Building Self Discipline

"Self Discipline is Self Love, if you want to be happy you have to love yourself" - Will Smith

 

Self discipline can get toxic and have a negative connotation attached to it.

 

The way Will Smith puts it is having an outside version of yourself.

 

Who loves you like a good friend should.

 

So, when you're trying to get around something you said you wanted, you can speak to yourself as a friend helping.

 

From a place of love, because you want to see yourself win.

 

This takes time to build up to, so we're going to run through the mindset method and how to build our way up to this.

 

Discipline does not equal reprimanded.

We can all agree that Bruce & Ian have a lot of discipline, to show up daily and perform at the levels they do.

 

Ian's showcased this in public well.

 

If you follow his IG stories, he's up between 4-5AM and in a cold shower everyday.

 

And he uses his IG as a way to hold himself accountable.

 

Sometimes you see him post messages he gets from people.

 

"Why are you doing this?"

 

"What's the point dude?!"

 

What they don't understand is this is coming from a place of self love.

 

If he wasn't holding himself accountable to the early morning cold showers.

 

He'd be letting himself down.

 

Which in turn would lead to lack of confidence, purpose, and direction.

 

And it wouldn't be loving to himself.

 

Now, I'm not saying everyone has to get up at 5am and take a cold shower.

 

This is an example of discomfort training (we'll go into more below).

 

I wanted to bring this up, because there's a toxic hustle culture around self discipline.

 

But it isn't meant to be that way, the true meaning of self discipline should be out of a place of love for yourself.

 

And this is a very relatable story, because everyone see's Ian doing it.

 

Since he get's messages like this it means.

 

A lot of athletes in the ski industry lack an understanding of why self discipline is important.

 

Sticking to it builds self respect.

1. I said I was going to do it so I did. (discipline)

2. I did what I said I would do. (because I love myself)

3. I did the hard thing and stuck to my word. (now, I respect myself more)

 

Don't become an obedient robot.

 

This is where it's easy to get lost.

 

Everyone getting into self discipline will go through this battle.

 

Even when you've been doing it for awhile, you can go through this battle.

 

It's normal, we're all humans.

 

When we fall into the "hustle culture" of self discipline their can be shame that comes along with it.

 

We go 0 to 100 and think we have to do all these things, and if not we shame ourselves for being weak.

 

Trying to bat ourselves into this obedient robot who followers any discipline trend.

 

And this is where the toxic side of self discipline comes from.

 

This also leads to burnout quick, a dislike for self discipline, and more shame.

 

So how do we turn the table?

 

We show up out of self love, because we treat our body like a temple.

 

Or we see ourselves as the hero of our story.

 

Then the focus is to show up as someone we'd respect, not someone we're trying to change.

 

This becomes more sustainable, and a lot more fun!

 

The Mindset Method

Okay so we've established why self discipline has a negative connotation.

 

How we can overcome that and break free from the "hustle culture" ?

 

And how self discipline is actually a form of self love.

 

Let's look at how we can start to create discipline for ourselves in our life, and questions we can ask.

 

1. Identify with yourself - Paint A Picture

 

This may sound simple, you're gonna want to paint a picture of the ideal version of yourself.

 

Back to thinking like video games.

 

This could be the hero you're building your character into, you have an ideal in mind.

 

"I want this armor, these weapons, my stats to be at this level"

 

Now when you play your game you're training, or undertaking quests to align with these ideals.

 

So, paint a picture of how your ideal, disciplined self would be.

 

And then identify with that version of you throughout your day.

 

10 Questions to ask yourself: (you can relate these to skiing if you'd like)

1. What does their day look like? (what terrain am I skiing?)

2. Where do they live? (what's my local mountain?)

3. What do they eat? (am I getting enough protein / packing the right lunch?)

4. What do they wear? (am I wearing sponsored gear?)

5. What does their week look like? (how many days am I skiing?)

6. What do they do for work? (am I a creator or getting paid to ski?)

7. What do they think and feel?

8. Who are they surrounded by?

9. What do they say no to?

10. What do they say yes to?

11. Any other details that will help you describe this person.

 

Don't get overwhelmed with these questions, start basic and feel free to add to your answers.

 

Fully accept that sometime in the future you’ll be this person.

 

Don't hold back with your answers, this is meant to be that dream version of yourself.

 

You may face some resistance but try to let go and accept that this version of you is out there.

 

If anything can go right, it will.

 

2. Set up your environment to reflect that ideal self:

 

Is your room clean?

 

Do you have skis displayed in your room to inspire and remind yourself?

 

Have you created that vision board we talked about at the beginning of summer yet?

 

Setup everything around you to reflect how your ideal self would be.

 

Your reality starts with your environment, set it up as if you're already that person you created.

 

3. Have a good system to starting things:

 

Make it easier for you to start.

 

This means removing any friction possible.

 

Want to wake up and go for a run or go to the gym?

 

Set your shoes and clothes out the night before, so it's ready to go.

 

Trouble hitting snooze?

 

Set your phone or alarm clock on the other side of the room, so yo have to get up to turn it off.

 

Play around with what you're working on, and figure out how you can make it easier for you to begin.

 

4. Avoid Burnout:

 

We talked about achieving this by coming form a place of self love earlier.

 

But that isn't the only way.

 

Set up a routine for yourself.

 

That can be daily, weekly, or monthly.

 

Now this isn't a routine to turn yourself into that obedient robot.

 

This is more like a 9-5, Mon-Fri (and I hate putting it that way).

 

What I mean is you need to give yourself "weekends"

 

That can be a break daily, weekly, or monthly.

 

But you have to take time for yourself and some enjoyment. Something that "fills your cup".

 

A good way to start learning what does that (besides skiing for all of us!).

 

Is make a note on your phone, and ask yourself daily "what energized me today?".

 

You'll start to realize what helps you fill up fast.

 

5. Discomfort Training:

 

Alright, I know we've been waiting for this one.

 

As mentioned in the beginning cold showers are a form of discomfort training.

 

Self discipline means holding yourself accountable when you don't want to do something.

 

But, like we discussed it's coming from a place of love for yourself.

 

Overtime you'll start to enjoy it more, while respecting yourself more.

 

We start building ourself up to this is with something called "Discomfort Training"

 

That can be starting your day with a cold shower.

 

If you're someone who get's bored (or addicted to your phone) don't pull out your phone when in a line or waiting area.

(That one will be hard for lots of us)

 

Or if you're uncomfortable spinning unnat, make yourself do one unnat spin for every nat spin.

 

This is the best way to start building self discipline for yourself.

 

If you struggle with them, thats okay.

 

It isn't supposed to be easy.

 

But take a minute to reflect on why you struggled with it?

 

This is how you overcome obstacles and build wisdom.

 

Start Today!

Don't wait to start.

 

Start with writing down the 10 questions.

 

Then how you'll identify with that ideal self.

 

So we remember let's recap what we went over:

• Self Discipline means Self Love and builds Self Respect.

• There's a non toxic way to build discipline.

• Paint a picture of your ideal self and then identify with it.

• Ask yourself questions about who your hero self is.

• Create an environment that your hero self would live in.

• Make it easy to start! Reduce friction.

• Don't burnout. Allow yourself time to reenergize.

• Discomfort training overtime.

 

If you have a buddy or partner you try to do this together.

 

This is called having an accountability partner.

 

And if you want a group of athletes on a similar path join our community in Slope Academy!

 

Peace,

Slope Academy