How To Master Self Discipline (from a professional athlete)

This is how to teach yourself discipline & how to master self discipline.

All the knowledge found here is coming from a professional athlete (me), and as always I'll make it as entertaining and fun as possible so you'll learn AND enjoy it at the same time.

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1. Progressive Overload

There is one 'secret' (if you can call it that) to MASTERING self-discipline.

And that's a concept called progressive overload. This is a principle of bodybuilding and going to the gym.

It's when you start out with a small weight and gradually increase over time to increase the difficulty.

What most people ignore is that principles overlap, what you learn from one craft you can implement in another, and that's what we're gonna do here.

There's a fantastic quote I frequently refer to, it came from Brian Tracy;

''If you can't handle the little disciplines then you certainly won't be able to handle the big disciplines''

I think back to the time when I was playing in Italy, one day the thought popped into my head,

'Hmm, I haven't seen Grandma in a long time'

(for context back home we visit our grandparents every week)

And I know how much they love me and miss me, so I thought;

How will I ever be able to handle the pressures of being a professional athlete if I can't even call my grandma??

Within 5 minutes picked up the phone.

This principle is about building up difficulty, from easy, to medium-easy, to medium, etc.

How can you handle the big things if you first don't go through the trials and tribulations.

That's why many people who are GIVEN good things lose them, cause they are not well-equipped to handle them,

That's why people who are given hand-outs are less competent.

A bigger job, a better physique, a better future requires certain skills, internal skills, now you only develop these by doing the nitty gritty.

It's not nice, but it's necessary.

Just like a baby's first time walking, he's not co-ordinated, it's not fluid, his balance is off etc. But it's necessary.

So whatever your big goal is, ask yourself; What little disciplines am I missing?

Cause if you wanna write a book but can't even journal everyday...then that's kinda embarrassing.

SO BASICALLY, get the little things right and gradually build up to harder and harder things.

Discipline should be progressively overloaded

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#2. Your Own Lab Rat

To master self-discipline is a personal journey, you must take ownership of your situation, it's kinda like in a video game where you have a weak weapon so first you upgrade it before you fight the boss, that is kinda what it's like, YOU and only you are responsible for it, and this is a great thing.

Constantly test and refine, to make this even more fun just imagine you're a scientist testing out this great invention (yourself).

Experiment and test out different things and different methods, be your own science experiment. You're your own guinea pig. If you do that then improving your discipline, or anything else really is gonna be a blast, you're gonna have so much fun doing it.

That moves us onto our next point, experimentation MUST be coupled with pushing the barriers, exiting the comfort zone.

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Knowing How To Learn Discipline and knowing how to Master self-discipline are 2 different things.

I've already written an article on How To Learn Self-Discipline (linked, opens in new tab)

Basically what the difference is is that one is kind of the starting point while the other is going into expertise.

It's like learning how to walk vs learning how to throw a javelin.

Mastering self-discipline is high level, as it's name states.

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3. ''What's not moving is dead''

Listen, I've heard that same saying just as much as you have,
'gEt OuT oF yOuR cOmFoRt ZoNe',
Annoying af, I know, however this is a rule for life, so read it carefully, download it into your mind and write it down if you have to;

Growth and comfort CANNOT co-exist

Understand that?

To improve, to grow you HAVE TO feel some sort of uncomfortableness

Don't argue with it, you cannot change the rules and neither can I.

Embrace it.

AND BY DEFINITION, discipline is doing something you DON'T want to do, so improving your discipline and mastering your discipline is by common sense, gonna be an uncomfortable process.

But at least it accepting the truth makes it a simple concept to grasp,

If I'm in my comfort zone I'm not growing or improving,

If I'm outside of it then there is the POSSIBILITY for progress,

And bro don't do like me, there were periods of my life where I was comfortable for MONTHS, thinking about it now it just makes me disappointed to wonder about all of the progress I could have made in that time.

Everyone has those slow or even off days, just don't let it stretch out more than it has to,

Don't let a slow day drag you down into a pit that turns into a longer period than it has to.

And as the name of this part states, ''What's not moving is dead'', even biology agrees with this, movement is one of the seven sings that something is alive,

I am telling you this because if you are always comfortable in your bubble, with a hot chocolate and a judgmental cat on your lap then you are STAGNANT,

And the definition of stagnant is ;showing no activity; dull and sluggish. (literally copy and pasted this)

Stagnant means NO MOVEMENT, which means that you are DYING, because you are not moving.

There's a saying ; ''You're either getting better or you're getting worse, no in-between''

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I genuinely do hope that you found this helpful, I'm super proud of the way this article came out.

I'm always happy sharing my experience to help you in any way I can, whether that's by teaching you how to improve discipline or by telling you of a time I messed up and got a face full of mud, life lessons are meant to be shared not kept.

As always...