Almost four years ago to the day I finished a course called 30 Days Of Discipline. At the time I used the course to snap me into a process that would lead me into taking up lots of good habits.
If you've read my blog before then you'll know that I am very into finding life hacks that can improve intelligence and focus.
One such life hack is using discipline and difficult tasks to achieve focus.
This works in two ways, firstly it gets your brain used to doing difficult things, while sending a message to your subconscious brain that you don't mind embarking on things that are mentally and/or physically tough.
Secondly, performing difficult tasks gives you a different perspective as to exactly what is hard or not. Thus after 30 days of doing things you would have at first avoided, means you'll be raring to go on other seemingly difficult tasks.
30 Days Reloaded
Lately I have been feeling my discipline slip, perhaps to a casual outside observer this is not so. However the best person to be honest with is yourself, hence I know I could be doing better.
Therefore I am doing 30 Days of Discipline all over again.
What do I hope to get out of it?
A number of things:
- An ironclad routine
Routine when it is forced on you by an outside force like work or parents, sucks. Nobody (or at least very few people) likes to be dictated to and told what to do.
However we use routine to help us achieve the harder tasks in life. If you want to become the best player at Fortnight or Call of Duty, then you can probably dispense with any routine and just play the damn game!
If though you want to succeed in business, or as an artist, or a number of other disciplines, then you need routine. Understanding how to create and stick to a routine is often the difference between successful and unsuccessful people.
- A way to battle distractions
Distractions are all around us everyday and I have spoken at length on their perils and how best to avoid them. One of the unexpected benefits of the 30 Days program is it focuses the mind on a single goal.
This in turn gives you the mentality and the strength to apply that singlemindedness to other areas of your life.
- A healthier body
Even though I go to the gym 3-4 times per week and I train very hard, there is no such thing as too healthy. The 30 Days program requires that I do 100 situps, pressups and squats every day.
On top of the exercise there is to be no grazing (snacking) and no carbs before 6 pm, just protein, eggs, steak, etc.
- A healthier mind
I added meditation to the original program and will carry on with that. In addition to the meditative benefits, there is also the mental pay off for completing something difficult each day.
Day One
Yesterday was the first day, I woke at 5 am (pretty much as usual) and did my 25 minute meditation.
I then did 20 pressups and did 20 crunches, followed by 20 squats.
By the end of my exercise and meditation session I had done 40 press ups, 30 crunches and 20 squats.
By mid afternoon I banged out another 20 pressups to put me on 60 for the day.
I went to the gym later than I usually do, as I wanted to complete my exercises and also another important component of the 30 Days program...
A COLD SHOWER!!
Brrrrr
That shower was tough, all the way through it I was fighting the urge to just pump up the heat and enjoy my damn shower!
However it didn't feel right, what's the point of almost achieving everything in the first day and then shying off with technically the easiest (even though it doesn't feel like that!) bit.
Speaking Of Cold
A long time ago I got into the Wim Hoff method, and even bought the whole program earlier this year. But guess what?
Yup, I allowed distractions to lead me away from it and so haven't gone beyond the first 20 minutes of the program!
So as part of this 30 days I will complete the Wim Hoff method, or at least commit to practising the method for 20 minutes per day. Hopefully this will help with the cold showers!
Diary
I will be back tomorrow to fill in the gaps of the course and to tell you how my second day went.
Right I'm off to bang out another 20 pushups before walking the hound!
Title image: Fervent Jan on Unsplash