(click here to read a summary of this post)

 

We all have things in our lives that we should be doing.

“I should be exercising three times a week.”

“I should be spending more time with my children.”

“I should be more productive and less distracted at work.”

Shoulds, shoulds, shoulds.

It’s a disappointing way to live when your life is run by ‘shoulds’.

I’ve been guilty of this for a long, long time.

Because I set a really high bar for myself, I find that I’m always setting myself up for disappointment.

Why?

Because there’s always something I ‘should’ be doing, but lo and behold… I just don’t do it.

Are you like that too?

Do you go about your day expecting yourself to do more of those ‘shoulds’ because you know you ‘could’?

And then you don’t do them.

And you tell yourself you ‘would’ have done them if you had more discipline.

Well, I have good news and bad news.

The bad news is: even if you could wave a magic wand right now and ask to be the most disciplined person in the world – nothing will change.

Because even with more discipline, you’re still chained to an ever-growing list of ‘shoulds’.

Maybe you get more things done, but you’re still as disappointed as ever.

But that’s not necessarily a bad thing.

In peak performance, there’s a concept called ‘healthy dissatisfaction’.

The reason we have ‘shoulds’ is that we are always subconsciously measuring ourselves up to our ideal self, (or ‘superego’, in Freudian terms).

We want to improve because we believe we have the potential to be better people.

The good news is your ‘shoulds’ are helping you!

Accept the fact that to be a peak performer – you’ll probably going to have A LOT of ‘shoulds’, sometimes more than the average individual.

The key here is to be reasonable with your current limits and focus on exercising small, consistent bursts of discipline.

Here are 2 keys to developing that discipline:

Key #1: Have a strong, compelling ‘WHY’ for the things you should do.

One habit I’ve had for months now is my early morning run.

Because of my love-hate relationship with it, it’s been an on-off habit for years.

I remember a time when I used to marvel at people who wake up early to go for a run before work. I’ve been doing this for a while and it has made me perform at a higher level overall – mentally, physically, emotionally and even financially.

I can’t count how many days I had to talk myself into going for that run. Because it’s so much easier to just stay in bed and skip it.

But I choose to do it anyway because I know exactly why I need to do it.

My dream is to be a peak performance coach to the top 1% of the world’s most elite achievers.

These people are either rising to be the best at what they do or are working hard to solidify their position as champions of their field.

To be the pound-for-pound best in my field, I need to have an edge over my more experienced, more established, more eloquent rivals.

I need to be up and running when all my rivals are sleeping. I need to have just a little bit more self-discipline than them because I don’t want to lose to them.

I don’t think I should do it. I need to do it.

And that becomes the difference.

I have a damn good reason why I should be running every day. So I just have to remind myself of that to give me that little push I need.

Key #2: Attach your ‘shoulds’ to what you are already doing every day.

Anything that you ‘should’ be doing requires a certain level of activation energy.

If you remember your chemistry class back in high school, activation energy is the potential energy which must be available for a chemical reaction to occur.

It is that ‘hump’ of energy you need to muster up to do things that you naturally don’t want to do.

Like getting out of bed early on a Sunday. Or ordering a salad at a restaurant instead of that juicy cut of mouth-watering steak slathered in BBQ sauce.

For me, every single day, it would be to go for that morning run. I cannot tell you how many days I feel INCREDIBLY lazy and my brain would come up with a thousand reasons why I should skip the run that morning.

But I still do it anyway because it’s what I ALWAYS do immediately after I get up. After I wash up and brush my teeth, I gear up, put the damn shoes on and get the hell out.

Since I ALWAYS wash up in the morning, I tend to ALWAYS go for the run after.

I ‘hack’ the activation energy by attaching the run immediately after my wash-up routine, and it becomes a pattern. With enough consistency, momentum stacks up and I no longer have to always ‘activate’ the energy required for that dreaded run.

Give Yourself that Mental Edge

To develop self-discipline, you must see it as possible for you.

Self-discipline is not a fixed quotient like IQ. It’s like a muscle you train and get good at using.

Start thinking about self-discipline as a plant. When you plant it, it’s virtually non-existent but when you nurture it consistently, it’ll grow into a bountiful tree where you get to enjoy its delicious fruits.

Think 1% growth every day.

Ordinary people wish they had more self-discipline. Peak performers are already working to increase it.

How can you increase your self-discipline by 1% today?

Summary

The reason we have ‘shoulds’ is that we are always subconsciously measuring ourselves up to our ideal self. Your ‘shoulds’ are helping you to become a better person.

Be reasonable with your current limits and focus on exercising small, consistent bursts of discipline.

2 Keys to Develop Self-Discipline

Key #1: Have a strong, compelling ‘WHY’ for the things you should do

Key #2: Attach your ‘shoulds’ to what you are already doing every day.

(click here to read a summary of this post)

 

We all have things in our lives that we should be doing.

“I should be exercising three times a week.”

“I should be spending more time with my children.”

“I should be more productive and less distracted at work.”

Shoulds, shoulds, shoulds.

It’s a disappointing way to live when your life is run by ‘shoulds’.

I’ve been guilty of this for a long, long time.

Because I set a really high bar for myself, I find that I’m always setting myself up for disappointment.

Why?

Because there’s always something I ‘should’ be doing, but lo and behold… I just don’t do it.

Are you like that too?

Do you go about your day expecting yourself to do more of those ‘shoulds’ because you know you ‘could’?

And then you don’t do them.

And you tell yourself you ‘would’ have done them if you had more discipline.

Well, I have good news and bad news.

The bad news is: even if you could wave a magic wand right now and ask to be the most disciplined person in the world – nothing will change.

Because even with more discipline, you’re still chained to an ever-growing list of ‘shoulds’.

Maybe you get more things done, but you’re still as disappointed as ever.

But that’s not necessarily a bad thing.

In peak performance, there’s a concept called ‘healthy dissatisfaction’.

The reason we have ‘shoulds’ is that we are always subconsciously measuring ourselves up to our ideal self, (or ‘superego’, in Freudian terms).

We want to improve because we believe we have the potential to be better people.

The good news is your ‘shoulds’ are helping you!

Accept the fact that to be a peak performer – you’ll probably going to have A LOT of ‘shoulds’, sometimes more than the average individual.

The key here is to be reasonable with your current limits and focus on exercising small, consistent bursts of discipline.

Here are 2 keys to developing that discipline:

Key #1: Have a strong, compelling ‘WHY’ for the things you should do.

One habit I’ve had for months now is my early morning run.

Because of my love-hate relationship with it, it’s been an on-off habit for years.

I remember a time when I used to marvel at people who wake up early to go for a run before work. I’ve been doing this for a while and it has made me perform at a higher level overall – mentally, physically, emotionally and even financially.

I can’t count how many days I had to talk myself into going for that run. Because it’s so much easier to just stay in bed and skip it.

But I choose to do it anyway because I know exactly why I need to do it.

My dream is to be a peak performance coach to the top 1% of the world’s most elite achievers.

These people are either rising to be the best at what they do or are working hard to solidify their position as champions of their field.

To be the pound-for-pound best in my field, I need to have an edge over my more experienced, more established, more eloquent rivals.

I need to be up and running when all my rivals are sleeping. I need to have just a little bit more self-discipline than them because I don’t want to lose to them.

I don’t think I should do it. I need to do it.

And that becomes the difference.

I have a damn good reason why I should be running every day. So I just have to remind myself of that to give me that little push I need.

Key #2: Attach your ‘shoulds’ to what you are already doing every day.

Anything that you ‘should’ be doing requires a certain level of activation energy.

If you remember your chemistry class back in high school, activation energy is the potential energy which must be available for a chemical reaction to occur.

It is that ‘hump’ of energy you need to muster up to do things that you naturally don’t want to do.

Like getting out of bed early on a Sunday. Or ordering a salad at a restaurant instead of that juicy cut of mouth-watering steak slathered in BBQ sauce.

For me, every single day, it would be to go for that morning run. I cannot tell you how many days I feel INCREDIBLY lazy and my brain would come up with a thousand reasons why I should skip the run that morning.

But I still do it anyway because it’s what I ALWAYS do immediately after I get up. After I wash up and brush my teeth, I gear up, put the damn shoes on and get the hell out.

Since I ALWAYS wash up in the morning, I tend to ALWAYS go for the run after.

I ‘hack’ the activation energy by attaching the run immediately after my wash-up routine, and it becomes a pattern. With enough consistency, momentum stacks up and I no longer have to always ‘activate’ the energy required for that dreaded run.

Give Yourself that Mental Edge

To develop self-discipline, you must see it as possible for you.

Self-discipline is not a fixed quotient like IQ. It’s like a muscle you train and get good at using.

Start thinking about self-discipline as a plant. When you plant it, it’s virtually non-existent but when you nurture it consistently, it’ll grow into a bountiful tree where you get to enjoy its delicious fruits.

Think 1% growth every day.

Ordinary people wish they had more self-discipline. Peak performers are already working to increase it.

How can you increase your self-discipline by 1% today?

Summary

The reason we have ‘shoulds’ is that we are always subconsciously measuring ourselves up to our ideal self. Your ‘shoulds’ are helping you to become a better person.

Be reasonable with your current limits and focus on exercising small, consistent bursts of discipline.

2 Keys to Develop Self-Discipline

Key #1: Have a strong, compelling ‘WHY’ for the things you should do

Key #2: Attach your ‘shoulds’ to what you are already doing every day.