DISCIPLINE – A Weapon Against Getting Overwhelmed
A few days ago, I was featured on Bob Gentle’s podcast “The Personal Brand Entrepreneur Show.” On this episode, we decided to talk about how truly important discipline is, and how having the right kind of discipline can really take your self-development level up several notches. Some of people are born with complete control over themselves, while most of us have yet to even get started. And that’s totally fine! So, how do we get started?
These days, the subject of NFTs and the Metaverse has become such a hot topic. All of our attention’s turned towards this gigantic virtual world that’s trying to revolutionize the way we interact with each other. Although the Metaverse is definitely something you shouldn’t miss out on, have you looked into your INNERverse?
Before focusing too much on a new virtual world, try to first look inwards; in your own world, yourself. Have you been improving YOU?
In my 5 years of business, I’ve come to learn that when you work on yourself, your business will flourish as well. There’s this saying that goes “Don’t work IN the business, work ON it!” And that does make sense, but I found a more effective motto: WORK ON YOURSELF! Put yourself as a TOP priority.
Mornings and The 9-12 Club
We only have so many hours during the day, and a lot of us are very busy. Some of us maximize these hours, but there are also others who end up wasting it. How do we maximize these hours?
Let’s start with mornings. When we’re starting out a new career in our lives, it’s no surprise that we’ll reach a certain point of struggle. But as we sharpen our skills and gain experience, we start getting more and more used to the challenges that we face at work. Is that a good thing? Many of us might think “well, yeah!” But actually, there are a few cons to getting TOO comfy with your life.
When life is generally comfy, there’s a lot less for you to worry about when you wake up in the morning. And when you don’t have much to worry about, your mornings tend to end up slow and lax. Again, not a bad thing to have slow and lax mornings. But we’re looking at this from a “growth” perspective. One good way to make the most out of your mornings is to set up a routine.
And no, it doesn’t have to be that kind of routine where you wake up at 4 or 5 in the morning and start getting ready to take on emails or clients as early as 6. Personally, I don’t wake up at 5 in the morning. Heck, I don’t even wake up at 6! I TRY to wake up at around 7, but only because I have a dog to walk and two lovely kids that need their dad to take them to school.
I also have a 1 year old that keeps me up as late as midnight, as well as some clients from different time zones who are only available for calls during the wee hours. So is waking up at 5 in the morning a good idea? It still is for many of us! But is it for me? Not at all, and it isn’t for you either if you have a lot of things that keep you up late.
My number one priority is me. What does that mean? It means that I have to put my MENTAL and PHYSICAL health FIRST. If I don’t take good care of myself, I might end up in a hospital bed. Or worse, I could end up dying. If I’m dead, who’s going to take care of my family and feed my kids? Who’s going to run my business?
If I try out the usual “Wake up at 5 and get to work soon after” setup, there’s a good chance that my health will decline. Remember, people need 8 hours of sleep every day! Some of us don’t even have the luxury to sleep that long. But I make it a priority to clock in those 8 hours, because it means staying healthy and avoiding the risk of a heart attack.
Did you know that research shows most people get heart attacks in the morning? That’s because the circadian system sends out cells that prevent blood clots from breaking down. And if your heart isn’t properly conditioned for this daily reset, it could lead to a heart attack. Since sleep plays a huge part in keeping your heart healthy and strong, it’s important that we get enough of it in our system.
I’ll save you the boring science class and leave the link about this study here if you ever want to dive deeper into it!
Because of my schedule, I came up with something called the 9-12 Club. If you have a relatable schedule, you should try this out too!
It goes like this: I get up at 7 AM earliest to walk my dogs and take my kids to school, then from 9 AM – 12 PM, that’s when I spend the next 3 hours working on myself and doing my morning routine. I also use this part of the morning to make time for friends that I otherwise can’t spend time with during a busy day. Meditations, workouts, reading, all of it has to go in these 3 hours.
If it worked for me, it could work for you too! Remember, it’s not worth sacrificing your health and life for an “early morning routine.” Always tell yourself: “This is my life, so I’ll do me. I want to opt myself out of everyone else’s agenda and focus on MY agenda.“
Planning and Consistency
It’s important that you’re able to make a routine or daily lifestyle that suits you best. However, what’s just as important is that you’re able to STICK to it in the long run, and that’s where a lot of people fail at: Execution. People can get creative and start making all sorts of plans, but it’s always the commitment and execution that they start struggling with.
So… How can we work towards consistency?
One of the key habits I developed is to not beat myself up too much about missing a day. But that doesn’t mean I let it go, it just means that whenever I have bad days or miss out on my routine, I always tell myself: “Sagi, we haven’t done it today. BUT tomorrow is another day.“
It’s alright to miss parts of your daily routine, as long as you maintain the mindset to not miss it the next day. Funny enough, I actually realized that there IS a benefit to missing parts of my routine after all.
Maybe I’m just prioritizing more important parts of my life. I would LOVE to perfectly pull off my routine every day, but I also accept that there are a lot of other more important things that I’m working on. Maybe I just need to sacrifice it every now and then to prioritize those things.
Knowing Your Values and Prioritizing
Measure yourself and make a list. Grab a piece of paper and a pen, then write down ALL of the things that you value in your life. This is exactly what I did to help sort myself out, and I eventually got something like this:
– My physical and mental health
– My family (kids and wife)
– My Business
I’m personally a family first entrepreneur, and putting family first meant staying healthy so that I could stick around to be with them.
Make a list of the most valuable things in your life, then organize them based on priority. If your calendar DOESN’T reflect that, then you’re not effectively living the life you want to live. You’re not working towards the goals that you want to achieve, either.
When you’re not living your life based on your values, you’re not living with integrity. If you’re not living with integrity, you won’t be able to get anything done or grow! So you need to make sure that you’re living on a certain level of integrity, where you’re PROUD of who you are. Where you’re proud of being the hero of your OWN journey!
Donald Miller recently released a new book called “Hero on A Mission,” and what he says on this book is exactly what that’s about: BE THE HERO OF YOUR OWN STORY!
These are just some of the key takeaways I wanted to share with you from my sit-down with Bob. A lot of the lessons that we talked about really helped me through so many difficulties I faced in the past. Maybe these values can help you as well!
If you want to tune into Bob’s podcast episode with me, you can listen to it here. My Instagram is always open for DMs! Feel free to shoot me a message or join my WhatsApp community down below if you want talk to other like-minded individuals who are all about self-growth and development!