Discipline - The number one topic in all books about productivity.

Key Insight

● When I was younger I couldn't understand why athletes receive scholarships at American colleges. They kick a ball and run in circles. What value does that bring to society? Why would society sponsor that? Why not redirect that money to scientists? I wrestled with this question for a long time until one day my good friend Vlada Đukanović (ex JP Morgan) explained: Most athletes who are sponsored end up in leadership and director positions. They aren’t the most intelligent, they aren’t the smartest, however they have endurance, tolerance for discomfort, and discipline, and these traits are often the most important in life and success.

● Discipline - The number one topic in all books about productivity. It’s talked about widely, but they don’t tell you the most important thing. How do you do it? “Just motivate yourself,” “find energy inside,” NLP, psychotherapy, goal setting, changing values and beliefs... These are all tips that are seen often, but rarely help. Why? Because internal motivation is variable and unreliable. One day we’ll have plenty, one day we’ll have none. What we actually need? We can borrow the tactic from athletes and create a system that does not depend on internal motivation, i.e., create a routine! A routine that we repeat and religiously follow, to the point that it becomes an integral part of our being. Routine beats motivation any day of the week. The easiest way not to buckle under “bad” habits is to avoid entering situations where that is possible.

● Some people naturally (due to genetic predispositions and upbringing) have more discipline and some less. If we’re used to low discipline it’s possible to have 0, but the good news is that discipline can be trained, and the muscle is, and the biggest friend of discipline is routine. We start with a routine that doesn’t require much effort, hold it for a while, then gradually change it a little every 2-3 weeks until we reach the ultimate goal.

● Very often 90% of “discipline” is just good environment and organization. If every day I wonder whether I should go to training or not, chances are I won’t go; if I wonder whether to eat healthy I won’t; but if I have a training scheduled at 7 PM (initially with a private trainer), and if I’ve already ordered a healthy meal waiting in the fridge, the situation is quite different. Create a system with a clear plan and steps, so it’s easy to be disciplined. Create an environment where it’s hard to make a bad decision and good decisions will come on their own.

● The biggest enemy of discipline are dopamine killers, i.e., cheap dopamine. If I burn through all dopamine on foolish things, the brain won’t have the strength to work on something useful, even if we have the strongest routine in the world. So we have the golden rule: routines and flow in the morning and during the day, cheap dopamine (if necessary) and fast thinking in the evening and as little as possible.

● All low-value decisions should be routine. What you eat, what you wear, etc.—things that don’t create additional value and that you can’t delegate: they should be an algorithm and routine. They should be predetermined and planned so they don’t require any thinking during execution. A huge mental relief arises when we manage to do this properly. When something becomes a routine/habit it requires 99% less mental effort (you’ll often notice you spent more time deciding whether and how to do something than the time needed to actually do it).