Most people I know consider me a “disciplined” person. I’m a fitness junkie who has very rarely missed a workout in the last 10 years. I maintain a not-as-stric

Most people I know consider me a “disciplined” person. I’m a fitness junkie who has very rarely missed a workout in the last 10 years. I maintain a not-as-strict-as-I’d-like-but-seemingly-better-than-most diet. I prioritize habits that help me or that I enjoy like sleep and reading. There are days I do not want to. There are days when I am tempted. There are days when I am depressed, busy, etc. Things get in the way. I am not perfect, and do not claim to be. That said, what helps me with adherence, and I know this will sound overly simplistic and un-helpful, is I just do the things. I have a friend who is also into fitness, and we agree that the most important workouts to do are the ones you don’t want to do. They build the discipline to do things you don’t want to in the moment, in order to satisfy your higher, long term goals. And we agree that the best way to do those workouts is to…do them. Go put on some gym clothes and get to the gym, and your mind and body will hardly argue with you that it doesn’t want to work out anymore. Some of the ability to do that, I expect, comes from the fact that I am an “all or nothing” person. I don’t do moderation well. I do well when I can do something with all my intensity. For instance, when dieting, I find it much easier to adhere to an incredibly strict and mundane diet than to try to enjoy my food. This ties into the idea of having and/or making the circumstances in which one can be disciplined. There is an excellent post here [0] that discusses what we need psychologically in order to actually do things. Stress, other priorities, distractions, etc., all impede our capabilities. For the author of this blog post, they found that meditation cleared their mind and that is what enabled them to lower their stress and return to better habits. They also discuss 16:8 IF, which I also do and find to be a huge boost to my focus (I joke that eating is my kryptonite). I also find having a rigorous schedule helps me; the activities I (in my mind) “have” to do, e.g. work out, work, etc., are not optional: they’re built in. I do not know why these techniques work, and there are many others which do as well. I hypothesize that these little and easy “mini habits” or tweaks to one’s way of living facilitate accomplishing goals. As an aside, discipline is an area that I want to work on in my life! There are a few books I’d like to read. One is Discipline Equals Freedom. I think the incredibly hard headed military guys (see also David Goggins) are the ones closer to the right track (or at least what makes sense to me) than the sciencey types who theorycraft infinite nudges to encourage people who “want” to be disciplined to be disciplined. I am no fan of Nike, but “just do it” really resonates with me. [0]: https://macrofactorapp.com/behavior-change/?ck_subscriber_id=1817008140 https://macrofactorapp.com/behavior-change/?ck_subscriber_id...