Becoming disciplined creates freedom
“NO MORE. No more excuses. No more: “I’ll start tomorrow.” No more: “Just this once.” No more accepting the shortfalls of my own will. No more taking the easy road. No more bowing down to whatever unhealthy or unproductive thoughts float through my mind.”
― Discipline Equals Freedom: Field Manual
Does the thought of being more disciplined sound like a prison?
You would like to stop eating junk, start exercising more, and make better use of you time.
Sure, we all would.
Then the thoughts creep in.
I only live once.
I am gonna have all that cake, and do something besides exercise all the time. Life is too short for all that.
I am gonna have all that cake, and do something besides exercise all the time. Life is too short for all that.
I want to enjoy my life, not deprive myself of everything!
I get it. Being a human, I give in to old habits and my emotions.
It happens.
It may seem like the more disciplined you are, the less freedom you will have.
This is not the case, in fact, the opposite is true.
It may seem like the more disciplined you are, the less freedom you will have.
This is not the case, in fact, the opposite is true.
When we are not disciplined, we react more. When we react to our emotions, we become more reactive in life. Instead of having a plan, we go through life reacting to whatever comes our way. It is hard to get anywhere without some discipline.
Have the discipline to understand what you are feeling and not react to it.
Have the discipline to understand what you are feeling and not react to it.
Constantly letting your emotions run your life is a recipe for disaster.
One emotional decision can ruin the next 50 years of your life.
Think of all the people in prison from a brief emotional state.
Think of all the ruined marriages from affairs.
Think of things you have done in the past which you spend years trying to fix. People make emotional decisions that haunt them the rest of their life.
If you ride your emotional waves and do not operate with a strategy, your emotions control your life.
Would you rather make rational decisions that move you into a direction you want to be? We all want more freedom in our life, but we cannot do this by reacting to emotional states.
People who blindly follow their emotional states are easily manipulated by others and spend valuable time and mental energy correcting emotional decisions later.
Having to the discipline to understand emotions and not react to them, is a major step toward making progress in life, especially on your goals.
You are going to get angry, scared sad, and happy. It's just a fact of life.
Despite what motivational advise your hear, you cannot just think positive and hope to be happy all the time. It doesn't work that way.
Imagine spending 5 days with no sleep. It sounds impossible, but it's done in special operations training. I had the opportunity to do it twice. In an event known as " Hell Week" trainees are forced to stay awake from Sunday night until Friday night.
Special operations training is a volunteer program, so you could quit anytime you wanted to. This makes it even easier to give into the intense emotions felt during the week.
I was set back and did it twice. The second time was harder than the first because I knew what was coming.
I knew the pain, suffering, and feeling of sleep deprivation hell week brings.
How is this possible even once?
By feeling emotions, but performing the task anyway.
You feel many emotions before the week even begins. Just the thought of spending 5 days awake makes a normal rational person feel some fear. Did I run away in the first few hours? No, but some guys did.
The fear is normal, but the feeling of getting through the week without quitting would feel amazing. I had a chance to feel the feeling of success by feeling the fear, knowing I was scared, but continuing with my plan of making it.
Everybody feels fear, but the ones who are brave, feel the fear and continue toward the goal.
The people who don't show fear, seeming calm and focused during intense situations, are people who understand and respect fear. They know the fear exists and practice staying focused. They are rewarded with accomplishing great tasks.
Do you back down the moment you feel fear, or do you push through and accomplish your goal? Do you understand emotions are there for your survival but do not have your life goals and purpose in mind?
If our ancestors saw a tiger in the jungle, they instantly felt fear and ran away. This was for a good reason; they could DIE.
In our everyday life, our emotions can ruin our success.
We feel fear in situations not life or death, but for many, it can feel that way. If you have ever tried to speak in public, you know what I mean.
Even if you fear telling someone no because you fear being excluded from a group, you may give into it and become stuck with people you do not like.
Are you going to die?
Is anyone gonna care in a few years, a few months even? No. The fear will be there, especially on your first few attempts, but just because you feel it, doesn't mean it is warranted.
As you move into the middle of Hell Week, around Tuesday night into Wednesday morning, the tempo picks up. You are feeling the effects of sleep deprivation. You body is broken down. Your mind kicks into survival mode. Do you listen? No, you keep going. Your mind tells your body to stop moving. Because of lack of sleep, your emotions become a roller coaster ride.
I felt anxious, hopeless, depressed, and angry.
On Tuesday night, after a full night and day of nonstop activity, we set out on a ruck march. 100 pounds of gear on a hot July night in North Carolina, we marched into the night. Your mind tells your body to quit.
The funny thing is, your mind weakens long before your body does. I just kept moving my feet, and they hurt...bad. I fell behind, feeling of being anxious crept in.
What if I could not keep up?
What if they kicked me out?
Do they realize I only weigh 150 pounds?
I ignored the feeling and focused on one foot in front of the other.
The fun just kept on after we returned back to our tent. We were informed of another 5 mile ruck, but this time with gas masks on. This was a test of our resolve. It made us more uncomfortable. The heat from our heads could not escape and breathing was extra difficult.
To make things even worse, I was carrying a 4 by 4 board five feet long with a sledgehammer taped to it instead of a mock M 4 carbine. The instructors stole my weapon when I was not looking. Having that along with the 100 pounds of gear and a gas mask brought on feeling of intense hopelessness mixed with pain.
What are you supposed to do? Think positive? I kept moving despite what I felt.
After the second ruck march, we were informed - you guessed it- we'd be going on another ruck march. This time with all of our gear, but split into 6 man teams. We also carried a 200 pound dummy on a stretcher 4 men at a time, while the other 2 fell back to " rest".
This made me angry at the instructors yelling me to keep up. I could have gave into anger, let it overcome me. I could have spent my precious mental energy complaining or fuming about how they made us do these ridiculous things.
I channeled the anger. I took the anger and out it into the event at hand. The angry feelings actually boosted my energy for a short time.
Although it sucked at the time, I mean really sucked, the joy and happiness I felt later was some of the most intense emotions I've ever felt.
Getting through the week freed my mind of self doubt. I was free from wondering if I should have done more. Worries of what was going to happen later melted away because I accomplished what seemed impossible.
Nobody gets through hell week feeling positive.
The course is designed to test your mental strength despite how much you think you want to make it. No matter how fit, smart, or big you are, you will be challenged. You WILL feel what I felt. Everyone must dig deep.
I know how I would have felt for years if I gave into the intense feelings. I would have regretted it. I would have been hard to bear. Harder than continuing the week, despite what I felt.
Telling myself to think positive would have lasted a few minutes.
Apply hell week to your life.
You will feel the feelings of hell week during your life and throughout your day.
Take some time to track your emotional states throughout the day. There are times when you feel more motivated and focused. Use that time to focus on something requiring a lot of mental effort.
There will be times when your not as focused or motivated. Use those times for checking emails or other mindless work.
There will be times throughout the day when you feel happier. These could be times for spending with your children or spouse.
It is always easier to be comfortable and give in your mind. Skipping exercise or eating bad foods may feel better in the short term, but it creates a prison for your future. Being trapped in a body that does not operate properly or feeling foggy from junk food, makes you trapped. There are better habits we can always improve on.
The trick is to be aware and think logically, not following your changing emotional states.
Giving in to emotional desires with another person other than you spouse may feel right in the moment, but you become a prisoner in the future from not controlling the behavior.
Lashing out at someone for making you angry, will be a mess to clean up later. Use the energy from anger to put into your goals. Being angry at someone gets you nowhere.
By leveraging your emotions, you create more freedom for yourself. You will have the freedom to feel better, and sleep with your actions at night. You will become free.
Think of all the ruined marriages from affairs.
Think of things you have done in the past which you spend years trying to fix. People make emotional decisions that haunt them the rest of their life.
If you ride your emotional waves and do not operate with a strategy, your emotions control your life.
Would you rather make rational decisions that move you into a direction you want to be? We all want more freedom in our life, but we cannot do this by reacting to emotional states.
People who blindly follow their emotional states are easily manipulated by others and spend valuable time and mental energy correcting emotional decisions later.
Having to the discipline to understand emotions and not react to them, is a major step toward making progress in life, especially on your goals.
You are going to get angry, scared sad, and happy. It's just a fact of life.
Despite what motivational advise your hear, you cannot just think positive and hope to be happy all the time. It doesn't work that way.
Imagine spending 5 days with no sleep. It sounds impossible, but it's done in special operations training. I had the opportunity to do it twice. In an event known as " Hell Week" trainees are forced to stay awake from Sunday night until Friday night.
Special operations training is a volunteer program, so you could quit anytime you wanted to. This makes it even easier to give into the intense emotions felt during the week.
I was set back and did it twice. The second time was harder than the first because I knew what was coming.
I knew the pain, suffering, and feeling of sleep deprivation hell week brings.
How is this possible even once?
By feeling emotions, but performing the task anyway.
You feel many emotions before the week even begins. Just the thought of spending 5 days awake makes a normal rational person feel some fear. Did I run away in the first few hours? No, but some guys did.
The fear is normal, but the feeling of getting through the week without quitting would feel amazing. I had a chance to feel the feeling of success by feeling the fear, knowing I was scared, but continuing with my plan of making it.
Everybody feels fear, but the ones who are brave, feel the fear and continue toward the goal.
The people who don't show fear, seeming calm and focused during intense situations, are people who understand and respect fear. They know the fear exists and practice staying focused. They are rewarded with accomplishing great tasks.
Do you back down the moment you feel fear, or do you push through and accomplish your goal? Do you understand emotions are there for your survival but do not have your life goals and purpose in mind?
If our ancestors saw a tiger in the jungle, they instantly felt fear and ran away. This was for a good reason; they could DIE.
In our everyday life, our emotions can ruin our success.
We feel fear in situations not life or death, but for many, it can feel that way. If you have ever tried to speak in public, you know what I mean.
Even if you fear telling someone no because you fear being excluded from a group, you may give into it and become stuck with people you do not like.
Are you going to die?
Is anyone gonna care in a few years, a few months even? No. The fear will be there, especially on your first few attempts, but just because you feel it, doesn't mean it is warranted.
As you move into the middle of Hell Week, around Tuesday night into Wednesday morning, the tempo picks up. You are feeling the effects of sleep deprivation. You body is broken down. Your mind kicks into survival mode. Do you listen? No, you keep going. Your mind tells your body to stop moving. Because of lack of sleep, your emotions become a roller coaster ride.
I felt anxious, hopeless, depressed, and angry.
On Tuesday night, after a full night and day of nonstop activity, we set out on a ruck march. 100 pounds of gear on a hot July night in North Carolina, we marched into the night. Your mind tells your body to quit.
The funny thing is, your mind weakens long before your body does. I just kept moving my feet, and they hurt...bad. I fell behind, feeling of being anxious crept in.
What if I could not keep up?
What if they kicked me out?
Do they realize I only weigh 150 pounds?
I ignored the feeling and focused on one foot in front of the other.
The fun just kept on after we returned back to our tent. We were informed of another 5 mile ruck, but this time with gas masks on. This was a test of our resolve. It made us more uncomfortable. The heat from our heads could not escape and breathing was extra difficult.
To make things even worse, I was carrying a 4 by 4 board five feet long with a sledgehammer taped to it instead of a mock M 4 carbine. The instructors stole my weapon when I was not looking. Having that along with the 100 pounds of gear and a gas mask brought on feeling of intense hopelessness mixed with pain.
What are you supposed to do? Think positive? I kept moving despite what I felt.
After the second ruck march, we were informed - you guessed it- we'd be going on another ruck march. This time with all of our gear, but split into 6 man teams. We also carried a 200 pound dummy on a stretcher 4 men at a time, while the other 2 fell back to " rest".
This made me angry at the instructors yelling me to keep up. I could have gave into anger, let it overcome me. I could have spent my precious mental energy complaining or fuming about how they made us do these ridiculous things.
I channeled the anger. I took the anger and out it into the event at hand. The angry feelings actually boosted my energy for a short time.
Although it sucked at the time, I mean really sucked, the joy and happiness I felt later was some of the most intense emotions I've ever felt.
Getting through the week freed my mind of self doubt. I was free from wondering if I should have done more. Worries of what was going to happen later melted away because I accomplished what seemed impossible.
Nobody gets through hell week feeling positive.
The course is designed to test your mental strength despite how much you think you want to make it. No matter how fit, smart, or big you are, you will be challenged. You WILL feel what I felt. Everyone must dig deep.
I know how I would have felt for years if I gave into the intense feelings. I would have regretted it. I would have been hard to bear. Harder than continuing the week, despite what I felt.
Telling myself to think positive would have lasted a few minutes.
Apply hell week to your life.
You will feel the feelings of hell week during your life and throughout your day.
Take some time to track your emotional states throughout the day. There are times when you feel more motivated and focused. Use that time to focus on something requiring a lot of mental effort.
There will be times when your not as focused or motivated. Use those times for checking emails or other mindless work.
There will be times throughout the day when you feel happier. These could be times for spending with your children or spouse.
It is always easier to be comfortable and give in your mind. Skipping exercise or eating bad foods may feel better in the short term, but it creates a prison for your future. Being trapped in a body that does not operate properly or feeling foggy from junk food, makes you trapped. There are better habits we can always improve on.
The trick is to be aware and think logically, not following your changing emotional states.
Giving in to emotional desires with another person other than you spouse may feel right in the moment, but you become a prisoner in the future from not controlling the behavior.
Lashing out at someone for making you angry, will be a mess to clean up later. Use the energy from anger to put into your goals. Being angry at someone gets you nowhere.
By leveraging your emotions, you create more freedom for yourself. You will have the freedom to feel better, and sleep with your actions at night. You will become free.
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