EP 3640 Discipline is freedom not punishment

0:00Hey guys welcome to today's podcast today's episode. Discipline is freedom not punishment. Discipline equals freedom as a jocco willing saying, jocco willing is a former Navy SEAL and leadership expert who's awesome checking out. He says discipline equals freedom, freedom and I absolutely agree. Discipline gives you freedom, it's not punishment. So when you are disciplined on what you do in your life, how you approach things, whatever, you know, mechanism that might be in, there's a freedom in that, not a punishment in that. So for me, I know as I approach my life, the way I do now, with discipline, it actually gives me freedom in a real sense of structure and my life is quite unstructured in the sense of, you know, I don't go to an office, I don't have to get up at a particular time. I have an amount of stuff I want to get done. That's just determined by me. So it can be very easy to just drift along a waste time and not do anything. And that's where the discipline part for me comes in, around training, around a whole lot of different

1:02things. So for example, the discipline for me around even doing cold plunge at this morning, I got up and meditated and then I did some work, got some stuff sorted. No, it's just about to get it and I was about to have a shower and I was like, oh, no, I should do a cold plunge. So I went, oh, so I just went to a five degree two minute cold plunge and that was awesome. Now, the discipline to go and do it when I was like, oh, I don't really feel like it. I would rather just go and have a hot shower. But then I sort of thought, no, well, I know I'll feel better. And therefore it's that willingness of that discipline to go, no, that's what I'm going to do. So I went, did it. I'm just on the matter of calculating out a sit for a couple of hours and do some work. That's the thing I've been doing recently. Just go somewhere and do some work for a couple of hours to, you know, again, it's a discipline to give me sort of workspace rather than just be cruising around home or doing whatever I do. So a lot of these things just become a result of

2:03discipline, the result of doing things that will make my life better just because I'm willing to get out and about and do the things that I know will make me happier. And it's really pretty simple. The whole discipline as a freedom, though, like when I got out of that ice bath, it wasn't like I was in there punishing myself going, well, you got to do it because you didn't do XYZ. So just in the last 24 hours, I've slept really well. I don't know, ice baths have been in the gym. I'll train again today. Even the discipline for me, I'm going to see family therapists today to talk about my grief and stuff where our mum's death and I'm like, like that, the discipline to keep doing that. And I went so her last week and she's like, I think you're in a good space. I don't think you need to come back unless you want to. And I said, well, actually, I'd like to just talk about the impact of, you know, the dynamic of my mum and I and my romantic relationships, what I can do to improve that area of my life. And she's like, oh, that's amazing. I love people who are proactive. Now, that's a discipline I've always wanted to evolve and improve my life, make my life better. All of this stuff actually comes back to

3:09that discipline, a structure and focus where for many people that may sound like something that's difficult to do or something that I have to go to see her because my life's shit. I have to go to the gym because in fact, I have to do ice cold planes because I'm I know I'm lazy or whatever. But I punish myself for things like that anymore. These days it is all about for me the focus and the the priority of the things I do in my life, the things I apply my discipline and structure to, other things are going to bring me the best outcomes. And that's around so many things in my life, whereas I'm very disciplined in the fact that I don't spend time with negative people, very disciplined in the fact that I don't waste time on drama or gossip, very disciplined in the fact that I am mindful of the things that even I watch on TV, YouTube, internet, whatever to make sure that I'm not ingesting way too much negativity.

4:13And at the same time, same time, still getting information about what's going on in the world. So with your own conflict, I've been watching a couple of particular things that give me sort of a 15 minute update on it once a day. I go, okay, wake up in the morning. There's a particular thing as a guy called Mike Baker who's next CIA operative. He has a YouTube channel and he has what he calls a president's daily brief. And I know he is very switched on and very tapped into what's happening in the US. So I look at that, see what happens, understand him, who will have a quick look at the news on my phone, as to what's happening my local, you know, in Australia or in Brisbane where I live. And then that's it for the rest of the day. I'm like, no, and still the discipline to notice when I just pick up my phone at a lazyness and look at the news or look at social media and go, oh no, put it back down again because that is the discipline. And it just gives me a freedom of time, of energy, of mindset, of attitude where I'm just a lot happier in my life and in what I do. And I'm a lot more peaceful

5:16in the way that I engage and interact in the world, rather than, you know, being in a place where I'm like feeling like I'm wasting time or wasting energy or just feel like shit. And the reason that I keep focusing on doing the things that I know are going to bring about the best outcome for me through the discipline process is because I know how good I feel. So it's not like I'm trying to do it because I want to be, you know, some sort of hero and I want anybody to be like, oh my God, it's amazing. I'm doing it because I'm like, you know what? I just want to feel amazing. I actually just want to be really happy. I want to be really healthy. I've got this, it's like a whoop sort of band, it's called HUME Health. It's band and instead of scales, it gives you like a Dexascan body scan and blah, blah, blah. And the other day, no, yesterday I had a look at it and it actually has a thing on there that says at what rate you are aging. So one being, you know, with normal aging process over a year for a year. And I had a look and it was down to point one.

6:17And I was like, oh man, that's awesome because to me, that whole idea of being healthy and fit. And I'm not extreme with what I do at all. I don't feel like I have my do-sourner and cold plunge and do gym. It's not like I feel like there's a guy called Brian Johnson who's a longevity dude. It's not like I feel like I'm obsessed. Like he is. I still eat chips. I still eat shit food. I still, you know, have fun. But I'm like, oh, the stuff I'm doing, the discipline I have around my health and fitness, for instance, is really paying off if my if my physiology is aging at point one of what is normally one and many people would be at multiples of, you know, one and a half times normal aging rate. So they're aging one and a half years for every year or two years for every year, where I'm at the moment at point one of a year for every year. Now that's only my only last for a week or two. Who knows? But the discipline for me of doing the good things in my life that make me happy and make me healthy, that's the pay off then of going, oh, wow, I end up with something like that. I'm like, oh, shit, that's fantastic. You know, two months ago

7:17it was 0.4 for a year. So I'm like, oh, that's improved. But again, I don't become obsessive. I just do the things that I'm not going to help. Like I train in the gym, maybe 50 minutes, a day doing weights, I do 20 minutes on and I do cold plunge. That's it. Like it's not an extreme amount of training. So it's the discipline then for me of, you know, journaling and meditating, which my discipline has not been anywhere near as good as it could be lately on those things. Discipline on work, the fact that now I do not waste time on drama or difficulty, I don't waste time on people who just love, you know, complaining about the problems in their lives and no sort of thing. So all of that then becomes a place in my life where I'm able to live in a much better environment for myself because I just want to be happier. And there's no issue with it. There's no stress around it. It's just the, it is what I do. So in some ways, the discipline equals freedom. It's not punishment. It's just discipline of doing the things that I know work for me just

8:18becomes then who I am. I am just someone who goes to the gym and does whatever. Instead of me going, I have to go and do it today because, you know, I ate cake last night and I'm a fat toad. That's where I think people get that stuff wrong. So probably the simplest way, as I'm talking this out for myself, is discipline just helps me create the person I want to be. So I just become a person who does train well, do ice baths, meditate, et cetera, et cetera, and all that then becomes the very basic place in behaviour in my life that brings about the outcomes I want. So if you look at the structure and discipline and the ability to stick to doing what you know is the best thing for you. There's an opportunity to be better. Then it is actually a freedom in your life. It's not a punishment for what you don't do well. Discipline is the key to so many amazing things in your life and it's a skill to be developed like any other. Talk to you tomorrow. I hope you enjoyed this episode. Always remember, if you want the results, you have to do the work.

9:21If you want to know more about how I can help you and my story, go to thestronglifeproject.com.