1500 Days to Freedom

Think different and escape the rat race.

Discipline Equals Freedom

by

One of my favorite quotes comes from retired Navy SEAL, Jocko Willink:

Discipline equals freedom

It’s simple and complicated at the same time. See, what makes this quote powerful is the infinite derivations:

Discipline equals wealth: Work hard, control your spending for a couple decades and boom!; you just may find yourself sitting on a golden nest egg.

Discipline equals happiness: Stay off your phone, go to bed early and be mindful. You’ll be better for it.

Discipline equals health: Exercise and don’t eat junk. Take care of your body.

Today, I’ll focus on that last one. Mr. Wow and I had a bet over who could lose the most weight. I lost. Not by much, but I lost:

 

What Happened?

Looking at the red line in the graph, I got off to a bad start. I started the bet at 168 and quickly ballooned to almost 173.

What happened? Vacation happened.

What little self-control I have around food is quickly lost when I’m on the road. In Maine, there was lobster. In New York, donuts and pizza. In Scotland, beer.

And it all goes back to self-control. I have healthy willpower in some aspects of my life. For example, I don’t slack off with exercise. Yesterday, I could barely walk up the stairs after my deadlift and squat routine. I also walked 26,911 steps.

But with food, I suck.

Halloween is hell. Candy. Everywhere.

So is Thanksgiving. I didn’t need to eat four pieces of pie along with that mountain of stuffing.

 

Where To Go From Here?

It’s not all bad. I now weigh 153, down 20 pounds from August. I’m still not at my optimum weight (somewhere in the high 140s), but I don’t have far to go. I no longer have hypertension.

But, I didn’t perform up to my potential. I’m disappointed and a little angry too. Not at Mr. WoW, but at myself. I could have done better. I should have done better.

One thing that helps is peer pressure. Mr. WoW and I are going to organize a second part of this challenge. It will probably be some kind of race. Maybe a 5K, 10K or half-marathon. Maybe in Portland or Southern California. We hope that some of you will join us. Stay tuned for more information.

Our freedom to operate and maneuver had increased substantially through disciplined procedures. Discipline equals freedom. –Jocko

 

Join the 10s who have signed up already!

Subscribing will improve your life in incredible ways*.

*Only if your life is pretty bad to begin with.

Powered by ConvertKit

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Don’t feel bad about losing 8.5% of your weight. You did great! It probably took you 15 years to put the pounds on, and you managed to get them off in a couple months. Keep going!

  2. Great minds, I guess…

    Well done friend! Well done!!! I can’t believe you’ve helped your blood pressure! That’s fantastic.

    Don’t worry, I ate wayyy too much Turkey and everything else. It just tastes tooo good.

    Who really lost here? I think it was great to have the competition to keep us honest. Fun, and I can’t wait for round 2!
    MrWow recently posted…What Ever Happened With The Weight Loss Contest?My Profile

  3. I’m the same way when it comes to food and good beer. And then unfortunately, when the diet starts to tumble so do the workouts and exercising mentality. And vacations are just the worst when it comes to that. Let’s just say that Ecuador and Dallas took a toll on my diet/workouts and I still haven’t recovered. Might need round 2 to start so I have something to work towards.
    Mrs.Wow recently posted…What Ever Happened With The Weight Loss Contest?My Profile

  7. Don’t beat yourself up too much – that’s some crazy progress! Unfortunately, I feel like the last couple months have been less than stellar for my eating habits, and on top of almost a year of not running, I have a lot of work to do if we’re going to have a foot race in January.
    …
    We are having a footrace in January, right? Since the Ecuador one never happened? =)
    Mrs PoP recently posted…Latest Woodworking ProjectMy Profile

  8. I’m with Mr. WoW…who really lost on this? You both set out to loose weight and you did… the slight ‘miss’ in your expectations of yourself will just fire you up for round 2!

    Once you set your dates for a race and/or next goal, let us all know… if we can’t get to the races, maybe we can all virtually participate and do a similar workout or run wherever we are – strength and accountability in numbers!

  13. Halloween is the one holiday that totally messes with any of my diet plans. I ate all the candy and we had to buy more for the children, Oh, the shame!

    But I’ve had a lot of success by integrating more discipline in my life. For example, I could sleep in until 7:30 every day if I wanted to. Instead, I wake up at 5 am every day to work on my writing, work out, cook us a healthy breakfast, and clean the house. It was NOT easy waking up early and finding the motivation to do these things, but it’s made life much more enjoyable.
    Mrs. Picky Pincher recently posted…Finding Balance with OutsourcingMy Profile

  14. Knock it off with the coulda, shoulda, woulda. The long term challenge will be to never need to lose 20lbs again. Halloween and Thanksgiving will be back, but if you cultivate discipline you will forever be free from having to climb the 20lb hill.

  16. I would just like to point out you are half the man i aim to be. Literally.

    280 6’4″ 🙁

    This is the worst i’ve ever been. I’ve lost ~80 pounds 3 times in my life but i never can manage to make it stick. I’d blame work stress but i know its motivation. And work is a convenient agent to blame.

    Let me know your secret if you figure it out!

    • Dude, work is a HUGE part of it. You only have so much willpower. If your work is stressful, it’s much harder to have discipline in other areas. Leaving my job was the best thing I ever did for my health.

  17. Might I suggest a wonderful 5K / 10K / half marathon in Irvine, CA: PCRF Reach for the Cure on March 28, 2018 at Irvine Valley College.
    PCRF = Pediatric Cancer Research Foundation, a wonderful charity that donates the money it raises to doctors and scientists researching treatments specifically for pediatric cancers. It’s a family friendly event, a beautiful no hill course and there is even a kids 1K fun run!
    #TeamAbigail

    • Oooh, Irvine! Tempting. And a great charity too.

      We’re going to go where the cheap airfare takes us. Right now, we’re trying for Southern California or Portland. Stay tuned…

  18. I think that both of you won by losing 😀 A great inspiration, 20 pounds is exactly how much I should lose. In my case, the food is not the bigger problem, but to find the time for the workout between my work and family time (which is consuming all my not-work time, thanks, gals…) I tried to stick to diets in the past, but lately, I am just focusing on healthy eating. However, reading about the monk beer diet (https://diaryofaparttimemonk.wordpress.com/) made me very curious. Maybe a good idea for a challenge just doesn’t think that my employer would appreciate it. 😀
    [HCF] recently posted…My Stuff Evaluation RulesetMy Profile

  21. I love Jocko’s podcast and books. His mantra discipline equals freedom has really helped me improved my life as well. Discipline really is the key to accomplishing your goals. Your motivation may go up and down, but discipline will keep your consistent. Good job losing the weight!

Trackbacks

  2. […] week, I posted about my lack of food discipline. I’m pretty good at restraint. Except for food. And I use “food” in the loosest […]