(dramatic music) - [Man] Do you often
procrastinate on the things that you don't want to do? Like you sit down to do it, then all of the sudden
you feel hungry, or tired, or you feel like your room
needs to be cleaned up, or maybe you say to yourself, "Let me just watch the one YouTube video," or, "Let me scroll through Instagram "for just a few more minutes." And then, before you
know it, it's midnight, and you have done pretty much nothing. Experiencing these kinds
of thoughts and feelings is totally normal, but what differentiates
the successful people from the unsuccessful people is how they approve these feeling. And one of the ways successful people do this is by developing a
trait called self-discipline. And I'm going to tell you exactly how you can become self-disciplined
by the sharing with you a very personal story. Over the past three years, I've been traveling around the world while making money online, and I would only briefly
come home to Canada for the Christmas holidays. There are many cool benefits
to this type of lifestyle, but one of the downsides, for me, is not being able to see
my friends and family as much as I would like to. During my first year of
being away from home, my grandmother's health
started to diminish, to point where she needed to
be put into assisted living. And I remember driving
to that old folks home, after about a year of very little contact, not really knowing what to expect, and when I got there, I saw
her sitting in this chair, and the first thing that I saw was how wrinkled her skin had become. And then I saw how gray her hair was, and how skinny she had become. And then, when I started to talk to her, I could tell that her cognitive abilities were starting to go. I don't even think she
really fully knew who I was. And it wasn't easy for
me to see her like that, it's hard to see someone
who you used to have fun, or laugh with, get to the
point where they need help with their walking or eating, or even just basic thinking. I know this is all a natural part of life, and I don't necessarily
think it has to be all sad, but when I was there
looking at my grandma, I couldn't help but feel distressed. I imagined myself becoming old, and sitting in the same
chair that she way in, and also needing help with
all those basic things. But the thing that truly
made me feel distressed, aside from seeing her
from the way she was, was just imagining myself being old, and then, reflecting back on my life and not being happy with
what I'd did with it. Or wishing that I had done
something differently, like working harder to
start that business, or working harder to get that
body what I always wanted. When I get to that later stage of life, I want to be able to
reflect back on everything with a nice, calm, relaxed feeling of ... (exhales)
Those were some good times. Did I do everything right? No, but for the most part,
I stayed true to myself, I worked hard, and I lived
life on my own terms. And I think this is what most
people want for their life. They just want to be able to
reflect back on everything and feel good about it, so then they can depart from
this physical world in peace. But the concept of getting to that old age and not being happy
with what I did with it causes me a lot on anxiety because I feel like I'm gifted
with a healthy mind and body, and that if I don't make the most of it, then I'm doing a disservice
to my human potential. Because of this anxiety,
I started to read books on philosophy and spirituality, and often, they would say that in order
to live an optimal life, you should operate from a
place of peace and love, and not from a place of fear and anxiety, Which is interesting
because most people on earth operate from a place of fear and anxiety. They choose a life partner because they are scared of dying alone, or they choose a career because they are scared
of not having stability. And if it's not coming
from a place of fear, then it's usually coming
from a place of lack, where people want money, or girls, or cars because they think that
those are the things that will make them
feel happy and complete. And because so many people are
feeling fearful and anxious, they need a way to cope with it. And the way most people cope
with it is through distraction. We distract ourselves with
our phones, our computers, or entertainment,
socializing, music, Netflix. Pretty much anything can take
the form of a distraction, and all this distraction leads us to not getting things done. And then we watch
YouTube videos telling us how we should be more
disciplined and motivated, which, in a way, causes us to
feel even more stressed out and more anxious. Just another thing that
we are doing wrong. A part of me wants to tell you that you should be disciplined because you should not want
to wake up at the age of 80 and be filled with regret. But it's probably unhealthy to
operate from a place of fear. But it's also unhealthy
to operate from a place of ignorance, thinking that
we all will live forever, and that having regrets when
we're older is impossible. I think the problem that a lot of people have is that they think they
need to become motivated first, then they can work hard
and chase their dreams. But we have to realize, that
motivation is just an emotion, and all emotions are transient, meaning they are always changing. And you can never rely on
something that is always changing in order to get something done. The things that we should
rely on are principles, and one of the main principles of life, in my opinion at least,
is that self-discipline is a key ingredient to living
the life you want to live, and it's essential for
success and freedom. And I think the only healthy way to truly become disciplined
it to work on it like it's a muscle. Every time you start to
hear that little excuse of, "I'll do this later," or, "I'm tired," use that as an opportunity to build your self-discipline muscle, and if you really want it to grow, you have to have to put
it under a lot stress, to the point of exhaustion. There will never be a convenient time to build your self-discipline muscle,. By definition,
self-discipline is something that can only be developed
when it's inconvenient. And like any muscle,
you need to give it time to repair and recover, which means you still need
to have your leisure time, or your time off. So, don't listen to the people who say that you have to work every second of every day for the rest of your life, because that's like the meaning of life, which is the grind and the hustle. Obviously, all that is important, and it has it's place, but it should not
consume your entire life. But that is just my opinion. If you want to learn how I personally became self-disciplined., click the video on the screen right now. You won't regret it. Thanks for watching,
and I'll see you soon.
