Discipline is a crucial component of success that most of us try to avoid at all costs. It’s easy to be hopeful that our goals will just be reached and our life will be enjoyable without too much hard work. While this is everyone’s ideal, including me, success doesn’t work that way. 

In order to efficiently reach our goals and curate the life we desire, we must set standards for ourselves that are often uncomfortable. While it is possible to happen upon what you desire, we are much more likely to achieve it if we plan out exactly what it is we want and what we need to do to get there. 

An area of health that requires a lot of discipline for me is nutrition. While some people find themselves overeating when they aren’t following a plan, I often find myself not eating enough. I will default to incomplete meals and foods that are quick and easy to prepare, rather than cooking full meals with foods from various food groups. My default standard of nutrition is enough to keep me alive, but isn’t good enough for me to live to the standard of health I desire.

My current health goals include increasing muscle power, keeping my hormones regulated, and maintaining a healthy body fat percentage. In order for me to hit my health goals, it’s necessary for me to eat enough calories, eat multiple servings of vegetables a day, and eat at least twenty grams of protein per meal. Knowing exactly what my goals are and figuring out exactly what I must do in terms of nutrition to reach them helps me be disciplined.

Discipline comes into play after we know our goals and what action steps we must take. Just because I know what my meals should look like doesn’t mean they will magically appear that way. In order for me to take this plan and make it reality, I must do things that I don’t want to and that are uncomfortable at times, like eating foods I’m not craving or preparing meals ahead of time. When I do these things, I get closer to the outcome I desire. When I don’t do these things, I can only rely on the chance that I will get closer to my goals. 

The same process can apply to exercise, drinking water, sleep, or any other activity that helps us reach our health goals. We don’t always feel like working out, drinking water instead of something else, or going to bed early enough to get eight hours of sleep. Creating rules and boundaries for ourselves help us stay disciplined to do these things and move closer to reaching our goals. 

It’s tempting to want to forget all of this and give up because it feels like too much. I have those moments too. We must remember that when we don’t have structure, we have chaos. The freedom that will come in the moment of foregoing discipline will come with a cost of overwhelming stress later. The stress that comes in the moment of creating discipline won’t last long, and will come with a payoff of freedom, ease, and success later. It’s up to us to pay the cost of discipline now and get the rewards of success later.