The Lack of Discipline
Written on Monday, May 14, 2007 by Rohan Koshy
Over the last 2 years i have managed (somehow) to lose about 12 kgs of weight doing regular exercise..I have also managed to keep it off for the last six months not having exercised at all. While I'm not close to my ideal weight and still plump I'm pretty fit. A few friends have asked how i lost weight. They commented saying that "You have a lot of discipline".
The word discipline has got me thinking a lot. Over the years the word discipline has been battered into our brains by every adult figure that we know. The word suggests that you become adept at doing all those things (on time) that you actually don't want to do. I think of myself as lazy and indisciplined to the core. This is why when friends tell me that i have "discipline" i laugh straight back at them. I feel discipline (as it is perceived now) is an ugly word. Achievement has precious little to do with discipline and a lot to do with enthusiasm. I never go running or to the gym because i want to but because i LIKE to. That's it. That's all. That's the only reason. I don't get up and force myself to go. I look forward to it. Some people call that discipline. I call it following your heart. I'm not going trekking everyday to lose weight because i don't enjoy it as much as i do running.
This extends to all the areas of life i guess. The ones who study a lot may seem to have discipline but really they are doing what they WANT to do. It's not that they don't want to party away their lives, but that they want to do something and achieve something MORE than they want to party all the time. Ironically the only place u have to force yourself to do something is at school or college where your forced to learn some irrelevant subjects :-)
The thing is when some friends ask me what sort of exercise they should do to lose weight i tell them to do something they like. Play badminton or basketball or something. Sounds simple and it is. If someone doesn't like the gym why do they persist in going? You only end up quitting and feeling worse. I'm not really an achiever but I'm blessed to have some very ambitious and hard working friends. As i look at them i realise that they re good at those things which NATURALLY appeal to them. That's it. They all have off days but what gets them back doing it is just the fact that if they don't do it they can't live with themselves.
So i guess if u don't LIKE it, don't do it.
Where there's passion, the motivation is intrinsic, and you succeed effortlessly!