Will Smith has the best content on discipline that I’ve ever come across.
In a nutshell, he says that discipline is simply the ability to make a decision, in the moment, that’s in your best interest.
And that’s it.
Just make a decision that’s in your best interest to make.
Should I have a doughnut?
Is it in your best interest?
Should I go for a run?
Is it in your best interest?
Sometimes, decisions that are in your best interest are hard to make and stick to because you’re bringing a whole bunch of emotional baggage to a situation.
Perhaps you have deep-seeded habits that have your subconscious brain battling your conscious brain and you make decisions that aren’t in your best interest automatically without thinking or noticing.
Perhaps your emotional brain is stronger than your conscious brain and you make decisions that aren’t in your best interest knowingly, and have an inability to correct it.
The hardest part of being disciplined is dealing with the emotions produced as a by-product of not making the decision you’d usually make, and not receiving the immediate rewards you’d usually receive.
If you’re trying to stop eating doughnuts, and one day, you really fancy a doughnut, then not having one is likely to bring about an adverse emotional reaction. Maybe a hint of depression, sadness, anger, loss. Whatever it is, you need to deal with it in the moment and wait for it to pass without giving in.
That reaction is simply your emotional brain processing a decision that your rational brain has made without its consent.
It’s all easier said than done, of course. If it was easy, we’d all have washboard abs and live to 100.
But those washboard abs, or that big pot of savings, or whatever it is that you’re striving for will come if you can string together enough micro decisions that are all in your best interest over an extended period of time.
You’re always only one choice away from becoming who you want to be.