Discipline equals Freedom
That is a quote from Jocko Willink, a retired United States Navy officer who served in the Navy SEALs and is a former member of SEAL Team 3. He also wrote the book "Extreme Ownership"; a great book that talks about personal responsibility.
But the quote "Discipline = Freedom" was first shared with me by a coworker a few years ago. It STUCK immediately!
It made sense to me intuitively but at the same time to others, it sounded ridiculous. Because how can being disciplined, which is by definition the act of putting up boundaries and limitations, be the thing that leads to freedom?
To put it in another way, here is another quote from Ben Carlson:
Scarcity is an ally of appreciation.
There is something about putting boundaries in place. It gives us the ability to go full force without having to worry about any dangers.
Think about playing with a dog within a fenced environment. You do not have to worry too much about most things like a car hitting the dog. You can go all out because you know you and the dog are safe.
Or think about driving down the highway. If there were no markings on the road and everyone went where they wanted. It would be tragic. Anyone who has ever either driven or been driven on Lagos roads knows how scary that experience is.
Without limitations life quickly turns into chaos.
When there is no discipline, there will always be dysfunction and disappointment.
We need to put limitations on our schedules by creating routines.
We need to put limitations on our relationships by creating boundaries (friends, family, acquittances, co-workers, significant others)
We need to put limitations on our work and career
We need to put limitations on what we eat and when we eat
We need to put limitations on our health (we will not be young forever)
We need to put limitations on our FINANCES (if you reading this, more than likely you are not Jeff Bezos or Elon Musk or Gates or fill in a blank super rich person with unlimited dollars)
We need to put limitations on enjoyment (let it be scarce enough that you never get full)
We need to put limitations on what we believe and who we believe
So on and so forth
Discipline does not suck the joy out of life. It is where you truly begin living.
You begin to dictate rather than be dictated to. You may think you are in control when you are "going with the flow". But in reality, you are being controlled by your emotions/feelings or by other people using your emotions against you. And as my pastor (Pastor Dhati Lewis) says:
Emotions are a great place to tell you where you are but HORRIBLE place to make decisions from.
Discipline allows you to embrace your emotions but then put them in check.
So begin living by DESIGN, not by DEFAULT!