If you're lazy and you're not doing anything about it you're setting yourself up for future catastrophe.

The life you have right now and the life you want is divided by what you do everyday.

Life isn't some magical fairy tale that'll give you what you want if you wish for it.

You'll have to work for it. Grind for it. And fail along the way.

And most people don't realize this experience is perfectly normal.

They don't understand in order to get wins —you first need to experience losses.

I used to be chronically lazy.

The only productive thing I did was house chores.

I would wash the dishes, sweep the floor and call it a day.

I had no ambition. My energy was sucked into endless scrolling and media consumption.

There was this fire inside me —the inner me knew I had the potential.

It screamed in silence everyday. I would hear it's faintest voice calling for help.

It was whispering "You know you're better than this".

I was tortured by this voice I couldn't hear properly. The primal drive to be successful was painful.

I could feel my body tearing apart for change.

I felt sluggish every time I would reject this voice. I felt angry and frustrated why I couldn't do what I wanted to do.

And what did I do to solve it back then? Nothing.

I ate junk food, I wasted hours scrolling and gave myself intense negative self talk.

And I'm glad I went through those hellish days.

If not for those experience —I would've still be the old me. Fat, ugly and undisciplined.

It's been over 3 years now. I've lost 20kg and no longer have trouble being disciplined.

I can command myself to do my work for hours and sit in front of my computer and don't stop until I get my work done.

If you have the same problem, read the rest of this letter. I'll tell you exactly what I did to fix my fu*ked up self.

But first let's talk about the 3 major time wasting activities you're not aware of.

1) Dead time. The sickness of idleness.

When you have nothing to do. Your mind starts to think of all it's earthly desires.

It lusts, greed's and evokes envy. It craves pleasure to fill the void of emptiness and loneliness.

You are a social creature. The less you interact the more likely you are to fall from your temptations.

Your mind at rest when it isn't supposed to be at rest is dangerous.

That's why you scroll, watch and eat too much.

Your mind craves creativity and passion. It craves the high's and low's.

If it can't get it through healthy means then it will do it through pleasurable activities that'll slowly kill your mind and body.

The reason why most people can't quit bad habits is simply because they cannot get the same chemical reaction (pleasure) from somewhere healthier.

They don't have an healthier alternative like a good habit that replaces the bad habit that gives the same spike of pleasure.

I'm not against rest time or recovery.

I'm not saying you have to be ultra disciplined that you'll work 24/7. I in fact advocate for rest and recovery.

Since it helps you make better decisions and perform quality work.

But there is a difference between needing rest and having time to waste.

Because like a car engine —your mind and body functions the same.

You need maintenance and proper rest (I talked about this in the previous letter).

If you leave a car unused for too long, it rusts and breaks down. If you overwork it without breaks —it overheats and fails.

Too much idle time will k*ll you and your potential. Too much work will do the same.

2) Unplanned decisions: Waiting for tomorrow.

You know you're supposed to be doing task X and finish in day Y.

You know you can do it but you're not.

I've been there.

I've waited for the day of the deadline of my assignments to do them even though I had a full week.

Then when you keep waiting —they pile up. You feel overwhelmed, you see all the unchecked boxes and now you feel intimidated to start.

You start to questions if it's even worth it in the first place.

This causes you to rush in the last minute and become frustrated.

You rack up unnecessary stress and anxiety as the deadline approaches.

Now you're making more mistakes.

Not having your day planned eats a lot of mental energy. Mini decisions throughout the day makes you less productive.

Because without preparation you'll just be drifting throughout the day.

It's a self-defeating habit that makes you go for the best tactic instead of consistency. Which makes you quit because there is no best tactic.

We'll tackle how to solve this later.

3. Improper health management: Not optimizing your brain and body.

Good health is a must to discipline.

If you are lethargic and unhealthy all the time you'll suffer more.

Your body won't be able to keep up and you'll have to take a rest when you don't want to.

Your body will collapse prematurely.

That's why looking after your health is essential. Your body is a fortress.

Your capability to do hard things is proportionate to the state of your physical and mental health.

If you are overweight then you won't be able to keep up running with a skinny person.

If you are skinny then you won't be able to lift much.

• That's why being in the spectrum of normal weight is essential.

• That's why healthy eating habits is essential.

• That's why lifting weights is essential.

• That's why cardio is essential

You'll have more endurance and strength. You'll be able to move faster and agile.

This means speed and productivity. Because a fit body equates to a fit mind.

Your body is a testament of your decisions. If you want to look at someone's history of decisions.

Look at their body and faces.

Healthy people will be able to judge accurately and make the right choices because their mind is optimized to see what is beneficial in the future.

Being fat and mentally fogged is a debuff.

You'll be fighting with (-) stats instead of (+).

Being overweight slows your brain and body. I know because I've been overweight myself.

I've had to stick with my flabby arms. Not being able to sit in chairs properly. I would procrastinate and waste time if the activities involved physically.

I'd make excuses that involves anything publicly. Being seen by people was my fear.

Feeling judged everywhere I go and friends calling me "pig". I've had to suck in my stomach for hours so I could feel a little bit confident.

I couldn't fit in the clothes I wanted. Worse I looked bad at them.

Never neglect your physical and mental health. You will be able to make proper decisions when your brain and body is fit.

You'll have faster and quality thoughts. You'll make more healthier decisions that'll help you in the future.

The importance of discipline.

If you struggle to understand why or how to be disciplined in the first place.

Read this thoroughly.

I've separated this into 5 phases so it's easy to understand.

Phase 1: Understanding desire.

If you are young and ambitious —every cell in your body wants glory.

It silently craves achievement even if you say that you're fine being average.

You cannot escape this desire. It's hard wired into your subconscious. Even in old age you will feel this daily.

The desire to outcompete everyone and be the no.1 is eternal.

That's why reels that tells you "be the greatest man your bloodline has ever seen is so popular".

Because it speaks directly to your soul. It's higher you and the lower you competing.

The higher you wants to demonstrate dominance over your lower self.

It wants discipline, drive, motivation and success.

The lower you fights for pleasure. It fights for a slow death caused by inactivity and hedonism.

There's 2 of you that's constantly fighting. Like Yin and Yang. The white and the black wolf.

And if you want to win —you have to feed the wolf that's going to make your life better. The one who knows the concept of delayed gratification.

Phase 2: Delayed gratification: What all winners do.

Let's be real.

Growth comes after not before.

If you've been putting in the work and still aren't seeing results. You're not falling behind.

The things you see in social media like benching 100kg and gaining 10-20kg of muscle or making $10-20k/m in a short amount of time is BS.

They make it look like it's easy but it's not.

Building muscle or losing weight takes time.

Anyone who tells you getting a great physique under 2 years of training is either lying or taking steroids.

The same philosophy applies to growth.

You must do habits for a longer period of time that you don't like in order to create a better future.

This means going to the gym even if you hate looking at yourself in the mirror. It means curling that light 3lb barbell even if it feels shameful (It's not, if you're a beginner and you're being consistent —you have my respect).

You have to understand growth comes later. You cannot expect to get massive results under a month or two.

You have to be patient. You have to look at the bigger picture and see what's the best for future outcomes.

Think long term not short term. Think in years not months.

Phase 3: Morning Routines.

The easiest way to build discipline is to remove friction by routine.

You win the day by winning the morning.

I went full productive when I decided to set my morning routine 2 years ago.

I often feel the most energetic when I set the day right. I have seen the difference of scrolling first thing in the morning versus taking a walk and meditating right after waking up.

Momentum is real, you just have to set it right the first thing the morning. It's like the snowball effect, it's small at first but with time —the days where you are productive gets higher and higher.

My mornings are solid because I know what to do.

This is not some cute advice that I want to give you.

It's essential.

Your body getting used to discipline is easy. It's your mind that's making it hard.

And to overcome that hurdle you need to lessen friction and increase familiarity.

You are not disciplined because you're afraid to start. You are afraid to add changes to your life.

Misery is addictive. It's a problem most people fall into once they accept their life will never be better.

But I know you don't want that. Object the standards of being average.

You aren't here to be like everyone. You're here to become the fittest, smartest and strongest you can be.

F*ck being average.

Phase 4: Elimination

The misconception of discipline is to only add habits instead of eliminating bad habits.

If you look deeply and be brutally honest about what you do everyday —you'll agree that 70-80% of your time is wasted.

Either by bad habits or overthinking.

Most people numb their selves so they don't have to deal with their mind bullying them.

They work very hard or pretend they are doing something so they only produce and never think.

Because thinking for most people is poisonous. They have minds that operate against betterment.

Everything it sees is dark and negative.

That's why you scroll. That's why you waste time. That's why you keep procrastinating.

You have a mind that's against you.

To fix this you need elimination. You have to eliminate problems and habits that's making your life hard.

• This means eliminating social media because it makes you insecure seeing how many young men are so successful and you see how other people are doing so much better than you.

• This means eliminating alcohol consumption because it makes your mind weak and foggy (it's not stress relief when you're giving yourself future problems).

• This means eliminating late night sleeping habits because it's making you less energetic and productive.

Learn to see what activities you're doing that makes your life worse.

Then eliminate and replace it with a good habit. Instead of numbing yourself with doom scrolling, learn a habit that you love doing.

It could be art, music, photography or anything you like.

You'll struggle to be consistent at first but you'll feel a lot better when you make better decisions.

Phase 5: The sacrifice of today for tomorrow.

By now you should understand discipline requires sacrifice.

The sacrifice of comfort and the choice to voluntarily suffer practicing discipline.

The path of discipline isn't for many. It's a lonely path where you have to be willing to be misunderstood.

People will call you crazy and will try to sabotage your progress by calling you degrading labels/name and insults.

You will grow to be better than those around you and they'll hate you for it. You will become a constant reminder of what they could've been if only they put in the work like you did.

You will suffer —and that's your reward. You will grow qualities that will set you apart from the flock.

You will develop mental toughness. Hard circumstances will become easy for you. Your mind will be thick and hard.

You'll understand one day why so many people fail to attain good things. You'll understand why a minority of people are obsessed.

You will understand how good life is when you voluntarily accept suffering instead of being at the mercy of life's challenges.

• Expect to be criticized.

• Expect to be pushed back.

• Expect not everything will go according to plan.

The path to discipline is full of obstacles. Your brain will be your greatest friend and enemy at the same time.

You'll have to be deaf to what it says sometimes —and sometimes you'll have to listen carefully.

The Plan. How to put this all together.

Now that you understand the 5 phases of discipline. Let's create a roadmap for you to follow.

1) Create more energy for your body.

Having higher energy reserves is a must.

Your body must be able to endure long hours of hard work whether it may be physically or mentally.

You must learn to optimized your mind and body capable of endurance.

If you don't —you will suffer from your ambition. Your mind will constantly remind you of great things you are capable.

But because you don't have the enough energy. You'll end up procrastinating and never take action.

I've talked about this in the last month but I'll repeat it again because of how important it is.

• More energy = Higher chances of being productive.

• Less energy = Higher chances of being lazy.

So how do you build more energy?

• Wake up early: This sets the winners effect in tone. This means you will be unlikely to scroll first thing in the morning and be more productive.

• Get sunlight: Not for peak science. Not for data. But because this teaches you how to make healthier decisions that'll lead to a chain of positive mini decisions.

• Workout: The way our body works is simple. The more you expand energy —the more you'll get energy as a result. If you stay in your bed all day you'll be more sluggish and tired. If you move throughout the day you'll have more energy instead. Because our body works like a car. Leave it idle for too long and it'll break down.

• Diet: Learn to see what diet makes your body perform the best. There are people who are energetic from high carb diets. And there are people who are energetic from eating high volumes of meat. There is no one solution. You'll have to figure it out. But as a standard —learn to avoid sugar, alcohol and junk food as much as possible. They are poison to your body.

Moving on.

2) Create a morning routine.

We've already talked about this above so I'll keep this short.

The purpose of a morning routine is to create momentum. To set the day right so the rest of the day has higher chances of being aligned.

This can be as simple as:

• Wake up

• Say 1 thing you're grateful

• Get sunlight

• Drink water

• Take a walk

You don't need to follow a 2 hour morning routine. You don't need 1 hour long morning routine.

What you need is something to do first thing in the morning to avoid doom scrolling and sleeping longer.

Because the first battle you'll be fighting when you wake up is your mind getting in the way.

"I'll get up at 5:05 am", "Just a few more minute", "I'll do it tomorrow"

You need to lessen friction. And that's what morning routines do.

They disallow those contradictory thoughts to happen if you do it everyday in the span of weeks.

You'll be able to build resistance from internal objection.

3) Create a to do list.

After doing a morning routine you need direction.

You're going to know exactly what you're going to do during the day so it doesn't become wasted.

This means you are going to write down what you will do tomorrow before going to bed.

The template I gave you when you joined "Delete Procrastination Cheat Sheet" has a part where you can write "Tasks For Tomorrow" use it if you'd like. If not then find a notebook or mini notebook you can easily carry.

Then proceed to write down exactly 5 tasks you plan to do.

Make sure it's easy at first. Don't let your ego get in the way and say you'll study for 1 hour when you can't even focus for 10 minutes.

You'll have to start from the bottom and gradually build up your discipline levels.

You cannot expect to go from 0-100 in a day or week. You need to be patient.

Being productive for at least a few minutes of the day is better than nothing.

Because if you put in the work for a few months you'll be productive for hours. It's a process. You'll need to go through the beginners phase or else you quit because of how hard it is.

Be patient. This takes time and not some "quick results scheme".

I hope this letter helps you out.

Make sure to analyze and see what you can use to make you're life better not just read it.

Thanks for reading and see you next week.

-Noat.

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