It’s kind of a strange concept. Discipline = freedom? The common notion is that these two ideas are opposites, as if discipline meant restriction, so how could restriction = freedom?
This could be one of those strange paradoxical truths that we find in life. It strikes me as a complementary yin and yang, as one supports the emergence of the other. Interesting stuff. I can notice many ways that discipline yields freedom in my life..
As a musician, the more discipline I apply to practicing technique and theory, the more freedom I’ll have in playing whatever I feel through the instrument.
With this blog, if incorporate the discipline of writing a post in the morning, then I have the freedom of not needing to get around to it at some point in the day.
Journaling in the morning is a discipline that helps me to focus on the most important things first and early, so that the rest of the day is more free and less pressured.
TimeBoxing helps me get more done in less time by staying focused and by setting up little ‘sprints’ of productivity, so that simple small tasks don’t eat up big chunks of time.
The discipline of eating (mostly) healthy, moving my body daily, and getting into weekly exercise keeps my body light, responsive, energized, and operating without injury. This yields the freedom to hike 14’ers, go camping, bouldering, or whatever I’d like to do by knowing that my body can keep up with where my head and heart are taking me.
On and on it can go like this. The more I look, the more I that discipline yields freedom.
I’m thinking about this because I recently bought a little product called the Unstuck Box. It contains around 45 cards with little nuggets of wisdom and insight on it. What drew me in was that one side of each card features a graphic visual conception of the idea, while the other side offers a little explanation.
Today, I drew my first card from the deck, and it told me Discipline Equals Freedom. A good reminder with a helpful call to action: “to use this, start by identifying areas where you’d like more freedom. Then design a disciplined structure to reach that goal.”
One area I’d like more freedom is with this blog. As in, I want it to always be quick and easy, and in the morning. Like 20-minutes or less. If I’m designing a disciplined structure to make that happen, I’m thinking:
-Identify tomorrow’s topic today, so I can just dive right into it.
-If I don’t have a topic ready and one doesn’t come to mind immediately, I could just pull a fresh card from the Unstuck Box and just write about it.
-Wake up early enough before scheduled commitments so I can do my morning routine, do a blog post, and have breakfast for heading into coaching, grad classes, appointments, recreation, or whatever kicks off the day
Where do you want more freedom in your life? What is a disciplined structure and plan of action to make it happen? :)
