Discipline is Exhausting.

Welcome back. I hope you have all been well.

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I have experienced a significant drop in discipline, for the first time in over 24 weeks I have purposefully forgotten to write the Snip for last week, what does this mean? Have I lost my motivational edge? Is this the first red flag that will signal my return to being lazy and lackadaisical? I suppose only time will tell; I caught myself though, now I need to make sure it does not happen again. There are other little things that I have not been doing that I was very diligent with, I need to climb back on the horse.

Discipline is draining; you are continually checking yourself and ensuring that your ingrained habits do not sneak up on you and overpower you because they will. As an example, I have been incredibly strict on myself for over ten months; I had believed I had vanquished the negative habits of my past, alas they have been lurking in the shadows, patiently waiting to strike the moment my guard slips.

The good news is that I have been noticing that my laziness was rearing its ugly head in my rearview mirror, so the rest of the entry will show you what to do when bad habits show themselves in your life once more because they will. (Bad habits in this scenario refer to sleeping in, lousy eating, skipping exercise, skipping beneficial routines like skincare or mediation).

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Timers

Timers will trick you into doing anything that you do not want to do. If you set a 3-minute timer to do as many dishes as you can, you will clean the entire kitchen. The trick is selecting a simple goal and a low time, use common sense, do not give yourself an hour timer to clean the house if your laziness is powerful, start with the bathroom on a 6-minute timer, take it easy and do not overwhelm yourself.

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Others

Placing others' needs before your own is a beauty of life; it is also an intoxicating propellant to get out of bed in the morning. If you plan a coffee date at 8 AM on a Sunday at your local cafe with a close friend, not only are you guaranteed a table, but you also have unclocked at least four more hours of the weekend. In that example, your desire to respect your friends time prevents you from snoozing; there are many more ways to leverage your willingness to help others against your hunger to lounge. Use your imagination.

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Switch-Ups

One of my favourite tricks to jump back on the horse is switching things up. I ran every morning for five months straight; eventually, I became bored with running, and I would skip a day then that day would turn into three. I knew that the habit was going to slip away, so I switched things up, I started to swim as often as I could, my zeal allowed me to swim daily for two weeks, my steam slowed down, and commitments resulted in me swimming three times a week at the minimum. So, when any positive habit becomes cumbersome, do something else that is equally positive, this will prevent boredom and stave off laziness.