Unlocking Your True Potential with Proven Discipline Techniques
May 13, 2024
Darius Dotch
How do you navigate the intricate dance of balancing ambition and wellbeing? We know it's not just about the grind. It's about the impact a disciplined mindset can have on our future. It all comes down to prioritizing your minds needs over your body's wants. This will bring you to new heights of productivity. I lay out five actionable steps to follow. Let's dive in!
How do you navigate the intricate dance of balancing ambition and wellbeing? We know it's not just about the grind. It's about the impact a disciplined mindset can have on our future. It all comes down to prioritizing your minds needs over your body's wants. This will bring you to new heights of productivity. I lay out five actionable steps to follow. Let's dive in!
All right and welcome back to another episode. Thank you all so much for being here. If you are watching on YouTube, please like and subscribe. If you are listening on a podcast platform, please leave a review. Those greatly help me. Also, please make a donation. Your donations help me keep this thing going and they are greatly appreciated. So let's go ahead and jump into it.
Speaker 1:
So, unfortunately, last week I did have to take some vocal rest. I'm in rehearsals right now and actually by the time you hear this we'll be open, but I'm in tech rehearsal and in previews and this show has a lot of yelling in it and I strained my voice. My voice was hurting for like three or four days. I was actually getting a little nervous because it was only getting worse and I couldn't really rest because we still had previews. And I will't really rest because we still had previews and I will wake up the next day like, oh, I don't know if I'm going to be able to make it by the end of the week. Thankfully, it turned around on me. One of my cast mates gave me some hydration stuff and it really, really worked. I feel way better and way more confident because, as I'm recording this, opening night is tomorrow and I want to come on here and give you an episode, and I hate that I had to miss one, but my voice for the long run was just too important to risk it. I had to rest.
Speaker 1:
Anyway, let's get to it. So you can probably tell by the title of this one that it's going to be pretty straightforward. I'm going to give you five ways to be more disciplined and unfortunately, I know, quote unquote discipline to some folks might not be the best word. It can have a negative connotation behind it and I didn't even realize it could be taken that way. I actually did an episode on this in the past and I posted it online and somebody jumped in my comment section saying that they don't like that word. They think about it like an animal, like a dog, like training a dog for punishment. How you might quote unquote discipline your kids. So yeah, not the sexiest words. Unfortunately for that person, who I don't even know, I don't care about their opinion. This person wasn't even a listener and I think they just wanted to say something. Whatever their opinion don't matter, but let's talk about it. So think about your life, think about how your life could change months from now, five years from now, 10 years from now, if you decided to become a more disciplined person? Do you think your life will be better or worse in the future if you decided to be more disciplined? That's the easiest question I'll ever ask you. The answer is yes.
Speaker 1:
We need to have more self-discipline, and the more self-discipline we can have, the more resilient we can be, which will lead to more amazing things in our lives. So what is discipline? Well, it means that you take action because you said you were going to take action even though you don't want to take the action. It's taking action regardless of how you feel. It's the resistance to the feeling of not wanting to do it and leaning in to that resistance, looking that resistance right in the face and doing it anyway.
Speaker 1:
And you never need discipline to do the easy stuff right. It's the challenging things that holds us up, the things that take more effort, more time, more mental focus. You don't need discipline to watch your favorite show on Netflix. That's easy. I can't wait for Ozark to come out. Ozark right. They take forever. I don't even think they put out a release date on it and I'm going to run through that in a single day. Now, what we do need discipline on is to not watch Netflix all day. We do need discipline to not hit that watch next episode button. We need discipline for that.
Speaker 1:
Discipline is following what the mind needs to do Instead of what the body wants to do. It's following what the mind needs to do versus what the body wants to do. The body wants to just lay in bed or on the couch and watch another episode, but the mind knows it should be being productive and working on that thing. The mind knows what you need to do, but the disconnect comes when the body wants to do something else. Right. So let's dive in five ways to be more disciplined. Number one focus on the opportunity and not the obligation.
Speaker 1:
Unfortunately, you won't love everything you do. For example, I love recording this podcast. I love putting it out in the world. I love feeling like I'm leaving a positive impact on people on the world. I love when somebody finds an episode that they resonate with. I love it when they let me know that they really are feeling whatever they're listening to, right. What I don't love is writing them, is planning them, coming up with what to write in the description, the amount of time it takes, the research I have to do. I don't love that at all, but that's the obligation to make it all work. To make it happen, I got to sit down and do the work. I got to do the research. I got to put the time aside and be dedicated to this, like right now. The sun is shining. I would rather be outside. It's been rainy and windy for like two weeks, but here I am. Right. That's the obligation, the opportunity, the fact that I'm making an impact. Every time somebody tells me that I'm an inspiration to them, they find value in what I'm doing. I love that opportunity. Right, if I can focus on that versus the obligation, that resistance. Which one you think is going to motivate me to get the work done?
Speaker 1:
Think about the areas in your life that you're not taking action in. What opportunities do you need to focus on? The obligation might be forcing yourself to get in front of the camera and to put yourself and your product out there, and you ain't comfortable doing that. Yet the opportunity is that you'll get the experience, that growth, because you're stepping outside your comfort zone and you'll look back one day and see how much better you've gotten. The obligation might be going to the gym and busting your butt. The opportunity is feeling better in your body, being healthier later on in life.
Speaker 1:
Focus on the opportunity, not the obligation. That's number one. Number two design your environment to make taking action easier. Make sure you set up to win and not fighting against things that you don't have to. Let's say you love sugar but you're trying to lose weight. Well, it's hard enough not to eat it as it is against things that you don't have to. Let's say you love sugar but you're trying to lose weight. Well, it's hard enough not to eat it as it is. So what if you make sure that you don't have any of it in your house, that if you ever do have a moment where you have that sugar, the sweets, the unhealthy stuff, that it ain't coming from your own pantry. Design your environment to be able to diet successfully. Design your environment to help yourself be more disciplined. Or, like for me, where I do all my work, it's not in my room, where I could be distracted by the TV or the bed. I'm in my basement at my desk. No TV, no fridge. Right, I have roommates, so I'm not in the main area of the house where the most traffic is. I have my daily plan that I write out every day. Next to me, I have an environment that's going to make it easier to take actions, the actions I need to do.
Speaker 1:
Do you spend too much time on your phone? Put it in the other room. Put it in the kitchen drawer. Do you spend too much time on the couch? I heard somebody suggest that you take your couch cushions off and put them in the closet. No-transcript, do it. Do you need to work in an area where nobody else is? Do you have to put on headphones, the kinds that go over your ears, so you won't get bothered while you're trying to be productive?
Speaker 1:
You want to wake up and go for a jog in the morning? Well, put your jogging clothes and your shoes right next to the sink, right? So right after you brush your teeth, you can just get dressed and go. You wake up and you spend too much time figuring out what to do. Write out your plan the night before or the first thing in the morning and put it next to your bed or on your nightstand. That way, when you get up, it's right there and you know exactly what you have on the agenda for the day. Figure out a way to create that environment that's going to give you the least amount of resistance. So that's number two design an environment to make taking action easier.
Speaker 1:
Number three move your body. And I say this a lot on here, but action creates more action and inaction creates more inaction. Sometimes we just have to move our bodies to give us that kick, that jumpstart that we need, and it could be whatever. It can be you jumping up and down, it could be you shaking your body and your limbs jogging place right, the first thing I do every day. That creates more action for me. After I pray excuse me after I pray and write on my daily plan, the first thing I do on my list is to clean. I give my body that motion, that movement of cleaning. Right, I'm not starting at my computer, I'm starting up on my feet, cleaning, doing the laundry, wiping stuff down, vacuuming, sweeping if I need to. Then I sit down on my computer or whatever else I need to do. In rehearsals it can be the same way.
Speaker 1:
One day, a couple of weeks ago, our director could tell that we all had low energy. It was the first day of the week. It was like 11 o'clock in the morning, which can feel really early for actors, as crazy as that sounds, it's a thing with us, right? We all had low energy, all four of us. I could tell myself I wasn't going to say nothing, but I felt it. So what did my director do? She noticed it. She says OK, stop, let's dance. We all got in a circle. She played some music. We had a really silly moment of just dancing and being silly and that created a way better mood for the day. It was kind of a spark.
Speaker 1:
Same thing with working out. People assume that I'm always motivated to go work out. That couldn't be the furthest thing from the truth. Most of the time I don't want to work out, I ain't motivated. But when I get there, by the time I start that first set or that second set of exercises the act of me moving my body, it changes chemicals in my brain and now I'm more motivated, more likely to go ahead and just do it. And I'm not thinking about how much I don't feel like working out, I'm just doing it. But I had to start first, Right? So get your body moving, get your body moving and your brain is going to catch up. Get up, think about some kind of moving that you can do Body, body squats, jumping jacks, whatever. Just move your body.
Speaker 1:
As number three, number four is to count down and just go. Count down and go. Mel Robbins, who is an entrepreneur and motivator and author, she actually has a book about this. It's called the Five Second Rule and she says, and I quote if you have an instinct to act on a goal, you must physically move within five seconds or your brain will kill it.
Speaker 1:
The moment you feel an instinct or desire to act on a goal or commitment, use this rule and lately I do try and do this as often as I can, with any and everything I can when you start to feel that tug, that little voice in your head that's telling you that you don't want to do something, that you don't want to take that action, for whatever reason. Usually it's the fear. Count down and go. This is a good thing to do when you have to do something that you are nervous about, right, like making that tough phone call or having that tough conversation, or having to step out and speak to a large crowd stepping outside your comfort zone large crowd stepping outside your comfort zone If you just count down from five and say, ok, five, four, three, two, one and just go and just do it.
Speaker 1:
By doing that, what you do is you take the power away from your brain. Your brain wants you to think about it, to overthink it, to give you all the reasons and feelings as why you shouldn't do it. And this really works in the mornings, when I wake up and I feel tired and I'm exhausted, right, the longer you lay there and the more you're going to feel like, damn, I'm tired as hell, damn, I don't feel like getting up. But if you just five, four, three, two, one and get up, it's over. You up, you win, you won. Brain zero, right.
Speaker 1:
Remember being a kid when your parents would count down on you? Well, my mama didn't count down, she just popped me in the mouth. But you ain't trying to see what happens at one, right? You hear that countdown, you get moving and you do whatever it is that you should be doing, right. Same thing. Don't allow yourself to sit and think Count down and go. You sitting on the couch looking at your phone for too long doing nothing. You sitting there daydreaming when you know you should be working. Just count it down and go.
Speaker 1:
So that's number four. Number five is get an accountability partner. Have that person that you trust right, that knows what you got going on, that knows you, who you can tell your goals to, somebody that's going to check in on you from time to time and this is a really important one Somebody that can drive you to help you be better, that can point out things that maybe you don't see, the things you can be better at right. Maybe you can do more of or less of because you're in it right, and when we're in it, it can be easy to get tunnel vision right. I experience this all the time. I can only see the direction I'm heading in and what I'm working towards and what I'm trying to get done. And sometimes I could do things like be a perfectionist. That slows the process down.
Speaker 1:
And I'll never forget and I just told him a while ago, but for the longest before I was serious about my music career as serious as I am now I had all these songs created in my head but not recorded, and I will rap them to my friends hey, check this out. I got bars, I can rap, I got talent, right, and I would spit it and they would all agree, right. And I told one of my best friends, one of my roommates, and I'm like, yeah, ma'am, I'm about to record this mixtape. I got these songs, I'm ready to drop it right now. All I got to do is record it and I think like a year, a year plus went by and one day he was like that was enough. That did it for me, because I was sitting around waiting for the right opportunity to release it, when I didn't even have it recorded. I was waiting for a time that I was quote unquote less busy, when really I had the time I did, but I was waiting and I'm so glad he asked me that question because that literally lit a fire in me and I haven't looked back since.
Speaker 1:
So who is that person that you can share what you're doing with, what you got going on with? That person is going to be the person to keep it real with you and be honest and also push you, motivate you, encourage you, check in with you to see how process is going, and it's not a thing where you are asking somebody to do it with you Right, that would be great, right, but it's not necessary. Somebody that you know would be like okay, the next time I see them, I want to make sure I took some action from the last time I saw them right, and that friend is going to feel grateful that you shared this with them, that you gave them this small responsibility, and, like I've said on here before, they'll be grateful and they will be looking forward to helping you on your journey. So that's number five Get yourself that accountability partner. So that's it. It's pretty straightforward. How can you incorporate all these things in your life? How can you? One focus on the opportunity, not the obligation, to design your environment to make taking action easier. Three get your body moving for countdown and just go. And five find yourself an accountability partner. If you can incorporate all these things in your life, I guarantee you will start to find having discipline is a lot easier for you. So that's what I got for you today.
Speaker 1:
Thank you all so much for being here. Unfortunately, I don't have any more new music to give you right now, but I do have some more unreleased music that you've heard before. But, like I said, you will always get it first, because you are a part of my community and I appreciate all of you, so I'll play that next. Uh, if you are listening on the podcast platform, please leave a review. Those help me out a lot. If you're watching on youtube, please like and subscribe and, as always, please make a donation. Those help me keep this thing going. Thank you so much, and let's ride out. Let's get it in.
