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Discipline

#personal

Well, it’s been a while since my last post here. Just like everyone else, I have been busy with the day-to-day stuff. It’s not like I did not have any time to write here, but I didn’t feel like it until now. And, though I have so much to write about technical stuff, today I want to write about a topic that has been a challenge for me my whole life. Today the subject is discipline and why I think it’s important.

First, I need to talk a little about me. I’ve always been someone with random things going on in my head. Seriously, it’s hard for me to concentrate on anything. It takes such an effort for me to focus my mind on the present moment, on just one task I need to do. So, for me, discipline is a need. Something I must develop, otherwise I will end up accomplishing nothing at all.

The Merriam-Webster dictionary has the following definitions for the word discipline:

I think we are talking about the first and also the third definitions here. In my own words, discipline is the act of having self-control in such a way that it enables you to achieve some objective. The self-control aspect is very important. When I was younger, I had to spend a year in the Brazilian army, and there I was taught about military discipline. The rules that govern the place, the things I must and must not do, and so on. I had officials and the military law enforcing those rules upon me and everyone else there, so while I was in that military institution (not sure what people call it in English), I did everything by the book, because I didn’t want any trouble. I just needed to be there because the law said so, so I did everything I had to and got away as soon as possible. Once it was over, I made sure none of the things I learned and did there continued to be part of my routine. Because I simply didn’t care about any of those military things, I was forced into it. So I wasn’t “disciplined” by the army. I would have been if I had believed the things I was told there and stuck with them, even after it was over. But that was not the case. So discipline can be taught, but not enforced. Discipline is what you do when you are on your own. It’s what you do every single day by yourself, without anyone or anything else forcing you to do it.

That being said, I think discipline is needed to go to the next level in anything. It doesn’t matter if it’s a game, a relationship, a job or anything else. You’ll reach some point where you have a choice between stopping where you are and moving ahead, and sooner or later you’ll realize that, if you want to move ahead, you are going to need a lot more work, and as a consequence, a lot more time spent on that thing. But work alone will not be enough; this work needs to have a direction, an objective, in a way that helps achieve your goal. For example, I’m a software developer, and at one point I was in college studying programming and everything was so easy, I didn’t have to make any effort at all. Because I was “programming” simple and small things, for learning purposes. Once I got into my first job, I had no clue about what I was going to do. I had to learn so many things, in so little time, I almost went crazy. I had a choice. I could have told myself that it wasn’t for me, or that it was too hard and I couldn’t do it. Or I could sit my ass down, read a lot, practice even more, make a lot of mistakes and learn from them. Nowadays I’m still a software developer, so it’s clear what choice I made.

But unfortunately, I can’t keep being disciplined on a daily basis. Even understanding how important it is, I have a lot of trouble bringing this understanding into practice. That’s why I wanted to reflect about it in this text. I need to find a way to be more disciplined in all aspects of my life, because I don’t want to look back ten years from now, see missed opportunities and realize that I didn’t make any progress. I want more, and discipline is the path to achieve it.

So, I want to write down here a few things that might help me, or anyone else with similar issues, to maybe find a way to be more disciplined.

There’s a place and a time for everything

This is pretty obvious, but time management plays a big role in all of this. It’s good to have a schedule, a time to sleep, wake up, exercise, eat and study. It doesn’t matter how you make that schedule, if you use an app, a piece of paper or a whiteboard. Start by defining a schedule you think is gonna work, and adapt it as you need. This will help with organization and getting things done. And while you’re doing something, actually do it. I mean, keep your focus on the activity you’re doing. If you are exercising, keep the focus on your body and your movements. Feel and understand what you’re doing, find ways to do more and better. If you’re on a lunch break, just eat, you know. Do not pick up your phone to look at Twitter, Tik Tok or whatever. Same thing when you’re working on something. Keep the focus. There are some techniques like Pomodoro, in which you have, for example, a five minute break every hour of concentration. You can adjust these proportions to your own need, but this is a very useful way to stay focused.

Motivation is weak

Motivation is important. You do what you do for yourself, your loved ones, or a cause. Motivation can be the reason to start something, or it can be the answer to the questions that pop into your head in difficult moments. Questions that you need to answer in order to keep going. Like remembering why you are doing it in the first place. But based on my own experience, motivation can hardly be helpful on a daily basis. Sometimes you just don’t want to leave your bed, to exercise or even to do your best at your job, even though you have motivations to do so. Sometimes, for different reasons, the motivations simply are not enough, or seem to have gone away from you. It can be for emotional factors, maybe you are depressed, anxious or both. And on these days, what is going to keep you moving? Yes, discipline. The art of forcing yourself to do what has to be done, no matter how hard it seems.

Embrace the discomfort

Comfort is easy and sometimes necessary. It can help you relax, clear your mind, and rest. But one cannot do much living in a comfort zone forever. In order to get things done, we need to live outside this comfort zone. Of course, if you are happy with everything in your life, exactly the way it is, no problem. But if you want to do more, you have to get used to being in uncomfortable situations. Even painful situations. Learning anything is facing your own ignorance and overcoming it through study and practice. You will never build muscle just lifting the same weights every day, and you will never run a marathon if you only push yourself to run five kilometers. You have to train, to study, to work harder. And it will not be a comfort zone. It will hurt. At times, you will feel the need to give up. But if you really want something, you will keep going. Life is hard and it’s not fair. Acknowledge it. Prepare yourself and go ahead. If you were not born rich, like most people (me included), it’s just a matter of survival.

Deliberate practice is key

I just googled “Deliberate practice”, and this definition, which came from here, was at the top of the results:

“Deliberate practice is defined as being effortful in nature, with the main goal of personal improvement of performance rather than enjoyment, and is often performed without immediate reward.”

In other words, if you want to get good at anything, you have to practice, measure your performance in some organized way and continue to push yourself towards improvement. I think every high performance athlete does this on a daily basis in order to stay competitive and be ready to face hard opponents.

The way I see it, it is funny that a lot of young people do this, maybe by accident, with online games. They play many hours every day, watch live streams and videos about the game. They read guides and patch notes. They study and practice for hours, to get good at the game they like. Games, like almost anything on the internet, are made to catch your attention. So it’s easier to have this kind of practice routine on a game, or to spend hours on social media. They were designed to make your brain addicted. But for anything you want to learn or improve, this thing we call “deliberate practice” is what you need. You want to be better at mathematics? Study, practice, measure your progress and repeat, until you think you got to a level you are happy with. Same thing goes for any subject. Study and practice, practice and then practice more.

Conclusion

That’s it guys. I just wanted to share some topics I found relevant about “discipline”, or my vision of it. I will try to bring this knowledge into practice. I’m at a moment in life that’s pushing me to go to another level in all aspects. I will need discipline for it, or I’m not going anywhere.