Self-Discipline for Success

Read time — 6 minutes

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Hey bud,

Growing up, I was never the type to want to clean my room.

I felt that it was a pain to make the effort to do it.

As a result my room was quite messy most of the time.

Today, I get slightly stressed when our bedroom is a little too messy.

And I’ve found that whenever I do clean our room (while I still find it a bit of a pain to do) I feel good afterwards.

People want to avoid pain.

It’s human nature.

We’re wired to avoid pain and seek pleasure.

If given a choice, people would rather avoid pain than seek pleasure.

But here’s the thing.

In order to grow and achieve our goals, we have to embrace the pain of discipline.

We have to be willing to go to the edge of our comfort zones and do the things that may not be enjoyable in the moment, but will bring us closer to our desired outcomes.

In this week’s letter, we’ll talk about how important it is to develop the trait of discipline for us to achieve our meaningful goals.

But before that, a reminder.

The Winning Your 2024 Online Workshop will be happening on December 28, 2023.

Here you will learn how to achieve your sales and business goals for 2024.

If you are interested to attend that workshop, hit the ground running in 2024, and make it your best year ever — reply to this email the word “Winning” to signify your interest.

There are limited slots for this online workshop and there are already over 50 people that signified their interest.

Let’s get into it.

Overcoming Resistance

You might have heard the adage, “What you resist persists.”

When you resist doing something (like cleaning your room), after a while it starts to mentally weigh down on you.

You know it’s something you need to do, but you procrastinate on it, so it nags at you at the back of your mind.

Awareness and clarity are key to overcoming this feeling of resistance.

What do I mean by this?

1. You have to be aware that you are experiencing resistance towards an action. If you aren’t aware of it, you won’t be able to address it. Awareness is the first step.

2. You have to be clear on why you need to take the action that you are resisting. Having this clarity will lower the resistance you have towards doing what you need to do.

Most of the time we resist doing something because we don’t even know why we need to do it in the first place.

You think “what’s the point of doing this?”

Or something like that.

So find clarity on WHY it’s important for you to take that specific action.

People also anticipate the pain of taking the action they need to take — and that causes them to resist taking action.

Here’s another perspective you can use to help you overcome resistance:

Which is more painful?
If I take the action that I’m resisting, or if I don’t take the action and I’m in the same situation for the next few days or even weeks?

Considering which is more painful gives you perspective and allows you to take action more easily.

Why?

More often than not, being in the same situation for days or weeks is more painful than actually taking action.

And again, people want to avoid pain.

So you’ll be inclined to take the “less painful” route (taking action).

The Psychology of Pain and Pleasure

All our decisions stem from either moving towards pleasure, or avoiding pain.

Discomfort is a type of pain that we want to avoid, and sometimes taking the actions needed to move us toward our goals is uncomfortable.

So, we avoid taking them.

Alternatively, distracting ourselves with Netflix, Social Media, or even junk food is pleasurable in the moment. So, we tend to choose to do those things instead.

But if you were to zoom out from short term to long term, you’ll find that the opposite is true.

From a long term perspective, taking the uncomfortable actions needed to move the needle forward results in pleasurable experiences (like hitting your goals).

And from a long term perspective, watching Netflix all day, scrolling through social media as an escape, and eating junk food results in a lot of pain and regret down the road.

So, what can we do?

Associate pleasure with taking uncomfortable short term actions that move the needle forward, and associate pain with distracting yourself and not taking action.

(You can read more about this idea in letter #19, The Foundational Key to Success — Instant vs Delayed Gratification)

Embracing The Pain of Discipline for Growth

It’s natural to want to avoid discomfort.

But if you want to hit the meaningful goals you’ve set for yourself, you need to pursue growth.

And growth demands us to embrace the pain of short term discipline for the pleasure of long term success.

Personally, I’m in the process of training myself to embrace the pain of discipline and discomfort.

I choose to take uncomfortable actions which I know lead me to growing myself.

Most days, I don’t feel like doing what I need to do.

It’s uncomfortable to wake up at 4am and start the day working.

Yet, I choose to do it because I know it’s leading me to the future that I want.

It’s uncomfortable to go for a run and lift weights in the gym. In fact, it’s physically painful.

Yet, I choose to do it because I know it’s leading me to the health state that I want.

It’s uncomfortable to douse myself in cold water whenever I shower in the morning (yes I’m one of those).

Yet, I choose to do it because I know it’s leading me to the type of person that I want to become — a man of discipline.

Each of those actions are uncomfortable in the first few seconds or minutes that I do them.

But I’ve found that afterwards, I feel proud of myself and fulfilled that I went through the discomfort.

And so, I’ve reached a point where I tell myself this while taking these types of actions:

“This is so uncomfortable right now, and I like it because I ALWAYS feel proud of myself afterwards.”

I shift to focusing on the pleasure I’ll feel AFTER I do the uncomfortable thing.

If you want to develop discipline, you need to embrace these short term discomforts to be able to grow and reach your goals.

At the end of the day, it’s not about reaching the goal anyway.

It’s about the type of person you become — a disciplined and self-reliant individual that YOU can be proud of.

A person that your loved ones can be proud of.

In Conclusion

Pain is unavoidable.

And that’s not necessarily a bad thing unless we turn it into suffering.

Pain is tripping and getting a scratch on your knee — it happens; life happens.

Suffering is choosing to repeatedly poke that same scratch on your knee — don’t do that, it’s bad for your health.

Pain is part of the human experience, and the more we can accept that, the more we can use it as fuel for our goals.

When you can move through the short-term pain of discipline and come out the other side, you will feel proud of yourself and what you were able to accomplish.

You will feel fulfilled and ready to take on the next challenge.

Before we end, the Winning Your 2024 Online Workshop will be happening on December 28, 2023.

Here you will learn how to achieve your sales and business goals for 2024.

I facilitated this workshop with the sales team of one of the organizations I’m supporting.

Here’s what one of the participants said:

If you are interested to attend the online version of this workshop on December 28, hit the ground running in 2024, and make it your best year ever — reply to this email the word “Winning” to be put on the waitlist.

You will get a special bonus from me if you’re a subscriber of mine and you’re on the waitlist.

There are limited slots and there are already over 50 people that signified their interest.

See you there!

All the love,
All the power,

— Zach Marañon

P.S. Whenever you are ready, there are 3 ways that I can be of help to you:

1. Follow me on Instagram here if you want a source of bite-sized ideas and content that can help you reach your next level in life.

2. Book a free kick-off conversation for one-on-one coaching here if you are an entrepreneur or sales professional currently looking to create solutions to a problem or challenge in your life but you seem to be stuck.

3. Download my goal setting guide here if you are wanting to create clarity on your desired outcomes (Free until 100 downloads — and then I convert it to a paid resource).

P.P.S. If you are from the Philippines and are looking for a personal mastery workshop to help you experience growth and transformation, check out Discovery by I Am Plus Coaching and Training Systems. It’s where my journey of self evolution personally got fast-tracked.