Latest / Getting After It / 115 - Jocko Was Right: Discipline Is the Path to the Life You Want

Transcript

115 - Jocko Was Right: Discipline Is the Path to the Life You Want · Getting After It

0:00
Brett: Turns out.
0:00
Brett: Jocko, he was right Discipline is the path to the life that you want.
0:05
Brett: Welcome back to Getting After it everybody.
0:07
Brett: I'm excited to talk about this today because, honestly, discipline is the starting point on your Getting After it journey and what I've talked about with Getting After it.
0:17
Brett: What that actually means is you are always setting your sight on a goal, trying your best to achieve it, and then, when you accomplish it or if you need to rethink your strategy, you get after it again.
0:30
Brett: You set your sights out, boom, you go for it, and that's what discipline promises for you.
0:35
Brett: So let's get after it.
0:43
Brett: You might have seen the quote before from Abraham Lincoln where he says Discipline is choosing between what you want now and what you want most.
0:49
Brett: Let that sink in for a second Because, honestly, discipline gets a bad rap.
0:57
Brett: You know you hear things like oh, I'm going to get disciplined at work if I mess up or I have to discipline my kids because they've been acting wild.
1:04
Brett: You know, at work, if I mess up or I have to discipline my kids because they've been acting wild, you know when, in reality, discipline, by definition, is doing things that you don't necessarily want to do for a better outcome in the future, but my own personal definition of it is the highest form of self-love that you can do Discipline and you might not understand that yet, but hopefully, as we go into this topic a little further, I'm able to address some of these points.
1:30
Brett: Let you understand, like why discipline is important and what you can start doing today to implement some of these principles and start doing this in your life.
1:40
Brett: Because Abraham Lincoln, he's not just a brilliant president, but he's a man who endured insane hardships, like the civil war so much with um, with human rights during that time, and people hated him.
1:56
Brett: He literally was assassinated, abraham Lincoln, and he understood that he had to be disciplined so he could get what he wanted, which was he wanted the slaves to be free.
2:07
Brett: So think about that for a second.
2:11
Brett: But there's a lot of pressure, and flip it on to you.
2:14
Brett: I'm sure you're feeling a lot of pressure in your life, and it could be at work, your family, your own personal goals or aspirations, but I assume there's probably a good amount of pressure in your life and that might feel overwhelming at times.
2:28
Brett: What do we do to fix it?
2:29
Brett: Well, I want to give you the tools to stop chasing shortcuts and start embracing the long game.
2:38
Brett: Again, this is all going to be tied into discipline, because delayed gratification is very important.
2:50
Brett: Daily habits that forge you into a great human being is also crucial for this.
2:53
Brett: And why discipline and not motivation?
2:57
Brett: Because it is the ultimate superpower, if looked at correctly.
3:02
Brett: And I want to redefine what discipline is Because let's start here, like, discipline isn't punishment, like I mentioned, it's looked at as punishment when in reality it's not at all like.
3:14
Brett: It is not a punishing thing.
3:15
Brett: So if you think about that and you try and reframe how you actually think about the concept of discipline to start with, then ultimately it'll get a little better, you know, and I think you'll start to get it more.
3:29
Brett: So think about it just as a reframe.
3:33
Brett: First, it's not a punishment, it isn't restriction.
3:37
Brett: It's not this cold, rigid structure that is designed to suck all the joy out of life.
3:43
Brett: Not at all.
3:43
Brett: That is designed to suck all the joy out of life Not at all.
3:45
Brett: Discipline is a.
3:48
Brett: It's a filter, it's a compass, it's a muscle, it's the voice in your head that says you're capable of more and it's the quiet strength that you have within you to act on it.
4:07
Brett: Everyone has a choice and discipline is a choice, but it is a choice that will promise you a better future.
4:13
Brett: And it sucks.
4:15
Brett: I'll be the first to say it.
4:16
Brett: Whenever there's something I need to exercise my discipline at, whether it's a run, whether it's waking up early, if it's sitting down and doing a project I don't necessarily want to at work then that's where I have to exercise my discipline, but everything that I do is made to hopefully provide a better life for myself and my wife and my future family in the future.
4:37
Brett: Like Jocko Willink, he says it best and I've quoted it so many times but discipline equals freedom.
4:47
Brett: I don't think I've actually talked about what that means to me, but the more disciplined you are with your time this is what it means to me the more disciplined you are with your time, your health and your thoughts, the more space you have to create a life that you're more proud of.
5:05
Brett: So if you're not worried about working out after work cause you got it done in the morning, then that frees up time where you can just spend more hyper-focused at what you're actually doing at work.
5:18
Brett: And when you get home, then you don't have to go and, like exercise, spend more time away from your family, you can just be with them and I get it.
5:30
Brett: Waking up early is not fun.
5:31
Brett: It is arguably one of the worst.
5:34
Brett: And then it's the winter time right now, so it's kind of cold.
5:36
Brett: I just struggle waking up and I'm sure you might be the same.
5:42
Brett: Like you might be saying oh, I'm not a morning person, guess what no one really is.
5:46
Brett: No one is.
5:47
Brett: No one likes waking up, especially when the alarm clock's the one that's doing it Like I absolutely.
5:55
Brett: I have to change.
5:56
Brett: This is stupid, but I have to change my alarm clock sound probably every three months, because if I don't do that, then that sound, whatever it is, whatever the tone is, will drive me crazy and I will almost like cringe if I hear it, like at the office or something.
6:14
Brett: If someone has that as a ringtone, I'll flip out.
6:17
Brett: I'm like no, I can't do this anymore.
6:18
Brett: I got to change it up.
6:19
Brett: But it's not easy.
6:22
Brett: Yet doing that action of waking up early, going to the gym, pushing myself it makes me a little bit more proud of myself because I was able to conquer that first battle of the day.
6:34
Brett: Now let's think about finances, because I say discipline equals freedom.
6:40
Brett: I always talk about fitness, I talk about like work and stuff, but I think there's a profound example we can draw from.
6:46
Brett: If we're thinking about finances, discipline might look like skipping your daily Starbucks routine or like setting a budget for yourself and your family.
6:55
Brett: In the moment, those feel like big sacrifices, like are you kidding me?
7:00
Brett: I can't have my iced coffee.
7:02
Brett: Cold brew venti I hope that's a drink.
7:06
Brett: I don't necessarily know, I don't drink coffee, but, um, I've heard people order before and it sounds like another language.
7:12
Brett: But it might feel like a sacrifice at first until you start seeing that, hey, you know what that's kind of wild I'm.
7:19
Brett: I'm saving $30 a week just from not going to Starbucks.
7:22
Brett: I'd rather use that and take my wife out on a nicer date.
7:27
Brett: Little things open up, but if you look a few months down the line, maybe you're out of debt because you're able to spend money more wisely and make better decisions about your money.
7:41
Brett: Maybe you can finally invest into something meaningful, whether that's you open up a Roth IRA, you get into real estate, whatever it is.
7:48
Brett: But that's freedom is that you no longer are stuck.
7:54
Brett: You know having to be a slave to waking up, going to Starbucks, getting your donut, whatever your routine is.
8:01
Brett: You don't have to do that anymore, and in the beginning it seems hard.
8:05
Brett: Just like all things that require discipline, the beginnings are always the hardest part.
8:09
Brett: So if you understand that with any objective that you're going after, any goal that you have in your purview, then that's fine.
8:19
Brett: Understand that it will get easier over time.
8:22
Brett: In the beginning it's always going to suck.
8:25
Brett: I always talk about my running journey and how five miles was a challenge for me and three miles actually was a challenge for me.
8:33
Brett: I was no great runner, I would argue.
8:37
Brett: I'm probably not now.
8:38
Brett: But one thing I can definitely say is I have the evidence that proves I can, and I have the evidence.
8:46
Brett: It's like hey, you know what?
8:53
Brett: 10 miles isn't that bad, because I do this on a weekly basis, whatever.
8:55
Brett: But if you would tell me that at the beginning of my journey, I would laugh in your face.
8:58
Brett: It'd be like 10 miles is easy for me.
8:59
Brett: Three years down the line, you're kidding me.
9:00
Brett: That's the dumbest thing you've ever said when in in reality.
9:04
Brett: That's how it is.
9:04
Brett: That's that's how discipline works, is it makes you more prone to battle those harder decisions on a regular basis, and I mentioned before.
9:15
Brett: But it is a muscle and you have to exercise it just like you would your biceps and your quads and everything else.
9:21
Brett: You go to the gym and you start light right.
9:26
Brett: You do a lot of reps.
9:26
Brett: Maybe next week you start increasing the weight, but over time you start to see that you got these beautiful looking biceps.
9:34
Brett: You know something Thor would be proud of.
9:37
Brett: You got these gnarly things on your arms, but it's because of the months of work that went in there and the fact that you decided I'm going to go do something hard today so I can look like Thor by the time the beach comes around and I'm going to be a sexy man.
9:51
Brett: You know Like it takes time.
9:53
Brett: Discipline gets you started and consistency will always carry you across the finish line, which we'll go into that a little bit here.
10:01
Brett: But discipline is a dance.
10:05
Brett: It's a daily dance, and what I mean by that is like some days you're locked in, you're feeling good, others you trip on your own shoelaces.
10:14
Brett: You know you're not getting the rhythm right and that's okay.
10:18
Brett: You know what?
10:19
Brett: Here's the key you just keep dancing.
10:21
Brett: I like to dance, shout out to my wife.
10:25
Brett: Our wedding was the best dance party I've ever been to.
10:28
Brett: I think about that sometimes.
10:31
Brett: It was damn fun, but you got to keep dancing.
10:36
Brett: Discipline isn't about being perfect.
10:38
Brett: If you're expecting that your journey should go perfectly, then don't start, because you're going to get a quick realization that that's not how things work.
10:49
Brett: Perfect is a myth, whenever you're doing anything that requires discipline.
10:54
Brett: So take that thought of, hey, I'm going to be perfect on this journey throughout out the window, because even now that I'm a little bit better at running, I'm a little bit better at podcasting, better at my job, better at being a husband there are always days where I'm like I need to get better, like I need to refine my skills.
11:14
Brett: Um, with podcasting specifically, it's like how do I speak well?
11:17
Brett: How do I get rid of filler words?
11:19
Brett: How do I make the content more engaging and actually valuable for you guys to listen to?
11:25
Brett: Being a husband same thing.
11:28
Brett: It's like you know what I do.
11:29
Brett: Take care of Allie.
11:30
Brett: I know that she's good to go, but what can I be doing to make her life easier?
11:34
Brett: How can I exercise discipline, sacrifice some things from my own life to show her that I love her and ultimately help her have the best life, which will make me have the best life?
11:45
Brett: Spoiler alert that's how it works Every morning when your alarm goes off and the bed feels warm, you have a choice you can either hit snooze on that alarm or you get up and you go for your mission, which is get a workout in, get to the gym, start the day strong.
12:05
Brett: Start the day with something difficult to do, because there's a lot of psychology like science and psychology that backs this up.
12:15
Brett: But if you do something difficult at the beginning of your day, then the other things that come up seem a little easier to deal with.
12:24
Brett: People call it eating the frog.
12:26
Brett: Like you do the hardest thing that you need to do in the first thing in the morning, and for me that's typically a workout.
12:35
Brett: Like I push myself very hard and I know that whatever comes across my way when I'm at work or when I get home to Allie not going to be as hard as as pushing myself like mentally in the gym.
12:50
Brett: Um, because there's still days when I wake up and I'm like I feel so beat down.
12:55
Brett: I'm tired, but I know what my mission is and I have a choice to crawl back in bed or to get after it.
13:03
Brett: And since you're listening to this podcast and you know the title, hopefully you know what my decision is.
13:10
Brett: But again, there are days when I'm like I need more sleep, like I worked hard the night before or the day before I need to rest up, and that's okay when that happens In fact, I would say that's good, because you're understanding that, like you'll still get after it later in the day, but you recognize in the moment that you need to take care of yourself in another area, that you need to take care of yourself in another area.
13:37
Brett: So I don't know, I think waking up and going to work out is one of the biggest hacks to start your day and if you want to exercise discipline, if this is something that you're trying to build in yourself, then start there.
13:47
Brett: Wake up early, a little earlier than you usually do, go get a workout in and see how you feel, and if you don't feel better, you can comment all the bad crap you want on this podcast.
14:02
Brett: But I'm guaranteeing you you will not feel that way.
14:05
Brett: You'll feel proud of yourself, you'll feel more primed to take on whatever happens during the day.
14:10
Brett: And Ryan Holiday reminds us in the Obstacle is the Way that the obstacle in the path becomes the path.
14:16
Brett: That means that waking up early and facing those hard choices first thing in the morning.
14:22
Brett: That's the path that you need to go down to become a better human.
14:27
Brett: That's getting after.
14:29
Brett: In a nutshell, how can you be a better human?
14:31
Brett: What can you be doing to maximize your skills?
14:36
Brett: Get better yourself, learn as much as you can.
14:39
Brett: It's usually going down the path that's harder, that has more resistance in the way, and just try it.
14:47
Brett: Try it out for a week and see what you can do.
14:50
Brett: Because I'm telling you from experience that anytime I've done something that requires discipline, I've never been sorry for that choice.
15:02
Brett: I've never regretted it.
15:04
Brett: It usually leads to a better path.
15:08
Brett: The times where I, at the beginning of the year, have to invest in my Roth IRA and it's usually a good amount of change, but it feels challenging in the moment until I'm like you know what, a few years down the road when I start, you know Ali and I are retiring, so actually a lot of years down the road, that's going to be much better than it was just investing X amount of dollars into that, in that fund, and it's like that discipline choice will create freedom later.
15:37
Brett: See where this is going.
15:40
Brett: But let's go back to the early morning, because the early morning resistance again, that's battle number one.
15:47
Brett: But that's the path and these small daily wins will build that rhythm that you need to keep dancing with discipline.
15:55
Brett: Like choosing grilled over fried or walking 10 minutes instead of skipping the workout.
16:02
Brett: Like, if you don't have time, just walk for 10 minutes.
16:06
Brett: If you are a writer and you told yourself that you want to write every day but you have a writer's block, just write down 100 words and typically the ideas will come.
16:16
Brett: I mean, that's what happens to me, but each one is a step forward.
16:21
Brett: Each discipline action you take is a step down that path To make you a better person, to make discipline an ally rather than an enemy.
16:31
Brett: Like you don't want to look at it that way.
16:33
Brett: Treat it like a friend, because it is your friend, even though sometimes it doesn't act like it.
16:40
Brett: But how many of us have friends that we go to, who tell us exactly what we need to know to get out of our heads that don't sugarcoat things, but their advice is something that we value because it's real and it's honest and it's straightforward.
16:55
Brett: That's discipline too, because discipline will make you have to be very honest with yourself.
17:07
Brett: So start doing it today.
17:12
Brett: But let's talk about what I call the discipline dividend, because this is an idea I fell in love with, that speaks truths and goes a long way.
17:20
Brett: This podcast episode is very important to me because without discipline, I wouldn't be where I am today, talking to you in your ears, on whatever platform you're listening to.
17:31
Brett: I wouldn't be having this podcast, I wouldn't be married, I wouldn't be having this podcast, I wouldn't be married.
17:35
Brett: I wouldn't be a runner.
17:36
Brett: I'd probably be some grouchy old man, not old 27.
17:41
Brett: I'd be a grouchy.
17:42
Brett: Well, excuse me guys, I'm drinking a monster while I'm doing this, so I apologize if I'm doing some burps, but hopefully it keeps you on your toes.
17:52
Brett: But I've fallen in love with this idea of the discipline dividend.
17:59
Brett: But here it is.
18:00
Brett: I'm going to break it down for you.
18:02
Brett: Every hard choice you make, let's say, is a deposit in what I call a resilience bank.
18:08
Brett: Resilience is built up when you exercise discipline.
18:13
Brett: But what does that look like?
18:14
Brett: Okay, so you show up to the gym that's a deposit.
18:16
Brett: You cook a clean meal another deposit.
18:20
Brett: You have a tough conversation that's been on your mind, that you know you need to do, but you've been afraid.
18:24
Brett: To another deposit.
18:26
Brett: James Clear says it all the time.
18:31
Brett: I love his book Atomic Habits and in there he's quoted as saying you don't rise to the level of your goals, you fall to the level of your systems.
18:40
Brett: And guess what guys?
18:41
Brett: Your systems are built on discipline.
18:45
Brett: Every deposit you make compounds and eventually you look back and you don't even recognize the old you.
18:50
Brett: And that's kind of a fun part of the journey, honestly how much you grow, how much you learn about yourself and and areas that you see opportunities to improve, get better at and refine your skills.
19:06
Brett: Like, if it's a hobby, then spend 10 minutes a day working on it.
19:10
Brett: That might seem so small, but 10 minutes is more than you're doing now, and 10 minutes can turn into 20, which can turn into 40, which can turn into 80.
19:22
Brett: And over time you look back and you're like I'm so glad I spent time in the beginning when it was hard and I had to make time for this, where now you might have a business or you might be a better painter.
19:35
Brett: Whatever your hobbies are, you might be a better runner, but whatever it is, you'll look back and you won't recognize the old you, which is great.
19:43
Brett: And I always talk about my friend, not my friend, he's my brother, best friend, though Drew His journey from how he was a couch potato sorry, drew, he was a couch potato.
19:56
Brett: He was overweight, he was 265 pounds, where now he's 210 pounds and ran his first marathon.
20:03
Brett: He's a completely different man than he was when he started his journey.
20:07
Brett: But guess what?
20:17
Brett: His journey was not easy.
20:18
Brett: It was full of challenges.
20:18
Brett: It was full of setbacks.
20:19
Brett: Setbacks and um times where he questioned his ability, but during those times he didn't let it dictate the story that he was writing for himself and he pushed through and now that's paid off for him.
20:27
Brett: The same thing can happen to you and that's why I talked about in the beginning that this is a long game, like you shouldn't be looking at discipline as short term or instant gratification things that are going to happen to you.
20:40
Brett: There are things with working out where you will see a direct relation to like oh yeah, I went, I exercised for a while, I moved around for a bit and I do feel better, and that's because there's science behind that actual movement that says like oxytocin will get released in your brain, you'll have endorphins running through your brain, you'll feel legitimately better and that's one thing that's like.
21:03
Brett: Discipline sure has instant gratification capabilities, but for the most part, it's a long game because you might feel good that day, but the results that you want are on the other side of four months of hard work, now delayed gratification.
21:17
Brett: I want to go back to this point because it is something that I've yet to master, but I'm working on.
21:22
Brett: We live in a world that is instant dopamine, like crazy TikTok scrolls.
21:27
Brett: You can get anything you want DoorDash to your house, amazon.
21:32
Brett: Everything is so fast.
21:34
Brett: You can stream any movie you want.
21:37
Brett: It's all at our fingertips, which is awesome, like.
21:42
Brett: I love living in this time because how cool is it that I can go up and be like man?
21:47
Brett: I saw this movie trailer two years ago that I really wanted to see and never got around to it.
21:51
Brett: Go upstairs, boom, put it on.
21:53
Brett: Like that's pretty cool.
21:54
Brett: We live in an amazing time.
21:56
Brett: But there are some negative things that happen to us psychologically when we do have everything we want at our fingertips and like within a snap of of a finger, we can have, you know, entertainment or food, whatever, but it's all so easily accessible and, on the other hand, is the counterpunch Like?
22:20
Brett: This is how you fight back with instant gratification.
22:22
Brett: This is where you say I'll wait and I'll suffer now for something greater, and it's hard.
22:30
Brett: But Aristotle, one of my favorite Stoics.
22:33
Brett: He is famously quoted as saying we are what we repeatedly do.
22:38
Brett: Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit.
22:42
Brett: That means excellence requires discipline, and it must become a habit for you If you want these grand things to go in your life and if you want the results that you're aiming for.
22:59
Brett: It's discipline, it's being excellent.
23:04
Brett: Now, if you want that strong body, if you want to get fit, delay the gratification.
23:09
Brett: That means you're going to have to clean up your diet, you're going to have to put time in at the gym, you're going to have to learn.
23:14
Brett: You want deep relationships.
23:16
Brett: Guess what?
23:17
Brett: Another thing?
23:18
Brett: Delay that gratification because you have to spend time with the one that you love.
23:22
Brett: You have to ask them questions, be there for them when it's not convenient for you.
23:28
Brett: And my wife and I do distance right now because she's a pilot for Allegiant, she's trying to get Provo based and she's in Mesa, arizona, right now and it sucks.
23:37
Brett: It is one of the worst things ever because I don't know.
23:42
Brett: I love her and we have so much fun together but, like on the weekends, typically she's working and so it's like little things that like me coming down for a week working remotely, just to be with her.
23:54
Brett: It means a lot and it's not necessarily easy for me, but I know that if I want a strong relationship with my wife, I have to actually be there for my wife.
24:04
Brett: I have to be literally with her, and I can't do that if I'm in Utah and she's in Arizona.
24:10
Brett: If you want a meaningful legacy you guessed it you're going to have to delay your gratification, and this podcast is another great example, because it's not like I'm posting these things and then they're blowing up all the time.
24:28
Brett: No, there's a couple of reasons why I do this podcast.
24:31
Brett: Number one it's an amazing education for myself and I love doing it.
24:36
Brett: It's it's fun finding things that I learn and then talking to them, just talking, talking to you about them.
24:43
Brett: Like, it's fun for me to do that, and so research get better.
24:46
Brett: And, um, allie likes it too, because then we'll talk about it over dinner and I'll be like hey, I think I want to do a podcast on this.
24:52
Brett: Um, here's what I've learned so far, and she'll give me some feedback.
24:57
Brett: So it's a good conversation for us to have too, because we want to get better overall, and the only way to do that is to talk about it.
25:03
Brett: So think about what you want in life and come to the realization that it's not going to come as fast as you want.
25:13
Brett: So stay in it for the long game and do the hard things now that will allow you to have the legacy that you always wanted.
25:20
Brett: The other reason I do this podcast is so my kids can listen to this and be like what did dad think when he was 27?
25:26
Brett: What were some hard things that he went through?
25:28
Brett: Or when he was 27 and he was dealing with getting into his career and trying to become better in that way, like what did he say about what worked for him?
25:40
Brett: That's a legacy I do want to leave behind.
25:43
Brett: But all those lessons that I kind of brushed over in that example, it's going to take time for me to learn them.
25:49
Brett: It's going to take time for me to understand how I can best portray them and teach them to you.
25:53
Brett: But delayed gratification is something that will get you further than it will pull you back.
26:02
Brett: Now, the ability to wait and to endure the gap between effort and reward it's literally one of the greatest predictors of success.
26:10
Brett: Can you wait for it?
26:12
Brett: And I'm sure you've heard of the marshmallow test, where a group of scientists took a group of kids and each gave them one marshmallow and said if you wait for 15 minutes, I'll come through that door and you can have two marshmallows or you can eat this one right now.
26:27
Brett: And the kids that all ate the marshmallow right away were so much different than the kids were able to wait for 15 minutes to have two marshmallows and they studied them throughout their lives.
26:39
Brett: And the ones that were able to wait were successful in everything that they did.
26:43
Brett: They had better relationships, they had better careers, like I think, even their net worth was better, they had better mental health.
26:51
Brett: And it's because they they realized that it was like I don't know, at a young age I don't know how old they were, maybe four years old, but a young age they're like, okay, if I just wait 15 minutes, I can have two marshmallows.
27:04
Brett: That's way better than one.
27:06
Brett: I'll just do that and that's what they.
27:08
Brett: That's what they did, and that simple exercise, that simple idea, got them so much further in life than they would have expected.
27:21
Brett: I want to talk about what happens when you slip up.
27:23
Brett: I kind of grazed over that earlier, but it is something that's going to happen on your journey and typically, when I began my journey of discipline, if I wasn't in the gym every single day, I thought it was a failure and I was like I suck, maybe I'm not as disciplined as I thought I was, and it's dangerous because your own mental talk, that will dictate what you focus on, that will dictate your own thoughts and actions.
27:51
Brett: But you will oversleep.
27:54
Brett: People will bring donuts into work and you might eat one.
27:57
Brett: You might skip the gym occasionally.
27:59
Brett: That doesn't mean you're broken, though.
28:01
Brett: It means you are a human being.
28:03
Brett: Like I said, if you're chasing perfection in this journey, it's not going to work for you.
28:08
Brett: Marcus Aurelius, my favorite Stoic.
28:10
Brett: He once wrote that you have the power over your mind, not outside events.
28:14
Brett: Realize this and you will find strength.
28:17
Brett: So if you are injured, you don't have power over that, but you have power on how you decide to think about that issue.
28:27
Brett: Like, the power of the brain is amazing and you have power to choose how you look at certain things that come up in your life, whether good or bad.
28:36
Brett: You always like your circumstances might suck.
28:38
Brett: We're not all dealt the same fair hand at birth and some people have it way harder than others, but every single person has the ability to choose how they look at their circumstances.
28:52
Brett: They can either let them circumstances break them or be a springboard into the life that they thought was never possible for them.
29:02
Brett: It is not fair.
29:05
Brett: Life is not fair.
29:06
Brett: People have it worse.
29:07
Brett: I'm in a very fortunate circumstance where I can talk about these kind of things, and I do have it a lot easier than most, I will say.
29:16
Brett: But still I'm choosing how I think about it.
29:22
Brett: I choose it from a lens of gratitude, and you have the same opportunity with whatever's in front of you.
29:31
Brett: The mistake isn't falling down, it's staying down.
29:35
Brett: That's when you lose.
29:37
Brett: Like you need to reclaim that momentum.
29:40
Brett: And so how do you do that?
29:42
Brett: Well, whatever, the next best decision you can make is make that one.
29:46
Brett: Don't wait for Monday, don't wait for the first of the month, don't wait for the first of the year.
29:50
Brett: Just get back on the horse.
29:52
Brett: And if you reset now, discipline is always one choice away.
29:59
Brett: Like New Year's resolutions are great, but I don't think that they should determine how you set goals.
30:04
Brett: Like, sure, let it be a starting point, and if you want to try something new for the year, I think that's a good thing to do, but don't let it dictate how you set your own goals.
30:16
Brett: And if you fall off the horse with your New Year's resolutions, just get back on.
30:21
Brett: As simple as that.
30:22
Brett: Just get back on and brush it off and learn what you needed to do.
30:29
Brett: I love this concept too, because sometimes I'll overeat, like my wife.
30:34
Brett: She buys granola bars.
30:36
Brett: I love those things and I'll eat like 20 of them sometimes and I recognize in the moment that it sucks.
30:43
Brett: This is a bad decision.
30:44
Brett: I shouldn't be doing this.
30:46
Brett: And then my self-talk is the worst.
30:47
Brett: I should not have eaten 20 granola bars.
30:50
Brett: What the hell's wrong with me?
30:51
Brett: And then I'm like have eaten 20 granola bars, what the hell's wrong with me?
30:55
Brett: And then I'm like hey, tomorrow I'm just getting back on the train.
30:57
Brett: That was a stupid choice.
30:58
Brett: But you know what?
30:58
Brett: I'm a human being.
31:00
Brett: I fall victim to granola bars occasionally a lot, actually.
31:04
Brett: Allie, I don't know if we can keep buying those things.
31:08
Brett: But this all ties into the last thing I want to talk about, and that's becoming who you're meant to be.
31:13
Brett: How many times in this podcast have I said that everyone is made for greatness?
31:18
Brett: Yes, people have it hard.
31:20
Brett: People are born into certain circumstances that might not be a great starting point on their journey to greatness, but there's always a chance.
31:30
Brett: Like Rocky Balboa, I think about it.
31:33
Brett: It's a great movie, rocky.
31:42
Brett: But he started in like the grungy streets of Philadelphia in some tiny little gym, and Apollo Creed was like, hey, I'm going to fight this guy.
31:45
Brett: Turns out he gets his butt whooped by Rocky.
31:47
Brett: Rocky just doesn't go down.
31:48
Brett: He's a scrappy little fighter, but he came from very humble circumstances.
31:50
Brett: And you might be in the same boat, not necessarily like the boxing world, but Rocky just doesn't go down.
31:52
Brett: He's a scrappy little fighter, but he came from very humble circumstances and you might be in the same boat, not necessarily like the boxing world, but you might come from very humble circumstances.
32:02
Brett: What can you be doing now?
32:03
Brett: To, one, change how you view your circumstances, not as a restriction but maybe as an opportunity.
32:09
Brett: And two, what can you do to reach out to others or try and find inspiration in yourself?
32:16
Brett: Because becoming who you're meant to be is a lifelong journey, and discipline is not about what you don't have.
32:25
Brett: It's about what you can gain from pursuing this journey.
32:31
Brett: Pursuing the difficult path, you gain confidence, you gain clarity and you gain control over your life.
32:39
Brett: So your circumstances might not be the best now, but if you make certain choices, if you do certain actions, they might get a little better.
32:48
Brett: And maybe 10 years down the road you're in a completely new place.
32:52
Brett: And you look back and you're like, damn, I really am a different person, I have gotten better and I can genuinely say that.
32:58
Brett: And then you'll be proud.
32:59
Brett: Think about what you'll feel in that moment, like when you say yes to discipline.
33:06
Brett: You say yes to the life that you're actually wanting, not just the one that you tolerate.
33:12
Brett: And it's about earning the respect of the person who's looking back at you in the mirror, which is the hardest person to earn respect from.
33:21
Brett: Coming from my own personal journey, that is truth.
33:25
Brett: Like I don't know why that's the case, why I'm the hardest person I try to you know earn respect from.
33:36
Brett: But it is true and that's why I talk about why it's important to exercise, to have a clean diet, to do difficult things, because if you're not doing those things, odds are when you look in the mirror you'll be like man, I'm fat, I am lazy.
33:54
Brett: How can you earn respect?
33:56
Brett: How can you respect a person like that?
33:57
Brett: But if you're doing difficult things daily and you're stepping out of your comfort zone, you'll look back and say you know what?
34:05
Brett: We did good today?
34:06
Brett: We did well.
34:08
Brett: We're going to get after it tomorrow and keep this ball rolling, because I got momentum, and that's a superpower on its own.
34:20
Brett: When you choose discipline, you cast a vote for your future.
34:23
Brett: You tell yourself that whatever you're going on, whatever thing that you're doing, it matters to yourself.
34:32
Brett: And as we wrap this up, I just want to remind you that discipline is a dance.
34:35
Brett: There will be days that you stumble, fall over, but if you keep showing up, the rhythm always will come back, the fire will return and you'll feel more amped to go after the goals that you have for yourself.
34:47
Brett: If you want more freedom, if you want more power over your life and more purpose, my advice to you would be start with discipline.
34:57
Brett: Maybe your next choice is seemingly easy, but hard for you.
35:06
Brett: Then take it.
35:07
Brett: Keep stacking up those wins, because as you do that, that's where the real growth happens.
35:14
Brett: It's a cumulative and it takes time.
35:18
Brett: So be patient during this.
35:20
Brett: Get rid of instant gratification, realize that there will be times that you will miss up, and that's okay.
35:26
Brett: You're a human being, but never fail or never quit.
35:30
Brett: You will fail, don't quit.
35:30
Brett: Never fail or never quit.
35:31
Brett: You will fail, don't quit.
35:34
Brett: Michael Jordan is not Michael Jordan because when he had a bad day at practice, he didn't show up the next.
35:40
Brett: If he did that, he wouldn't be Michael Jordan.
35:42
Brett: There wouldn't be a billion-dollar company where everyone around the world is wearing his shoes.
35:52
Brett: It would be a different story, and I watched the Last Dance last night, so that's why it's on my mind.
35:56
Brett: But you can change your future, but it starts with hard decisions today.
36:04
Brett: That's how you make it.
36:05
Brett: That's how you do it.
36:08
Brett: So do it, get after it.
36:09
Brett: Start now and see the life that opens up for you, because I can almost guarantee you it's better than what.
36:12
Brett: Start now and see the life that opens up for you, because I can almost guarantee you it's better than what you got now.
36:17
Brett: So I appreciate you for listening.
36:20
Brett: If this helped you at all, please share it with someone else.
36:22
Brett: But thank you always for tuning in.
36:24
Brett: You guys are the lifeblood of this podcast.
36:29
Brett: So until next episode, everyone keep getting after it.