I remember reading somewhere that a good way to find well connected people is to ask random people who is the most well connected person they know.
Many of my friends say that I am the most disciplined person they know.
One pattern I noticed is that there were things that most people knew they should do but still didn’t do.
The earliest example I remember was reading. When I was very young I remember adults saying reading is good for you, everyone should read more, but most people don’t read. And I remember thinking to myself: I will read a lot. And I did read a lot. And it didn’t take a lot of discipline, it quickly got very easy, because I quickly started liking it.
Analogous for waking up early, eating healthy, exercising, saving, investing, etc. Those are all things that most people say they should do, yet most people don’t do.
I always tried to consistently do those things, until they got easy.
See below how my discipline has changed over time.
Consistently slept early (no TV and no internet). At some point I tried to do polyphasic sleep and sleep only 2 hours per day, 30 minutes for every 6 hours. I did it for a few days, but it ended when I accidentally put the alarm for 12h30min later instead of just 30min later.
24 to 30
Consistently woke up early to go to work.
Consistently slept early (no TV and no internet).
30 to …
Consistently wake up early.
Less consistent about sleeping early due to our young child.
Saved unhealthy food like chocolate for later instead of eating everything at once.
12 to 18
Never bought unhealthy food/drinks. Ate/drunk when it was free.
18 to 24
Never bought unhealthy food/drinks. Ate/drunk when it was free.
24 to 30
Never bought unhealthy food/drinks. Ate when it was free. But there was free unhealthy food at the office all the time. It took a while to be able to resist and never eat it. I remember struggling the whole week to not eat any of the unhealthy food, and then at the end of the week giving in and eating one of the chocolate bars.
30 to …
Never buy unhealthy food/drinks. Eat when it is free, except at the office.
Friends with the people that wanted to improve. At some point I temporarily decided that having lunch with my friends was wasting too much time, and started having lunch alone. They were not happy about it.