The first day I walked into a 24-Hour Fitness and got on the elliptical, I hated feeling vulnerable, but I had a plan. The first step was to get an understanding of why I was there. An understanding of “fitness” and “health.” I needed to know the different ways people had succeeded with weight loss. The underlying themes I found were staying committed and discipline. So, I slowly started paying attention to those moments I was lacking the discipline to follow through on my commitment to myself.
In 2014, I had just graduated with my master’s degree and decided to go on to a PhD program. I was overweight and mentally exhausted. I needed to figure out a way to get my mind and discipline right for the doctoral thesis journey that I had chosen to embark on.
I understood I needed to get my weight under control and to take responsibility for my life. I really wanted to create a life that I loved, and to get that, I had to think about where I was focusing my mind and my energy.
I can be the queen of excuses, so I had previously told myself that working out wouldn’t work for me because I had tried the whole health and fitness trip and hadn’t seen any progress after 2 weeks. I was also nervous about other people judging me as I struggled to catch my breath in the gym. Back then, quitting had seemed like the easiest decision.
It's so easy to get overwhelmed in our minds before ever beginning a challenge. I found that taking responsibility for myself and my choices gave me a ton of power that I never knew I had before. By slowly setting small goals, within a year, I had gotten comfortable with struggling at the gym and pushing past my comfort zone.
I began this blog with my health and fitness struggle because it was the main area in which I lacked discipline and follow-through.
The discipline of envisioning an outcome is important not just with health and fitness but in every aspect of our human interactions – in business, in family, and in finance.
Human beings are creatures of habit, and those habits make it difficult to just wake up and become someone new. What made things a bit easier for me was envisioning myself as the person I wanted to be.
Wherever there is no vision, it is easy to lose self-control. Having an idea of what I wanted the destination to look like meant I needed self-control.
No matter the degree of difficulty, it is going to take discipline to reach the goal. I hope to encourage you to envision the outcomes you want and help you identify what decision you need to make regardless of what segment of life you focus on.
What area do you want to focus on for 2023? Have you begun envisioning it yet? What small steps can you take to develop your discipline in this area?
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