00:00:00- Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to the channel.
00:00:01This is "Discipline Equals Freedom,"
00:00:03the ultimate guide to discipline
00:00:04by the one and only Jocko Willink,
00:00:06who is a former Navy Seal.
00:00:07And we are gonna be talking about it
00:00:09in this episode of "Book Club," the ongoing series,
00:00:11where for the last five years,
00:00:12I've been talking about some of my favorite books.
00:00:14And so in this video, I'm gonna share the five or six quotes
00:00:16from the book that have most resonated with me
00:00:18and share my own thoughts of them
00:00:19in the hope that you will find them helpful as well.
00:00:22So firstly, we are gonna talk about the way of discipline.
00:00:24And here is what Jocko writes in the book.
00:00:26"There must be discipline.
00:00:28Discipline, the root of all good qualities,
00:00:30the driver of daily execution,
00:00:32the core principle that overcomes laziness
00:00:34and lethargy and excuses.
00:00:36Discipline defeats the infinite excuses that say,
00:00:38not today, not now, I need a rest, I will do it tomorrow.
00:00:41What's the hack?
00:00:42How do you become stronger, smarter, faster, healthier?
00:00:45How do you become better?
00:00:46How do you achieve true freedom?
00:00:47There is only one way, the way of discipline."
00:00:50Oh, oh, so good, fantastic stuff.
00:00:54And then he talks a little bit
00:00:55about more stuff about discipline.
00:00:56And I really liked this on page number seven.
00:00:58Where does discipline come from?
00:01:00Where does discipline come from?
00:01:01This is a simple answer.
00:01:02Discipline comes from within.
00:01:03Discipline is an internal force.
00:01:05Self-discipline comes when you decide
00:01:06to make a mark on the world.
00:01:08If you don't think you are disciplined,
00:01:09it is because you haven't decided to be disciplined yet.
00:01:12It is because you haven't created it yet.
00:01:14You haven't become it yet.
00:01:15So where does it come from?
00:01:16It comes from you.
00:01:17So make the decision, make the commitment,
00:01:19become the discipline.
00:01:20Embrace its cold and relentless power
00:01:23and it will make you better and stronger and smarter
00:01:25and faster and healthier than anything else.
00:01:26And most important, it will make you free.
00:01:28People ask me, how do I get tougher?
00:01:32Be tougher.
00:01:33How can I wake up early in the morning?
00:01:34Wake up early.
00:01:35How can I work out consistently every day?
00:01:37Work out consistently every day.
00:01:38How can I stop eating sugar?
00:01:40Just stop eating sugar.
00:01:41You can even control your emotions.
00:01:42How can I stop missing that girl or guy
00:01:44or whoever broke up with me?
00:01:45Stop missing them.
00:01:46You have control over your mind.
00:01:48You just have to assert it.
00:01:49You have to decide that you are going to be in control,
00:01:52that you are going to do what you want to do.
00:01:54Now, I think this is quite a helpful way of viewing stuff.
00:01:57Like I get the reason people want like prescriptions
00:01:59and like a more detailed how-to guide.
00:02:01For example, how can I wake up early in the morning?
00:02:03Like what he's saying here is,
00:02:04well, just choose to wake up early, right?
00:02:05Like it's not that hard.
00:02:06At the same time, there are like helpful tactics
00:02:09that you could follow if you wanted to
00:02:11around making sure you don't take your phone to bed with you
00:02:13and making sure you have an alarm set
00:02:15for first thing in the morning,
00:02:16but you have like an analogue alarm clock.
00:02:17And for example, when you hear your alarm,
00:02:18you simply decide to wake up rather than snooze the alarm.
00:02:21You find an alarm clock that doesn't have a snooze button.
00:02:23Like there's a bunch of different tactics that you can do
00:02:26to increase the odds that when it hits five in the morning
00:02:30or six in the morning, or whenever you want to wake up early,
00:02:32those environmental things that you put in place,
00:02:35those are sort of nudging you in the direction
00:02:37of not needing the discipline
00:02:38of just sort of doing the thing kind of by default.
00:02:41But at the same time, fundamentally,
00:02:42I think Jocko has a point.
00:02:43Like how do you wake up early in the morning?
00:02:45You wake up early, right?
00:02:46Like there's something that's just quite nice and simple
00:02:49about that approach to things.
00:02:51We have a bunch of students in my lifestyle business academy,
00:02:54which is like this online business school
00:02:55where we're helping people build businesses.
00:02:57And, you know, they'll say things like,
00:02:58"Oh, how do I get over the fear of posting on LinkedIn?
00:03:01How do I get over the fear of selling?"
00:03:03And there's all sorts of strategies we can give them.
00:03:05We can say that like, "Hey, look, you just got to recognize
00:03:06that, you know, the colleagues that you had 20 years ago,
00:03:09they won't actually care.
00:03:10Like maybe they'll talk about you behind your back,
00:03:11but that's okay.
00:03:12Like, you know, you're the one going after it.
00:03:13You're the one going for the freedom.
00:03:14Like they're still gonna be stuck in jobs that they hate,
00:03:16et cetera, et cetera.
00:03:17But fundamentally what it comes down to,
00:03:20how do you get over the fear of posting on LinkedIn?
00:03:21You just post on LinkedIn
00:03:23and then eventually the fear goes away.
00:03:24There is a tendency in this world of self-help
00:03:27in the world of like intellectualization,
00:03:29people who are very smart and very good looking like you.
00:03:31You probably have a tendency to over-intellectualize
00:03:34the strategy and the plan and the tactics
00:03:37for every little thing that you find difficult.
00:03:39And while like, you know,
00:03:41this is just one way to approach life,
00:03:42discipline equals freedom.
00:03:43I think it just is really helpful
00:03:45to get this almost like counter narrative
00:03:47to stop being like thinking about it,
00:03:49stop trying to make some long elaborate plan,
00:03:51just like freaking do the thing.
00:03:53It's not that hard.
00:03:54And I personally, for me,
00:03:55since I read this a few months ago,
00:03:56I found that to be a very, you know,
00:03:58a helpful guiding light when I find myself
00:04:01over-intellectualizing the how of something
00:04:04where really it's just a case of
00:04:05how do I get to the gym more consistently?
00:04:07Well, I go to the gym more consistently.
00:04:09It's not that hard.
00:04:10Now, once you start taking action
00:04:12and maybe even making some extra income as a result,
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00:05:21And now let's get back to it.
00:05:23Now, speaking of doing stuff consistently,
00:05:25what if you're just not feeling it?
00:05:27And that takes us to page 49,
00:05:29where I highlighted a lot of stuff.
00:05:31So let's go.
00:05:32How do I handle those days when I'm just not feeling it?
00:05:34Those days when I'm tired or worn out
00:05:36or just sick of the grind.
00:05:37What do I do on those days?
00:05:38I go anyway, I get it done.
00:05:40Even if I'm just going through the motions,
00:05:42I go through the motions.
00:05:44Don't really wanna work out?
00:05:45I work out.
00:05:46Don't really wanna hammer on a project?
00:05:47I hammer on the project.
00:05:48Don't really wanna get up and get out of bed?
00:05:50I get up and get out of bed.
00:05:52Now, these could be signals that you need some time off
00:05:54and those signals might be right.
00:05:55But don't take today off, wait until tomorrow.
00:05:59Don't give into the immediate gratification
00:06:01that is whispering in your ear.
00:06:02Shut that down, do not listen.
00:06:04Instead, go through the motions, lift the weights,
00:06:06sprint the hill, work on the project, get out of bed.
00:06:09I don't like procrastination,
00:06:11but if you feel like you need a break,
00:06:12that is one thing you should procrastinate.
00:06:13Taking a break is the one thing I put off until tomorrow.
00:06:16And if when tomorrow comes,
00:06:17you still feel like you need a rest or you need a break,
00:06:19then go ahead, take it.
00:06:20Chances are you won't, you won't need that rest.
00:06:23Chances are you will realize
00:06:24that the desire to rest was just weakness.
00:06:25It was the desire to take the path of least resistance,
00:06:28the downhill path, the downward path.
00:06:30And by going through the motions,
00:06:31you overcame that weakness.
00:06:32And you stayed on the righteous path, the discipline path.
00:06:34You stayed on the war path, right where you know you belong.
00:06:37I think this is really good.
00:06:38There's like two things
00:06:39that I personally really take away from this.
00:06:40The first one is the idea of just going through the motions.
00:06:43There are plenty of days where I don't feel like sitting down
00:06:45and working on my business, but I go through the motions.
00:06:48I get started.
00:06:49I like get my desk in order.
00:06:50I get my cup of coffee.
00:06:51I do the thing.
00:06:52I figure out what I'm gonna work on and I start working on it.
00:06:54And usually in the process of going through the motions,
00:06:57I start to feel like doing the thing.
00:06:59It's very hard to feel like it all the time
00:07:00at the start of the process.
00:07:02This is something I talk about a lot about in my own book,
00:07:04Feel Good Productivity, which is that like,
00:07:06mostly we can enjoy the process of doing our work
00:07:08or doing the thing like once we've gotten started.
00:07:10But before getting started, there is this hump,
00:07:13the hump of procrastination, the hump where it's like,
00:07:15the thing is difficult and you don't wanna do it.
00:07:17And even if you know it might be fun further down the line,
00:07:19like there's just that hump.
00:07:20And so what I like about this is the idea
00:07:22of going through the motions.
00:07:24There are plenty of days where I don't feel like
00:07:25filming a YouTube video, but I go through the motions.
00:07:27I set up the camera, I set up the light, I hit record,
00:07:29I like whatever the thing might be.
00:07:31I hit record, I start talking.
00:07:32And usually about 10, 15 minutes into the recording,
00:07:35I've now started to feel like making that video.
00:07:38But if I waited until I felt like it every single time,
00:07:41I'd have made maybe four videos on this channel,
00:07:43rather than like 400 videos on the channel
00:07:46or like a thousand plus videos on the channel
00:07:47that we've done over the last eight years.
00:07:48And staying consistent with this YouTube channel
00:07:50has been one of the best things I've ever done in my life
00:07:53and has literally unlocked a life of financial freedom,
00:07:55time freedom and creative freedom
00:07:56where I can literally do whatever I want.
00:07:57And that would not have happened
00:07:58if I hadn't been consistent with the thing,
00:08:01even on the days where I didn't feel like doing the thing.
00:08:04So I love this idea of just go through the motions.
00:08:06The other thing I really like is this idea of,
00:08:08yes, there are times where you need a break,
00:08:10but you can probably wait until tomorrow.
00:08:12I think that is like really, really, really good
00:08:14because this thing around, hey, I might be burned out,
00:08:16I might need a break,
00:08:17is a very easy narrative to go with
00:08:21because it's like healthy, right?
00:08:22People talk about the power of rest
00:08:23and the importance of like, you know, not burning out.
00:08:25But the problem with the, hey, I need a rest
00:08:28'cause I might burn out,
00:08:29is that it's very, very easy for that
00:08:30to just become an easy button to press
00:08:32every time you don't feel like doing the work.
00:08:34Every time you just need a little push
00:08:36to get over that hump of procrastination,
00:08:38but you tell yourself,
00:08:38oh, I need to rest because I'm burned out.
00:08:40What I love about this is that he's saying that's okay.
00:08:43He's not saying don't ever take a rest.
00:08:44He's saying wait until tomorrow.
00:08:46You can procrastinate the rest until tomorrow.
00:08:48You're not gonna become crippled with burnout
00:08:50by working on doing the thing for just one more day.
00:08:52So do it for just one more day.
00:08:54Now in my case, when I've applied this particular advice,
00:08:57maybe half of the time,
00:08:58the second day I've also felt like I wanna take a rest
00:09:02and then I'm like, all right, cool, that's fine.
00:09:03I'm gonna take a rest on the second day
00:09:04because like, you know,
00:09:06feeling like you need a rest for two days in a row,
00:09:08that to me is like kind of an honest signal
00:09:10that I probably do need a rest.
00:09:11But the other half of the time,
00:09:13I have felt like really tired and really burned out
00:09:16on like a particular day.
00:09:17And then if I go through the motions of doing the work anyway,
00:09:20like going to the gym, going on the run, filming the video,
00:09:23working on the business,
00:09:23having that meeting that I really don't wanna have,
00:09:25but like whatever.
00:09:26If I go through the motions of that,
00:09:27the other half of the time,
00:09:28especially if I've had a good night's sleep,
00:09:30the next day, I feel totally fine.
00:09:31I'm like, oh, this is great.
00:09:32Like it wasn't actually that I needed a rest for that one day.
00:09:35It was just that it was my mind being like, oh, you know,
00:09:37we don't feel like it right now.
00:09:38So probably we need a rest because burnout
00:09:39and you can't argue with the whole burnout thing, right?
00:09:41Because like, it's just a,
00:09:42it's too easy to go down that I need a rest.
00:09:44I might be burned out kind of route.
00:09:45I love the idea of procrastinating the rest until tomorrow.
00:09:49All right, now we come to a beautiful part.
00:09:51Oh, this is a chapter titled good.
00:09:55And so here it goes.
00:09:55How do I deal with setbacks, failures, delays, defeats,
00:09:59or other disasters?
00:10:00I actually have a fairly simple way
00:10:01of dealing with these situations summed up in one word, good.
00:10:04This is something that one of my direct subordinates,
00:10:06one of the guys who worked for me,
00:10:07a guy who became one of my best friends pointed out.
00:10:09He would pull me aside with some major problem
00:10:11or some issue that was going on.
00:10:12And he'd say, boss, we've got this thing, this situation,
00:10:15and it's going terribly wrong.
00:10:16I would look at him and I'd say, good.
00:10:18So I explained to him that when things are going bad,
00:10:20there is gonna be some good that will come out of it.
00:10:22Oh, the mission got canceled?
00:10:23Good, we can focus on another one.
00:10:25Didn't get the new high speed gear we wanted?
00:10:26Good, we can keep it simple.
00:10:28Didn't get promoted?
00:10:29Good, more time to get better.
00:10:30Didn't get funded?
00:10:31Good, we own more of the company.
00:10:33Didn't get the job you wanted?
00:10:34Good, go out, gain more experience,
00:10:35and build a better resume.
00:10:36Got injured?
00:10:37Good, needed a break from training.
00:10:39Got tapped out?
00:10:39Good, it's better to tap out in training
00:10:41than to tap out on the street.
00:10:42Unexpected problems?
00:10:43Good, we have the opportunity to figure out a solution.
00:10:45That's it, when things are going bad,
00:10:47don't get all bummed out.
00:10:48Don't get startled, don't get frustrated.
00:10:50No, just look at the issue and say, good.
00:10:53Now, I don't mean to say something trite.
00:10:54I'm not trying to sound like Mr. Smiley Positive Guy.
00:10:56That guy ignores the hard truth.
00:10:58That guy thinks a positive attitude will solve problems.
00:11:00It won't, but neither will dwelling on the problem.
00:11:02No, accept reality, but focus on the solution.
00:11:05Take that issue, take that setback,
00:11:07take that problem, and turn it into something good.
00:11:09Go forward, and if you're part of a team,
00:11:12that attitude will spread throughout.
00:11:13Finally, if you can say the word good, then guess what?
00:11:16It means you're still alive.
00:11:17It means you're still breathing.
00:11:18And if you're still breathing,
00:11:19that means you've still got some fight left in you.
00:11:21So get up, dust off, reload, recalibrate,
00:11:24reengage, and go out on the attack.
00:11:27This is something that my father-in-law actually does,
00:11:29my wife's dad.
00:11:30Anytime my wife goes to him with a problem,
00:11:33his first response will be good.
00:11:34And he's been doing this for years,
00:11:36since before Jocko went on the scene,
00:11:38even when my wife Izzy was a kid.
00:11:40She would go to her dad with a bruised elbow or whatever,
00:11:44and she tells me that his first response would be good.
00:11:47And she would be annoyed about this initially.
00:11:49But over time, she realized that,
00:11:50okay, it's almost like a reframe.
00:11:53It's like there is always good to be found
00:11:55in literally any situation that you come up against.
00:11:58Now there was actually a story that is relevant here.
00:12:00And that, you know, it's something you might've come across.
00:12:02It's the parable of the Chinese farmer.
00:12:04And I actually made an Instagram reel about this.
00:12:06So we're gonna play it here
00:12:07because it was quite a fancy animation.
00:12:09So let's go.
00:12:10Once upon a time, there was a Chinese farmer
00:12:11whose horse ran away.
00:12:12That evening, all of the local villagers came to console him.
00:12:15They said, "We're so sorry to hear
00:12:16"that your horse has run away.
00:12:17"That is terrible."
00:12:18But the farmer just said, "Maybe."
00:12:20Then on the second day, the horse came back,
00:12:22bringing seven more wild horses with it.
00:12:24And in the evening, all of the local villagers came back
00:12:26and said, "Wow, what a change of fortune.
00:12:28"Aren't you lucky?
00:12:29"Now you have eight horses."
00:12:30But the farmer again just said, "Maybe."
00:12:32Then on the third day,
00:12:33his son tried to train one of the new horses.
00:12:36And while riding it, he fell off and broke his leg.
00:12:38The local villagers came back and said,
00:12:39"Oh dear, that's too bad.
00:12:40"Your son has broken his leg."
00:12:42And again, the farmer just said, "Maybe."
00:12:43But on the fourth day,
00:12:44some army officers came to conscript people into the army
00:12:47and they didn't take the farmer's son
00:12:48because he had a broken leg.
00:12:50Again, all the local people came around and they said,
00:12:51"Isn't that amazing?"
00:12:52And again, the farmer just said, "Maybe."
00:12:54The Chinese farmer reminds us
00:12:55that it's impossible to tell the true meaning
00:12:58of what we think is good or bad luck.
00:12:59And instead, we should just try to embrace uncertainty,
00:13:02not get too attached to what happens to us in life,
00:13:04and just try our best to enjoy the journey.
00:13:05Essentially, if you can train yourself
00:13:07every time you experience any kind of failure
00:13:09or any kind of setback,
00:13:10if you can actually train yourself
00:13:12to immediately see the good in the situation,
00:13:15that particular neural pathway
00:13:17will just become more and more solidified over time.
00:13:20This is the idea of Hebb's law.
00:13:21It's like a neuroscience thing
00:13:22that when particular neurons in the brain fire together,
00:13:25they also end up wiring together.
00:13:27So neurons that fire together, wire together.
00:13:29It's sort of like, you probably know someone
00:13:30who's just really, really negative in your life.
00:13:32They can find the negative in every situation.
00:13:34Now, a big part of that is
00:13:35because the more negative your thoughts are,
00:13:37the easier it becomes to have negative thoughts.
00:13:40It's sort of like you've got a field of grass, right?
00:13:42And you take one path through the field of grass,
00:13:45and then you take that same path again.
00:13:47And then over time, that path becomes more and more trodden,
00:13:50and it turns into a path,
00:13:51which means it becomes easier to continue taking that path,
00:13:54and then the path continues to be formed.
00:13:55And so you get this virtuous or vicious cycle
00:13:58where the thoughts that you keep on having
00:14:00are the thoughts that becomes easier to keep on having.
00:14:02So if you are the sort of person
00:14:03where when you deal with a setback,
00:14:04when something goes wrong,
00:14:06it ends up throwing you off your game for a few days
00:14:08because, I don't know, the fear, the anxiety, the emotion,
00:14:11the depression, the sadness, whatever the thing might be,
00:14:12then that is a pattern that, repeated over time,
00:14:15will just make it easier and easier for you
00:14:18for that situation to continue happening.
00:14:19Whereas if you do the jocko thing of something bad happens,
00:14:22and your immediate response is good,
00:14:25and you're then scrambling to find the good in the situation,
00:14:27you know, every cloud has a silver lining
00:14:29and all that crap, that's actually not crap,
00:14:30that's actually some pretty good stuff,
00:14:31which is very helpful
00:14:32because if you can find the silver lining,
00:14:33if you can find the good in the situation,
00:14:35your brain becomes attuned to finding the good
00:14:37in negative situations,
00:14:38which means you are just less likely to be thrown off
00:14:41when bad things happen in life, which they often do.
00:14:44And then finally,
00:14:45and I think this is my favorite part of the book,
00:14:47and it's just a really, really cool story
00:14:49that I hadn't actually heard before reading this.
00:14:51The chapter is titled "I Feel Fine."
00:14:53During SEAL training, there is a lot of scuba diving.
00:14:55Scuba diving has inherent dangers.
00:14:56Scuba diving at night, with equipment, over long distances,
00:14:59in and around harbors, ships, and other manmade obstacles,
00:15:02only increases those dangers.
00:15:04In the event of an emergency,
00:15:05we are trained to follow procedures,
00:15:07to proceed to the surface of the water in a certain way,
00:15:09to inflate our life jackets in a certain way,
00:15:11to signal for help in a certain way.
00:15:13And when you come to the surface
00:15:14after having some kind of diving-related emergency,
00:15:17a medic or diving medical officer
00:15:19will ask you how you are feeling.
00:15:20Only one response is acceptable.
00:15:22"I feel fine."
00:15:23The roots of this statement come from the fact
00:15:25that a diver on the surface
00:15:26may have suffered from a diving emergency,
00:15:28which means they might have suffered
00:15:29some level of neurological damage.
00:15:30A quick way to check for immediate signs of this
00:15:32are seeing if they remember to give the proper response,
00:15:35and seeing if they have the physiological agility
00:15:37and fine motor control to properly enunciate the Fs,
00:15:40which take more effort than many other letters.
00:15:42So it really didn't matter how you actually felt.
00:15:44You could be freezing cold, exhausted, dehydrated, confused,
00:15:47and mentally broken,
00:15:48but there was still only one answer to the question,
00:15:50"How do you feel?"
00:15:51And that response was, "I feel fine."
00:15:54I don't know when this procedure started in the SEAL teams,
00:15:56but I do know it was in place long before I arrived.
00:15:58I also know this.
00:16:00The answer, "I feel fine,"
00:16:01eventually morphed into a response
00:16:03for any time you got asked how you were feeling,
00:16:06regardless of how you actually felt.
00:16:08Tired, worn down, starving, blisters, chaffed, hungry,
00:16:11none of that matters.
00:16:12The response would still be, "I feel fine."
00:16:14And you know what?
00:16:15When you said those words, you started to believe them.
00:16:18And when other people, people in the same state as you,
00:16:20would hear you speak those words,
00:16:22they would think, "Well, I know what he's been through,
00:16:24"but he still has a good attitude.
00:16:25"I guess I can too."
00:16:26So don't let yourself get down.
00:16:28Don't admit it to yourself.
00:16:29Don't admit it to your friends.
00:16:30Instead, tell them and yourself the only proper response,
00:16:34"I feel fine."
00:16:35Obviously, there's a little bit of nuance here.
00:16:37If a friend is asking you how you're feeling
00:16:38and you're feeling down in the dumps and depressed and shit,
00:16:40like you probably don't wanna just be like,
00:16:42"I feel fine," and like, you know,
00:16:43battle through and all that kind of stuff,
00:16:45it is good to talk about your feelings with your friends,
00:16:46et cetera, et cetera.
00:16:47And also at the same time, I freaking love this story
00:16:49because I think it's really, really cool.
00:16:50There are so many situations.
00:16:51I don't know about you, but in my life,
00:16:52there are so many situations where,
00:16:54again, to the point of like,
00:16:55"I don't feel like doing the thing
00:16:56"that I know is good for me.
00:16:57"I don't feel like going to the gym.
00:16:59"I don't feel like working on the business.
00:17:00"I don't feel like going for a run.
00:17:01"I don't feel like stretching."
00:17:03And in those situations, if my wife asks me,
00:17:05"How are you feeling?" or whatever,
00:17:07it's almost too easy to just lean into the,
00:17:12"Oh yeah, I'm feeling a bit tired today.
00:17:14"Yeah, I don't really wanna go for a run.
00:17:16"Yeah, I don't really feel like going to the gym."
00:17:19And sometimes you'll see that I just need a push
00:17:23and be like, "Hey, I know you're tired,
00:17:25"but I know you're gonna feel better
00:17:26"after you go to the gym," et cetera, et cetera.
00:17:27This is where there's a little bit of nuance here, right?
00:17:29Because I think about 50% of the time,
00:17:32if I were to respond with, "I feel fine,"
00:17:34it would actually change my own internal state.
00:17:38Because now I'm saying to this person who I love
00:17:39that I feel fine.
00:17:40And so then to Jocko's point,
00:17:43when you say those words, you start to believe them, right?
00:17:46'Cause the feelings are so fickle, right?
00:17:48This is one of the big things
00:17:49I've taken away from this book.
00:17:51And also from doing a bunch of research
00:17:52around like emotions and feelings and shit.
00:17:54Like feelings are so fickle.
00:17:55Feelings are just like waves on the surface of the water
00:17:58or waves on the surface of the lake
00:18:00or like the clouds going by.
00:18:01Sometimes the feelings are like,
00:18:04I don't feel like doing the thing.
00:18:05Sometimes I feel the feelings are like,
00:18:06I do feel like doing the thing.
00:18:08And there is a danger when we overread into the feelings.
00:18:12There is a danger when we say, "Hey, it's raining today.
00:18:16"Therefore I must be tired and I must be burned out
00:18:18"and I must be on the verge of depression
00:18:19"and I should probably just play video games for 10 hours."
00:18:22There's a danger to that.
00:18:23Because sometimes the clouds are rainy just randomly.
00:18:27Like the feelings can be random.
00:18:29And this is where, I don't know,
00:18:31like I really liked this book.
00:18:33I find it very inspiring and very motivational.
00:18:35And also at the same time,
00:18:36it's a tool that is useful in certain situations.
00:18:39If your response to every single feeling is I feel fine,
00:18:43you end up in a place
00:18:44where you're like ignoring your feelings.
00:18:45But if your response to every single feeling
00:18:47is to overread into the feelings
00:18:49and to use those as a sign as to why you're burned out
00:18:51or why you need rest
00:18:52or why you shouldn't be doing the thing that you wanna do
00:18:54because it shouldn't feel like a struggle,
00:18:57then you're also gonna end up in a dodgy place
00:18:59where you're never doing anything hard.
00:19:00'Cause when you're doing hard or uncomfortable things,
00:19:02it will feel bad.
00:19:03But that doesn't mean you shouldn't do it, right?
00:19:05So like, this is why, I mean with anything,
00:19:08when I read these books,
00:19:10when I listen to the podcast and stuff,
00:19:12my guiding philosophy for this stuff is always,
00:19:15what is gonna be useful,
00:19:16given the goals that I have
00:19:17and given that my ultimate goal
00:19:18is to live a peaceful, happy, fulfilled life.
00:19:20And I think this idea of I feel fine, for me at least,
00:19:24and for a lot of people that I know is actually helpful.
00:19:27Now, if you are someone who is already too,
00:19:30like your pendulum has swung already so far in the direction
00:19:34of like you don't know your own feelings,
00:19:35you don't know your own emotions,
00:19:36you're not in touch with your body,
00:19:38you're like constantly just like denying to yourself
00:19:40how you really feel,
00:19:41then for you, this advice of like in any situation,
00:19:45just say I feel fine is probably not helpful
00:19:47because you're already too far in that direction.
00:19:49But for me, I think I'm kind of a little bit,
00:19:52I don't think I'm quite far in that direction.
00:19:54And certainly if I think of most of the students
00:19:56that we have in our Lifestyle Business Academy,
00:19:59who are, you know, have like professionals with jobs
00:20:01trying to build businesses,
00:20:02mostly they feel the pain, they feel the discomfort,
00:20:04they feel the struggle of trying to put themselves out there
00:20:06and start to grow their business.
00:20:08And most of them could benefit
00:20:09from this story of like, I feel fine.
00:20:11They could benefit from ignoring their feelings
00:20:13a little bit more and just following the plan
00:20:15and doing the work.
00:20:16But that's not to say that everyone benefits
00:20:18from ignoring their feelings and following the plan.
00:20:19That's where kind of the nuance lies.
00:20:21And that's where I'm hoping
00:20:21if you're at this point in the video,
00:20:22you've got sufficient intelligence to know
00:20:24if you're reading a book,
00:20:25it's like this is not like the fricking Bible or the Quran
00:20:28or like the word of God or anything.
00:20:29It's just a book from a dude
00:20:31who's like sharing his own perspective on life.
00:20:33And you wanna use that perspective
00:20:35in so far as it is useful for you.
00:20:37So I really like this thing of I feel fine.
00:20:39I know that for me, ignoring my feelings more often
00:20:41and just following the plan
00:20:42will take me more in the direction
00:20:43of where I wanna go in life, but not fully,
00:20:45not like 100%, right?
00:20:46So like, yeah, there's a little bit of nuance here.
00:20:48Now this book is very inspirational.
00:20:49It's very motivational ironically, and I really like it.
00:20:53But if you are looking for some evidence-based tips
00:20:56on how to improve your discipline,
00:20:57there is a video over here that I did a few months ago,
00:20:59which is all about like, you know,
00:21:00if you look at the scientific literature
00:21:02around what are the tactics that improve your discipline
00:21:05and allow you to do hard things
00:21:06even when you don't feel like it,
00:21:08there's like a handful of things that actually work.
00:21:09So you can check that out over here.
00:21:11Thank you very much for watching
00:21:11and I'll see you hopefully in the next video.
00:21:12Bye-bye.