Discipline In 10 Minutes
Discipline is choosing what your future self needs instead of what you want right now.
Here’s the simplest version I learned in the army.
Order → Prime → Progress
No rolling in mud, waking up at 5 AM, or screams necessary:
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This is how the army days started:
Wake up and preparation → Order
Morning workout → Prime
Doing the job → Progress
And this exactly what you need to do too:
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1. Order
Set priorities.
Make your bed.
Tidy up the office.
Groom yourself and feel like a million bucks.
I like to do the organizational heavy lift the night before, as this works a lot better for me.
No order?
Everyone and everything will try to steal your attention.
Emails. Calls. Meetings.
If you don’t apply your system, someone will apply theirs.
And trust me, you won’t like its version.
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2. Prime
Move. Gym, a quick home workout, a simple walk.
Enjoy. Your coffee, tea, or intermedent fasting.
Find what works for you and use it. Use experimantation and logic.
A box of donuts, paired with an equal calories pumping space latte, will make you sluggish.
If you don’t believe me, A/B test.
One working day this delicacy for breakfast, the next one a healthy but tasty full protein alternative.
Audit both days.
Your physiology is either sabotaging or helping you. Prime is the latter.
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3. Progress
Do.
I love Mark Twain’s quote of eating your frog first (aka MIT - most important task). But some days you are not into it. So start with the antipasto.
Small, simple tasks that take little time before the main frog dish.
This way not only you avoid doom scrolling, you also prime yourself even more.
I know successful copywriters who start their days with solving crosswords.
I know successful lawyers who start their days with reading philosophy.
I know successful athletes who start their days with meditation
Different fields. Same principle:
Start with something that makes you capable of more.
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Order → Prime → Progress
This system should not take more than 10 minutes.
“The price of anything is the amount of life you exchange for it.”
— Henry David Thoreau
If 10 minutes buy back a BIG chunk of your day, then the math is obvious.
Try it.
It works.
Prove me wrong.
Lifeward,
PS
I’m building something new and better, stay tuned.
But until then, everything from flow is free: