newsletter archives

Discipline of steel #10

Create easy pathways to action, understand what you’re really made of, and know the best time to start.

Greetings to my Enso Clan!

Most of what I’m about to tell you today is about obstacles.
What keeps you from getting started, the uncertainty of outcome, the belief that others are just built different, the timing that’s never right…

I swear I didn’t do it on purpose to prove a point, I simply write about what I’m hearing from you, but do you see what all these obstacles have in common?

They’re all happening inside your head.
95% of our limits are in fact self-limitations.

And I know it’s not enough to read or think about it once to break through them.
It’s a constant process, a philosophy we have to follow to keep coming back to the training room where, brick by brick, we build our future self and get closer to our objective.

This is why repetition is key, not only in your workouts, but in training your mindset too.
And I am here to keep reminding you why and how you can do it.

Read this issue several times if you have to, and go back to it whenever needed.
Because half of your training is psychological, and below is your workout for the week.💪

1. Building discipline is about creating easy pathways to action.

Building discipline is not always about making it hard for ourselves in order to strengthen the mind.

There is definitely a time and place to build mental strength.

But you should also grab any opportunity you have to make it easy to stay consistent.

It’s simple things like cooking healthy food for the whole week.
Carrying a set of resistance bands.
Having a gym at home.
Leaving your phone in a different room at night.
Or blocking time in your schedule to work out.

It’s easier to stay healthy if you eliminate distraction and temptation early on.

Watch for opportunities to remove friction between you and what needs to be done to reach your goals.

Look for the easy way… The easy way to action.

Discipline is built not by making it hard, but by making the process enjoyable and realistic so that you keep the momentum.

2. You’re made of the same warrior clay.

Every fit person was once unfit, or at least untrained.

Everyone is made of the same clay, and we can all sculpt our dream body.

Sure, we don’t all have the same shape, we don’t have the same weight and we don’t all start from the same point.

But ultimately we are made from the same material.

Whoever your role model is, remember they are human like you.
You are them, with a few years of work to do.

It is in you and you already know what you need to do to get there.

So every time you see someone with your dream body, see it as evidence of how you can become.

We see images of very fit people everywhere and it's easy to let them affect us.

But it’s not possible to turn off all media and stop seeing them.

So we must shift our mindset and see them as us, our future selves.

3. The best time to start is now.

You don’t need a perfect plan to move forward.

You don’t need the perfect workout to progress.

You don’t need the perfect circumstances to start.

It’s okay if you don’t have the best equipment, or have no equipment at all.

It doesn’t matter if you don’t have 100% of your nutrition under control.

Nothing around us, or inside us, will ever be perfect.

We have to find purpose in training to become the fittest version of ourselves, even when things aren’t perfect and we know it’s an endless pursuit.

When you decide to embrace this mindset, and choose to act no matter what, you instantly become a fitter person.

Because the real goal is to move, and the real purpose is in the journey.

Our dream physique is merely the direction.

Once you see this, you’ll find peace and happiness in being a work in progress.

Something to remember:

The best time to work out is personal.

If there is a time of the day when you regularly feel like you have the most energy, that should be your target time for training.

On the contrary, if you constantly feel tired at a particular time of the day, you should avoid training at that time.

I know I said working out in the morning to get it out of the way makes it easier to stay consistent.
But if you always have low energy in the morning, this is not the time for you to work out.

Another thing to consider:
If you always train when it’s the hardest, you will develop a negative reflex whenever you think of training.

And this will have the opposite effect of why you chose to train in the morning in the first place.

Building a discipline of steel is not always about forging a strong mind, but also about creating easy pathways to action.