3 Keys To Unlocking True Self-Discipline In Life

“Whether you think you can or whether you think you can’t, you’re right.” — Henry Ford

Years ago, my life crumbled apart. It shattered like glass, breaking into a million little shards that came crashing down all around me. And I quickly came to the realization that I had lost everything. Literally, everything. So, not only did I lack self-discipline at that very moment, but I was filled with an immense sense of guilt, animosity and remorse that swirled around me like a violent cyclone.

I stood there, gazing out of my apartment on the 47th floor. The floor-to-ceiling glass windows spilling out towards a panoramic view of the epic landscape scrawled out before me. The sheer beauty in front of my eyes calmed my nerves only for a few seconds until I replayed that little script inside my head that told me I was a good for nothing loser and that I would never amount to anything in life.

It was dismal. The hairs on the back of my head stood up and I remember feeling this pain in my stomach that hurt so bad I had to clench my teeth and push against the glass to avoid bowling over. To make matters worse, it felt like a semi-truck was sitting on the back of my neck, pushing me into the dark mahogany hardwood floors. I couldn’t hold that weight up any longer. The pain was too immense. The pressure was simply too great.

Is this really happening…?

I remember asking myself that question repeatedly in my mind. Is this really happening? Was everything really falling apart? It was such a surreal moment and I remember it so vividly. Every single last detail painted in my mind, burned into the annals of my memory forever. Maybe that’s a good thing. Maybe not. But as I was standing there, I couldn’t help but ask why? Why me? Why now? How could this happen? How could I let it get so bad?

However, I wasn’t right in my head. I was a mess of sorts. But not just because my life was falling apart. I probably could have mitigated anything that was happening had I not been filling my body with so many toxins that you could have snuffed out a 7-ton elephant. Not just alcohol. Drugs. Prescription pills. Almost anything I could get my hands on. You name it, I was doing it.

It’s far harder to see the forest through the trees when you’re a ball of nerves with a depleted supply of serotonin because of the constant partying. I was on an emotional rollercoaster ride like no other. It was the result of an epic failure in business combined with a total and complete annihilation of my health and wellbeing. I can’t tell you just how un-self-disciplined I was. I lacked it entirely. It was thrown out the window along with my hopes and my dreams.

Is Self-Discipline Just A Pipe-Dream

I remember cursing everything around me as things fell apart, one by one. Day after day I wondered when it would get better. I screamed. Cried. And wallowed in pity. And then, I just started praying. I got up every single morning and went to church to talk to God. I couldn’t think of anything else better I could do. After I swore off all the toxins, I just prayed.

Going to the church every single morning, sometimes at 4 or 5 am, just to sit there and pray seemed odd at first. But I couldn’t think of anything else I could do that could make it better. I knew God could help. He was the only one who could help me. Maybe the answers were inside me. But, maybe, just maybe, it was God who guided me here.

I prayed for another chance. A new beginning. To start over. Right the wrongs, if you will. A clean slate. And every single morning, I would go to that church and just pray. Praying for forgiveness. For self-discipline. Strength. Courage. Wisdom. And anything else God would grant me. I knew that self-discipline wasn’t just a pipe dream.

I’d been so disciplined for so long as I built that business up over the years. I worked tirelessly, day and night, hustling and grinding. And then I let things slip. I stopped paying attention. And I started veering off course, focusing more on partying and having fun than building the business I had worked so tirelessly to build at the outset.

Unlocking The Keys To Self-Discipline

One day, the darkness turned to light. I had prayed so long and so hard, that eventually, God led me in the right direction. I had the answers inside of me. Although I was left with nothing, I realized that everything that I ever needed was inside of me. I didn’t need any external resources. What I needed was locked away in the confines of my mind.

My clarity grew from the sobriety. After about 6 months of having no toxins in my system, my mind became like a laser beam. I was so focused and driven like never before. Plus I made all these promises to God. Promises that I’ve kept until this very day. If you guys have followed along for any amount of time, you know how important my faith is to me.

When I was 16-years old, I was hit by this car, something I still can’t remember to this day. All I remember was waking up in the middle of a busy road with a group of people surrounding me telling me that I’d just been in an accident. But the accident was tragic. Fortunately, I lived. But it was that event that altered the trajectory of my life. And I feel like the failure I experienced years ago, did something similar for me. It gave me the tools and the resources to build something epic and timeless.

I’m not just talking about the income. I’m talking about everything. A sheer rebuild from the ground up. It was as though I went in for a complete upgrade, replacing every part of who I was with a newer and better part. Not just the body and the paint. We’re talking about the engine, the transmission, the wiring and everything else!

1. The Mind Is The Gateway

Since early on, I’ve always wanted to succeed in life. To me, success meant money. I wanted to be rich. But I think that echoes the desires of most people early on in life. What I didn’t quite realize was that there was one thing and one thing only that was holding me back. Discipline. And what I didn’t quite understand at the time was that one of the keys to unlocking self-discipline was my own mind.

My mind was the gateway. It was the be all, end all to the life I always wanted. However, no one ever taught me this. I wanted to succeed so badly but there were things that were holding me back. Bad habits that I had built up over the years were limiting me. What I didn’t realize was that there was only one way to overcome all of that. There was one true way to get on the path towards true success. And it all started in my mind.

You see, the mind is the gateway to self-discipline. At the start of this post, I wrote a famous quote by Henry Ford. Ford, who experienced his own well-documents struggles with several major failures said that whether you think you can, or you think you can’t, you’re right. He means that if you’re convinced in your mind either way, that’s the way it will be. Period. End of sentence.

Train Your Mind Early And Your Life Will Follow

The only way to overcome whatever it is that holds you back is through your mindset. It has to be trained. Like a boxer preparing for a title fight or a wrestler preparing for a championship belt, everyone knows that it’s not just the physical. Physical toughness is one thing. But without the mental strength, you won’t get far.

If you’ve ever watched Karate Kid, you know how Mr. Miagi trained Daniel LaRusso to wax on, wax off and to paint the fence. Why do you think he did all of that? He did it because he knew that he had to train the mind and not just to address the physical aspects of fighting. The truth is that oftentimes the biggest battle that you have is within your mind. You’re battling your inner self. If you can’t win that battle, you can never win the war.

2. Finding Your Real Deep-Rooted “Why”

Some time ago, while attending Dean Graziosi and Joe Polish’s 100K Group Mastermind, I had the chance to see Joe Stumpf speak. He’s one of Dean’s mentors over the years and he explained this concept called seven layers deep. Meaning that if you want to achieve something in life, and I mean to really achieve it, the only way to overcome that hump of inaction or resistance is to find your deep-rooted why.

Your reason to do or achieve anything has to be so powerful that it will overcome all of your inner desires to put things off or to not work hard enough. In fact, it has to be so powerful, that nothing possibly could stand in your way. Not a lack of money. Nor a lack of time. Or connections. Resources. Skills. Anything. If you can really dig deep, that is where you will find it within you to propel yourself forward.

And that’s precisely what I did. I dug deep. I kept asking myself why I wanted certain things until I came to the real reason. The core reason, if you will. Often, that reason has to do with love. On the exterior, you might think you want some shiny object. But it’s not about the attainment of that thing. It’s about what that thing is symbolic of to you. Often, it has to do with love.

Get Descriptive About Your Reason

Once you discover your real deep-rooted reason why you want to discipline yourself or to achieve anything for that matter, you have to describe it in great detail. You need to write it out. Don’t keep it in your mind. If you don’t get it out onto paper, it will remain this obscure thing. Instead, get really detailed about it. Describe it minute and highly descriptive prose. Don’t hold anything back.

3. Embrace The Obstacles Along Your Path

Some time ago, I met Ryan Holiday at the War Room Mastermind in Austin, Texas. I was introduced to him by my good friend, Roland Frasier, who is a master digital marketer and savvy entrepreneur. Holiday wrote a book that is probably one of the best books that I’ve ever read about success and failure. It’s called, The Obstacle is the Way. If you haven’t read it, I’d highly advise you check it out immediately.

In the book, Holiday goes into painstaking detail about things that present themselves as obstacles. Most of the time, when we encounter an obstacle, we run the other way. We give up. We throw our hands in the air in silent resignation. I know that this has happened to me in the past. There’s an enormous amount of pain that we’re forced to confront for whatever reasons and when that happens we always have two choices.

The first choice we always have is to run. We can certainly give up at any point in time. But the more difficult choice is to embrace the struggle. And to realize that the obstacle truly is the way. Rather than lamenting about the pain of the setbacks or upsets, you have to understand that it will make you stronger. It will help you to reach deeper understandings about life, love and what you truly want to achieve.

If you can’t embrace the struggle, or to understand that the obstacle truly is the way, there is no chance you’ll create any semblance of self-discipline in life. You’ll just ride the rollercoaster of success and failure. That’s it. But when you do charge forward and blast through obstacles, that’s where the real personal growth is made.

Ready To Create Rock-Solid Self-Discipline In Your Life?

Feeling frustrated? Overwhelmed? Stressed out at the thought of trying to achieve those lofty goals you set for yourself at the beginning of the year? Maybe people are talking behind your back. Whispering. Scheming about your demise. The mere thought of makes you incredibly anxious. How will you prove them wrong? What will you say? Which steps will you take?

The truth? We all want to achieve things. But we find it incredibly hard to instill any sense of self-discipline into our selves to get there. But what it discipline anyhow? At the end of the day, what does it mean to truly lead a disciplined life? More importantly, how do you overcome that inner voice that keeps telling you that you’re not good enough, smart enough, connected enough to achieve your dreams?

I want to invite you to grab my free cheatsheet where I chronicle the exact steps and process I took to turning my life around and creating rock-solid self-discipline. I went from feeling overwhelmed, frustrated and stressed out all the time, to finally feeling at peace and embracing my true calling. If you’re ready to get started, just click the link below to grab your copy right now while it’s still free. See you on the inside!

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