. If you can create a few simple habits in your life that will help you achieve your desired outcome, you will very quickly become a person of discipline and high performance.

In summary, to achieve your goals, and to become a high performer, you need to be disciplined. Discipline can be achieved by creating habits that are the building blocks for the foundation for what you are setting out to do.

Remember, only the disciplined ones are free in life. - Eluid Kipchoge