00:00in this video we're going to be talking
00:01about five actionable strategies that
00:03you can apply to your life right now to
00:04have more self-discipline now before we
00:06get started on this I have to say
00:07upfront that I do think the lionization
00:10of discipline is a little bit of a scam
00:12I think we have been told by the hustle
00:14Bros that if you're if you're not
00:16disciplined that there's something wrong
00:17with you and that the solution to all of
00:19your problems in life is just to be more
00:21disciplined discipline through selft
00:22discipline you develop like a armor for
00:24your mind you just need to have
00:25discipline you need to lock in and you
00:27need to do it whether you feel like
00:28you're or not now I think that does have
00:30some Merit but it's it's not the whole
00:32story so the way I think of discipline
00:34it's like discipline is when you are
00:36getting yourself to do something that
00:37you don't feel like doing if you felt
00:39like doing it you would be motivated but
00:41if you do it even when you don't feel
00:43like it you would be disciplined so if
00:45you imagine trying to do something like
00:47let's say you want to work on an
00:49assignment or you're trying to make a
00:51presentation and you really don't feel
00:53like it one way of applying discipline
00:55is by sort of using like employing
00:58discipline throughout the whole journey
01:00of working on this task and I like to
01:01visualize this like a hill and the task
01:03is a boulder that you've got and
01:05discipline is where you're like trying
01:07to roll the boulder up the hill and
01:08you're like oh I don't like doing this
01:09but I'm just going to keep rolling the
01:10boulder up the hill I'm going to roll
01:11the boulder up the hill and I'm going to
01:13I'm going to eventually get the bould to
01:14the top of the hill now this is a very
01:15stressful place to be right because you
01:17spent all this energy and all this
01:18effort rolling this border all the way
01:20up the hill and then hopefully you get
01:22it to the other end and the project goes
01:23over the line or often more likely the
01:26boulder just comes rolling back down
01:28like sisifus in the Greek myth I think
01:30it is and you have to roll the boulder
01:32up the hill again this is not a good way
01:34to live instead the way that I think of
01:35things is that really the goal should be
01:37to make the work feel so good that it
01:40doesn't feel like you're rolling the
01:41boulder up the hill but instead it
01:43genuinely feels like the boulder is
01:44rolling down the hill when something
01:46feels good and when you enjoy whatever
01:48you're doing you don't need to rely on
01:50discipline so much however unfortunately
01:52this is a pipe dream because we can't do
01:53that with everything and at some point
01:55we have to do we have to do things that
01:56are hard and some things are just boring
01:58and all that kind of stuff so the thing
02:00I add to this mental model is that there
02:02is a little hump there's like a hump
02:05before you start to go downhill and so
02:07you always have to do a little bit of a
02:09push it takes a small dose of discipline
02:11to get the boulder beyond the hump and
02:13then once it's beyond the hump if you
02:15start enjoying the process that's when
02:17the thing starts to go downhill and I
02:19think really that is the area where we
02:21should be employing all of these
02:22strategies around discipline it's in
02:24getting that border a little bit over
02:25the hump now over the last couple of
02:27years I have been interviewing a bunch
02:28of people on my podcast and meeting a
02:30bunch of people in real life and one of
02:31the people I had the privilege of
02:32meeting a few months ago when I was in
02:33Austin is a chap called Ryan holiday who
02:36is the Mega bestselling author of this
02:38book discipline is Destiny uh but Ryan
02:40is also ridiculously prolific as a
02:42writer and has written like I don't know
02:44a dozen or something books most of
02:47mostly about sosis over the last 10
02:49years or so and one of the things I
02:50really admire about Ryan is that he's
02:52very disciplined and and seems to be
02:54very consistent at doing stuff and also
02:56seems to enjoy the stuff and is also a
02:58dad with kids and seems to have just
03:00like really happy life and he's in good
03:01shape and so he seems to be winning
03:03across all fronts he owns a Bookshop I
03:05visited his Bookshop he's got a studio
03:06attached to the Bookshop it's super cool
03:08he's got a team and a big part of the
03:09interview was me trying to ask Ryan like
03:11hey man' how how have you been doing
03:13this writing thing consistently for such
03:14a long time I'm curious for you like
03:17you're presumably planning to write more
03:18books but like why like I I don't want
03:21to learn from someone who's consistently
03:22doing stuff and is miserable but I want
03:24to learn from someone who is
03:25consistently doing stuff and seems to
03:27actually enjoy their life so that's what
03:29Ryan at least the surface seems to be
03:30and so in this video I want to share
03:31these five actionable tips for
03:33self-discipline that I found really
03:34helpful that I learned from Ryan during
03:37interview and I think it's important you
03:39have to know what your main thing is
03:41right we live in a world where there's
03:43all these other kind of supporting
03:45things they're necessary yeah not
03:48absolutely necessary but I think they're
03:49important but still you have to know
03:51what the main driver of everything is
03:53and here the advice is you have to know
03:56what your main thing is as the
03:57philosopher senica famously said if a
04:00man knows not to which Port he sails no
04:02wind is favorable the thing that I took
04:05away from this and that I continue to
04:06take away from this is just the value of
04:08focusing on a very tiny number of things
04:11when I tend to speak to people when I'm
04:13giving talks and stuff who struggle with
04:15discipline if I have enough time to ask
04:16them questions I generally find that
04:18they're just trying to do too much stuff
04:20it is so hard to have self-discipline to
04:22do a dozen different things you know Cal
04:23Newport has a great new book called slow
04:25productivity the first principle of slow
04:27productivity is do fewer things Gra GRE
04:29McAn has an amazing book called
04:30essentialism where basically the whole
04:32thesis of the book is figure out what is
04:34essential to your life and eliminate
04:36everything else as much as you possibly
04:37can and just focus on the vital Feud now
04:40a lot of being more disciplined is
04:41wrapped up in our emotional well-being
04:43and our mental health and one way to
04:44improve that is with therapy provided by
04:46betterhelp who are the paid partner of
04:48this video betterhelp is the world's
04:49largest therapy service and it's 100%
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04:53a network of over 30,000 credentialed
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05:00super easy because it's online it's
05:02remote and by filling out a few
05:03questions better help can match you to a
05:05credentialed therapist very quickly then
05:07you can talk to your therapist however
05:08you feel comfortable whether that's via
05:09message or chat or phone or video call
05:11whether you've got a clinical mental
05:13health issue like depression or anxiety
05:14or if you're just a human who lives in
05:16this world who's going through a hard
05:17time therapy can give you the tools to
05:19approach your life in a very different
05:20way you can message your therapist at
05:21any time and you can schedule live
05:23sessions whenever it's convenient for
05:24you and if your therapist is not the
05:26right fit for you for any reason you can
05:27switch to a new therapist at no
05:29additional charge so if you're
05:30interested in connecting to a therapist
05:32from the comfort of your own home then
05:33you can check out betterhelp at
05:35betterhelp.com Al abdal or enter my name
05:38Ali abdal during sign up and enjoy a
05:39special discount on your first month so
05:41whenever I'm in a period of time where
05:42I'm like where I feel inconsistent with
05:44stuff or I feel like I'm not I I'm not
05:47as self-disciplined as I would like to
05:48be I'm not like getting enough things
05:49over that initial hurdle and then you
05:51know obviously enjoying the journey
05:52beyond that point whenever I'm at that
05:54point I I remind myself to zoom out and
05:56I always it always comes down to the
05:58fact that I'm just trying to do too much
05:59stuff I look at my calendar I look at my
06:01projects list I look at my to-do list
06:02and I realize I'm just trying to do too
06:04many things this is um something Oliver
06:06burkman talks about in The Amazing book
06:084,000 weeks which is a sort of
06:09philosophical take on time management
06:11basically the idea is that we are all
06:12simply trying to do too much stuff and
06:15this whole thing that we see on social
06:16media about you can juggle all the
06:17things and you can have it all and and
06:19all that like sometimes it is just
06:21impossible to juggle all of the
06:23important things that we want to do and
06:24so we have to be strategically mediocre
06:26at certain things and eliminate a lot of
06:29things off of our plate to whatever
06:31extent we can in order to really focus
06:32on what is that one main thing there's a
06:35few prompts that I like to think about
06:36to help with this number one is that
06:38when it comes to goal setting I limit
06:40myself to just three or four goals for
06:41the whole year um if you don't yet have
06:44goals for the year you should check out
06:45my three-part video series on what to do
06:47if you feel lost in life that helps you
06:48figure out like you your life vision and
06:50work vision and turn that into a series
06:51of goals bunch of people have watched
06:53that series of videos it's completely
06:54free obviously it's here on YouTube and
06:55they found it super helpful but limiting
06:57yourself to three to four goals um any
07:00any more than that for me I find it
07:01becomes overwhelming and then I start to
07:03think oh I'm not disciplined I'm not
07:04consistent I'm not doing this and that
07:06but it's way easier to make consistent
07:08progress on like a tiny number of things
07:09than to make in inconsistent progress on
07:11a large number of things the other way I
07:13like to think about this is you know for
07:14example in work I I ask myself the
07:16question quite often that when it comes
07:18to my business when it comes to my work
07:20if I only had two hours a week in which
07:23to work what would I spend that time
07:25doing okay cool what if I only had 4
07:28hours a week okay cool what if I only
07:30had 8 hours a week in order to work what
07:32would I genuinely spend that time doing
07:34and what would most move the needle and
07:35then I think okay well if that's what I
07:37would do in 8 hours why don't I just do
07:39that 5 days a week and that generally
07:42gives me so much Clarity to realize oh I
07:44really should only be doing two things
07:45number one making videos and number two
07:48working on a new courses those are the
07:49only two things but those things make up
07:51like 20% of my calendar rather than 80%
07:53of my calendar I'm like why it's because
07:56even as someone who is a you know
07:59productive expert according to my
08:01Publishers and who makes videos about
08:03productivity and I've been reading about
08:04this stuff for 15 years and making
08:05videos about it for 7 years even then I
08:08still fall into this trap of taking on
08:10just simply taking on too much stuff and
08:12I know that when I speak to people at
08:13events and talks that I do we all
08:15struggle with this we all just take on
08:17too much stuff and so the real thing
08:18here the advice that you know I was
08:21reminded of through through this
08:23conversation with Ryan is just focus on
08:25fewer things just do less if you do less
08:27then you way more likely to be
08:28self-disciplined by the way if you're
08:30watching this before the 20th of April
08:322024 I'm actually hosting a completely
08:34free online Workshop it's an alignment
08:37Workshop where the idea is that you know
08:38we're now nearly 4 months into the year
08:40and so we're going to reflect on our
08:41goals for 2024 we're going to make a
08:43plan for what we're going to do moving
08:44forward and figure out what kind of
08:46systems and habits we can put in place
08:47to stay disciplined and consistent on
08:49route to achieving the things that
08:50matter to us is completely free
08:52hopefully there'll be thousands of
08:53people online it's going to be sick it's
08:54like 2 hours long so you can join that
08:55completely for free link down
09:00so you might have heard of this guy
09:01called Wim Hoff he is known as the
09:03Iceman because he holds the Guinness
09:04World Record for taking the longest ice
09:06cold bath lasting 1 hour 52 minutes and
09:0842 seconds which is absurd and he's also
09:10done a bunch of other absolutely mental
09:12things like climbing Mount kilamanjaro
09:13in only shorts and running a half
09:15marathon Barefoot on ice and snow now
09:17I've tried this whole cold shower thing
09:19and when I stand under cold water in the
09:20shower I can barely last a few seconds
09:22and in that context it would be easy for
09:24me to compare myself to wiof and be like
09:26oh man I'm such a failure I'm such a
09:27loser like why can I only stand on the
09:29water 17 seconds and Wim Hoff can do it
09:30for two freaking hours but the thing
09:32that's important to remember is that
09:33he's the expert and I'm a novice and
09:35that is totally okay Wim Hoff is like in
09:37his 60s and he started taking cold
09:38plunges at the age of 17 and because he
09:40made it a daily practice going forward
09:42he was able to slowly get better at
09:44sitting in a ice bath and so Wim Hoff's
09:45Global recognition as being the Iceman
09:47did absolutely not come overnight and so
09:49the thing to remember here is that we're
09:50going for Progress rather than immediate
09:52success if you're trying to absorb a
09:56philosophy or a new way of thinking or
10:00transform yourself from here to there
10:02it's it's not 300 pages that you read
10:04you know from October 1st to November
10:0717th you know that takes you a month and
10:09a half to read it's much better if
10:11you're layering it like a page a day for
10:14a year or 2 years or 3 years and you're
10:17coming back like the process of that
10:20sort of over and over and over and over
10:22again that's that's where the stuff gets
10:25absorbed again this is something I see
10:27so often when I when I do talks and
10:28stuff where where where where people are
10:29struggling with something struggling
10:31with consistency but it's because their
10:33standards are too high they are simply
10:35trying to be too good too quickly um I
10:38was I was giving a talk yesterday and
10:39someone came up to me who was building
10:41her YouTube channel and she's made two
10:42videos in the last like 3 years and
10:44she's really struggling with
10:45perfectionism and the thing I said to
10:46her is that look you've just got to
10:47accept that your first 50 videos are
10:49going to be absolutely trash for people
10:51who struggle with perfectionism for
10:53people who struggle with having to be so
10:55perfect that they're not even taking
10:56action the solution is to lower the bar
10:59once you've lowered the bar to the point
11:01that you're able to consistently take
11:02action now you can slowly raise the bar
11:05over time now there's actually a really
11:06cool graph understanding this and it
11:08comes from a guy called Brian Jeffrey
11:09fog otherwise known as BJ fog who you
11:12might be familiar with so he's a
11:13scientist at Stanford University and
11:14he's created this model for
11:16understanding what makes us do hard
11:18things now this is called the fog
11:20behavior model or the b equals map model
11:22because it says that for a behavior B to
11:25occur three things must happen all at
11:27once firstly motivation
11:29secondly ability which is how easy it is
11:31for us to do the thing and thirdly the
11:33behavior needs to be prompted so
11:35motivation ability and prompt hence map
11:38map so for example when something is
11:39easy but your motivation is not that
11:41high a prompt will trigger the behavior
11:43but when the thing is difficult and our
11:44motivation is at the same level the same
11:46prompt now will not cause the behavior
11:48and so the way we can think about this
11:49which is something that BJ fog talks
11:50about in his book tiny habits where the
11:52thesis is broadly similar to James cla's
11:54Atomic habits it's like if you're trying
11:56to build a habit or trying to do
11:57something hard what is the most tiny or
11:59the easiest version of that behavior
12:01that you could actually do and because
12:03tiny actions are a lot easier to do than
12:04bigger actions we slide all the way to
12:06the right hand side on the ability axis
12:09which means that we're more likely to do
12:10the thing no matter how motivated we're
12:12feeling so if you're thinking about this
12:13in the sense of I'm just trying to do
12:15the easiest thing to make a little bit
12:16of progress what tiny action can I take
12:18that will help move me forward it makes
12:20it a lot easier it makes you far more
12:21likely to do the behavior and then of
12:23course as you continue to be consistent
12:25by employing discipline and by getting
12:27better at the thing you can always raise
12:28the bar over time and the great thing
12:29about this is that it's not just the
12:31impact that it has on that one behavior
12:33that you're trying to do like I realized
12:34this when I was back in med school that
12:35like oh studying for exams becomes a lot
12:38easier if I try and do the tiniest
12:39action I.E if I convince myself I'm just
12:41going to do the thing for 5 minutes that
12:42is a very tiny action anyone can study
12:44for 5 minutes very few people can study
12:46for 5 hours but then once I've done the
12:485 minutes it goes to 10 goes to 15 goes
12:50to 20 and then I started to realize oh
12:52okay this is how discipline works this
12:54is how I can get myself to do something
12:55that's kind of hard and the nice thing
12:57about this is that it does not just
12:58apply to studying it applies to every
12:59single else thing in my life and so by
13:02developing this generalized skill of
13:03self-discipline there's this real sense
13:05that you start to know what the process
13:07looks like people say trust the process
13:10right but it's hard to trust a process
13:12that you have not been through before
13:14once you've done it one time you have a
13:16sense of the full scope of the process
13:18or what you think is a full scope of the
13:19process then you do it again and again
13:21and again and you start to go oh yeah
13:23this is the part where you start to
13:24doubt yourself this is the part where
13:25you get excited and then oh wait no it's
13:27going to get hard again but you you you
13:29start to get a sense of The rhythms of
13:31it and then you can trust the process
13:33and then you can also enjoy the process
13:35with anything that we do in life you
13:36know it's just take if you imagine
13:38making a YouTube video the first couple
13:39of times you make a YouTube video it's
13:40going to be really really really
13:41freaking hard because there's all these
13:42emotional hurdles to get over and all
13:44these technical hurdles to get over but
13:45the more you do it the easier it becomes
13:47and then the more you trust the process
13:49and you realize oh yeah this is the hard
13:50bit oh yeah this is the you know this is
13:52the bit where I feel demotivated oh yeah
13:53I've been here before I'm just going to
13:55push through or I'm going to find a way
13:57to deal with this with the feelings I've
13:58got around this that is really where a
14:00lot of the gains are to be had in this
14:01idea of self-discipline it's in doing
14:03the process a couple of times and then
14:04starting to trust the process over time
14:06so action point next time you are
14:08struggling with discipline ask yourself
14:09what would the smallest easiest version
14:11of this look like but of course
14:13sometimes we do just have to do stuff
14:15that's hard right and that is where tip
14:16number three comes in I I would argue
14:19that we sort of have a higher self and a
14:21lower self right the lower self says
14:23just like eat whatever you want work
14:26only when you want say whatever you want
14:28don't think about consequent like there
14:30there's this the sort of immediate
14:32gratification sort of shortterm impulses
14:35that we all have right that if indulged
14:39repeatedly tend to get us in a place
14:41that we actually don't want to be so
14:42there's this kind of tension between
14:44like our higher self and the lower self
14:47I think there's a lot of value in
14:48appreciating this tension that we have
14:49between our higher and our lower selves
14:51um like so the other day I I recently
14:53got a PS5 and I've been playing Horizon
14:55forbidden West an amazing game and often
14:58I'll be playing you you know if I've got
15:00an evening on my own I'll be playing and
15:01it gets to 10:30 p.m. and I'm like oh
15:03it's 10:30 I know 10:30 is my wind down
15:06time and I know my higher self wants me
15:08to brush my teeth get into bed and read
15:10something on my Kindle at the moment I'm
15:11reading A New Earth by eart Toll and
15:14then I'll sleep on time and then I'll
15:15wake up early and then life will be good
15:17but then what my lower self is saying is
15:19yeah but you know we can sleep at 11:30
15:21and still get 8 hours of sleep and you
15:23know we you know we're just in the
15:24middle of this Quest and like it's
15:25really fun and you know we deserve it we
15:27we've been working all day we deserve
15:28ant hour on the PlayStation and then you
15:30know the brain gets over stimulated and
15:32then before I know it that extra hour
15:33turns into two hours and it's like
15:35there's a constant sort of balancing out
15:37between the higher self and the lower
15:38self now I actually did um a couple of
15:40therapy sessions uh last year with my
15:42friend AR kenoia who goes by do K and
15:45has the YouTube channel healthy gamer GG
15:47he's a Harvard trained psychiatrist and
15:48also a trained Monk and so he and I did
15:50some like therapy coaching type sessions
15:53where he taught me about something
15:55called internal family systems and
15:58basically the idea here is that sort of
16:00like in that film inside out uh you
16:02actually have like we all have multiple
16:04different characters within our brains
16:06and part of the process of becoming an
16:08integrated human being is to recognize
16:11that these characters are not good or
16:14bad it's not that the higher self is the
16:16good guy and the lower self is the bad
16:18guy you know one thing that Al and I did
16:20is that we we sort of made up names for
16:22these different characters like there
16:23was you know the optimizer uh Optimizer
16:26oi there was like uh second in theclass
16:28oi there was video game degenerate Ali
16:30and it's like each there's there's a
16:32bunch of these different characters and
16:33each of these different characters have
16:34different needs wants perspectives and
16:36opinions like for example video game
16:38degenerate Ali is saying you know let's
16:40keep on playing the PlayStation but if
16:42we were to just shove him into the
16:43corner and be like no shut up you I'm
16:45going to be disciplined screw you
16:46shoving that character in in the corner
16:48of the brain and like being like no you
16:50are bad leads to some sort of rebellion
16:52from that character and so the whole
16:54process of internal family systems and
16:55is like a system of therapy is to sort
16:57of get these different characters to
16:59talk to each other sort of and to accept
17:02that actually I appreciate your opinion
17:05you know video gamer Ali to you know the
17:06fact you want to play Horizon for an
17:07extra hour and I also appreciate the
17:10opinion of I don't know optimize R who's
17:11trying to you know do the hubman
17:13optimizing sleep routine or or whatever
17:15and it's about not shoving them into the
17:17corner but actually hearing what they
17:19have to say and accepting what they have
17:21to say and in some ways trying to find a
17:23middle ground trying to find a way for
17:25all them to be happy um but even if you
17:27can't find a way for all them to be
17:28happy trying to find a way where at
17:30least they feel like their concerns are
17:31acknowledged and so in the in the
17:32PlayStation example what I do is that
17:34when it gets to 10:30 I know that the
17:36video gamer part of me wants to play
17:38more but what I do is I say to the video
17:39gamer part of me how about we turn off
17:42the PlayStation and we go brush our
17:43teeth but while we're brushing our teeth
17:44we can watch some YouTube videos about
17:46Horizon forbidden West how about that
17:48and then it sort of feels to me like the
17:49video gamer part of me is like you know
17:50what that seems like a reasonable
17:52compromise I'm happy with that I get to
17:54have a bit of a win because we're
17:55playing you know we're experiencing the
17:57video game content in some capacity
17:59but also the optimizer part of me gets
18:01to have a win the higher self as it were
18:03because we're actually going to sleep on
18:04time and brushing our teeth now this was
18:05all a very somewhat roundabout way of
18:06saying that like one of the issues we
18:08can often have when it comes to our
18:09discipline is the the resistance
18:12approach of like no bad self you are bad
18:15go into the corner actually if there's a
18:17way that we can appreciate this balance
18:19between a higher and our lower selves
18:21not really saying that our lower self is
18:22bad but that you know we appreciate it
18:25we'll take the advice on board and then
18:27we'll make a decision try trying to
18:29integrate these two different
18:31parts okay so one of the least
18:33disciplined periods of my life was in
18:34the few months after I had taken a break
18:37from working as a doctor full-time this
18:39was like August 2020 and I'd been
18:41working full-time as a doctor for 2
18:43years and for the first time I woke up
18:45in the morning and I had no job to go to
18:48and I was like oh I had the whole day
18:51had nothing on my calendar everything
18:52was great and I was like now I guess I'm
18:54a full-time YouTuber so I guess I just
18:55need to make a video today and I
18:57procrastinated all day
18:59and I didn't make the video and the same
19:00thing happened the next day and the same
19:01thing happened the next day and the same
19:02thing happened the next day and actually
19:04when I was working full-time 50 to 60
19:06hours a week as a doctor I was making
19:08more YouTube videos than when I had no
19:10day job and I was a full-time YouTuber
19:12and this was really interesting this was
19:13like what the hell is going on I was
19:15very undisciplined and very inconsistent
19:18when I did not have a structure or a
19:21routine to my day and I realized over
19:23time that actually hang on being a
19:25full-time YouTuber is
19:27actually now it's not like the the
19:30calendar that's my constraint it's my
19:31own psychology and it's my own mindset
19:33um and this speaks to something that
19:35Ryan mentioned as well this is why
19:36actually I think most self-published
19:38books don't work it's that because
19:40there's no forcing function required to
19:44get approval to start um there's no
19:47deadline there's no constraints as to
19:50how long it can be what it can look like
19:52you can basically do whatever you want
19:53which you would think would be an
19:55artistic sort of creative dream but it's
19:58actually like uh potentially a death
20:01sentence so tip number four for
20:02actionable ways to improve your
20:03self-discipline is to really think about
20:05what is the routine or structure you are
20:07trying to create around the thing that
20:09you want to do in Ryan's case he was
20:10talking about how he's got his clear
20:12routine where he wakes up he does some
20:13exercise he drops the kids off at school
20:15and then he works for several
20:16uninterrupted hours in the morning doing
20:17some deep work and in the afternoon is
20:19chilling he can do what he wants and
20:20that is how he's so consistent because
20:22he just does the same thing pretty much
20:23every day so routine is valuable but
20:25then the the thing the thing is we don't
20:27just want to become like one of those
20:29oh I have to get get up at 5:00 a.m. and
20:30do this and do this and do this and do
20:31this and do this and sort of become uh
20:33it's it's a very kind of fragile place
20:35to be if you're so tied to your routine
20:37that you can't deviate from it otherwise
20:39your discipline goes through the floor
20:41and that's where the idea of flexibility
20:42comes in I have found as I've gotten
20:45older and more successful that the
20:48rigidity that served me well early on
20:51has had to give way into a kind of
20:55flexibility now there's always a tension
20:57or a a concern concern is that
20:59flexibility actually just complacency or
21:02laziness um and I have to question each
21:05time what is my motivation here but but
21:08that rigidity has to become flexibility
21:12or one you suck all the fun out of it
21:15and two it's not sustainable over a long
21:18period of time and it's not it's very
21:20susceptible to being disrupted or blown
21:24apart by the complexity of life now this
21:27idea comes up in Robert Green's book the
21:2948 Laws of Power where the last law is
21:31to assume formlessness now green writes
21:34by taking a shape by having a visible
21:36plan you open yourself to attack instead
21:39of taking a form for your enemy to grasp
21:41keep yourself adaptable and on the move
21:44so basically the idea here is that yes
21:46routine and structure is important but
21:49being too rigid doesn't actually help
21:52you there's a certain strategic
21:54flexibility which is where we want to be
21:57okay so how do we find this sweet spot
21:58between structure and flexibility uh
22:00there's a few different ways I think
22:01about it uh one is that something that
22:03my friend Paul Millet says which is for
22:05him the way he stays consistent with
22:06writing is that his Mantra is write most
22:09days it's not right every day it's not
22:11right every single day it's right most
22:12days it's like as long as he's writing
22:14most days he's making progress similarly
22:15Matt dellaa has something called the
22:17two-day rule when it comes to the gym
22:19which is simply don't skip two days in a
22:21row I'm allowed to skip one day but I'm
22:23not allowed to skip 2 days in a row now
22:25that is enough flexibility for it to
22:27well be flexible in a up to his life
22:29especially as a dad uh but it's also
22:31enough enough structure and enough
22:32rigidity that it actually helps him stay
22:33consistent and disciplined the way that
22:35I think about these things is I find
22:37that going for general principles rather
22:39than specific routines is where I
22:40personally find this sweet spot of
22:42flexibility and structure that allows me
22:44to stay discipline so for example a
22:46general principle that I have is that
22:48most days wherever possible I will do at
22:50least 1 hour of deep work before I worry
22:52about like checking messages or slack or
22:54emails or any shallow work tasks I also
22:56have a bit of a rule where the goal is
22:58to hit the gym at least three times a
22:59week but 15 minutes in the gym counts as
23:02a full gym session so if I do 15 minutes
23:05and three sets of three exercises that
23:06is my minimum viable session and that
23:08means I can stay consistent with the gym
23:10rather than feeling ah I don't have a
23:12full hour to work out therefore I might
23:13I might as well not work out at all and
23:14my friend s Bloom has an idea that I
23:16found really helpful like I was hanging
23:18out with him a couple of months ago and
23:20I asked him how he's how he's able to
23:22stay so consistent with exercise he's
23:24absolutely jacked he's like a hybrid
23:25athlete he's training for like a
23:26ultramarathon and also is act and seems
23:29to hit the gym every day in some
23:30capacity and he taught me about his
23:31system of a b and c goals so when it
23:34comes to Fitness for example his a goal
23:36like if it's an a day like gold standard
23:38would be to do weight training for like
23:40an hour that's his a goal but if he's
23:44not able to do that his b goal is to do
23:47some sort of form of sort of uh vigorous
23:50exercise for like 20 minutes or
23:51something to that effect and if he's not
23:53able to do that his SE goal is to just
23:56walk around for 15 minutes or something
23:59so on a day where he's traveling for
24:00example and he doesn't have access to a
24:01gym and he doesn't have 20 minutes to do
24:03some vigorous exercise he will just walk
24:05around for like 10 minutes in the
24:06airport and that will help him take off
24:08his seag goal which will help him stay
24:10consistent with the goal of getting
24:12enough exercise if you just tell
24:13yourself that actually doing 15 minutes
24:15of walking around the airport also
24:17counts it allows me to keep my streak
24:19alive and you don't need an hour in the
24:21gym every day to have momentum you
24:22sometimes just need 7 minutes of
24:24exercise to have that
24:26momentum I think just as a productivity
24:30system or a business or a lifestyle what
24:34it's about picking a thing and then
24:36sticking with that thing right um
24:39through the ups and downs of what life
24:43inevitably brings you okay the final
24:45point in this video is that really
24:47everything becomes a lot easier when it
24:49comes to discipline if you stick to the
24:53method that you are trying to do now one
24:55of the reasons why Ryan holiday is so
24:57prolific when it comes to writing is
24:58because for the last like 20 years he
25:00has been sticking to exactly the same
25:03system for writing he has this note card
25:05system he talks about it in one of his
25:07YouTube and a bunch of his YouTube
25:08videos and yeah he admits that maybe
25:10there's some sort of slightly better
25:11system out there but he also fully knows
25:13that unless the system is
25:14transformatively better than the one he
25:16already has the value of sticking to
25:18what he's already doing is way better
25:20for his self-discipline and for his
25:22consistency than trying to constantly
25:24change productivity apps or writing
25:26systems or oh that one new piece of the
25:28software that's just come out that's
25:29going to be the secret the thing that I
25:31need to stay productive and disciplined
25:33finally that's just not true being
25:35productive and being disciplined being
25:36consistent from like literally everyone
25:37I've spoken to who's more consistent
25:39than I am and stuff they just pick one
25:40thing and they just do it repeatedly and
25:43if you have one thing one routine or
25:44just one system one workout plan you
25:46just do it repeatedly you're massively
25:48reducing the cognitive burden like the
25:49mental friction that come that comes to
25:52kind of deciding what to do and that
25:54again lowers the hump coming back down
25:56to a discipline analogy the thing feels
25:58good so you able to sustain the momentum
26:01of doing the thing but to get over the
26:02hump initially you lower the hump by
26:04reducing the cognitive friction the
26:05cognitive overload and you reduce that
26:07by just sticking to the same system I uh
26:09profess to have no no secrets other than
26:12don't quit this is by far the single
26:14biggest secret to success if ever I've
26:16heard one which is just pick something
26:17and do not quit if you do something for
26:20decades there is literally no world in
26:22which you're not going to succeed at the
26:23thing right the problem is if you do
26:24something for 6 months and then switch
26:25to something else and something else
26:26something else whether it's on a Mac
26:28level like what sort of business you
26:30want to run or even on a micro level
26:31like what sort of note taking system you
26:32want to use those are the people that
26:34produce a lot less output and are a lot
26:36less disciplined and less consistent and
26:38ultimately less impactful than the
26:39people that just have a system and just
26:41stick to that system this is something I
26:43still struggle with I still love to
26:45think that like the next productivity
26:46writing app is going to help me finally
26:47be consistent with my writing but
26:49honestly if I were just to use Apple
26:51notes and I just use that system every
26:53freaking day I'd have written so much
26:54more than the fact than what I've done
26:56because I've been trying to screw around
26:58with these different systems and
26:59different apps senica had this word emia
27:03Tranquility he says Tranquility is the
27:06sense of the path that you were on and
27:10being distracted by the paths that
27:13crisscross yours he says especially from
27:15those who are hopelessly lost okay so
27:18this video was about five actionable
27:19tips from Ryan holiday that I've
27:20personally applied to my life around
27:22self-discipline but if you're interested
27:23in a more evidence-based approach I
27:24actually did a video a few months ago
27:26which is over here which is about I
27:28think fiveish more evidence-based
27:29strategies for discipline that talks
27:31about uh implementation intentions and
27:33mental contrasting and a bunch of really
27:34cool stuff around if you're struggling
27:35with this discipline thing I think
27:36you'll find that video really helpful so
27:38thank you so much for watching and I'll
27:39see you there bye-bye
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