You would not be reading this if you did not come to your own conclusion of how vitally important self-discipline is in life.

With that said:

I’m skipping the “why self-discipline” part and diving straight into the juicy bits.

TENET #1 - THE PERFECT TIME

Waiting for “motivation” is quite literally wasting time until you feel a certain emotion to engage in a particular behavior.

Everybody has self-discipline due to the mere fact every individual has a conscious mind.

You can feel any emotion and still do a specific set of actions through the power of conscious control.

Self-Discipline = Self-Control

If a little child that does not want to eat vegetables, yet still does it for ice cream after dinner, by overcoming short-term emotions for long-term benefit so can you.

The Resistance [that feeling that arises every time you think about stepping outside your comfort zone] can be used as an internal compass.

Simply by identifying the voice in your head into two categories “Champ“ vs “Chump” you can turn this perceived “enemy” into a life saving ally.

As your allied compass it points you in the direction exactly where you want to go disguised as…

“I don’t feel like doing it”

Not only do you have the added benefits of clarity on where to go, but that feeling is the perfect time for you to go.

The only way you can improve self-discipline is when you feel that internal resistance attempts to stop you.

Only when you overcome The Resistance does your self-discipline strengthen.

If you don’t, your self-discipline continues to weaken due to not using it like a muscle [and it further reenforces to you this lower sense of self that is not capable of positive change nor helping you to reach your highest potential]

The beauty of it all?

You will feel this sensation in every single area of your life [career, business, health, skill acquisition, family, relationships, hobbies, etc.] as the process of strengthening self-discipline and the beneficial applications spans across all domains.

Remember: never let fleeting feelings rob you of the life you deserve so you can truly feel fully alive.

Every time you overcome The Resistance = your level of self-discipline strengthens.

The harder the challenge, the easier what previously stopped you will appear, resulting in The Resistance having lessened it’s power and control over you.

As you continue engaging in this new behavior of your Ideal Self - you begin accessing the hidden powers of Momentum - where you make efficient progress as you expand less energy.

When you wake up and see this reality - you will realize how you had all the tools available to you since childhood this entire time...

The perfect time starts the moment you make up for lost time and opportunities through relentlessly taking action because now you see that you allowed “motivation” to stop you from living your ideal life now.

TENET #2 - MAKE IT RIGHT

It’s very important you stop and watch this three minute clip so you can truly understand the gravity of this tenet and how it plays a vital role in self-discipline.

Do NOT continue reading until you have finished watching this scene.

It’s a extreme example but [far too many times does society make the foolish mistake] every single human being will encounter “the end“ in life.

It’s a known fact yet billions go about their lives every day procrastinating and delaying the responsibility of accepting this harsh reality.

When meditating on death it provides tremendous perspective that snaps an individual back to common sense after walking through life in a daze…

Whether you are conscious or unconscious about this fact or not:

Modern society today has become addicted to experiencing a specific type of emotions.

This mode of behavior forces people to engage in activities that recreate these set of addictive emotions based on their unique circumstance.

Be it consuming brain washing corporate media, social media and other sets of self-sabotaging habits like complaining, gossip and playing a victim.

When you see “it” you’ll notice crack addict like behavior to get another dose.

But if we were ever to encounter a life experience - like what was revealed in the clip - suddenly all of it becomes completely irrelevant when the end is closer than ideal…

With the undeniable presence of death in mind:

It allows an individual to focus on truly important matters in life.

Awareness of death cuts the puppet strings controlling your life experience and The Resistance [and your short term emotions] had over you this entire time.

Now comes the time when you make the life long commitment to make it right.

Because it’s either right now or never while living in regret.

TENET #3 - SEE THE FUTURE

Humans are creatures of habit.

You have daily, weekly and annual routines.

Routine provides structure and stability to better predict an uncertain and chaotic future.

Through collected life experience and conscious awareness - in familiar settings despite an unpredictable future - you become the common denominator that which is predictable.

Because of this…

Is it not wrong to say you can see the future before it happens?

As you know understanding oneself becomes the foundation to personal growth.

When you know how you will most likely behave in specific environment…

Would it not be a smart decision to analyze the situation before hand so that you can identify the possible options, decisions and outcomes you would be left with?

Before entering the environment you can rationally make the best informed decisions without allow short term emotions to influence your behavior.

Imagine a case where a recovering alcoholic enters an open bar only after a day leaving rehab...

When it comes to the process of actualizing your most desired outcomes and life experiences:

Engaging in your Ideal Self’s behavior with self-discipline becomes the first and vital step to successfully experience a deep identity level change.

TENET #4 - REACT TO ACT

One of the main reasons it becomes so hard to engage in a new set of behaviors aligned to your Ideal Self is because of friction.

Excess friction is between your most desired life experiences and where you are today trying to make a conscious effort to change your mode of behavior causes you to unnecessary waste energy.

This is one of the leading causes the annual “new year, new me” gym crowd quit after a few days and weeks…

They waste energy fighting against friction and do not have enough energy left to make actual progress [combined with lack of self-discipline while focusing on wrong metrics] which is just a recipe for disaster and complacency.

Take a look a your environment.

That is where your friction lies.

Do you not see evidence of your current identity all around you?

You are a byproduct of your environment [that you changed due to this identity that you are not satisfied with].

When it comes to change it becomes very difficult as the environment is holding one back from engaging in new modes of behaviors aligned with the most desired life experiences.

You can make the transformation process significantly easier by strategically setting up your environment so that it positively influences you to engage in a behavior like your Ideal Self.

Set an intention with items within your environment to have you react to act.

Remember: keep Tenet #3 - Seeing The Future in mind as every tenet compliments onto the next.

If you snapped your fingers and you immediately were your Ideal Self right now - how would the environment look?

You must ponder on this.

Apply what you discover to your existing environment so that you reduce friction and make more progress instead of wasting it fighting back against resisting change.

This can all be done on a micro level, but on the macro level:

I highly suggest you create a time schedule.

Not for you to feel restricted, but for you to consciously create your Ideal Self’s schedule so that you behave accordingly.

And if you haven’t already I would also highly recommend you to turn off all notifications so nothing distracts you. The only notifications you do allow are the one’s that you proactively set beforehand so it reminds you to engage in your new behaviors.

A very simple action that will save you from wasting precious time that could be used more productively towards creating a future flooded with your most desired life experiences.

Live proactively by being at the cause, not the after effect playing against you.

TENET #5 - KEEP THE STREAK

Repetition is mandatory to make change last.

Downside?

Tedious habits can become boring to the point of self-sabotage.

For this very reason - you must gamify the boring and tedious - during the process of self-actualization.

Changing your identity [consciously cultivating a new set of habits and behavior while resisting the pull of current identity] you must keep the streak alive.

By simply writing down what habits you must do [and the current habits you possess now] you clearly see the difference between success and failure.

Without tangible metrics to measure your emotions will dictate your daily actions.

Lower the bar of success to the mere fact that you took some type of action no matter the level... not some unrealistic expectation and goal that did not appear overnight.

When you mark the action complete - allow yourself to feel good about your process. The next day you do the same until you start cultivating a numerical streak i.e. one week is a seven day streak.

The process of positive self-transformation becomes a fun game of not losing your streak and beating your best PR [personal record] exactly like in the gym.

It is You vs You.

When you see what others have done - do not compare your lack of - instead use it as a source of inspiration as to what is possible if you decided to pursuit the same.

You only focus what is in within your control to keep increasing that number as high as you can.

If you are new to developing self-discipline and have not yet increase it’s strength - you take action according to your existing level just so you do not break the streak.

Can’t read an hour today?

Fine, read one sentence - that counts.

The only thing that matters is you do not lose your streak as you keep the momentum going.

In the rare case you somehow broke your streak?

Come back stronger and break your personal record from last time dammit.

Let the fire within the belly burn.

Memorize that feeling of failure and never allow yourself to feel it ever again.

The game of self-actualizing your most desired life experiences is apart of the fun of life anyways.

TENET #6 - UNDENIABLE OFFER

We are all human beings bound to make a mistake sooner than later.

Play on this natural tendency to your advantage.

Depending on your level of self-disciple there will be situations where The Resistance is so high you feel like you cannot defeat it.

Often times this happened to for me after nights out drinking where I really did not want to go to the gym the next day.

However, I made myself an undeniable offer I could not decline [nor could I come up with a better counter offer].

I offered to myself the ultimate treat based on all my wants and desires only after I overcame The Resistance.

For me this meant I could go have a nice cappuccino while reading for an hour to help me wake up and have energy to head to the gym then after it was complete: I could go order myself a pizza before taking a nap then do whatever else I wanted.

This included lowering the expectation of what a productive day was by reducing it to only one simple task I needed to get done for the day.

If I did not go to the gym I was not allowed to do want I desired but instead I would fast for the whole day.

Simply put I made an offer to myself that I could not deny as I would feel like a fool for not accepting it.

And if I really could not do it: I lowered the bar so low like showing up to the gym but not working out…

You end up working out anyways because sitting there doing nothing feels like wasted time anyways so might as well do what you must because after all nobody ever regrets having gone through a workout.

TENET #7 - THRIVE IN CHAOS

When you experience this sensation you’ll know you’ve reached an extremely high level of self-discipline many people cannot comprehend…

The seventh tenet to self-discipline is when everything comes together.

It’s the 99/100 where the only perfection you can experience is the ongoing improvement of this impeccable skill required to have your most desired life experiences.

While others become completely petrified in the presence of The Resistance - you are proactively seeking it.

Because developing your self-discipline has turned into a fun game to see how high your level actually can get.

What is your true potential?

It’s a mindset where you no longer allow the excuses to hold you back like everybody else but instead you are seeking for the reasons to do the challenge despite the presence of The Resistance.

This becomes a positive upward spiral that has no glass ceiling to cap it like the rest of society.

When was the last time I felt The Resistance?

Over a year ago I was living in Japan for a month and it was my last day…

What would your last meal be in the land of some of the best food in history has ever known?

As I was trying to figure out what to eat I had a bizarre thought:

What if you fasted instead?

I had a fancy steak dinner planned with a close friend in about 36 hours…

Which only made the idea sound that much better as I feel The Resistance growing stronger.

So I did what many people would call insane given the unique circumstance.

I happily accepted this challenge.

It meant I would not eat anything on my last day in Japan [yet alone know when would be the next time I would return] on top of that mean skipping one of my favorite European fast food chains after an intercontinental long haul flight without eating, denying the meals that came with the first class train ticket AND wait until dinnertime… to have my first meal.

Now why would I accepted such an agonizing challenge?

Because I saw it as such a rare opportunity for me to increase my self-discipline to have an even higher level of self-control despite whatever emotions are present.

The long term benefits outweighed the short term benefits.

You see.

When you cultivate self-discipline you start seeing obstacles as opportunities of growth that helps propel you to your most desired life experiences.

Self-discipline is self-control of your Self and the actions you take in response to chaotic and unpredictable environments.

With self-discipline as your ally the only thing that blocks you from having exactly what you want to experience in life is the right information [and in this technological society information is infinite and widely accessible at any time from anywhere in the world].

The potential of your life experience is infinite so do not put a cap to your imagination as quite literally self-limitations is the only factor that stops you from reaching your highest potential.

Hope you enjoyed the seven tenets of self-discipline framework.

I wish it provides you tremendous benefits to your life as it has done for mine.

See you on the mats,

POJ