What’s the next step after you’ve mastered self-discipline?

You must master time efficiency.

Before self-discipline and time efficiency you must prioritize self-awareness.

Everything starts with self-awareness:

Without self-awareness there is no self-discipline as the default is chaos.
Without self-awareness there is no self-control as the default is entropy.
Without self-awareness there is no self-autonomy as the default is conformity.
Without self-awareness there is no self-improvement as the default is deterioration.
Without self-awareness there is no self-mastery as the default is incompetence.

This is why you must understand your Self first before you can identify your Ideal Self that is living the life of your most desired experiences.

Blindly following society’s standards of success will only result in temporary pleasures with an expiration date.

Societies standards is at an all time high with social media algorithms spoon feeding you curated captured moments presented in creative highlight reels that last for a few seconds.

And some how millions false belief that is a representation of reality.

Use it as a source of inspiration, not a representation of how reality is experienced as everything that goes up must come down.

Look.

You must understand your individuality as it is unique as your fingerprint.

Your existence only appears once in a tiny spec of time compared to the vast timeline of the entire universe’s incomprehensible size.

Your way of life is not meant to be one size fit all, your life was meant to be lived in a way that perfectly fits your individuality.

Anyone that lives according to this experiences the sensation that transcendes words.

How you proceed from now dictates if you truly are living an authentic life according to your unique biological blueprint.

A remarkable journey that requires self-discipline to break free from the self imposed mental chains society has cultivated.

MAKE PEACE WITH DEATH

Life is an accumulation of series of moments extended across your existential timeline with an unknown deadline… and it will happen sooner than you would prefer.

Anything related to death makes the vast majority uncomfortable.

Death triggers fear, regret and the unknown.

Society shields death’s existence from public awareness and it comes with a major punishment:

We take time for granted living in a way as if we have an unlimited amount available.

It’s no surprise many chase after the end goal believing that it will provide them the lasting happiness they’ve been desiring all this time.

Through closer examination the end destination is death…

Do you really want to fast forward now to a end destination that you actually have no idea if it is going to provide exactly what you seek?

Arriving to that end destination only to realize you’ve waited your entire life to experience a reality that didn’t come close to your expectation is a very sobering thought.

To feel the regret that you’ve lived your life in a way that did not go as planned.

Only to be stuck there on your deathbed [unable to move, no energy because you didn’t prioritize your health when it mattered most]. No loved ones around because you’ve neglected meaningful relationships for so long because you thought that this thing you chased after all your life was better than everything else life had to offer you when you had the time…

Is that how you want your life to end up?

You are trapped in a mental prison completely immobile, unable to communicate with others to experience the feeling of connection and no matter how hard you try to resist you know death is about to knock on your door any day now.

Whenever I hear anybody wanting to rush towards the end goal neglecting that what matters: I have this very scene playing through my head on repeat.

Your available choices, decisions and actions from the past made today’s experience and into the future these same critical factors will determine if you will be trapped in that unbearable reality or not.

Act wisely.

EXISTENTIAL AUTHENTICITY

Procrastination kicks in when it comes to the responsibility of accepting the reality of death.

This universal truth can be pushed back but the sooner one accepts reality, the better to avoid the unfortunate life outcome described above.

Acceptance of death comes with gained clarity [it helps eliminate the never ending mental ferris wheel and the other countless available options distractions] to help you focus on what’s actually important.

The next step comes clarity as in understand oneself.

It’s essential the beginning of the journey of self-discovery begins with accepting death.

When death always lingers at the back of your mind you focus on the important matters.

Prioritizing yourself over the need to people please out of fear of their perceptions of you.

Especially true to the individuals that have their entire sense of Self and identity wrapped up with external opinions.

If one remains stuck in this paradigm their entire life existence and purpose is to cater to everybody besides oneself.

When you focus on improving yourself first through self-discovery with integrity, you become the overflowing cup that naturally fills the cups of others without any effort… and you want nothing in return because you already fulfilled and happy.

Imagine living a way of life - 100% authentically aligned to your individuality - what makes your existence so damn meaningful.

You never have to question your social relationships wondering if they are involved in your life for the right reasons or not.

Anybody that truly knows you never questions your intentions because they know who you are and just being who you are meant to be.

Every waking moment is focused on things that you want to do and not because you were told to do it.

Freedom is Life.

Your existence provides you fulfillment without any conscious effort.

PROCESS OF ELIMINATION

Tap into what you do not want to identify what you do want.

It becomes difficult and extremely confusing to identify what will make you happy.

We look outside of ourselves to seek guidance by following the crowd to help make better choices as it’s linked to our survival instructs.

This evolutionary tendency must be questioned at times as whoever is leading the audience might not have their best interests at heart. Analyze the leader closely seeking nuances read only in between the lines.

When the crowd goes a specific direction - consider if it serves your best self-interest to walk the opposite way.

Personally, I’ve lost count how times this has benefited my life.

Examine your past experiences. The past leaves clues that often get overlooked as if it carries zero value to the present and future.

By reflecting on negative experiences in particular, you will be able to identify negative role models. These individuals are your guardians ready to guide you on the path towards your Ideal self.

Reflection is a must and collecting life experiences becomes equally as important.

Only through collecting life experiences will you be able to better understand your complex Self.

Start with what you do not want, whine it down from there through on-going experimentation while making observations with intention.

You will reach a point where a subsection of interests best aligned to your Ideal Self which you will be rotating through again and again after nearing maxed your life excitement threshold.

For me that’s learning, reflecting, traveling, training, socializing, writing and creating.

I cycle through these tested activities like you listening to your favorite song on repeat for hours without ever getting fed up.

I literally could be stuck in an alternative universe that lasts an eternality cycling through those activities - I would never get bored and only become better at what I love to do with an infinite amount of time.

How can’t one experience happiness if every waking second is invested into activities that bring you joy in the process?

This started by identifying exactly what I did not want my future to look like.

From there I simply continued to explore my curiosity until I stumbled upon an activity that spoke to my individuality then continued on the path until completed the puzzle for a holistic life set up.

DISTRACTION FILLED ENVIRONMENT

The vast majority tries to accomplish everything while making progress in nothing.

The pursuit of a meaningful goal requires sacrifice.

You can’t simultaneously train to one day win an olympic gold medal while being a CEO of a competitive tech company and try to become an astronaut… while raising a family.

A big maybe if it is separated into different phases of your life as seen with a doctor that became a US Navy SEAL then became an astronaut for NASA.

But juggling it at the same time?

Impossible.

Life unfolds in an ongoing series of season changes.

As much as people say they want to achieve [insert most desired outcomes here] they just won’t stop engaging in the behaviors that stop them from checking off that bucket list item.

Now mix in the list of unless distraction attempting to harness your attention and the drop in attention span of a goldfish.

Then your mind and body are evolutionary wired for seeking pleasure and avoiding pain. Sitting on the couch for hours eating while binge watching netflix epitomizes this fact millions do every day.

Anything that goes against that evolutionary agenda: your mind and body will work together working against your wishes.

Your body allows anxiety to kick in then your mind seeks every logical excuse and justifiable reason for you to stay exactly where you are.

Finally you constantly switch in between tasks due to lack of focus so you end up barely breaking the surface to make significant progress.

and let’s not forget instant gratification for an immediate result…

We live in a technological age where entities are proactively seeking to capture your attention in order to harness your most valuable resource to meet their own agenda.

Yes, in the moment it is perceived as your personal benefit.

When you snap out of this hypnotic haze and take a step back you come to realization you just wasted hours of your life that you will never get back.

You let it slide this one time, the next it becomes three hours then you check your phone analytics only to notice you have wasted an entire 24 hours doing what exactly?

Zero actions that move you closer to your desired life experiences.

Now do you see why you feel overwhelmed and scattered to the point of inaction and stagnation?

THE WAY OF TIME EFFICIENCY

If you tracked your time you would come to a scary conclusion of how much time you waste.

I’m not perfect but every day I strive for perfection so I do not proactive waste the time I’ll never get back.

After tracking my time for over a year…

It may be the most life changing behavior I ever engaged in.

Among the most significant insights taken from the experiment was my ability to pinpoint the specific activities that directly influenced my mood.

The subconscious mind took over my behavior:

If the activity elevated my mood I did more of it, if I felt drained after it I did less of it so I could do more of what was better for my well-being.

Imagine engaging in that behavior for over a year and what you would learn about yourself.

Everybody complains of not having enough time but if only if they saw the data on how their time was used… they would be absolutely shocked how much time they actually waste.

It’s a very sobering thought to digest and accept.

Of course one naturally would not be appealed to a schedule due to the restrictions that it is associated with.

Do you not want to experience the perfect day?

You strategically plan your time so you can experience the type of day you want to have.

At the cause, not the effect.

Not only do you get the extra benefits of a free mind not worrying about having to remember every little detail, but you clearly see where your time was used for feedback and strategize how to become better and more efficient to not waste you your life away.

By staying on track you remain consistent which is the main benefit of self-discipline.

The rewards that come with momentum turns into compound interest: you make effortless process faster.

Self-discipline and time efficiency work synergistically to create momentum that produces your most desired outcomes and life experiences.

See you on the mats,

POJ