The more self-discipline you have, the more freedom you have

Chapter 1 Preface: Self-discipline is a game between yourself and yourself

1.When you lose control of time, life loses balance
When I wrote this book, I wasn't in the best of shape.

I spent more than half of the month on a business trip, plus toothaches and headaches at the same time, and I often woke up in nightmares in the early morning, which was almost too painful to live.

However, being constrained by exhaustion, I still follow the habit at home, read a book for half an hour before going to bed, and list the necessary tasks and pastimes for the next day one by one; One or two thousand words, and then do ten minutes of yoga; daily meals, so as not to overeat.

A colleague asked me, since I am on a business trip, I don’t need to clock in from [-] to [-], and I can arrange my time freely. Why don’t I relax and stick to the hard life of waking up early every day?It's okay to slack off once in a while.

No, for me, the heartstrings are tight, and it is not hard to make full use of every minute, because the regular work and rest time and daily schedule can allow me to avoid unnecessary emotional consumption.

People are lazy. Once a certain link is relaxed, it is easy to be eroded by temptation. If you don’t want to study today, you can find another reason to be lazy tomorrow. If you don’t insist now, the next time, the next time, you will escape quickly. become a natural thing.

In this era of anxiety where everyone is in danger, we have disdain to read books and only care about the rise and fall of housing prices; we rarely think of getting up early to hear the fragrance of flowers and birds, but are used to swiping our phones over and over again in the dark.

At what point did life lose its balance?That's when you lose control over time.

If you can’t finish your work effectively within the stipulated time, you will be restless; if you can’t achieve some of your wishes, you will be pessimistic and disappointed; No wonder.

It's not that I haven't experienced days and nights turned upside down, and I have also experienced a state of confusion. In fact, the lack of sleep, mental fatigue, slow response, and lack of motivation are even more painful.

It is precisely because of the comparison that I know how meaningful the achievements brought by self-discipline are. Even if it cannot be said that self-discipline can hold everything in your hands, but with the support of strong willpower, life has indeed avoided many detours .

2.People who really have requirements for themselves are highly self-disciplined people
I have a friend who is a photographer. To meet him, you need to make an appointment.

He will not attend any impromptu gatherings and dinners. He said that making an appointment in advance is the minimum respect for friends, because you don't know whether the other party has arranged other things.

When he was young, he played and sang every night, and often got very drunk, but one day he suddenly got bored, so he quit drinking, and he has never touched a drop of alcohol.

He used to smoke one cigarette after another in the darkroom, thinking about how to take more creative photos, but once he realized that smoking at night would accelerate the decline of his body, so he quit smoking and has never smoked one.

He insists on integrating photography into his life, and is complacent about his occupational disease of taking pictures wherever he goes. Therefore, his photography skills continue to improve, and he is more and more favored by more clients. The studio keeps recruiting people, and he goes to many countries for shooting every year.

He seems easy-going, but he is very self-disciplined and very principled in doing things. This kind of him gets more recognition and respect.

People who really have requirements for themselves are highly self-disciplined people.They make everything they should do, no matter how simple or difficult, a normal state of life, a daily routine.

Another girlfriend of mine is a self-disciplined person.

She loved golf since she was a child, and worked in the golf course several times. She spent all her free time swinging on the golf course. Within a few years, she was proficient at the game, and she was not inferior even when competing with professional golfers. During this period, she Passed the national referee qualification, and now often flies around to participate in golf competitions.

She taught herself Japanese, got a bachelor's degree in Japanese, and is currently pursuing a master's degree; she also resigned from the company's executive position to study in North America for half a year in order to learn pure English. From this, she got to know more golf sports at home and abroad Enthusiasts, more leaders in the industry, have expanded a broader and excellent personal network for themselves.

Not only that, she started to learn piano at the age of 24, and passed the piano level 6 in one fell swoop. In fact, from a professional point of view, this age is too late, because her hands are already shaped, and finger flexibility is relatively difficult. The strength proves the classic saying "the best time to plant a tree is ten years ago, followed by now".

In order to practice golf well, she practiced swinging on the golf course no matter in the hot summer or the bitter winter wind; in order to obtain the referee qualification, she studied theoretical knowledge in front of books every day; in order to learn the piano, she worked overtime every day until after seven or eight o’clock , I have to go home and practice the piano for two hours.

What I admire the most is her strong self-discipline spirit. Whatever she likes and wants to do, she will do it immediately without delay; and she can persevere until she achieves the set goal.

It is never too late to start pursuing the life you want. The key lies in whether you can persevere, day after day, year after year with a high degree of self-discipline.

3.Self-discipline is a game between yourself and yourself

Self-discipline, in the final analysis, is a game between yourself and yourself.

The reason why self-discipline is difficult is because the temptation of laziness is too great. It is very comfortable to lie on the sofa and watch dramas, and it is also very comfortable to browse Weibo with a mobile phone. What will come will only be dull thinking, physical pain and spiritual barrenness.

Lazy people will get along more and more in the long-term comfort; people who procrastinate will find all kinds of excuses to comfort themselves; Li was very irritable.

Bernard Shaw said: "Self-control is the instinct of the strongest." Then its opposite, people who cannot control themselves, will eventually lose the world.

Everyone will pursue some beautiful ideals in their life, such as fame, success, and getting what they want, such as peace of mind, peace and harmony, consummation of love, and financial freedom.

And all of this must be based on the premise of refusing the temptation of indulgence, establishing good daily behavior habits, and truly achieving self-discipline and introspection.

Everyone wants freedom, but freedom is not always a good thing, especially when we don't really understand the exact definition of freedom.In terms of understanding freedom, Kant’s understanding is very worth learning. He said: “Freedom is not doing whatever you want, but self-mastery.”

The meaning of self-discipline is to urge you to restrain yourself, restrain and change unrestrained indulgence, and rely on strong willpower and persistence to formulate a set of your own principles of doing things and establish a stable and regular rhythm and order. , Only one person can gain real freedom. This kind of freedom includes not only financial freedom, career freedom, spiritual freedom, and life freedom, but also your love and marriage freedom.

With these freedoms, when you face setbacks, difficulties, disappointments and even despair, you can rely on something to support you to think positively and solve problems, and gain more initiative in life.

(End of this chapter)