The Discipline of Writing & Lifting: Why Success in One Leads to Success in the Other

In today’s digital age, people don’t lack information, they lack discipline. Too much information, too much research, and too many decisions lead to indecision, or worse, inaction. Considering you’re reading this, that means that you either struggle with this and want to get better, or you already have discipline and are reading this during your cardio session (power to you for that).

Why discipline?

Discipline isn’t just a buzzword made popular by the likes of Alex Hormozi, David Goggins, or Jocko. Webster defines discipline as “to train or develop by instruction and exercise especially in self-control”. Pretty self-explanatory, so why do you and I struggle with this, along with so many others? 

Discipline isn’t about following a strict schedule to the point of burnout. It’s not about sacrificing enjoyment or fun. It’s about building self-respect and pushing through when you don’t feel like it. That starts with you and the person in the mirror, do you keep promises to yourself? Did you tell yourself you were going to wake up at 5 am and hit the gym? What time did you really get out of bed? 5:30? 6? If it wasn’t 5, start there and hold yourself to your commitments no matter what your mood is.

Lifting Weights Builds the Same Mental Muscles for Writing

Do you remember the first time you stepped into the gym? Or maybe the first time you started to write for the world to see? It was scary, right? No idea what to do, or where to start, and for some people, they don’t even know how much they don’t know. 

Fast forward to today, and you kind of know what you’re doing right? Learn as you go and when you get something wrong, you try it again. Each time you do another rep, lift the bar with a little bit better form, and you get stronger. The same goes each time you pick up a pen or start jotting your thoughts across a keyboard. You’re not just building physical muscles in the gym, or building on knowledge, you’re building the mental muscles required for discipline.

You’ve built the mental muscle of consistency, each time you get up in the morning on days you’d rather lie in bed, or just start writing for ten minutes even though Netflix uploaded a new season of your favorite show. 

When you stay consistent and you don’t have much to show for it, either with the same weight on the scale or the same follower count on X. You’re not doing this for the instant rush, hitting gold as soon as you finish a couple of reps or hit the post. You’re doing this for long-term growth, for all kinds of gains, physical and mental. This consistency is the bridge in the gap between where you start and where you want to go, both in the gym and in your writing journey.

Both in the gym and with writing, you can build these mental muscles and go down the path of discipline, but the choice is yours. I’ll leave you with my quote of the day, especially when the last thing I wanted to do was train after barely getting any sleep — “F*ck your mood, Follow the Plan” - Leila Hormozi.