Physical Excellence Leads to Mastery in Life
Few people are better examples of self-discipline and commitment than professional athletes. What an average person sees when she looks at an elite performer – say, a world-class tennis player – is that his abilities seem natural and easy.
She concludes, “He was born with it. It was given to him.” And she couldn’t be farther from the truth.
What she sees is an event – the act of winning. What she doesn’t see is thousands of hours of practice. His sore body, countless hours of drills, lost matches, and everything else made him the tennis player he is today.
He had never been born with his abilities, and neither was anyone else. It results from a long process taking years or decades, not mere days or weeks.
A part of his achievement might have something to do with his innate talent and physical strengths like excellent hand-eye coordination.
However, if it weren’t for the daily self-discipline to bring out those strengths, he would never have
become a world-class tennis player.
Working on your physique to increase your speed, strength, or flexibility is a perfect introduction to building self-discipline.
You won’t achieve any of these goals without dedication, long-term planning, and determination.
According to research conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 34.9% of US adults are obese.
In other words, it’s safe to say a large part of the Western world has never had much experience with sports for long enough to develop strong habits of self-discipline and persistence.
If they had, they probably wouldn’t be obese because developing these traits generates permanent lifestyle changes that aren’t obesity-friendly.
Charles Duhigg, author of The Power of Habit, calls regular physical activity a keystone capable of introducing several more positive habits as side effects of the first change.
A study by Steven N. Blair, David R. Jacobs Jr. And
Kenneth E. Powell shows that regular physical activity may lead to reduced overeating, smoking, alcohol consumption, and risk-taking.
By adding physical activity to your daily routine, you can develop these positive side habits almost automatically.
For this reason, physical excellence is an essential part of building a disciplined life.
And no, I’m not talking about becoming a world-class athlete or a perfectly sculpted human being. Constantly working on your health and fitness to your capabilities and genetics, not comparing yourself to others – builds a great deal of discipline in life.
You can’t build a strong body in a few months, which makes it a perfect activity to add as one of your daily self-discipline-building habits.
When you adhere to a specific routine for months or years on end, and you start seeing the results, you can’t help but learn to respect the process. It’s when you switch from the event-oriented to the process-oriented life when the magic happens.
As MJ DeMarco, bestselling author of The Millionaire Fastlane: Crack the Code to Wealth and Live Rich for a Lifetime, writes in his book, “Success demands your focused exercise into the journey and the tools of that journey (process) as opposed to the destination (event).”
