The Strange Marriage Of Extreme Discipline and Happiness
Extreme discipline leads to happiness.
The key is to understand your definition of happiness and then only do things that meet that criteria.
Discipline is the reason I’m a full time writer.
Discipline is why I was able to travel solo to fourteen countries.
Discipline is what led me to live in Los Angeles.
It’s the reason at 27 years old, I am the happiest that I have ever been in my entire life.
Two years ago, as a waitress in a biker bar in Nashville, Tennessee I dreamed of the life I’m living now. I dreamed of the flights, of having my own business, and living in a big city.
But at the time, I couldn’t see the connection between who I was and who I wanted to become. In hindsight, I understand why.
I didn’t see the connection because I wasn’t acting like the person I wanted to be.
When I started acting like her, I became her.
I became the world traveler.
I became the full time writer.
I became the small town girl living in a big city.
It was the extreme discipline of embodying the person that I wanted to be that turned me into the best version of myself.
It started with telling myself that I was going to do one thing that I loved every single day. That one thing led me to writing, which led me to try to get paid to write, which made me realize I could travel the world and write at the same time, which then brought me on an around the world trip to Los Angeles.
This is how I practice extreme discipline.
I ask myself, who is the next version of myself that I want to become?
As a waitress striving to become a writer, the list looked like so:
- World traveler
- Writer
- Emotionally Intelligent
- Healthy
- Well-read
- Hard working
Then, I asked myself, “To have these characteristics, how do I have to spend my day”?
- Wake up at 7am
- Healthy Breakfast + Supplements of choice
- Work
- Healthy Lunch
- Meditating
- Work
- Dinner
- Gym (3–4 times/week)
- Reading
- Introspective Journaling
I went even further and asked myself, “What does this version of myself wear?”. “How do she support her friends?”. “How does she interact with strangers?”.
Then, I disciplined myself to act the part on a minute by minute basis.
This is what my day looks like:
- Wake up at 7am
- Healthy Breakfast + Supplements of choice
- Work
- Lunch
- Meditating
- Work
- Dinner
- Reading
- Introspective Journaling
It was the discipline to act the part of the woman I wanted to become that made me into her.
And now, something interesting is happening.
I have to ask myself the same question and write the characteristics of the next version of myself that I’m ready to upgrade into it. And I imagine, that I’ll continuously come back to this strategy as I continue to achieve my goals and have to set higher ones for myself.
It’ll be extreme discipline that continues to elevate me towards my goals as they grow larger and larger.
