Violent Self-Discipline
A colleague of mine (shoutout to Tyrone Ross) has been using this term, and it’s starting to stick.
“Violent Self-discipline.”
Not a wish. Not a hope. But an unwavering attack on keeping your commitments at all costs. No excuses, and no tolerances for even one missed day.
It’s a high-bar, but it reminds me of Jack Canfield’s policy: 100% is a breeze, 99% is a bitch. The second you add even a little wiggle room, it’s a decision every time. If it’s a non-negotiable, zero mental energy is expended because the decision is already.
415 Days of Discipline
In 2024, I shared how I joined a 101 day boot camp called Heroic Elite. The premise was simple. Fill out a daily Carpe Diem page that defines everything from your big goals to your daily targets. Review your results at the middle and end of the day. Never skip a day.
At the end of 101 days, I decided… why stop? The entire point was to build momentum and the daily discipline was helping me stay accountable. So I kept going.
I’m now 415 days in.
I only missed two days. The first missed day was due to illness. The second was because I was so busy I jumped into a day of fire fighting and just never got back to it.
But I never let myself miss two in a row, and I lit a fire under my ass to make it almost impossible to miss another one.
Was I perfect in hitting my daily targets? Hell no! There were some days where work and family life was so chaotic that I only hit 1-2 out of 6-9 targets. That’s hard feedback to stare at, and it only provided more fuel to double down the next day.
To a lot of people, this level of focus seems over the top. However, I’ve had phases in my life where years blinked by without much to show for it, and that led to lots of regret.
Life is short, and I want to fit a lot of life into it. And the only way to make that happen is violent self-discipline.