I thought about the freedoms I enjoy in my life, the more I realized they stemmed from having discipline in those areas first.
For instance:
- Having a budget and consistently sticking to it gives me financial freedom.
- Exercising frequently and eating healthy food gives me freedom from health issues later in life.
- Engaging in meditation and mindfulness gives me mental freedom and clarity to execute my vision.
“Habits do not restrict freedom. They create it. In fact, the people who don’t have their habits handled are often the ones with the least amount of freedom,” writes James Clear.
You don’t have to wake up at 4:30 a.m. and put yourself through a punishing workout to improve yourself. But you do need to instill a level of discipline and commitment in yourself.
I can guarantee you that if you created a simple system of sleeping 8 hours a day, exercising 4-5 times a week, and reading 30 pages a day your life would dramatically improve. Add on some meditation and now we are really talking.
I am not promising that this will be easy but what I am promising is that it will be effective. Unfortunately, what is easy to do and what can improve your life don’t always dovetail well with each other.
You have to put in the work.
I know people who consistently complain about their jobs, partners, or lack of achievement. But they are more than happy to spend most of their free time binge-watching the latest Netflix series, drinking at bars all weekend, and goofing off at work.
“If you want to live an exceptional and extraordinary life, you have to give up many of the things that are part of a normal one,” writes Srinivas Rao