Discipline is a useful virtue that is difficult to maintain. Sticking to a regimented work schedule is challenging, and making the right choices isn’t always easy. Sometimes it is hard to find the proper motivation to keep things on track.
One way to combat lethargy and apathy is to take part in healthy competitions. Last year, comedians Joe Rogan, Bert Kreischer, Ari Shaffir and Tom Segura created the “Sober October” challenge to see how long Kreischer could last without drinking in the wake of his weight-loss challenge with Segura.
The weight-loss challenge spawned from a fat-shaming meme war instigated by Segura who started the hashtag #BertIsFat. This started a debate over who was actually the fatter man and Kreischer retaliated with the hashtag #TomIsFat. This led to a competition to see who could lose the most weight over a set period of time.
Despite the fact that losing a ton of weight in a short amount of time is not the healthiest thing to do, it still touched upon the competitive spirit and the idea of having a challenge centered around discipline.
Many people chose to follow their lead and start their own weight-loss challenges. Eventually, a conversation about how often Kreischer drinks alcohol on Rogan’s podcast led to the creation of the “Sober October” challenge.
The general idea is to pick something to swear off of for the month and choose a healthy habit to keep up with instead. What is cool about this is that there are no rules completely set in stone. The challenge is directly related to whatever you want to work on. You can decide to stop smoking cigarettes or eating fast food — as long as it is properly challenging and relevant to your goals.
Setting a goal for yourself is a good motivator, but it doesn’t always provide the push you need when it really counts. Getting friends involved in your goals and setting stakes for accomplishing them, or not, provides you with an extra reason to not give up.
The consequences of failure gives you something to run away from. The benefits of your goal are something to run towards. This means you are twice as motivated to stay disciplined and head in a particular direction.
Whether you are quitting booze, pornography or eating mustard, discipline is a skill that affects every aspect of your life. Having discipline means that you have the mental fortitude to accomplish complicated tasks and do things for their future benefit instead of just satisfying an immediate urge.
I think we all would benefit from a greater sense of discipline, but it is difficult to find the motivation to stay disciplined — despite knowing of the long-term benefits. This is why healthy competitions are extremely beneficial to sustaining motivation — they give you that extra push when you really need it.
