365 Days With Self-Discipline: 365 Life-Altering Thoughts on Self-Control, Mental Resilience, and Success

Day 34: On Enlightenmen t

Before  enlightenment,  chopping  wood  and  carrying  water.  After

enlightenment, chopping wood and carrying water.

—A Zen saying, attributed to Xinxin Ming

It’s tempting to believe that, after enough time passes, suddenly you’ll

attain enlightenment and acquire permanent, unbreakable self-control.

In  reality,  there’s  no  sudden  awakening  that  will  happen  if  you  deny

temptations for long enough. Just like today you’re consciously choosing to

reject a chocolate bar so you can enjoy an attractive physique a year from

now,  a  year  from  now  you  will  still  need  to  reject  a  chocolate  bar  to

maintain the body you attained.

There are no secret powers that self-disciplined people have somehow

attained that give them magical powers to resist temptations.

Despite  having  built  a  healthy,  fit  physique,  I  still  fight  —  and

sometimes  fail  —  to  overcome  temptations.  I  still  need  to  make  sure  my

plates  are  full  of  satiating,  healthy  foods  so  that  I  don’t  fill  them  later  on

with  something  less  than  healthy,  yet  again.  I  still  need  to  monitor  how

much I eat and avoid places where I’m likely to overeat. I still do full-day

fasts  every  now  and  then  to  practice  self-control  that  is  associated  with

hunger.

No matter the challenge, I still mostly use the same strategies I’d been

using  prior  to  accomplishing  my  goals.  The  actions  don’t  change.  What

changes is the person performing them .

For  example,  rejecting  chocolate  today  may  feel  like  the  greatest

punishment in the world. A year from now, rejecting chocolate is simply a

fact of life: you want to stay in top shape, so you don’t stuff yourself with

chocolate on a daily basis.

It will still require self-control, but as long as you diligently exercise

your  willpower  muscle,  the  temptation  will  most  likely  be  easier  to

overcome. And in the end, that’s what building self-discipline gives you: an

easier life, through voluntarily choosing to live it the hard way.

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