Sit down and get to work

I recently heard a clip from one of Joe Rogan’s podcasts and it caught my attention.

He was talking about discipline. Referencing a book by Steven Pressfield called The War of Art, Joe says you need to show up and do the work. In fact, he even brought up the writing profession stating that so many writers admit that they find it difficult to, well, write! While we all have some little, teeny voice inside of us that simply wants to do nothing, it’s up to us to make sure we sit down and put in the work.

Or else…nothing will get done.

Force yourself to do it

The hardest part is the beginning. Once you grab that coffee, block out all the clever excuses your brain has come up with, make yourself sit down and just get started, you’re halfway there. Think about it. How is anything going to get done if you don’t even make the effort to begin?

It’s like the diet you keep planning to start but every week when Monday comes around you find a new reason why the upcoming week simply can’t involve dieting. Or the workout routine you did for one day and promised yourself you’d make it a daily, but you find yourself pushing it later and later until it just never gets done. Or the book you want to write but you never block off the time to sit in front of your computer and hash out a few words because you “can’t force creativity”.

Nonsense! Do you know how many times I have literally forced creativity out of me? I can’t even come close to counting them all. Healthy eating? It’s not a diet, it’s a lifestyle so you better start now. And as for working out, some days are more than a struggle but that million-bucks feeling when it’s done is what I do it for.

Have the discipline

Disciplined people get things done.

From cooking a healthy dinner, to doing fix-ups around the house, to getting laundry done, to writing a novel – none of it can happen without discipline. A disciplined person sets their alarm, avoids hitting the snooze button a million times, does their morning routine and…gets to work!

Do they feel like doing every single thing they do on a daily basis? Of course not! But they do it nonetheless.

Experience the magic

Once you force yourself to “JUST DO IT” in the great words of Nike, you’ll feel the magic. Your healthy cooking will taste awesome, the re-caulking you did will look terrific, your laundry bin will finally be empty, and the creative words will flow out of your brain.

And all of it will make you smile. You’ll be proud of yourself.

Then the next part of the magic begins…

Because you got started, you did the work and you accomplished something, you want that happy prideful feeling again. Knowing you did it once becomes your fuel to do it again, and again, and again.

Until poof! It’s a habit and you’re rocking it. Every day. Because now you’ve trained yourself to have the discipline.