Discipline Will Set You Free
For years, I avoided discipline like it was going to ruin my life.
Turns out, the lack of it nearly did.
Discipline sounds restrictive. Boring. Like you're locking yourself in a cage and throwing away the key. Most people hear the word and immediately think of early mornings, cold showers, and giving up everything they enjoy.
But here's what I learned after years of getting it wrong: discipline doesn't trap you. It sets you free.
I spent years thinking freedom meant doing whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted. No rules, no structure, just going with the flow. Sounds brilliant, doesn't it? Wake up when you feel like it. Work when inspiration strikes. Live life on your terms.
Except it wasn't freedom. It was chaos.
I was constantly stressed. Always behind. Forever playing catch-up with work, health, relationships, everything. The weight of broken promises piled up until I could barely move. I'd tell myself I'd sort it tomorrow, next week, next month. But tomorrow never came.
That's not living. That's drowning.
The Turning Point
Real freedom came when I started doing the things I said I'd do, even when I didn't feel like it. When I started keeping promises to myself, especially the small ones.
I became disciplined in 2014 when I quit drinking. Before then, I was a mess. Unfit, stressed, and going nowhere fast. I had all the freedom in the world to do what I wanted, but I was trapped by my own lack of discipline.
Quitting drinking wasn't just about giving up alcohol. It was about proving to myself that I could actually do what I said I'd do. That my word meant something, even to myself.
And once I proved I could do that, everything else started to change.
Creating Space
When I got disciplined about the basics, I created space. Mental space. Emotional space. Actual time in my day.
I stopped lying awake at three in the morning thinking about everything I was avoiding and the problems I had. I wasn't spending energy wrestling with guilt about what I didn't do. I wasn't firefighting problems that could have been prevented if I'd just done what I said I'd do three weeks ago.
I started working out three days a week, running three days, and doing a long hill walk once a week. It was sustainable, and soon I didn't stress about my health. My body worked better. My mind was clearer. I had energy I hadn't felt in years.
I did what I said I'd do at work and made sure everything was complete every Friday. No more stress. No more Sunday night dread about the week ahead. No more feeling like I was constantly behind.
Small acts of discipline compound into big chunks of freedom.
The bloke who works out consistently doesn't have to stress about his health. The business owner who sorts her accounts every Friday doesn't panic when tax time rolls around. The person who answers emails promptly doesn't have a backlog of dread sitting in their inbox.
That's the freedom discipline gives you. Freedom from the stress of your own chaos. Freedom from the burnout that comes from constantly letting yourself down.
The Other Side of the Coin
And here's the thing nobody talks about: the opposite is true as well.
Small acts of indiscipline compound into massive amounts of stress.
Skip the workout once, no problem. Skip it three times, and suddenly you've not done it in a month. Ignore one email, fine. Ignore ten, and now you're avoiding your inbox entirely. Put off one difficult conversation, manageable. Put off five, and now your relationships are suffering.
Before you know it, you're drowning in your own lack of discipline, wondering why everything feels so hard. Why you're constantly stressed. Why burnout is knocking at your door.
And the answer is usually staring you in the face: you've been breaking promises to yourself for so long that you don't even notice anymore.
What Needs Fixing
So if life feels overwhelming right now, if you're constantly stressed, if burnout is closer than you'd like to admit, you already know what needs fixing.
You know the thing you could be more disciplined about. The thing that, if you sorted it, would make you feel better. The thing you keep putting off, keep making excuses about, keep telling yourself you'll start on Monday.
Maybe it's your health. Maybe it's your finances. Maybe it's that project you keep avoiding. Maybe it's the difficult conversation you need to have.
You know what it is.
Here's a Challenge
Pick that thing. Just one. Not ten things. Not a complete life overhaul. Just one thing.
Commit to it. Not perfectly. Not obsessively. Just consistently.
Do it even when you don't feel like it. Especially when you don't feel like it. Because that's when it matters most.
Keep that promise to yourself. Prove to yourself that your word means something. Build that foundation of discipline, and watch how much freedom it creates in just 7 days.
I'm not saying it's easy. But I am saying it's worth it.
Because the second you start keeping promises to yourself, everything changes. The chaos starts to settle. The stress starts to lift. The burnout starts to back off.
And you realise that discipline didn't lock you in a cage. It gave you the key to get out of one.
Listen to the Podcast Episode
I dive much deeper into this on this week's podcast episode, "There Is No Tomorrow: How Discipline Sets You Free." I talk about the floor and ceiling framework for sustainable discipline, why stress comes from what you avoid rather than what you do, and the 7-day challenge that can prove you can keep a promise to yourself.
You can listen to the episode here:-
Take Care
GB