Discipline vs Aligned Work

I’m the type of person that feels happy when productive.

And yesterday, I just got a bunch of things done for our condo move.

The highlight being that Bey and I put up the shoe cabinet that she ordered.

and for the first time in a while…

I feel clear again.

Not fully. But enough to feel the momentum returning.

You see, I’ve spent the past few weeks in a bit of a fog.

Falling behind

Heavy resistance.

Mindlessly scrolling when I knew there was work to be done for the business.

You ever get into that state?

Where you know what to do, but for some reason, you keep avoiding it?

To remove the baggage, I asked help from one of my mentor-coaches to guide me in getting unstuck.

And the biggest realization I had from that session with him was this:

I’ve been in a constant state of avoidance.

This had me exploring the value of discipline, especially when in a stuck state.

The idea being for me to choose to face what I don’t feel comfortable facing.

Discipline seemed to be the answer that I needed to get me out of that state (along with listening to a bunch of David Goggins audio to reinforce this idea)

And as I reflect on the value of discipline, I’m seeing two competing paradigms.

Paradigm 1: Discipline Makes You Stronger

This one is inspired by David Goggins.

“Do the thing, even when you don’t feel like it.”

Face the resistance and push through anyway.

There’s a lot of truth to this.

I personally value responsibility.

And there’s something powerful about doing what needs to be done — especially when every part of you wants to run the other way.

Paradigm 2: You Don’t Need Discipline When There’s No Resistance

This one is inspired by someone I’m subscribed to on Youtube, Damon Cart.

His take?

When you're fully aligned, you don’t need to convince yourself to take action.

There’s nothing to push against.

There’s no resistance.

You think of what needs to be done…

And you just do it.

No forcing.
No struggle.
No pep talks.

This is closely related to the perspective I draw my idea of Aligned Work from.

So the question is,

Which paradigm is right?

Honestly?

I think it’s both.

I’ve found that discipline is essential when resistance is present but you need to get shit done.

Without discipline, people procrastinate.

And then the tasks pile up which just leads to overwhelm.

Which leads to more procrastination.

And you find yourself in a downward spiral.

But the goal is to dissolve the resistance altogether and access Aligned Work.

Because let’s be real:

You can only “force” yourself to do things for so long before you burn out.

Willpower has limits.

But when your head is clear, and there’s no internal friction?

You become unstoppable.

No need for brute force — just natural, fluid action.

The real problem I’ve found is this:

You can’t access either discipline or Aligned Work when your mind is cluttered.

If your headspace is filled to the brim with guilt, self-doubt, confusion, or shame — you’ll avoid action no matter how disciplined you try to be.

So before anything else, I find that clearing the mental fog creates space for discipline AND Aligned Work.

Which is why I’m working on a new personal project which I call:

The Back To Your Peak System

This is a process that I’m putting together which I’ll be able to refer back to whenever life happens and I find myself stuck in my journey.

This system will be my go-to process to get myself unstuck based on what I’ve noticed works in helping me rebuild momentum.

I have plans of sharing this system to the Freedom Founders once it’s complete.

Additionally, I’ll be launching a workshop going over this exact system in April.

Reply with “workshop” if you’d like to stay in the loop…

And learn how you can breakthrough stagnation and rebuild your momentum over the next few weeks.

Talk soon,

Zach