Transcription
When we think of the word discipline, we either think of one or two things: hard work and David Goggins. When people like you and me say we want to be more disciplined, it usually means a few things: I want to get my life together, I want to get better grades, I want to make more money to flex on people, and I want to flex on people with my money.
But there are two problems. First is that discipline is not easy. If it was, then everyone would have six packs and would be driving around with Lamborghinis and Bugattis. The other problem is that we think that a random motivational TikTok at 3:00 a.m. in the morning is going to get us to be disciplined the next day, but we know damn well that we're hitting that snooze button as soon as that 5:00 a.m. alarm clock goes off that we set for ourselves.
So how do we actually become disciplined? But before we actually know how to be disciplined, we first have to understand why it's so hard to be disciplined in the first place and why we choose to play video games and doom scroll instead of getting our life together.
First, we need to ask ourselves this one question: why do you want to be disciplined? Well, it's probably because you have a goal you want to achieve, but forcing yourself to do the necessary work is a struggle for you. But why is that? Well, because every single technological advancement in our modern society has conditioned our brain to crave comfort and avoid any discomfort, which makes being disciplined so much harder. For example, are you feeling hungry but got no food in your fridge? Well, you can get McDonald's in 5 minutes with a few clicks on your phone. Want a feeling of progress in life, but you don't want to put in the work? Well, you have video games. Want the feeling of love, but scared to talk to women? Well, you've got the incognito tab.
So how do we actually become disciplined when everything seems to be against us, including our own brain? Well, let's go to the concept of video games, as I think this will help you understand more in what I'm going to say next. In some RPG video games, everyone starts at level zero, and there are skills you need to level up in order to get stronger and fight harder bosses. In order to level up these skills, you need experience. This means sitting on your bum all day, constantly slaying level two goblins to grind for XP. Discipline is much like leveling up a skill in a video game. No one is born with discipline, and everyone starts at level zero, unless real life was made by EA and you get the option to pay $100 to unlock discipline level 100.
But anyways, there's actually a way you can level up your discipline in real life, which is you need to face some sort of resistance and force yourself to do the work that you don't want to do. Every time you don't want to do something, that is an opportunity to level up your discipline. Think of it as a goblin spawning, and it's your chance to kill it and level up. For example, you get a thought that you should do homework, but you don't want to do it. That is the same as a goblin spawning in front of you in a video game, an opportunity to level up. Then you force yourself to do homework, gaining discipline XP, which is equivalent to killing the goblin in the video game.
Getting better at being disciplined is like getting better at shooting basketballs. You don't get better by watching countless videos on how to shoot basketballs, like how you're watching this video right now on how to be disciplined. You only get better by practicing over and over again in shooting basketballs. You shoot over and over, and in being disciplined, you do the task when you don't feel like it, over and over again.
When we see that Asian kid that's pulling 12 hours of studying every day, we automatically think that he's just born with that level of discipline. But in reality, they've just been training and been leveling up their discipline skill longer than you have, and also having the possibility of no dinner for a week if they return home with one B on the transcript.
If you still think that Asians are still genetically gifted to be smart and disciplined, and discipline cannot be improved, well, I'm going to put some nerd glasses on and get a little bit sciency here. There is a part in our brain called the anterior mid-cingulate cortex. I'm calling it the AMCC. It essentially controls your willpower, and willpower is basically a person's ability to control their own actions in order to pursue long-term goals, AKA discipline. A study found that obese people had smaller AMCCs in their brain, and fit people had larger AMCCs. This means that you can actually grow your AMCC.
So how do you grow it? Well, it's simple. Just like how you level up your discipline, you do things that you don't want to do. But going to the gym six times a week, two hours a day, may feel like SEAL training for most people. But if you find it enjoyable, it will not grow your AMCC. It has to be something you hate. For me, it may be not hogging a machine for two hours straight. So it's important to note that in order to grow your discipline, there has to be things that you personally don't want to do.
Now, you may feel inclined to study for 8 hours straight and run 20 miles every day at 5:00 a.m. in the morning, but that's just setting yourself up for failure. First, look around your room. Did you even make your bed this morning? Do you have clothes laying around the floor? Do you have moldy pizzas on your plate? Does your room look like a polluted river? If it is, then it's a sign that you're not ready for an 8-hour study session and a 20-mile run. You want to start with the small disciplines first. If you don't have the discipline to make your bed in the morning, how would you even have the discipline to study for 8 hours or run 20 miles? It's like trying to fight a level 100 boss when you're only level one.
The way you act in small situations will often be the way you act in bigger ones. How you do anything is how you do everything. Small disciplines and annoying chores like doing dishes, or something as simple as making your bed, or even cleaning your dog's poo, are actually really important and shouldn't be overlooked. Since these chores happen so much throughout our day, it opens up more opportunities to level up our discipline. It's like having more goblins spawning to kill for XP. If you make it a habit of washing dishes or cleaning your dog's poo every time you don't feel like it, you will consistently train your discipline over time. Your brain will automatically start doing tasks you usually avoid, making discipline easier because you've conditioned yourself through small, annoying chores. This is similar to the compound effect, where small actions accumulate to big results.
Now, if you don't know where to start, you can set yourself daily, weekly non-negotiables. These are minimums that you're going to do every single day. For example, the non-negotiables I have for myself are to work out at least four times a week and do at least 3 hours of deep work every day. I don't like working out or scripting videos, which is a part of my deep work. But by setting these non-negotiables, I'm constantly training my discipline, and I'm always moving towards my goals. But you want to start small and make the non-negotiables reasonable so you can almost stick to it every day. Eventually, when these become easy, just add more to the non-negotiables.
Some people may think that discipline is an act of pulling yourself through constant discomfort and torture for the rest of your life. While it may seem like it, they can also be seen as an act of self-love. If you love yourself and really truly respect yourself, you wouldn't do things that are harmful for yourself, like eating that bag of chips that's made with ingredients from the periodic table, or grabbing lotion and going on incognito to fry your dopamine receptors with adult content. If you really loved yourself, you would instead do things that your future self can be proud of. You will never regret doing the hard task, but we always regret not doing it. Think about it: when have you ever went, "Damn, I wish I didn't do my homework. I wish I procrastinated instead"? Really think about your future self. Having to be fat 24 hours a day is harder than exercising just for 1 hour today. Being broke is harder than working on your side hustle for only 2 hours today. Being kicked out of your home because you got to be on the test is harder than just studying for an extra 2 hours today. If I am faced with a hard task, like scripting this video right now, I would always say to myself, "I'll be glad that I did it at the end, anyways. So why not just do it right now?" If you know that doing the hard task will make you feel good at the end of the day, then you have the perfect reason to go do it.
But now, let's imagine your morning is like a breakfast buffet. You start with a bowl of plain oatmeal. It's all right, a bit bland, but tastes good enough for you. Then you spot a stack of pancakes drenched in syrup and decide to dig in. They're delicious, and your taste buds just want more of it. But now the oatmeal seems more bland and more boring, and suddenly you can't imagine going back to the oatmeal because pancakes just taste better. This scenario is a lot like starting your morning by scrolling through TikTok instead of tackling something hard and productive, like studying or running. TikTok is a stack of syrupy pancakes. If the pancakes didn't exist, you'll probably stick with the oatmeal and still find it tasty since there's nothing better to compare it to. But once you've tasted the pancakes, the oatmeal just doesn't cut it anymore.
So it's important that we do hard things first thing in the morning when we wake up. If you scroll on TikTok before you study, you won't want to study anymore because TikTok is already more fun and stimulating compared to studying. That's why some people wake up so early to go for a run because running and waking up early is hard and it sucks. But they know that they're setting themselves to do more hard work for the rest of the day. It's like building up your tolerance for hard tasks. If you can survive a hard morning run, then studying would seem like a walk in the park.
But if somehow you still struggle with discipline, I want you to go grab a piece of paper right now. Write down everything the disciplined version of you would do. What do they eat? What do they look like? How do they act? Write everything you can think of and strive to be that person every day. As cringe as it may sound, you could even try imagining yourself as your favorite badass anime warrior, but just don't make it weird around people. Make discipline as a part of your identity because people act in line with the person they think they are. For example, Michael Jordan always thinks that he's a winner, so every time he loses, he will double down on his efforts and win again.
People think that there's some kind of life hack that will make you more disciplined. You could try all of these techniques, but at the end of the day, it just comes down to doing the things whenever you don't feel like doing it. It's going to suck, but the suck is going to eventually pay off, and your future self will thank you for it, and you will look back and be proud of the work that you put in.
Anyways, I hope that this video has helped. Subscribe if you learned something new.