After each failure (or setback, if you want to be optimistic) in my struggle to lose weight, I find myself saying "I need discipline" or "I just don't have the discipline to stop (insert destructive eating behaviour here)". It's almost become an excuse to fail. Sure, stuff your face with a pizza, you don't have the discipline to stick to a healthy eating plan anyway. Go ahead and drop out of the 100-Pushups plan, you never had the discipline to stick with it in the first place.
While I still think this is true to a degree, I found a very interesting quote by reddit user TheLushCompanion that made me rethink the subject of discipline:
The obvious answer is accountability; if I don't go to work and perform as I am required to do, I will be held accountable by my manager. I am only accountable to myself for my health and weight loss, and I simply don't have enough care for my body to hold myself accountable (problem #1). However, I also have an intense amount of integrity when it comes to things I've committed to. I am a perfectionist, and I expect no less than perfection in all of the things that I do - whether I like them or not. So yes, I hate my job, but I also must do it to the best of my ability otherwise I will be disappointed in myself.
The TL;DR version is this: I have demonstrated that I do in fact have the discipline required to stick to a healthy eating plan and to take better care of myself, I simply have not yet applied that discipline. Taking care of myself needs to become something that I have to do, regardless of how I feel that day. After all, this is the only body I'll ever have. If I don't take care of it, I'll lose the use of it.
Now I just need to apply that discipline...
While I still think this is true to a degree, I found a very interesting quote by reddit user TheLushCompanion that made me rethink the subject of discipline:
"Now, the good news is, unless you are a total fuck up who can't pass a class, keep a job, or be depended on in any way, YOU ALREADY HAVE THE DISCIPLINE TO DO THIS. You just haven't applied it to this project yet."Her comment probably gave me the most pause I've ever had on reddit - it's ridiculous how true it is. Let's look at my job as a prime example. I absolutely loathe my job. If it suddenly ceased to exist, I'd be nothing short of jubilant. That being said, I still go in every day, work through breaks and even take work home with me (much to my fiancé's dismay). I absolutely cannot stand this job, yet I still put 110% of myself into it. It's a responsibility, something I have to do whether I feel like it that day or not. So why isn't taking care of myself another one of those responsibilities?
The obvious answer is accountability; if I don't go to work and perform as I am required to do, I will be held accountable by my manager. I am only accountable to myself for my health and weight loss, and I simply don't have enough care for my body to hold myself accountable (problem #1). However, I also have an intense amount of integrity when it comes to things I've committed to. I am a perfectionist, and I expect no less than perfection in all of the things that I do - whether I like them or not. So yes, I hate my job, but I also must do it to the best of my ability otherwise I will be disappointed in myself.
The TL;DR version is this: I have demonstrated that I do in fact have the discipline required to stick to a healthy eating plan and to take better care of myself, I simply have not yet applied that discipline. Taking care of myself needs to become something that I have to do, regardless of how I feel that day. After all, this is the only body I'll ever have. If I don't take care of it, I'll lose the use of it.
Now I just need to apply that discipline...
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