Discipline

If there’s one thing I’ve learned in life it’s that reaching goals requires a great deal of discipline and hard work. Whether it’s working out to lose weight, training for a half marathon, or participating in National Blog Posting Month (NaBloPoMo), I’ve come to realize that staying committed and focused is the key to achieving success. I can remember days when I did not want to go outside in the freezing cold for a training run, but I did it anyway because my plan required me to do so. There have also been days in recent months when I simply didn’t want to go to the track or get on the treadmill and follow it up with lifting weights and an abdominal workout, but I did it anyway and I always felt so much better afterward. My health and fitness matter a great deal to me, which is why I work so very hard to be the best possible version of myself that I can be, but it isn’t easy. If it was we would all be a walking around thin and trim with 6-pack abs, right?

This whole writing a post every single day for the entire month of November thing, though, is super hard. In many ways it’s a lot harder than running a 5k in 80-degree weather or getting up at 3 a.m. to run a half marathon at the Happiest Place on Earth. Sure, it’s not as physically challenging as those things are, but it makes my brain tired and in some ways that’s a whole lot more exhausting than crossing the finish line of a 13.1-mile race. But it all comes back to discipline. I’m a firm believer that if something matters enough to you then you’ll make it happen, if it doesn’t then you won’t and that’s why I’ve always struggled with the month of November and participating in NaBloPoMo. It’s never really meant enough to me to fight through the writer’s block and put something on the pages of my blog every day. This year is different because I’ve decided that while quality matters in the long-term, right now I’m staying focused on quantity and even though my words might not get read by hundreds (let alone thousands) of people I’m hoping to come out of this month a better blogger. What is better exactly? I’m not really sure, but if I figure it out I’ll let you know because right now I’m going to bed, which is what I wanted to do an hour ago before discipline reminded me that I’ve come too far to quit.