Kind: captions
Language: en
[Music]
hey everybody welcome to another episode
of impact theory today we are going to
be talking all about how to establish
and maintain discipline and this is one
that will change your life if you let it
because if you have big dreams but you
don't have the drive to see them through
you are just an empty dreamer and my
friends that is definitely not what i
want for you i want for you guys to be
able to achieve your deepest dreams and
goals but that's going to require you to
establish
that discipline and see it through all
right question number one what are some
practical steps that i can take to
introduce discipline into my every day
routine right the key when it comes to
discipline one you have to know what it
is that you're trying to achieve and why
and why
you want to achieve it once you know
what you're trying to do
and why you're trying to achieve it then
we're going to put rules
in place so when you have rules and you
know these are the things i do these are
the things i don't do they are bright
lines in your life we can start to
create some routines and habits that are
going to take us where we want to go so
i'll give you some rules in my life
especially at the
really it's the night before and the
morning of so that every day is set off
for success so rule number one i go to
bed at 9 00 pm like it's a religion so
that way i'm gonna get as much sleep as
i need i almost never wake up to an
alarm
because i just want to make sure that i
get plenty of sleep so rule number one
brightline go to bed at nine rule number
two i'm out of bed in 10 minutes or less
so from the moment i realize i'm awake
i'm getting out of bed in 10 minutes or
less now the reason i need that rule
even all these years later because i
first put that rule in my life in my
early 20s the reason that i put that in
place is because i was laying in bed
four to five hours a day every day and
getting absolutely nothing done and so i
realized that if i didn't have that rule
if i didn't just have a mandate a bright
line a non-negotiable that i got out of
bed in 10 minutes or less i was never
going to get anything done
now
you have to have that goal and that
reason otherwise you're not going to
stick to your goal and so a big part or
you're not going to stick to your rule a
big part of your discipline is knowing
why you're doing all of this so i had
all these big dreams and quite frankly
had shame because i was at that point
engaged to my now wife and i felt like i
was letting her down the family down
because i wasn't
actually taking steps to make my dreams
come true so trust me when i say that if
you don't build the desire if you don't
really want
something that makes it worth having
these rules you're not going to stick
with it so
out of bed in 10 minutes or less next
thing is i set beside my bed my workout
clothes so it's not like a big debate
whether or not i'm going to work out i
put my workout clothes on i give my dog
as medicine long story and then i go and
work out and
it just makes it easy when the very
thing there next to your bed are your
workout clothes
the next thing i do is i make sure that
i always have an important things list
so that i don't have to think or wonder
what should i be doing i know exactly
what i should be doing with the next 15
minutes of my life because i keep that
list of important things that i would
need to do in order to take meaningful
steps towards my goal and because i
really want my goal i've built all that
desire it becomes very easy for me to
stick with it
so those are some really simple
practical steps that you can put in
right now
know what you want
build the desire to get there
put in rules that optimize your time and
get rid of any and all excuses and sort
of weak moments because i find people
that have to what should i be doing they
get distracted they end up living by the
law of accident so go to bed at the
right time have rules about getting out
of bed put your gym clothes or whatever
is important to you right there if you
know the first thing you want to do when
you wake up is get to work or whatever
make sure that whatever work implements
you have your laptop whatever this is
not what i advise but i'm just saying
whatever that thing is is important to
you grab it and get going and then keep
an important things list that's in order
so that you know exactly what to do
first what to do second third fourth so
on and so forth and if you do that
and you have those bright lines you'll
be off to a very good start
all right
what tools do you use to keep yourself
dedicated and focused on your main
priority on a daily basis all right so
much of what i do and how i'm able to
accomplish the things that i'm able to
accomplish is because i've taken the
time to actually build the desire to
want the thing that i'm chasing now a
big part of that is assigning
meaning and purpose to your goals
your goals should not be random
they should not be designed to make you
rich even if that's a second or third
order consequence great
but the primary goal should be something
that gives you meaning and purpose now
when you have meaning and purpose you
will be willing to fight through the
lame the boring the difficult okay i've
said many times boredom
kills more dreams than fear than failure
it's you get in there and to get good
enough to do the thing you want to do
it's really boring you have to do a lot
of stuff that you do not want to do over
and over and over and so the only way
for you to have the stamina to see that
through is to really want that thing
you're pursuing now if you really want
that thing that you're pursuing and
you've tied meaning and purpose so back
at quest
it's real boring being under the
equipment trying to fix it
but i was there fighting for my mom and
my sister i wanted to end metabolic
disease i wanted to make sure that they
lived long enough that i could enjoy
their company for decades and decades
and decades to come but to do that
the price for that if you will was i had
to create food that they could choose
based on taste and it happened to be
good for them
at impact theory i am trying to make
sure that nobody gets the age of 15
without encountering a growth mindset
through story at scale and so all the
boring things dealing with finance and
contracts and all of that stuff
i do it because i really believe in the
people that i'm trying to help and i
have deeply personal connections with
the
with people that i've encountered in my
life that because they didn't encounter
a growth mindset in those years they
have struggled needlessly in their lives
and so that really matters to me so when
it gets hard
when i get bored
i can stay focused
because i really have this deep
spiritual quite frankly connection with
what i'm trying to do it isn't about
making money it's not about getting
famous it's about helping people that i
love and care about and so when you have
that you're going to be able to keep
yourself focused and on your main
priority and then
if you actually believe that you can
accomplish it that helps and so
uh you need to believe
that you can get good enough you don't
have to believe you already are good
enough but you need to believe that you
can get good enough in order to achieve
this
all right what is up my friend tom
bilyeu here and i have a big question to
ask you how would you rate your level of
personal discipline on a scale of one to
ten if your answer is anything less than
a ten i've got something cool for you
and let me tell you right now discipline
by its very nature means compelling
yourself to do difficult things that are
stressful boring which is what kills
most people or possibly scary or even
painful now here is the thing achieving
huge goals and stretching to reach your
potential requires you to do those
challenging stressful things and to
stick with them even when it gets boring
and it will get boring and even when you
might be afraid of the outcome if you
fail building your levels of personal
discipline is not easy but let me tell
you it pays off in fact i will tell you
you're never going to achieve anything
meaningful unless you develop discipline
if you're not already a 10 out of a 10
with this skill and i use that word
intentionally because it is a skill you
can build it you can get better at it
class from impact theory university
called how to build ironclad discipline
that teaches you the process of building
yourself up in this area so that you can
push yourself to do the hard things that
greatness is going to require of you
promise if you want to achieve your
goals this is the number one thing you
have to focus on as jocko willing says
discipline equals freedom right click
the link on the screen register for this
class right now and let's get to work i
will see you inside this workshop from
impact theory university until then my
friends be legendary peace out
how do you decide on what you want to
dedicate yourself to how do you keep
yourself focused on that goal while
other opportunities are opening up to
you or unforeseen obstacles come up
okay
here is how life works
if you're trying to achieve something
great with your life
right now i know exactly what's
happening to you you are metaphorically
standing in a room with a thousand doors
there are many things you're excited
about many things you could do so many
opportunities before you
the hard part isn't finding opportunity
the hard part is standing in a room full
of opportunity and knowing out of those
thousand doors that are open to you
how to close
999 of them and to have the courage to
walk through just one
most people are so dazzled distracted so
worried that they're going to choose the
wrong one that they never step through
one and so my advice to you is just run
around closing doors like crazy walk
through one with reckless abandon
knowing that you can always come back
the other side and try something else
and also
if you're young don't prematurely
optimize go through a bunch of doors
come back go in come back out go in come
back out try a bunch of different things
find the things that excite you the most
find the things that the more
you engage with it
the more interested you become
if you engage with something and over
time it starts to lose
interest for you that's not the right
door
if on the other hand the more you learn
about it the more you engage with it the
more you're like man this is so fun
that's what you're looking for you're
looking for something that gives you
more energy than it takes if it's taking
more energy than it gives this is not
the door for you so you want to find
that thing where the more that you
engage with it the more fascinating it
becomes now if you do that
and the only thing that you
pursue is the thing that's giving you
more energy and again it's going to give
you more energy because there's
something innate about it that's fun and
you did what we talked about earlier
where you figured out why you wanted it
you started assigning meaning and
purpose i'm doing this to save my mom
and my sister whatever the case may be
but you're assigning something to it
that is deeply personal that really
makes sense with that thing
and now when an unforeseen obstacle
comes your way you know why you're
fighting for this and you will push that
boredom because it's something that you
know on balance you love anyway and
you're fighting for something that
matters to you when you get that magical
cocktail as frederick nietzsche said a
man with a strong enough why can endure
any how
so you need that strong why to keep you
focused to ignore all the other
obstacles and opportunities to really go
after that thing and to have tested
you've tried a lot of things you did not
prematurely optimize so i know that this
one is good for me i know that i'm not
because a lot of people they end up just
they like the beginning and so in the
beginning
i know i'm here i'm ready to fight this
is good and then as time wears on
laziness kicks in
they like distraction maybe they have
adhd they want the next dopamine hit
they pick up their phone and suddenly
they think it's oh well this tom said
they'll only do the one that gives me
more energy this doesn't give me enough
energy i'm going to go try something
else i would say once you've done the
early exploration you know of 15 20
different things and found some that
give you more energy than they take
then if more than three times you find
yourself starting only to stop and want
to start over again that is your lacking
grit angela duckworth has a book called
grit where she addresses this but
basically you have to at some point draw
a line in the sand and say look i know
that in the early phases of this i loved
it now i just need to push through the
boring stuff by knowing why i'm doing
this and having a desire to progress in
my life which is incredibly important
and i'm going to do that by gaining
mastery in the skills that i would need
to master in order to be good at this
thing and then you commit and you go
all right that's how that's done
next i struggle with the consistency
aspect of discipline what advice do you
have for someone like me all right
so first of all
you want to set yourself up in the way
that we were talking about earlier to
make consistency the default answer
so
we go to bed at the same time we have
our meal plan prepped out so we don't
have infinite ingredients in the house
and a bunch of junk food it's like we
have the ingredients we need to make the
food that we want to make our gym
clothes are right next to the bed all of
that stuff
so we are setting ourselves up so that
the right answer is the easiest answer
and the pantry is an easy way to explain
that if you don't know what you're going
to eat you don't have rules around what
you eat and you've got a bunch of junk
food in the house the odds of you
sticking to your diet are basically zero
because you don't have things laid out
you have not said this is what i eat for
breakfast this is what i eat for lunch
this is what time i eat this is what
time i stop eating all that stuff
put rules in your life
buy according to that
live according to that and then keep
that list of the things that you know
that you're supposed to be doing okay
it's very important for you to make the
right choice the easy choice as you do
that in multiple areas of your life and
just start ruling things out and this is
again where bright lines really come in
handy you have to have things you don't
do as much as knowing what you do do and
a lot of people get themselves in
trouble because they don't have these
bright lines there aren't things that
are off limits so for instance monday
through friday if i'm awake i'm either
working or working out so you can
imagine if i start goofing off
i start playing with the dog i
play video games i would know
immediately that i'm not doing what i'm
supposed to be doing because is it
monday through friday yes
am i working or working out no cool then
you're doing the wrong thing and so by
having these
rules and writing them down can be
really useful having these rules writing
them down knowing exactly what you're
trying to accomplish and why you're
trying to accomplish it because remember
you don't want to live the way that i'm
describing unless it's in service of
something you love that you're excited
about that you believe in that you want
it
because when you want that stuff none of
what i'm describing is a pain in the ass
you're excited
to have these rules because they're
actually allowing you to get done the
thing you want to get done and the more
you engage with it the more exciting it
is the more your passions are ignited
because you're getting good at something
you're making progress and something we
haven't talked about
make sure your goals
are exciting and honorable they're
exciting you just want to do it it's fun
this is an area that you like to be in
and it's serving people in a way that
elevates not only yourself but other
people
okay
when you're working your ass off to gain
a set of skills that allow you to serve
other people in a way that's fun
now you've really got something if you
hear me talking about all this and i'm
saying apply it to a thing that you hate
that doesn't make any sense
but when you apply it to something that
you believe in and you have to do that
work
you have to decide to attach that
meaning and purpose to that thing
but when you do that now all of a sudden
working hard and being a badass and
seeing who you're becoming
that is amazing
as tony robbins says
progress is a foundational pillar to
human happiness
make progress
make progress and you will feel
amazing
discipline isn't meant to make your life
suck
as jackal willing says
discipline equals freedom
the point of these rules and all of that
is to know you're not going to quit
and you're not going to quit on
something that you care about something
that matters to you something that
you're building towards that is
improving your life and giving you a
sense of joy
unfortunately joy is not easy to come by
all of the default answers are going to
lead you somewhere negative and the
reason they lead you somewhere negative
is because nature has hardwired you
to work really hard to gain a set of
skills that allow you to serve not only
yourself but other people nature has
hardwired you for that so if you fail to
do that you sit around just playing
video games all day and i love video
games but i don't sit around playing
them all day
so if you're just sitting around staring
at the wall
getting lost in a book
working out all day and you never do
anything that allows you to serve other
people i promise you as much as you
don't want this to be true
you will not feel fulfilled
okay nature only has two levers to pull
pleasure and pain and if you're not
doing the things that nature has deemed
you need to do in order for you to live
long enough to have kids that have kids
you will have a profound sense of dis
ease
and the only way to combat that is that
formula for fulfillment working really
hard to gain a set of skills that allow
you to serve not only yourself because
it should be fun for you
but also serve other people
all right
that's how you get consistent
next
what makes you keep pushing towards your
goal after you've already had some level
of success
nature
you're having a biological experience
nature has those two levers pleasure and
pain
i think a lot of people make the mistake
of thinking well as long as i don't do
things that create a problem i don't do
bad things i'll be fine
what could possibly be wrong
with sitting around
in my apartment all day
goofing off
watching tv playing video games
all that stuff all individually
wonderful
but when you put it together
suddenly it does not give you the life
that you want and you start to feel
disease
you don't feel good something's not
right something's off
i don't know why i don't feel good and
then by the way you're probably eating
terrible food
and each bite individually is amazing
but it adds up to inflammation
dysbiosis meaning your
gut
bacteria your microbiome is out of whack
and it's sending
signals to your brain
that alter your brain chemistry and make
you not feel good something isn't right
but why don't i feel good i'm doing
things that are awesome
this food is awesome playing video games
is awesome
relaxing awesome
reading a book awesome but life in total
not awesome
and how is that possible
because nature has implanted directives
in your brain to ensure that you work
hard because you grew up on the
the plains of the savannah
and life was hard and life was scary and
if you weren't a part of the group you
were going to get eaten by something you
were going to die of exposure you
weren't going to make it
and so nature
by way of natural selection
has made it extremely pleasurable
to work really hard to gain a set of
skills that are unique and exciting to
you
that allow you to serve not only
yourself but the group makes that really
feel good even though it's hard even
though each step of that way is
difficult
and yet it adds up to something
extraordinary
okay it's it is the most
counterintuitive weird thing in the
world that if you do all of the
individual things that are fun it ends
up where you feel like crap and if you
do individually all the things that are
hard and a struggle and are difficult
you end up feeling awesome
that's a reality of life so i knew that
so even as i became successful i never
thought hey why don't we just retire it
won't work
it won't work meaning work because i
won't be able to feel the way that i
want to feel i want to feel good about
myself i want to make progress in my
life i want to feel like i'm
contributing i know all of that because
i understand how the brain works i
understand how nature embeds these
directives in your brain and it isn't
enough to not do something bad you have
to be pursuing something that matters
meaning purpose that's it that's the
game it isn't success it isn't wealth it
isn't adoration it's not trophies it's
not goals it's nothing other than
fulfillment and fulfillment is work
really hard
okay if it comes easy it won't work work
really hard
to gain a set of skills that you care
about that matter to you don't worry
about what everybody else thinks
skill set that matters to you and that
skill set could be playing video games
that could be how you're going to reach
and touch the world and elevate people
and show them what's possible and
entertain them absolutely great
you're doing something for other people
but you work real hard
to gain a set of skills that matter to
you that are exciting to you
but they don't just serve you they serve
other people as well
nature baby you're having a biological
experience and nature will [ __ ] with
your neurochemistry if you don't follow
that pattern
so
no matter how much success you have you
still need progress
you still need to be moving forward in
your life you still need to be gaining
skills there is no retiring not if you
want to be fulfilled
not if you want to enjoy your life
you need to go after something
now make it fun should be joyful
should be the joyful pursuit
of something that matters to you
but man
if you do that
life is amazing it's hard
but it's amazing
but if you don't do that
it's easy
but it sucks
all right
that's it that's how you do it alright
guys
speaking of things that are amazing if
you haven't already be sure to subscribe
and until next time my friends be
legendary take care peace