Habits Require Mindless Discipline

When developing a new habit, you can't accept any excuses to not do it. No skips allowed!

For example, today – Sunday – I woke up sore, stiff, and achy all over. I really didn't want to do my quick morning recharge while my coffee was brewing.

I didn't feel like getting down on the floor and doing a squat pattern x 10 reps, a glute bridge x 10 reps, an ab exercise x 10 reps, and pushups x 10 reps. I also didn't really want to do my morning reflection. Truth is, I didn't really feel or want to do anything...

Too bad. Do it anyway. If it's not yet a habit, this is how you build it – through ruthless consistency. If it is already a habit, then you slap away these silly thoughts of self pity quickly.

How I feel is irrelevant. Habits are built and maintained through mindless discipline. I brush my teeth every morning, regardless of how I'm feeling. I drink my coffee every morning no matter what. The morning recharge is no different and it only takes as long as it takes me to brush my teeth and floss, and I'm not doing anything else while the coffee is brewing. 

Habit building requires you to put the brain on auto pilot. After a while, the body goes on auto pilot, too, and you find yourself just doing the habit instinctively. 

Don't give in to the temptation of, "I'll just skip this habit today." That's a slippery slope, my friend. A slippery slope that leads to potentially building a new, contradictory habit and adopting a weak mindset that is okay with forgoing your commitments. 

If I skip my quick, 3-5 minute morning recharge, odds are I won't bat an eye at the occasional temptation to skip a proper, 20-30 minute full body resistance training session! Then, all of a sudden, I'm okay putting my health, my physique, and my fitness goals on the back burner. That's not a habit I want to adopt. That's no good at all!

Plus, I believe it was in "Atomic Habits," (which I haven't actually read, but have read about enough to understand the gist) where the author says something along the lines of, "skipping a habit 2 days in a row is the start of a new habit." I like that logic and tend to agree. 

So, today, you can bet your bottom dollar that while my coffee was brewing, I was doing:

10 Hindu squats

10 glute bridges

10 frog crunches

10 pushups

And afterward, I did my morning reflection for 10 minutes and then immediately wrote this down in my notes app.

Do hard things AND do the simple things that, when done day after day, lead to great results – in this case a more sound mind and body.

Don't listen to how you feel. Do the things that you've committed to doing, anyway. Do the things that are critical to do in order to achieve your health, fitness, and body composition goals, regardless of how hard your mind is trying to manipulate you. 

Have a great Sunday!