Well, guess what?

I hit the gym yesterday and gave it my all, so I think I can take a break today, right? I’ll wait until I feel better tomorrow and then I’ll get back into it.

But wait, why am I waiting to feel better?

Is something wrong with me? Am I caught up in some kind of war or feeling too broken-hearted and homeless to even feel anything? What feeling am I waiting for?

These were the thoughts that kept coming up whenever I thought about going to the gym. After going back and forth in my mind for a few days, I finally decided to give up and stop nagging myself about it.

So, I ended up quitting the gym altogether.

Days turned into weeks, and weeks turned into years. Every new year, I would make resolutions and set goals, but in the end, nothing really changed, at least not in the way I had hoped.

I was constantly jumping from one thing to another, never really sticking with anything for too long. I would be into sports for three months, then switch to reading books for a month, and eventually get bored and move on to online learning.

That was my routine for many years.

I always knew what I needed to do to achieve my goals or simply become a better person on a daily basis, but the problem wasn’t knowing what to do. It was knowing how to stay consistent and actually do it.

The word “motivation” kept popping into my head. Maybe I just didn’t have enough of it. Or maybe there was something wrong with the chemicals in my brain. Actually, maybe it was hormones.

No, wait, perhaps I was dealing with depression.

Consistency was something I lacked. I used to think that consistency was something you either had or didn’t have, something that was out of my control. But I learned that consistency is actually a learned behavior and it doesn’t necessarily have to do with chemical imbalances in the brain.

It always amazed me how my mind could come up with a thousand rational explanations for my laziness. It’s incredible how our minds can be so good at making excuses. But is my mind really my friend or my enemy?

After years of procrastination and struggling with consistency, I finally realized that life is all about setting yourself up for success. Success is all about planning and then actually following through with that plan.

Emotions are powerful forces

They can create all sorts of feelings and those feelings can easily throw us off track. As human beings, we are often too weak to resist the influence of our emotions. They get in the way of our logical thinking and disrupt our progress.

Maybe you had a rough day or got into an argument with your spouse. Maybe a memory from the past resurfaced and changed your mood. Life happens, and we are all human beings filled with emotions.

Unfortunately, the world is not always a nice, peaceful paradise with flowers and angels floating around. It can be a tough and challenging place, much like a jungle. In order to achieve our goals and stand out from the crowd, we need to think logically, be disciplined, and set our emotions aside.

I learned the hard way that, no matter how I feel or what happens in my life, I need to have a plan and stick to it. I tricked my mind into believing that accomplishing things and staying committed to my plan would bring me pleasure and motivation.

my satisfaction comes from my discipline

Once I understood this important principle, I no longer felt down, lazy, or full of excuses. I also realized that success is not some grand achievement that happens overnight. It’s actually a collection of small victories that we achieve every day.

I define mental strength as the ability to remain positive in any situation, put aside our emotions, stay disciplined, and get things done.

Discipline is what carries us through each day, hour, and minute as we work towards our goals, while motivation is what gets us started.