Discipline = Freedom... or does it?

You don't need more discipline.

Alrigh,t hear me out because this is going to come as a shock to you, but I don’t consider myself to be a very disciplined person.

That might sound silly, especially if you know me, either personally, professionally or through my online content.

I check all the boxes.

I do the hard things.

I achieve my goals despite the obstacles in front of me.

I don’t do these things because I’m disciplined - I do it because it’s who I am at my core.

It is part of my identity. It doesn’t take me any additional thought or effort to do these things.

I look at discipline a lot differently these days. To me, it’s a stopgap… a stepping stone, so to speak.

Motivation gets you started. It is a requirement. Motivation can be either internal. Some may even call it your “why?” It can also be external, like a reward or even social pressure. Whatever it is, it’s valuable, and I don’t actually think it matters all that much.

What matters is that you start. You do the thing. You start the habit.

This I where discipline comes in. It’s the effort to maintain the habit. To keep doing the thing when it gets hard or when it’s inconvenient. This is where most people get stuck. They try to rely on discipline for too long.

Why? Because the thing they’re doing isn’t actually important to them, or they simply don’t value what’s on the other side.

In either case, they don’t reach the end point because they don’t want to become the person that the thing allows them to become.

This is ultimately my mission - to raise the bar - to get people away from discipline and get them to becoming the version of themselves that they wanted to be when they were first motivated to do the thing.

The best version of themselves - the best you, you can be.

Ultimately, if you want something, you have to agree to doing the things required to get it. While that’s true, I go a step further.

If you want something, you are agreeing to become the person who already has it.

You have to become that version of yourself.

It has to become part of you.

Through discipline is where personal growth happens. Because you become the person who does the thing and that THAT point, you don’t need discipline anymore.

You just do the thing because it’s who you are and it’s what you do.

Discipline isn’t the goal, it’s a stepping stone. A stepping stone to the best version of you.

Need some help walking that path? It’s what we do. Reply to [email protected] and let me know who you want to be.

Let's raise the bar, together.

Paul Oneid, MS. MS. CSCS

Founder and Head Coach