What techniques do you guys employ for self discipline? I struggle with this quite a bit. Keeping and maintaining goals is a part of it, which i can start to do, but then i get too existential and think "what's the point?", at which point i break away from discipline and routine. It both aggravates and annoys me.

Being out in the wilderness, as much as I'm able to be, alone always. Hiking, contemplating, thinking and soaking in every potential nook and cranny that my senses allow. I can say without any hesitation that it's single handedly done more for me than most anything else.

Exercise is right up there for me also, have been pretty consistent with it over the last 15-17 years of my life, it's made such huge strides on my life that can't be languaged, it's changed my life in countless areas.

It's funny to me because out've the multitude of things that I've effortlessly chucked aside and never followed through with in my life - it was the one thing that stuck, and not just did 'it stick' ..but it worked. It was the one thing that I could put in the hard work, the crying, the sweat, the pain and immediately [and there-on] feel the 'give back' in terms of benefit, how it made me feel, how I began to relate to the world, myself, and how I handle things in my day to day. And as long as I stuck by it's side and not give up on it or myself - the benefits have continued to compound, continued to grow, year after year.

These two things combined have directed such a huge part of my life, and cured me of a past addiction. They saved my life, literally. <3

Any I'm not talking for vanity-sake when I talk exercise either, I'm talking mostly in the realm/pursuit of physiological and mental benefit, which honestly ..when you look at all the studies ..it's unparalleled in it's ability to help, heal, and build anew.

If I didn't have these two things in my life as foundational pillars, I'm not sure who/what/where I'd be honestly..

Hope it helps, and best of a journey to you

'Adaab, we was at war with dicipline and use to sleep till 2pm, regulary. Believe it or not, it is birnds that give we back basic dicipline (not rigorous tho), through the fire of love and anticipation. Birnds are diciplined ppl, and they do love a bit of regularity and predictability, but yeah, we understand, this ain't for everyboday, but you know within our sannnnnnd tenets, there is an angull that takes the shape of birnd and it is Artiya'eel who can remove all grieve and sadness from the banu Aadam.....just saying....in your locale you must have some of the greatest birnds of this sphere.....why not connect?

Also we found this

and this

For me it is important to keep softness at heart, humor and being creative with how I manage my mental space.

But I can't force anything. So I let it flow and take me where it should. Sometime you can't stop something from happening; you get bored of something, move on. Know how to dose your response to what happens, know how you response to what happens, let it happen and move on. Then comes a time when you can change it, and surprisingly you stay focused more easily.

It all improved a great deal when I identify with change as being at the core of me. Still, you have to know when to be still. I guess it might all have to do with the attitude, change little things then. Sometime the problem is in the before, or in some detail of your life. Change some things that have no relation with your goal, don't think too much of that goal, focus on something else. Those things worked for me.

Also, rigor and rigidness are different things. Flow flow flow!

I think it was in this Tim Ferriss podcast (or now that I think about it, it could have been Russell Brand interviewing Brian Cox..? Both are good, so you wont lose anything by listening to them) where the existential question about whether what we do in our daily lives matters or not was asked, given the fleeting and insignificant nature of life on Earth, that is book-ended by the seemly infinite space and time.

The argument was put forward that, yes it certainly does matter, because in this waking reality, unless you are planning on terminating your life tomorrow, you are going to need to feed your material self with food, keep it clothed and warm, and you need to keep it healthy, and this usually involves some degree of planning and systemising your actions. Does living or dying have even the slightest consequence to the wider universe? No. But it sounds like this matters to you, and possibly people close to you. I know your question wasn't about living or dying, but I'm assuming your want for more self-discipline will have ramifications on your state of health (mental and/or physical), which is an extension of living. Not sure if that helps change your perspective at all? Let me know.

As for actual techniques on helping promote self-discipline, it matters quite a bit what sorts of things you are struggling with. If it's not too personal could you provide some examples?

Self-discipline when broken down is about consciously making a planned decision around an action that might normally be compulsively driven. Often compulsive actions happen without our conscious awareness, and they are normally instant gratification driven (i.e. dopamine hit). So in trying to instill self-discipline to improve your behaviour, you are competing against your biological reward system with your rational brain, which can be difficult.

This means you need to have some damn good reasons, and a deep WANT to change your behaviour. And this comes down to behaviour change theory. The key aspect of behaviour change theory is building INTRINSIC MOTIVATION (Motivation that is not based on external rewards) and SELF EFFICACY (Belief in yourself that you have the ability to perform a specific task). And this is why self-discipline is highly dependent on what you are trying to be disciplined about.

I had no difficulty with exercise. But then i got sick for a day, for the first time in 12 years, and that threw me off. That was about 2 months ago, and i still haven't resumed exercising.

Also, i have at least 10 different musical instruments, with varying degrees of skill in each of them. Some i need to practice more than others. But, consequently, i don't practice any. Some days, i might as well be staring at a wall all day rather than wasting time on the computer.

Other things too, like learning my mother tongue properly (i can't read or write in it), and drawing (which i used to do a lot years ago, and my ability has significantly diminished).


Before, i would blame smoking too much ganja, but in fact, i was more disciplined when i was smoking. Have been off for 3 months now, and still no discipline.

So what is your self talk / internal dialogue now when you think of exercise?
Why were you exercising prior to stopping? What was the source of your motivation? Do you still want to exercise for the same reason or has it shifted now?


So with this, are you finding yourself attempting practice, but you end up procrastinating? Or are you practicing but not making any progress?


This sounds like a lack of motivation to me (could be wrong?)
This is the motivation continuum, roughly where do you think you sit on that scale?


You might find this to be a helpful exercise. This is called the Decisional balance Matrix. Just write down the pros and cons of both doing and not doing something (drawing). We want to elicit all the pros to doing the behaviour (assuming you truly want to do it, based on the fact that you are looking for help).


It might be best to just to start with one area of change, rather than bombard yourself with exercise + music + art + a new language. So I'd suggest you pick the one thing that you are most motivated to do. And don't be too harsh on yourself. Start with a small goal of doing a 15min exercise session on 2 occasions for 2 consecutive week for example. Make the goal ridiculously easy, almost impossible to fail, this builds self-efficacy. Once you have achieved that goal you need to build on it in small increments, i.e. 3 sessions a week, then make the sessions longer and so on.

One word... Passion! You have to really want something. I imagine I already have obtained the goal over and over until it become passionate and common thinking.

When I wanted to start climbing fourteeners I imagined over and over being at the summit of these mountains. Low and behold I have hiked to the summit of 19 of them in three years. I had never done anything like this before. I just wanted it so badly. I wanted it and thought about it all the time. I imagined what I would feel like when I was at the top and sure enough... it is exactly as I imagined in my mind.

I have applied this to many aspects of my life before and after these mountain climbs. I just thought that this was the best example. You have to really want it. If it falls to the wayside, then it likely was not that important to you.

"If you hear a voice within you say 'you cannot paint,' then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced." ~ Vincent Van Gogh

This quote applies to much more than painting!

<3

So, after reading the posts on this thread, and reading the Cold Immersion thread, i've decided to resume my training. The Cold Immersion in particular, since i used to train hard every day, just for that cold shower. It was like the exercise was just a means to get to that cold shower. The euphoria of ice cold water trickling from my crown, down my scalp, and forming waterfalls on my spine. Simply divine. I think i needed that reminder of what it was like.

This is also giving me the extra advantage of more energy, and more passion for my other hobbies.

Get out of your comfortzone, but not too far. If you demand too much of yourself, you will always fail.

Awesome. All the best with it brother.