Discipline is Necessary

Are you afraid to pursue your dreams?

Dr. Jordan Peterson once said, “You should be more afraid of staying where you are if you are miserable,” when talking about living with discipline and chasing something meaningful. That’s the truth. If you’re chasing nothing, what’s the point of living? A life without meaning is empty and not worth living. Yes, you might fail on the path to something meaningful, but you’ll never truly fail because in the pursuit of meaning you will find discipline: You wake up early. You meditate. You hit the gym. You attack your purpose.

Discipline is when you wake up early, tired, but it doesn’t matter because you seek greatness. You compete with your former self every single day. Ask yourself this question: can you be better today than you were yesterday? What will it take? 

“The only competition that matters is who you were yesterday versus who you are today.”

In a world full of noise, chaos, and poor health (nutrient deficiency), it’s easy to drown in depression, anxiety, and low self-confidence. The cure to all of those ailments is purpose. Every day is an opportunity to lift yourself out of your current state. Complaints and excuses, well, they don’t move you forward nor do that matter. The only thing that matters are your pursuits towards meaning… Your goals matter! And those goals don’t need to be massive mountains, they just need to set you up to beat your former self. Maybe it’s waking up an hour earlier.

Maybe it’s reading for 20 minutes. Maybe it’s a 30-minute workout or telling someone they’re doing a great job. It’s not about the size of the step but about taking the step that is moving you forward. If a shark in the ocean stops swimming, or swims backwards, they die. In life, we should never be swimming backwards or sitting in idle… we need to be living a life of discipline in pursuit of a definite purpose.

Sample action plan: Are You overweight? Do you lack confidence? Start walking 10 minutes after every meal. Too much? Fine, just start with after dinner and once you have that down,  then add lunch… The point isn’t perfection, the point is simply starting. Here’s the deal, life isn’t waiting for you AND no one else is responsible for where you are. The sooner you accept that truth, the more power you have.

“You must discipline yourself in the pursuit of something meaningful.”