Day 1: 30 Days of Discipline

A 4:51am wake-up and a cold shower wasn’t that bad after all. Like most first days, the energy and adrenaline carried me through most of the day and successful completion of all the habits on my list.

Except one.

To recap:

For 30 days there is no snacking. Only 3 meals per day may be consumed.

For 30 days you must wake up daily at or by 5am.

For 30 days you must take cold showers.

For 30 days there is no masturbation or internet pornography allowed.

For 30 days you must do 100 pushups, 100 sit-ups, and 100 body squats per day.

For 30 days you must dress your absolute best every single day.

Every day for 30 days you must have a to-do list that you will accomplish.

Every day for 30 days you must keep correct posture — stand up straight, chest and head held high and make eye contact with everyone you see.

Every day for 30 days your answers to yes or no questions must be “Yes” or “No.” Excuses and explanations will not follow your answer.

Every day for 30 days you must keep a notebook and pen with you.

You must have one specific and definite goal. This is something you will choose. Every day for 30 days you must do at least one thing to further your goal.

You can take one lazy Saturday/Sunday morning and afternoon, but Saturday/Sunday evening is used to prepare for the week ahead.

Every day for 30 days you will spend time reading the Bible (4 chapters minimum) and time in prayer.

Every day for 30 days you will perform an act of service or sacrifice for someone else.

What one of these would be the hardest for you in a day? When I put this list together, I thought that the cold shower and the 5am wake-up would be the hardest both to start and to get used to. After all, I thought to myself, the rest wouldn’t be that out of the ordinary for a typical day: Eating too much hasn’t been a habit that I’ve struggled with, and I haven’t looked at internet pornography in over 10 years (more on that in a future post). 100 pushups, 100 situps, and 100 air squats would make me sweat, but sure, I could knock that out. Dressing my absolute best is a job requirement, so that takes care of 5 days each week for that one. To-do list? Haven’t been great at keeping one, but I know it works for me, so boom, yes that’s easy. Correct posture would be a tough one along with yes/no answers, but doable if I stayed mindful and focused. Notebook and pen? Goes with the job and hand-in-hand with the to-do list, so that wouldn’t be too hard. Reading the Bible would be food to my soul. And finally, performing an act of service or sacrifice… This would definitely be the easiest, I’m a nice enough guy and I was sure that I did this every day anyone.

Wrong.

Looking back on this list, accomplishing each item requires that I focus on myself, except for serving or sacrificing. It was so easy throughout the day to keep the attention on myself and my own self-improvement. So easy to spend the entire day focused on myself to the exclusion of others. So easy to dive into my cellphone and go into my own world. I thought that with the extra time that I would have in the morning, that I’d be sure to have enough time to do something for someone else. But even with that extra time, the thought didn’t really cross my mind to do something for someone else until after the sun went down. Tomorrow is a new day, and I’ll be working on this one. On the other hand, this day isn’t over just yet, I’ve still got 68 minutes, and as long as there is time, there is a chance.

I’ll be building some new elements into this story over the coming days, so stay tuned if this has caught your interest so far. Until tomorrow. Carpe diem.