Category: Being Disciplined

During holidays, it’s typical to excuse self-discipline in the spirit of presence, relaxation, and—of course—indulgence.

We work so damn hard every other day, we deserve to have a day off to just… not do that, eh?

And I am no outlier from this mentality. I skipped my morning workout and spent the whole day lounging around with family, opening gifts, watching football, and eating way more food than what would’ve left me comfortably full.

Today’s post isn’t about not doing that—it’s healthy to balance in a little indulgence on occasion.

Today’s post is a reminder to not turn one day of indulgence into one week (or more) of indulgence.

Because what your ego is going to argue is: it’s pretty much still the holidays… can’t just not eat these leftovers… already this far off track who cares now… might as well just let this ride until the new year hits… I’ve worked hard all year, I deserve this whole week… etc.

And the problem with going from one day to one week off track (or longer) is that you’re going from one blip in your lifestyle to… a whole new lifestyle.

And recovering from a blip is a helluva lot easier than recalibrating a whole new trajectory.

So before you write yourself off for the rest of the year… consider today your new year.

And keep your trajectory calibrated as is before it’s too late.

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One of the most frustrating things about plateaus is the lack of growth… the hair-pulling stagnation… the continued effort minus the measurable results.

And it’s so easy to quit during times of plateau because where you once had progress—one of life’s biggest motivators—you now seem to only have effort. Which, I’ll go ahead and say for the both of us, is a sucky trade.

But, what if I told you you were missing an entire dimension of progress measuring?

See, in today’s society, progress of body and mind are measured almost exclusively.

For body, think: weight lifted, distance travelled, rounds completed, inches around the waist, scales that measure weight, body fat %, BMI charts, and so forth. For mind, think: grades in school, standardized tests, certifications, courses, books read, problems solved, connections made, diplomas earned, and so on.

But, how does one measure the progress of their spirit?

…Not so easily defined, eh?

You might say: ability to meditate or how long a person can endure a cold shower…

But, what about: by measuring how long a person can carry forward when they’ve hit a plateau?

…By doing the work even when it’s hard. By showing up even when the efforts aren’t yielding the same incremental results. By continuing to try their best even when—especially when—it’s easy to quit.

What if effort in spite of progress is precisely how progress is made in the realm of the spirit?

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For the martial arts demo team I coordinate, our next performance opportunity was scheduled to be six weeks from now.

…Until I got word that there was another opportunity next weekend.

Many of them, for the past six weeks were focused on other things and were waiting for good ol’ procrastination to kick into effect—even though I’ve been encouraging each team member to have something ready sooner.

Lo and behold, when I announced the opportunity, only a handful of them were ready.

And the handful that have been putting in the work are going to get to capitalize on the opportunity.

This is what “luck” is—when preparation meets opportunity.

The prepared team members are going to get “lucky” with the experience they’ll gain from this last minute opportunity whereas the procrastinating team members won’t.

Don’t wait for the opportunity to arise to start preparing. By then, it’ll be too late. Start preparing now and jump ahead of the procrastinators by capitalizing on opportunities the second they come onto the radar.

When teaching self-defense, the goal is to get students to eventually perform with no hesitation.

Seconds matter in self-defense and any time spent hesitating, remembering, or doing mental negotiations could make a life-changing difference.

I’ve been thinking about this lately and how it applies to everyday life, too.

Using self-defense skills against physical attacks should (hopefully) be a rare, if ever type of ordeal. Using self-defense skills against everyday lifestyle attacks is an all-of-the-time type of ordeal—and thus, could prove to be invaluable to consider.

What are everyday lifestyle attacks? I’m talking about things like:

• Whether you should workout or skip.
• Whether you should eat the donut or intermittently fast.
• Whether you should wake up after the first alarm or snooze.
• Whether you should go to bed early or watch one more episode.
• Whether you should spend more time on social media or spend more time reading books.

In the midst of these mental negotiations are valuable seconds that tick away faster than we ever realize. I just recently spent 1 hour in this hesitation state deliberating between go to bed early or watch one more episode. And this is just the tip of the iceberg for what accounts for time wasted in hesitation for both me and countless others.

The mantra I’ve been practicing, when I catch myself in this mental negotiations space is: no hesitation. And, like in martial arts, I try to discipline myself to start doing the desired action ASAP without any second thoughts.

Going, I’ve learned, is one of the best means for stopping. And the longer we stay stopped, the harder it is to go. Going quicker… is an excellent strategy to consider.