Self discipline article + my thoughts.

[Chikito]

I try to read a lot and after putting my face down in some anthropological texts (my university subject) and getting no where and finding a complete lack of interest in what Clifford Gertz has to say about the death of another famous anthropologist I resisted the temptation to play Halo 3 and instead write something useful for me and you! Recently I have discovered a blog which I have been reading and it is great.

The Daily Mind

The author writes tips and tricks based on eastern philosophy's (things like Buddhism, Martial Arts, Ways of samurai's, yoga) and shows you how to apply them to your life here in the western culture or where ever you may reside.

I recently have had trouble keeping myself self disciplined and the article he writes (or she I'm not sure) on self discipline was so good I had to share it with you and write a small summary of it. Mainly because it is drawn out and also because I want it to sink into my head and writing about it is a good way to internalize it.

The Guide To Developing Self Discipline That Lasts/

If you cant be bothered to read it (ironic) then this is my summary.

Why we lack self discipline in the first place:

We are spoiled for entertainment when we feel the need to do something fun all we need to do is drop what ever we are doing and turn on the xbox or tv. Whatever your fix it is an instant gratification. As you are probably aware there are short term and long term ways to feel good. And we tend to pick short term because well its faster and gets us those emotions we crave. However this sort of behavior, although irrelevant with things like entertainment has a detrimental effect on our goals and ambitions. Mainly because we are so used to getting what we want fast when it comes to things that require hard work (being rich etc) and time we easily give up because we are so used to instant gratification. After all why work your ass off reading anthropological texts when your goal of being a well known and contraversal anthropologist is years away. Why not just do some social slayer on halo? I get the same rush and feel good happiness after all and the games are only a minute away!

And thats when the addictions start. Its too easy to get that rush and it feels damn good, its addictive. The more you do it the more desensitized you get to it and thus the more of it you need to get your fix. But once it gets too much you simply don't do work after all you can just spend hours in front of the TV.

Unfortunately our world isn't that advanced yet. You cant get an instant collage degree, nor an instant job etc etc. Most of the our main goals in life are long term and require you to have self discipline. And hence why those instant gratifications are just so bad they train you to only want instant things.

So how do we stop ourselves from becoming too messed up by this modern tech? Well we reverse the process. We develop the self discipline in the total opposite way we developed our instant addictions. Bit by bit and over time.

Every time you feel like stopping your work and going for that instant gratification you push on for a little longer out of your comfort zone. Build up to it, you cant have the self discipline of a monk over night so you got to build up. There is little point in pushing yourself too hard since either it will become completely unproductive (like reading for hours but not absorbing it at all) and you just end up wasting your time or it will just reinforce your hatred for egotistical intellectuals. Often both.

So like what I am doing now I look for something productive to do to help me ease out of my bad habits. I knew none of the reading was sinking in and I was getting very bored. So I pushed on and read for another 5 minutes. I tired to get myself to play on the xbox but stopped and chose to write this instead, after all this is a little bit of a instant gratification, as I feel productive and smart after I write and don't feel so guilty! Plus this is actually helpful towards my productivity hence why I am babbling on here.

As time goes on I will start writing on here more and develop more motivation and self discipline as I know I have it in me, I've done it all before (my weight loss required tremendous amounts) but I also know I can't push too hard to fast. But that is no excuse to not do a lot.

In the last two days I have spent over 5 hours in the gym, caught up on work and sleep. So things are slowly and surely returning to my peak.

Peace

[Tom Church]

I've been thinking about self respect recently, how similar do you think this is to self discipline?

[Daniel Becerra]

Self- respect and self-discipline? That's a pretty tough one.

Tom, let's say that you have made it a goal to complete reading an entire book every two weeks. Ok, that would go under self-discipline, yes? You have made it your goal to read a book every two weeks and regardless of other things: websites, girls, family, etc... you WILL reach that goal. BECAUSE if you did make a commitment to reach that goal - and make no mistake about it, I mean a real commitment - then not only did you make a commitment to that goal, but you also made a commitment to yourself.

Keep in mind, that all things that happen outside you can be changed by what happens inside you (figuratively speaking). So not sticking to your self-discipline is lacking respect for yourself. Same goes for the other way around, if you don't respect yourself, there is no way on earth you will achieve real self-discipline.

This is of course easier said than done.

[Tom Church]

Respect the discipline, discipline the respect.

[Chikito]

I could not agree more.

I've been thinking about those who are just starting and I surely remember that I used to have very little self respect, so I have to say you can have one without the other. When I started working on myself I just listened to what I was told would benefit me, I enforced someone else's self-discipline (Mysterys) when I had little to no self respect. That discipline built confidence which lead to some self respect and that pushed me to be more disciplined and now its almost surpassed the point of self respect and become almost you owe yourself more and more.

I worry sometimes that I am reinforcing the complexity that makes you never satisfied with the improvements you make, like a beneficial anorexia (as in you cant stop seeing fat and areas to lose weight, I cant stop identifying areas to improve) my past and externally taught morals tells me to be wary about it and that it is unhealthy. Other people have told me to be careful not to do too much because of that. But I cant help but argue it, surely constant improvement cant be unhealthy? And surely "Suffering" from something like that is only bad according to what we have been taught as a culture. But when you look at it from a biological point of view it is the best logical attitude to have...as far as I know. Besides is it really 'unhealthy' or is it simply abnormal and makes most people feel inadequate that we as a society had to label it as "unhealthy" these are questions that I ponder. haha.

Think about it. Take one of the TV shows I've been watching lately, Dexter. Its about a man who saw the brutal murder of his mother when he was a child and as a result turned him into a serial killer. However he was adopted by a police man who taught him moral guidelines on who to kill after all he suffers from a killing addiction. And the show follows him going around killing other murders and people who cheat the justice system. However he is still deemed a bad influence and a murderer and has to hide it away from everyone. So he's a serial killer but for good. It makes me think of all those people who are put into mental asylums deemed as 'suffering' from "Anti social behavior disorder" That literally means here is someone who is too radical for society and so is arrested and put into jail/asylum/drug induced for being who he/she is and often it cant be helped. I wonder how many people have been simply ostracized because they are too extreme for a boundary we created in our minds and not the physical limits of nature. Its a bit of a rant but interesting things to think about.

[Daniel Becerra]

Originally Posted by Chikito

I wonder how many people have been simply ostracized because they are too extreme for a boundary we created in our minds and not the physical limits of nature. Its a bit of a rant but interesting things to think about.

Too many. We can change that a little bit. I was watching "The Freedom Writers" movie and I tell you, I'm inspired. You watch.