Discipline is Freedom
Discipline isn't restrictive, it's clarity and work.
Over the last few weeks, I’ve discussed having too much choice and how debilitating it can be. We then explored our innate need for simplicity in our lives, and how simplifying can be a cure for us in so many facets, providing clarity and purpose.
We’re trying to live a better life and not chase the new shiny thing.
It’s all well and good to talk about it, but how do we be about it?
The answer?
Discipline.
I can hear what you’re thinking: ‘Oh shit, here we go - another disciple at the altar of Goggins. Is he going to advocate for giving yourself shin splints and headbutting brick walls?’
Nope.
In the modern era, the word discipline has a hardcore vibe about it. Too much so.
When someone mentions discipline, it evokes an image of someone like David Fucking Goggins, carrying the boats while shouting at himself, calling everyone a m’fer.
A common modern view of discipline is as a form of self-hate: ‘I’m going to do X, Y and Z, fuck myself up, and I deserve this’. Or it’s something you have to force yourself to do, not what we actually want to do.
I think David is almost there, but there are some tweaks to discipline that we’re going to explore. Bear with me. You’ll enjoy this.
The Modern Lie.
We live in a world of ‘balance’. We’re told to be easy on yourself. Don’t do it if you aren’t feeling it. Be ‘nice’ to yourself. We’re told to follow motivation, wait until you’re ready, have balance, do what feels right, and give yourself a break.
We’re told to follow our gut, and if we aren’t feeling it, stop.
The problem with following our feelings is that our feelings can change with the weather. Motivation comes and goes. Discipline and structure stay.
We’re taught that discipline is almost a naughty word, in the ‘almost too hard’ basket. We’re taught that being disciplined is a form of restraint, a monkism from living the good life.
We’re taught that you have to will yourself to be disciplined, that it’s almost against our nature to stick our goals.
That’s so wrong.
Discipline is Freeing
When you have a litany of choices, limitless possibilities, you can work hard EVERY day towards a goal… but the goal can change at the drop of a hat. Today I could be training for my best ever squat, tomorrow I could be training to run an ultra, and the day after that I could be completely focused on my burgeoning cabaret career.
Without discipline, I’ll still be spinning my wheels in 12 months time.
Some people believe freedom is having nothing and no one to answer to. Some people believe that freedom is having nothing on the agenda, the ability to go to bed late, sleeping in later.
I call bullshit.
Endless options leads to anxiety.
No structure leads to drifting through life.
Drifting through life is chaos masquerading as freedom.
Discipline is clarity and steady progress.
Discipline removes the ongoing internal argument
When you’re living with 'freedom’, your time is your own, which is great and what we all want. You can waltz through days on end without progressing anywhere. You can wake up late, lay on the beach all day, go to a bar for the afternoon and repeat. This is fine for a few days, but after perhaps a week, most people will start to get antsy. We humans need progress.
Discipline gives us structure to our freedom.
There is no internal argument, no battle inside.
You train at a set time. You eat certain meals. You do XYZ in order to get from A to B.
Let’s use writing as an example.
I want to write. I don’t care if I become rich or famous, but I want a creative outlet to express myself.
Each day could wander around dreaming of writing.
I’ll have all these great ideas that I’ll tell my friends and family about - my latest and greatest stories or parables that I want to share. I’ll try and find some time to write, when the mood takes my fancy and when I’m not busy. At the end of each week, I look back and realise that I’ve written a grand total of fuck all. ‘Oh well, I’ll try again next week’.
Next week? Funnily enough, the exact same result.
Or.
I can create structure and discipline around my writing habits.
I know myself, and I know that if I leave it up to chance, it won’t happen.
I get up at 5 religiously. Every day. I shake the dust off, moan, groan, and open my laptop by 5:15am, writing a minimum of 200 words, sipping on a hydration elixir on one side and a black coffee on the other side - double parked baby.
I then leave to go to the gym at around 5:50, home about 20 minutes after the kids wake up.
Why?
Because if I don’t have that structure, it won’t get done later.
My logic? The earlier the better. I hit myself with the discipline hammer before I can bitch it. I have a physically intensive business, so at the end of the day, you won’t catch me doing much.
Win the morning, win the day.
The same lessons go for anything in life. Losing weight. Making more money. Buying a house. Staying injury-free.
You can’t just wing it. Discipline saves will power. Turns effort into default.
Don’t forget the 6 P’s: Proper Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance.
Discipline is love.
Discipline isn’t easy. What’s easier is to indulge. Indulge in that sleep in. Clock in and out right on time. Smash that ice cream. Binge that show.
It gives you an out, and creates a little bit more of a black mark against yourself.
Try loving yourself. Respecting yourself.
Being disciplined is trying to give yourself better. Not because you’re a piece of shit who needs to carry the boats, but because you want to earn what comes with discipline.
Try stretching of an evening because you want to look after yourself. Try going after that side hustle because you want to push yourself.
You don’t need to be a monk, or live off of spreadsheets. You don’t need to be a navy seal or optimise every second.
Pick a few standards. Enjoy the beautiful monotony, and let that beautiful boring create something great.
Do stuff that your 85 year old self would approve of, not out of self flagellation, but because you value yourself enough to keep promises to yourself.