in the World of Sports Dreams are born every day aspiring athletes set their sights of greatness envisaging themselves as Champions breaking records and standing on top of podiums yet for countless individuals these dreams remain Out Of Reach the cruel reality is that the absence of self-discipline stands as a formidable barrier blocking your every move and leading to a lifetime of wasted potential it's not just mispractices but missed chances it's not just Indulgence in distractions and avoiding the reality of hard work it's surrendering to mediocrity the cost of your own disciplined choices are unbelievably steep in the unforgiving World of Sports there is no room for the undisciplined and while a lack of discipline is increasingly becoming the norm there is an antidote building self-discipline is the foundation upon which athletic Empires are built so let's build yours self-discipline at its core is the ability to control your thoughts emotions and behaviors in the pursuit of long-term goals it involves delayed gratification where you resist the temptation of immediate rewards for the sake of achieving something greater in future it's about staying focused and remaining consistent even when faced with distractions or setbacks and it demands strong willpower to withstand the many challenges that life throws our way but here's the sad truth self-discipline in today's world is under siege like never before endless distractions Monday conveniences and the constant consumption of pointless content have made building self-discipline an uphill battle in the era of smartphones social media instant gratification athletes face an unprecedented challenge the Relentless distractions you face threaten to steal your time focus and dedication the things that are essential for reaching the Pinnacle of your sport instead many athletes are now building the habits of laziness an inability to concentrate on their training and a reduced desire to push themselves through the pain that previous greats did to become world-class but all hope is not lost in the face of these challenges athletes who recognize the importance of self-discipline and take active steps to actually build it can rise above the distractions that kill athletic potential so now we know what self-discipline is and what are the month threats to it the next crucial phase for any athlete is to determine their discipline style this is an idea I came across in Peter Holland's book The Power self-discipline and he argues that in using self-awareness you have to decide what kind of discipline style that you'll want to show in your day-to-day life and there are two options abstinence and moderation so abstinence is all about abstaining completely from anything that hinders your progress there are no exceptions and no excuses so to stop wasting time on social media you may just delete the apps from your phone or you make sure you wake up every day at 4 30 a.m to get work out in like the ex-navy seal Jocko willinik and then when it comes to moderation this style is for those who can accept a certain amount of deviation as long as they still meet their goals and their deadlines so you may not delete social media from your phone but you might set up timers on how much you can use it each day and that you're actually able to stick to that or you might make sure that you get your workout in every day but sometimes you might do it first thing in the morning and other days you do it in the afternoon you're not as rigid but you still get done what you need to get done and I wouldn't say that either of these Styles is better than the other it just depends on you as an individual so for me I tend to lean towards abstinence for example some people like to treat themselves to a couple of squares of chocolate after a hard workout but I'm someone who would just demolish the entire bar if it's there so for me it's actually easier to abstain by not even buying chocolate in the first place same with having a drink on the weekend so if I've got four pack of beer in the fridge chances are that I'll drink all four so I either just don't have it at all or if I do drink I'm a lot more intentional and we'll just buy like one beer from the shop so that that's all I can have and then when it comes to working out I have to get my run in first thing in the morning and then my gym sessions in around two or three PM so if I miss these windows I find it almost impossible to do either forms of these exercises otherwise that's just how I'm wired and some of you may be thinking well aren't all the absolute greats in sports abstainers that they deny themselves anything bad well not necessarily LeBron James confesses to having a glass of wine every night and Jack grealish has a whopping five dish Chinese Takeaway after every match whether you're an abstainer or a moderator you can still achieve whatever you want to achieve you just have to pick the approach that best fits your personality so you've now actually got to do the hard work and stick to it so let's chat through four simple strategies that can help build and sustain discipline which will enable you to conquer the demanding Journey towards your athletic goals firstly do it as early as possible so there's a good chance you're an athlete with a challenging workout head maybe it's today or even tomorrow and by tackling it early in the day you save yourself discipline for what really matters most your workout studies show that your willpower which is what fuels your self-discipline often acts like a battery so it's full at the start of the day and as the day goes on it slowly drains because of all the decisions that you have to take the tasks you engage with and just all the mental and physical energy that you observe that's why it's so easy to sack off your workout when it's late afternoon or early evening the entire day you faced all these little things like work projects school work or other responsibilities that just nip away your willpower meaning that it becomes much more of an effort to actually do those hard things now of course none of us are completely in control of our schedules I get that but it may mean that you might have to start waking up earlier to get that gym session in before class or work instead of doing it after even though I have control over my schedule because I work for myself I choose to wake up at 6 30 am and head out to run by around 7am because when I get back it's still early in the morning and I can still crack on with all the work things I have to do and I know that once I get sucked into work it's very difficult for me to get out of that headspace and then going for a run becomes one much more difficult to go and do and two even if I do go out I'm just not there mentally and then the run that I do just ends up sucking secondly remember small steps not giant leaps commitment to your athletic goals and related behaviors is much more likely when broken down into smaller steps and actions in Psychology we call this the chunking principle where complex tasks are divided into simpler more digestible Parts smaller goals help athletes maintain laser-like focus on what she needs to be done today while still moving towards something that may still be years away for instance a weightlifter targeting an Olympic gold might start by setting a goal to increase their Mass maximum lift by a certain percentage they don't try to lift the gold winning amount of weight when they're still two years away from the Olympics and if they were to do that then they quickly lose motivation because they get consumed with how far away their dream actually is so instead this daily focus on incremental progress can lead to significant long-term gains and because you're seeing regular progress You're motivated to stick something out rather than just give up and another reason small goals are super helpful is because they keep you grounded rather than having your head in the clouds so you see a lot of athletes in say a sport like football who get to a point where they sign for an Academy and in their mind all they can think about now is going pro because they've signed for a Pro Club as a junior the problem is when just thinking about that they then let their game slip in the Here and Now spending too much time thinking about future end outcomes can trick you into thinking it will automatically happen and that can breed a lack of discipline and it's why so many kids who get into academies don't actually last beyond their initial one or two year contract and the third thing that helps with doing hard things is changing your language most athletes love to complain even though that they've got the opportunity to practice and play in something they enjoy there's often a lot of negative language that surrounds putting in the work that's necessary to reach the top most fall into the Trap of constantly saying things to themselves like I have to go to training or coaches make me run and the problem with this type of language is that it compels the desire to not want to do the hard thing it adds an extra layer of resistance meaning that you'll be less likely to not do the hard thing at all or if you do do it with the level of intensity that's necessary but we have to reprogram this dialogue so that we Prime our mind and body to be able to tackle the toughest things with more energy and more enthusiasm simple changes in phrasing too I get to go to training or coaches help me get fitter instantly help you shift your perspective and pull you into the hard thing more instead of pushing you away from it language shifts also help you tap into intrinsic motivation and this type of motivation stems from personal interest and enjoyment making athletes more likely to engage fully with their training and studies repeatedly show that is driven by this perspective often perform better and are more committed to their goals it's this attitude that allowed Michael Phelps the most decorated Olympian of all time to not miss a single practice for six years between the ages of 12 and 18. 365 days a year he would go to the pool even on the days that he didn't want to because he reframed how he labeled his training from something he had to do to something he wanted to do so that he could give himself the best chance of becoming an Olympian and then fourthly what the most disciplined athletes also do is become accountable to others as I just mentioned Michael Phelps didn't miss a practice for six years and a lot of that was down to himself showing up every day but it was also because of his coach Bob Bauman who designed the workload to help him become a champion even most disciplined people have days where they feel like they don't want to go to training or practice and it's on those days they tap into the fact that someone else is watching them or expecting them to turn up as a kid Michael Phelps wouldn't dare find out what the consequences would be if he left his coach hanging at the pool on his own at six in the morning unless you're a completely selfish person you don't want to let others down particularly those who have invested time effort and even money into your progress and development so having a coach Mentor or even a training buddy is absolutely crucial to ensure that you don't break your discipline during those times where it's hanging by a thread now despite the fact that we've discussed the key strategies that will help you do the hard things I also want to give you a bit of a warning because there is something that really cripples your progress as an athlete without you actually realizing and over time if left unchecked causes your self-discipline to die and this thing is what I call avoidance activities these are basically things that you do that make you feel as if you're being productive and making progress towards your goals but they're actually just a distraction from the hard work that you should be doing so these are things like spending too much time watching skill videos and tutorials on YouTube or actually spending too much time in the gym as opposed to working on your in-game skills or spending too long on a morning routine of journaling affirmations or cold plunge and some breath work before actually getting out there and getting the hard work done these are typically things that yes in certain amounts can be beneficial the way I like to think about these are like food supplements right so you can take them as a supplement to an already healthy and balanced diet you wouldn't only live off 15 different tablets a day and meal replacement shakes and expect to be in Optimal Health you still need to eat proper nutrient-dense food and the same goes for all these avoidance activities you wouldn't watch three hours of Skill Drills on YouTube spend an hour filling out a really cool pretty color coordinated workout plan and then spend an hour writing out all your goals in detail and then expect to just get better you'd actually have to do the hard training sessions and practice first those are the nutrient dense food all those other things are supplements that yes help contribute and can lead you to take things to the next level but if you don't do the core thing of the actual hard workouts which is the hardest thing that you can do you won't make progress and if you don't make progress you become frustrated and slowly your self-discipline just Fades away so moving forward as a final important step in continually building your self-discipline you have to regularly hold up the mirror to yourself because after all it is self-discipline so you have to really face up to the reality of how disciplined you really are on a daily basis the best way to do this is through self-interrogation through simple yes or no questions two of my favorites are will this course of action move me towards my ideal self so when thinking about sacking off a workout or training session hold up the mirror and ask yourself this when the answer is no you should feel a sense of Shame and embarrassment because that feeling is enough to cause you to actually think twice and actually do what you need to do even if you don't feel like it the next one to ask is am I doing the right thing or the easy thing so this one is particularly key in relation to those avoidance activities that we just mentioned and sometimes the answer is yes because you need to watch a tutorial or plan out your sessions for the week but other times the answer will be no and you'll know you're just doing these things as a distraction to avoid doing the difficult thing and there's tons of other questions you can ask yourself that have the same effect these are listed in Peter Hollens book which is list in description so check that out for a far more detailed account of self-discipline in general and look you might still have some lingering doubts thinking that you're not mentally tough enough to be as disciplined as you'd like to be but if you watch this next video then you'll learn that becoming mentally tougher is actually easier than you think