The discipline is already bleeding over

I think the most interesting thing to me about forging mental toughness is that the entire concept is a catch-22. In order for me to consistently get out of bed at 4 in the morning and make myself go do the difficult thing I need at least a measure of discipline that many people do not possess. And, to develop a level of discipline that most people do not possess, I need to consistently get out of bed at 4 am and go do the difficult thing. That discipline seems to already be permeating other parts of my life.

I mentioned on my About Me page that on January 29, 2023, I had a Harajuku Moment. What I did not mention was that in a burst of energy and inspiration, I cleaned my office from top to bottom. While there is nothing unique about that specific action (I’ve cleaned my office countless times in the past) what made this time different is that a month later, my office is still clean!

That day I decided to adopt a “Put it Back” policy. It’s really quite simple. If I use something I put it back where it goes. There’s a place for everything, and everything goes back to its place. It takes exactly zero more energy to put a thing back than it took to pick it up from where I got it in the first place. That doesn’t even count as doing the difficult thing.

In the past, I’ve gotten the bug to clean up my workspace but it invariably looks like a bomb hit it a mere two to three days later. Since starting my journey to forge mental toughness I’ve been able to keep my office not just tidy, but as clean as it was after that initial burst of inspiration.

Score one for the pursuit of life-changing levels of discipline.