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Discipline of steel #7

How buying new toys can help you, what being your own boss really means, and why work makes life easy. Plus exciting prizes to win!

Happy New Year!

I wish you a fit and successful year in all your endeavors, and hopefully you did not wait today (or tomorrow) to start working on your new resolutions.

If there is one thing you can wish me for this year (thanks for asking), it’s that you find enough drive and motivation from this newsletter to reach many of your goals by the end of the year.

Why drive and motivation and not workout or nutrition tips? Because believe me, you don’t need more of that.

The main reason people get a coach is not to get a workout plan they could find for free on Google (or my app). What they need is support. They need to be reminded why they started, why it’s important, and they need someone to push them to act, constantly.

This is something I’ve learnt to do alone, and that’s why I know you can learn it too.

I’m confident that if you keep reading this newsletter, over the weeks you will build stronger discipline, body, and mind.

So let’s start now, enjoy this day off, and hopefully you’ll apply at least one of these tips this week.

PS: make sure you scroll all the way down after reading, and find out how you can earn great prizes!

1. A secret to stay engaged when your motivation’s down.

I’ve been working out for as long as I can remember.

Naturally, I’ve had my fair share of ups and downs and motivation drops, and I still do.

And I have a secret tip that always got me back to the training room when I didn’t feel like it.

It’s buying new equipment.

Preferably small, and preferably something that switches up my training routine.

Here’s a few personal examples:

• Shiny running shoes are solely responsible for me running my first 5K.
• I bought a kettlebell and gave myself a KB swing challenge. It was fun and had a lot of carryover to my calisthenics training.
• A mobility stick finally kept me consistent with my stretching (for a while).
• Many years ago, it’s a simple pair of gymnastics rings that made me fall in love with gymnastics strength training, and changed the way I train forever.

The truth is we’re still big kids at heart.
And we still get excited by new toys.

So if you find yourself dragging your feet to the gym lately, just treat yourself to some new gear.

It might give you just the nudge you need.

2.  Be your own boss.

To build a workout discipline of steel, you need to learn to be your own boss.

If you are in business, you understand being your own boss is not about doing whatever you like, whenever you want.

It’s about planning, designing strategies, and most importantly executing.

You must get up in the morning and stick to the plan.

You learn to turn off that voice that tells you to go back to sleep, and listen to the orders of the earlier you.

This earlier you who made a plan, that is your boss, and you listen to him or her.

This is how you should approach your fitness journey.

Stop acting like you have a choice.

Follow the program and keep the promises you made to yourself.

Be your own boss.

3. This is how work makes life easy.

It took me years to understand but work actually makes life easier.

Work in the broad sense of the word.

When you do what must be done, a lot of problems disappear and everything falls into place.

The same goes for fitness. Everything becomes easier and better when you work out.

There will always be problems and physical challenges, that will never end.

It’s the nature of life and work makes us ready.

Now I know why my father used to wake me up and force me to get up early even on summer vacation, just so I would do something, whatever that may be.

I understand and I’ll do the same with my children.
Work is actually the best way to get an easy life.

It’s not about being busy, grinding, and working out every day.
It’s about doing what needs to be done. And rest days are part of that too.

You (hopefully) do your job and take rest days in your professional life, make sure you do the same with your fitness.

Work out and you’ll wake up fresh, feel good, have more energy, and be happy.

Work is the easy way.

Something to remember:

We never skip just one workout, we skip 10.

It’s never “just this time”, let’s not fool ourselves.

When you choose the easy way once, you open the door to many other skipped sessions.

Discipline is about tricking the mind into a habit.

The problem is that it takes much more to build a habit than it does to destroy it.

That’s why when you miss one workout, you actually skip 10 at once.

Think about this the next time you feel like not doing your job.

10 workouts make a noticeable difference.

So yes, skipping one workout does change everything.

And the next time you hear the opposite, whether it’s from someone around you or from the little voice inside, do not listen and show up.