Single Most Powerful Way to Drive Self-Discipline
How this perspective mitigated my self-discipline struggle
I have been researching self-discipline through various books and podcasts over the past years and found several factors that promote or hinder it. Eventually, I realized that reading about it is much easier than being self-disciplined, which requires incorporating all the relevant habits and attitudes in our minds. This made me think about and look at the parts of my life when I was most consistent with self-discipline. Finally, I discovered one fundamental mindset that simplified and mitigated the struggle.
Prioritizing time as if it were your most valuable possession
This is one of the many articles where I will discuss how the above perspective has helped me overcome so many obstacles.
Avoiding distractions
Usually, distractions start with convincing myself that I will spend a few minutes in entertainment. By its very nature, if you give it an inch, it takes a mile. I have learned this lesson repeatedly, and more recently through playing the game of Chess. It started innocently as a social and fun activity. Later, I installed an app on my tablet for practice. At some point, it switched from personal improvement to a distraction and compulsion to play. It would start with the thought of playing one quick 10-minute game to refresh and train my mind for the OODA (Observe Orient Decide and Act) loop [1].
But 10 minutes turn into an hour of multiple games. As my mind readily produced reasons and excuses to play that first game, it took up more time. Eventually, I got frustrated and aggressively prioritized time, which drove me to uninstall the app. Of course, reinstalling it and logging in will take a few minutes, but the attitude of highly valuing time is keeping me safe.
Escaping the gravity of the comfort zone
This is a well-known and another formidable adversary that hinders progress. For instance, even after enjoying the exercise habit for many years, I find it frequently hard to escape the comfort of the chair and break the momentum of whatever I am currently doing. Regular exercise has a deeper purpose for me. As a result, I think about the time it will take to regain it. Moreover, not taking this opportunity to overcome my comfort zone hits me as a further delay of personal growth. Again, saving time becomes the fundamental driver.
Maintaining consistency
During periods of high productivity, I found prioritizing time drove me to be consistent with various activities. I targeted pursuing physical exercise, studying, blogging, etc, daily and for a fixed time. I realized that my internal motivators of waiting to be interested, excited, and refreshed can be unreliable. Moreover, I noticed that it’s not the external obstacles, but the lack of intrinsic motivation that breaks consistency. For instance, finishing a workday leaves me mentally exhausted. In contrast, nothing external such as a power outage, laptop crash, or internet failure is objectively stopping me from writing. I found valuing time by making the best of every day pushes me in such situations.
- Carrot: I am closer to the end of the day, and the discomfort is temporary.
- Stick: I don’t want to miss out on today as I cannot get it back tomorrow.
Path-finding and course correction
This answers the question: what is the right thing to do? Again, valuing the passage of time, as if running out of gold, has pushed me to think long term and do my due diligence better. As an engineer, I have experienced the importance of catching and addressing possible issues early on in the project because the cost of getting stuck and backtracking later is much higher in terms of wasted time and effort. The other extreme is not to be stuck in analysis paralysis and delaying the start of the project. These two aspects are necessary for continued progress throughout the project for course correction and path-finding. Again, I discovered time was the most fundamental concern that naturally drove me to balance execution and course correction.
Final Thoughts
I learned the importance of valuing time through personal experiences and discovered its potency to keep us on the path of discipline. This fundamental force naturally drives me to follow various techniques advocated in self-discipline literature. I also found it much easier to integrate it into my psyche and put it into practice.
References
[1] https://medium.com/new-writers-welcome/observe-orient-decide-and-act-you-vs-yourself-5a9b43dbc873
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