February is for Discipline

February is right around the corner. All the momentum you built when the new year started may be starting to wane. It's getting tougher and tougher to resist that ice cream in the fridge and the last thing you want to do is wake up at 5 am for that early morning run! I am right there with you. In the first two weeks of January I felt invincible! My self discipline was off the charts. In bed by 10pm, awake by 5am. Hitting my macronutrient goals down to the last gram of protein. Working harder than I ever have in the gym. Then I missed a meal, or I stayed in bed a little longer than I wanted to. It was slow at first but all of a sudden I am barely hanging on to the goals I set for myself at the beginning of the year. If this sounds like you, take heart! The year is long and you will have more than enough time to get back on track. Let's change one thing this time. Instead of relying on the motivation that comes from the start of a new year, let's rely on discipline. If you are a person that goes for a morning run, make February the month of morning runs. Day in and day out, if running is what you want to accomplish then you run, even and especially when you don't feel like it! Motivation comes and goes, and when it's here it can be a great tool, but it's unreliable. We have to look towards self-discipline. It doesn't matter how you feel or how hard the task is, if you want to achieve it then it needs to get done. This seems overly simple. Of course it needs to get done, but just saying that doesn't mean that I will do it. Having self-discipline doesn't mean that you immediately wake up the next day and run a marathon. It means that when you decide to do something you do it, even if it's small. It means that tomorrow morning you wake up, put on your running shoes and run for 5 minutes. It may be the worst 5 minutes of your life but you do it! Then the next day it's 6 minutes and the next day it's 7. Being disciplined doesn't guarantee that every workout is going to be the best workout of your life or that every meal is going to perfectly fit your nutrition goals. It means that no matter how you feel, you do what you set out to do, even if it's small. I encourage you all to make February the month of self-discipline. Even if the activity feels too small to move the needle, just do it and see where you are in a month!