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The Secret To Building Self-Discipline

The reason people fail to discipline themselves is because their “why” isn’t strong enough.

Many people’s “whys” are actually quite superficial. They’re focused on weight, waist size, number of abs showing, number of “0s” in the account, brand names, follower count, verified badges, etc.

The solution is to go deeper. And motivation will increase in proportion to the depth of the “why.”

For example, is the goal: weight, waist size, number of abs showing or is it really self-confidence?

If the goal is self-confidence and it’s being measured with a superficial marker like a scale—of course motivation will be lost when the scale yo-yos or doesn’t change.

If you’re going to stay consistent through the yo-yos and plateaus, you need to go deeper.

And if you don’t feel confident in yourself now, you need to figure out why.

Are you comparing yourself to who you were yesterday or other people? Do you hate the way being overweight feels? Does being overweight conflict with your identity?

Dig deeper into the real reason why you want to lose weight, reduce your waist size, and increase your ab count (or whatever) and align your actions with that reason instead—not number games.

E.g. I’m working out because I hate the way being overweight feels and I know that the temporary pain of exercise is worth more than the lasting pain of being uncomfortable in my own skin—versus—I’m working out to lose weight.

Remember: when you align your tasks with a strong enough “why,” you’ll be able to bear almost any “how.”

Published inArchivesBeing DisciplinedLiving Well