Discipline is simple, just doing less

Discipline is simple, just doing less. What does this mean? It means focusing on one task, creating a distraction-free environment, which isn't possible for many of us. Life distracts us, our partners, or our kids. So how does one set up a working environment that is distraction-free?

First, eliminate all the distractions you can control: your phone, apps open on your laptop, the TV. Think about timing. Is it better for you to work at 5 am in the morning when no one is up, so you can get the work done while the kids are still asleep? Or does it work better for you to get your work done late in the evening when everyone has already gone to bed? Or again, maybe finding a distractionless environment like a public library, or you might thrive in a cafe with noise.

Second, make it a routine, a habit to do this every day. Like clockwork, you get up, forget everything else that needs doing, and just focus on your work, void of distractions. Allocate enough time to get it done in your short window frame of time, 1 hour or 2 hours.

For me, I get up at 5 am and work out. When I'm not working out or reading, I'm writing. I'm writing this at 5:58 am right now on a Sunday morning. This is my window of time where I can write without distractions, without noise or someone interrupting my flow state. It's how I get my work done. No footsteps, no socialising, no TV, food, or even something to drink. All I have with me is my laptop and this text document because that is all I need to get my work done.

Find out what you need, want to get you into the flow state. You might need a morning coffee or an evening herbal tea. You might need the fresh morning air. Whatever you need to get into that flow state, find it. It's amazing what you can accomplish when you have no distractions, a set allocated time, and a daily habit.

Discipline is simply doing less, fewer distractions. Discipline is boring to watch, like a basketball player throwing 1,000 hop shots every day. Every morning, without the eyes of a crowd. Boring is writing by yourself in the early hours of the morning every day. Boring is going for that 1-hour run, mixing your paints, opening that book. It's boring to someone else; it's boring for someone else to watch. That's why when we do it in the presence of people we know, they can't help but interrupt us. It's necessary for us, though; we must do it.

This is why discipline is simple: just doing less. Discipline is distractionless.